Iogijones
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire
Yeah danish jerseys spring/summer calving 750kg concentrate
Dairy herd average
- Thread starter aggravated farmer
- Start date
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Your cows are posher than mine though. Seriously though whenever I've introduced any US genetics I've regretted it when they lose too much condition and end up empty. My target is 5000 at 6 and 4. I've bought a lot of heifers in the past few years (inc 80 from Trerice) and we're running 40% heifers year on year as we grow the herd. I've just moved from from a very hard farm with lots of steep pp to a flat ex-arable farm so I'm hoping we can peak a bit higher next spring and maintain peak longer. Hoping to do it with less cake, not more.
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Impressive. Maybe I should work on improving my jerseys before crossbreeding them. Are yours all danish breeding? We've moved to predominantly danish and ambreed nz bulls (which are mostly danish).
simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
you should do it the other way round. dry off before christmas and then go oad mid jan.
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simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
i used a couple danish jersey bulls this year. my discussion group weren't impressed. Do you use sexed semen?
Baling Hay
Member
Why weren't they impressed?
Iogijones
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire
I wouldnt cross them myself, most of the old cows are out of q impuls. I have a few nz type and british type but you cant beat the danish type.
simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
because danish jerseys haven't been tested on grazing systems but my theory is it shouldn't matter so much on OAD milking as theres less pressure on the cows so fertility and feet etc shouldn't be a problem. i used sexed semen this year on the heifers but don't think i'll be doing that again because of poorer conception rates.
simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
interesting. everyone in my discussion group are die hard LIC fans. I used LIX and Homer this year. would you use these on a grazing system.
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
No. I tried 20 straws 2 years ago when I was deliberately moving my autumn calvers to winter calvers prior to becoming spring calvers this year. I used them on cows in good condition that were all 100 days + calved. I was incredibly particular about handling the straws and I got 2 pregnancies, one of which was a bull calf. I was not impressed.
There are plenty of danish bulls with very positive health and fertility traits. I plan to use more of them over the next few years.
Iogijones
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire
Yes why not, im on a spring calving system. Ive used a lot of holmer and liberation this year. Cant wait to once a day milking in a month.
- Location
- cornwall
I'm having a bit of trouble believing these figures, you must have one of those TMR things and sneak some stuff in there!
- Location
- cornwall
We've used some Danish, but have always been a bit dubious as until recently most Danish cows were in tie stalls and their type was terrible. Dangly udders, bad feet and winged shoulders. Also, none of the Danes bother to name their cows so I don't think they take much interest in the breeding, which doesn't fill me with hope.
We use American on the lower yielders, Canadian on the high yielders and mix in a bit of Danish and NZ to keep the components up
aggravated farmer
Member
- Location
- North East Ohio
This may be a dumb question, but do you guys milk year round or have a calving in period and start back up? I dunno how you all do things in the UK.
Baling Hay
Member
We seasonally calve in spring but all our neighbours calve year round.
Iogijones
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire
I have a mixer wagon, i do buffer feed most of the time, i keeps butter fat up and it seems to pay off.
- Location
- cornwall
Still good figures though, you with ARLA?
simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
we will be drying off a few days before christmas and calving is due to start 17th feb. we will calve half the cows in the first 14 days and will be pretty much finished after 9 weeks.
aggravated farmer
Member
- Location
- North East Ohio
You guys do things a bit different over there. I don't think I can think of anyone over here doing a routine such as yourselves. Is this something you want to keep doing or have you tried keeping cows in lactation year round?
simplesimon
Member
- Location
- north cornwall
question for all the farmers milking jerseys. do you use any beef breeds and if so is their much demand for the calves. I'm on oad so would like to have more jersey in the herd but beef calves do make up a half decent income at the moment.