Scottish Sub Calving index 410 days

ladycrofter

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Highland
Freak AI bull from Genus. Supposed to be easy calving Angus. The calf was big. I don't jack, never had the need by design! and she didn't bring one on call??? FFS. Went to get it, came back and didn't know how to use it. Found out later from other TFFers that they had had the odd oversized calf from this bull too. One had a section on a blue from him.
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
Nah, it's always the females fault.
We all know the hard work you've put into breeding your ewe flock. What if you were unlucky with a bad bout of toxo and half aborted with no lambs to show for it. Would you sell them even though they're now immune only to replace them with unknown brought in stock or run under stocked for a couple of years until you could build numbers back up. Somethings aren't always straight forward.
But yes I do generally agree with your one strike and your out policy, but you need a critical mass of stock to allow you to do that .
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Cows are different imo
I disagree

.if a 3rd calver loses a calf, you cull her.keep a heifer in her place but the heifer doesn't hold I've lost out.been better just keeping the 3rd calved 9/10 shed of held to the bull.
That's your choice. But they (quite rightly) won't qualify for the sub.

I bull all my heifers and cull out as required at PD.
Plus there a lot of breeding lines an other things come into play.

If a cow doesn't calve at 24months, then wean a calf every year, she's not worth keeping.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
We all know the hard work you've put into breeding your ewe flock. What if you were unlucky with a bad bout of toxo and half aborted with no lambs to show for it. Would you sell them even though they're now immune only to replace them with unknown brought in stock or run under stocked for a couple of years until you could build numbers back up. Somethings aren't always straight forward.
But yes I do generally agree with your one strike and your out policy, but you need a critical mass of stock to allow you to do that .
Interesting question. One I hopefully will never have to answer.

I suspect I'd sell them as high priced cull ewes in March and try to buy cheap in lamb ewes from someone who's run out of feed. Keep the bought ins biosecure from the surviving home breds then top up that autumn with draft Shetlands.

I certainly couldn't afford to keep empty ewes all summer. They'd also have severely reduced breed up that autumn due to being too fat.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published

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Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.

From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024

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Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
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