Wreckers!!

ollie989898

ollie989898

Member
Location
Hanging from a twig, in a deep sleep.
Two Tone said:
I wish I could remember that Herdsman’s name. He was brilliant guy too. Like many of his ilk, he loved his cows as much as he did his family.
I remember going to Ewefields for a Surplus sale in the late 70’s, It might have been just after the Dairy Event at Stoneliegh. I distinctly remember seeing wheat tipped and pushed up on an outside concrete pad, because the shed it should have gone into as being used for the cattle sale.
You never saw so many Jaguar XJ6 cars turn up in all your life. I particularly remember several XJ6 Coupes, which are quite rare to see now. The Pedigree Friesian world was booming then and there was a certain amount of showing off between the rivals to be done!
We went out of Dairy in 89 and dispersed the herd. Not really caring too much for the long legged, short lived Holsteins that were taking over.
I always said that if ever the Ewefields herd was dispersed, that would be the end of the world.
But it happened as it did with the Hunday and many other famous herds too.

All that meticulous, carefully thought out breeding wrecked and lost!
Click to expand...

A scary number of very top class herds have disappeared into the ether. Very alarming when you consider the amount of work and years involved to build them up!
 
Two Tone

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
ollie989898 said:
A scary number of very top class herds have disappeared into the ether. Very alarming when you consider the amount of work and years involved to build them up!
Click to expand...
Rightly or wrongly, I blame the introduction of Holsteins.
Yes they produce more milk per lactation, but their longevity is crap in comparison.
We had cows that frequently did at least 10 lactations. Several 14!
What is the average now, 2?
They’re worth so much to kill, that you can justify that.
But it didn’t half feck up the pedigree job.
Then, overnight, pedigree herds that were worth a fortune, suddenly were worth no more than any other commercial herd. All that work my grandfather and loads like him did in upgrading from Shorthorns to British Friesians a century ago, wrecked and gone in a decade, 50-60 years later.
 
serf

serf

Member
Location
warwickshire
Two Tone said:
Rightly or wrongly, I blame the introduction of Holsteins.
Yes they produce more milk per lactation, but their longevity is crap in comparison.
We had cows that frequently did at least 10 lactations. Several 14!
What is the average now, 2?
They’re worth so much to kill, that you can justify that.
But it didn’t half feck up the pedigree job.
Then, overnight, pedigree herds that were worth a fortune, suddenly were worth no more than any other commercial herd. All that work my grandfather and loads like him did in upgrading from Shorthorns to British Friesians a century ago, wrecked and gone in a decade, 50-60 years later.
Click to expand...
Yep , can't beat seeing a good Friesian herd and the beef offspring make some of the best cattle too , dual purpose , now with Holstein it seems to be no purpose 🤐
 
Optimus

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Ouch!
 

Attachments

  • IMG-20240225-WA0001.jpg
    IMG-20240225-WA0001.jpg
    173.7 KB · Views: 0
B

bumkin

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
pembrokeshire
Two Tone said:
Rightly or wrongly, I blame the introduction of Holsteins.
Yes they produce more milk per lactation, but their longevity is crap in comparison.
We had cows that frequently did at least 10 lactations. Several 14!
What is the average now, 2?
They’re worth so much to kill, that you can justify that.
But it didn’t half feck up the pedigree job.
Then, overnight, pedigree herds that were worth a fortune, suddenly were worth no more than any other commercial herd. All that work my grandfather and loads like him did in upgrading from Shorthorns to British Friesians a century ago, wrecked and gone in a decade, 50-60 years later.
Click to expand...
i am with you on that as an ex-Cheshire dairy farmer and calf rearer i can't see the advantage of Holsteins apart from the more milk but they weigh half as much again and have a need for pedicures my thinking is a b Friesian needs less for maintenance so you can keep more on the same area and then you can have more calves to sell i think a lot of the liking for holsteins is ego so they can say we get x amount of milk per cow
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 108 39.3%

  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 103 37.5%

  • 25-50%

    Votes: 40 14.5%

  • 50-75%

    Votes: 5 1.8%

  • 75-100%

    Votes: 4 1.5%

  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 15 5.5%
See comments…

May Event: The most profitable farm diversification strategy 2024 - Mobile Data Centres

Apr 02
  • 2,833
  • 49
With just a internet connection and a plug socket you too can join over 70 farms currently earning up to £1.27 ppkw ~ 201% ROI

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mo...2024-mobile-data-centres-tickets-871045770347

Tuesday, May 21 · 10am - 2pm GMT+1

Location: Village Hotel Bury, Rochdale Road, Bury, BL9 7BQ

The Farming Forum has teamed up with the award winning hardware manufacturer Easy Compute to bring you an educational talk about how AI and blockchain technology is helping farmers to diversify their land.

Over the past 7 years, Easy Compute have been working with farmers, agricultural businesses, and renewable energy farms all across the UK to help turn leftover space into mini data centres. With...
News
Continue…

Share this page

Top