All things Dairy

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
cows don't have testosterone. And are handled a lot more regularly, bulls not so.
No denying there are a few miserable old bitches about, that would have you.
From when l started milking, till now, cows have become a lot quieter, l can still 'picture' some miserable old cows, which l was half afraid off, when aged 11, perhaps my 'fear' was sensed by them. Used to span a fair few then, today, we don't even have a kick bar, not quite true, it's in the fields, somewhere !
 

Dead Rabbits

Member
Location
'Merica
Have a few rules with bulls.
Keep enough that you won’t hesitate to cull them.
If they consistently don’t turn away from you and have any sort of aggression, cull them.
Rear them with a group and never touch them.
When not breeding do not ever isolate a bull. Keep with a group and keep that group tight. Don’t let them have a whole paddock, they pick territories and fight.

Seems to work for us. When they aren’t breeding I do not feed them well. They get poor quality grazing or hay till 4-6 weeks before breeding. Having beef bulls they don’t last as well if they get big. Everything else is near pure Jersey.
 

cows sh#t me to tears

Member
Livestock Farmer
Have a few rules with bulls.
Keep enough that you won’t hesitate to cull them.
If they consistently don’t turn away from you and have any sort of aggression, cull them.
Rear them with a group and never touch them.
When not breeding do not ever isolate a bull. Keep with a group and keep that group tight. Don’t let them have a whole paddock, they pick territories and fight.

Seems to work for us. When they aren’t breeding I do not feed them well. They get poor quality grazing or hay till 4-6 weeks before breeding. Having beef bulls they don’t last as well if they get big. Everything else is near pure Jersey.
Agreed. We tend not to rear to many bulls anyway. Only basically good genetics out of good cows that have been bought In. Or some for sale. You cant keep bulls out of herd cattle unless you want inbreeding. Bulls that serve heifers only last 2 to 3 years till their daughters start coming into the herd. (We join to calve at minimum 27months of age)
 

Tim G

Member
Livestock Farmer
Can anyone give me some advice on manually cleaning a bulk tank? What is a good product to use? I remember using some sort of iodine sprayed on with a hose and brushing out in my youth.
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
Is anyone else finding grazing grass quality is really dropping back fast, our cows are getting stubborn and discontent on some paddocks.not helped by some cows balling at the gate for calves.
I'm thinking with so many fresh we will have them in by night by the end of the month.
 

pine_guy

Member
Location
North Cumbria
Can anyone give me some advice on manually cleaning a bulk tank? What is a good product to use? I remember using some sort of iodine sprayed on with a hose and brushing out in my youth.
We used to use a powder when I was a boy, think it was citric acid. Whatever you use, be careful not to gas yourself. When I got my second hand bull tank, I just steamed cleaned it
 
Is anyone else finding grazing grass quality is really dropping back fast, our cows are getting stubborn and discontent on some paddocks.not helped by some cows balling at the gate for calves.
I'm thinking with so many fresh we will have them in by night by the end of the month.
Ours are happy out, just no grass at all. The worse September for ever here for grass! Very rare to have a dry August
 
Can anyone give me some advice on manually cleaning a bulk tank? What is a good product to use? I remember using some sort of iodine sprayed on with a hose and brushing out in my youth.
Avoid it at all cost, I hate brushing the tank !

Alternate between an acid and alkaline spray.
Main product is an acid base iodine spray.
The important thing in my opinion is to rinses the tank really well each day before using any chemical and don’t let anything dry on.

Can’t remember the last time we use a brush. 2 open top tanks, no in place cleaner nozzles, just power hose with V small nozzle and hand spray.
 

Jdunn55

Member
Can anyone give me some advice on manually cleaning a bulk tank? What is a good product to use? I remember using some sort of iodine sprayed on with a hose and brushing out in my youth.
I use a stainless steel cleaner, think it's called vatkleen from griggs but I'm sure others sell it (I know venture do) it's a powder which you mix with water to make a paste, apply it to all surfaces with a brush and then rinse with water starting with where you did first, seems to work ok

Personally prefer klinadine (not sure on spelling!) for outside the tank though which I've used in the past which is an iodine mix, does a beautiful job BUT I wouldnt like to be inside of the tank using it as it's pretty harsh on the eyes and back of 5he throat
 

Cowmansam

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Shropshire
This powder wet the tank Chuck it all about leave it a bit then give a good scrubbing
 

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Jdunn55

Member
Is anyone else finding grazing grass quality is really dropping back fast, our cows are getting stubborn and discontent on some paddocks.not helped by some cows balling at the gate for calves.
I'm thinking with so many fresh we will have them in by night by the end of the month.
Yes, all the aber mixes are trying to go brown but cows seem content and theres no way I'm willingly going to bring spring calvers in by choice in the autumn, especially as I have loads of grass atm as I couldn't get any contractors here to do my reseeding (wasnt a small amount either had 50 acres here and 30 acres at dads place planned - even got all the seed and spray here that's paid for 🤬 )
Interestingly they're eating less buffer feed now than a month ago, despite having less cake and the grass quality being worse than a month ago
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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