All things Dairy

Tsa115

Member
Livestock Farmer
Not sure where to post this, Gone down for the second time on a six month check test the other day, only 1 reactor rest clean as a whistle, on a bought in cow bought 11 months ago to replace tb cows. seems now they want to come all guns blazing with skin, gamma and antibody test, anybody have experience of this antibody test? Did gamma 12 months ago took 8 from 130. Was expecting worse tbh. 43 cows removed last 30 months, not really in the mood to loose more.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Not sure where to post this, Gone down for the second time on a six month check test the other day, only 1 reactor rest clean as a whistle, on a bought in cow bought 11 months ago to replace tb cows. seems now they want to come all guns blazing with skin, gamma and antibody test, anybody have experience of this antibody test? Did gamma 12 months ago took 8 from 130. Was expecting worse tbh. 43 cows removed last 30 months, not really in the mood to loose more.
Did she have lesions?
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
All been Clean on lessions
Then I would push back and ask why.

We went down on 6 month check test
1 reactor and another on reassessment under severe.
Both Non VL

Next test was 1 again no VL
Last test one IR, if wasn't for her we would have been clear on one clear test.

No gamma, no antibody.
Just one retest.
Still a PIA
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
Then I would push back and ask why.

We went down on 6 month check test
1 reactor and another on reassessment under severe.
Both Non VL

Next test was 1 again no VL
Last test one IR, if wasn't for her we would have been clear on one clear test.

No gamma, no antibody.
Just one retest.
Still a PIA
Would ask the same thing, for why, yet are neighbours who've had 20% of their herd removed since January, are told they don't need a gamma test......🙈, all their cattle have had lesions and some cattle had been on farm foe a couple of months 🤔
 

Jdunn55

Member
Not sure where to post this, Gone down for the second time on a six month check test the other day, only 1 reactor rest clean as a whistle, on a bought in cow bought 11 months ago to replace tb cows. seems now they want to come all guns blazing with skin, gamma and antibody test, anybody have experience of this antibody test? Did gamma 12 months ago took 8 from 130. Was expecting worse tbh. 43 cows removed last 30 months, not really in the mood to loose more.
Tell them to p*ss off.

They have been really heavy handed down here recently in trying to get people to do gamma and antibody tests in addition to skin - unnecessarily heavy handed.

One farmer I'm good friends with, they tried to make do a skin test one week and then gamma test the next week - they couldn't understand why he said that wasn't feasible!

Bunch of crooks. I'm convinced the government makes a fair bit of money from tb - or rather companies with links to mp's make money.

Sorry to hear you're having tb troubles, it's really sh!t. On a separate note, how are your josh cows/heifers doing/looking?
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Despite what I've been repeatedly told by APHA I'm adamant the rules aren't the same and it that it does depend entirely on whoever picks up the case.

I see so much inconsistency it's baffling.
I've asked, pushed and demanded a flow chart to be be published.

It's all on a case by case basis.
Frustrating to a polite way of putting it.

I've offered to slaughter the IR, have them do a PM and let me trade.
If its slaughter then I have to have a whole herd test as it's deemed not to have been resolved.
So I wait impatiently overstocked that will have to be then PMT before I can move them.
 

Jdunn55

Member
Just moving the fence for the cows, someone asked about how well the grass tillered, fairly pleased
 

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sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
Would be interested to know. Whilst organic farming uses less chemicals than conventional. Does it use more diesel?
Depends if you include the fuel used to make and transport inputs on to farm, we have 3 organic neighbours, one is good sheep and beef hardly uses a tractor, one arable tractors going all day n night and makes a sh!t job and the other does nothing, other than collect the subs, may cut it for hay, but that would be by a conventional farm.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton

Jdunn55

Member

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
I was going to add several of the dairy organic rotations are probably burning off more organic matter than I am.
There isn't quite so much 3 weeks bare land with regular cultivation to kill docks any more.
How much land would you be cropping a year? Weather it's grass, maize or other, we're ploughing less than 10% a normal year, but have friends doing 40% with both min till and ploughing before Maize.
 

Wesley

Member
Not the best of photos but she was a bit too preoccupied to pose for the camera. Sired by our home bred bull & her grandam was sired by another bull we bred. I’m sure something will go wrong with her now but looking like she could be a real head turner. Proof you don’t need to spend a fortune on semen.
271BF2B5-AF06-4FE4-B96C-B23220128D04.jpeg
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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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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