Recent content by cows250

I have seen sand bedded cubicles and (solid) rubber floors with 10% of the cows laying on the floor, and with none of the cows laying on the floor. Same farm, we just fixed the stalls to make them more comfortable. With proper stall design, all but the dumbest heifers will figure out how to...

At 3 pounds a hd per scan , and a silage/grass/straw cost of 2/day you would more than pay for the scanning. Scanner bill would be 240 but the cost of keeping that cow around for an unneeded 180 days is 360. Also, I am assuming that the twin calvers would be earlier and possibly need more...

That ground is going to take a bit to claw back into production.... I finally got my cattle moved over to my newest rented ground. They are eating some of the golden rod, a fair bit of brush, and all of the thistles as I move them through. Places that had skid steer traffic this summer are...

I don't have a big enough nearby land base to earn a full time income grazing dairy conventionally or 100% grassfed (organic). What I will probably end up doing is retailing my milk through other products like veal and pork. There is also a small chance that I would sell milk directly in the...

Every farm is different, but at least some grassfed farmers I have listened or talked to would keep on doing what they do regardless of market premiums. Their extremely low COPs would allow them to make a small profit even on conventional prices. There is a very good chance I will do 100%...

I should just leave it be....but, when I did have X-rays 16 years ago at the doctors, and my back was out (and had been for 2 months at that point) they started me on pain meds. Nothing else, just a perscription. How is that a solution? It took 4 adjustments over 5 weeks to get everything...

I am confused, are you honestly saying you have never had your back go out? If so, great for you, but many people have, and a proper adjustment can help get everything back in order. Going waaaaaay back to the original topic, if someone honestly wanted to set up a no kill farm, I would expect...

As far as I know, sprouted fodders don't add any dry matter to the equation. Grain goes in, water gets added, and large amounts of fodder come out, but since no photosynthesis took place, no DM was actually added, and most likely some was removed from the system. What I am actually curious...

I am pretty sure that mother nature has a simple set of rules that work out in the long run. Reduce worm burden-graze tall, balance fiber protein & energy-graze tall, encourage warm season grasses-graze tall, increase worm populations-leave reside, build soil organic matter- graze tall, have...

I am pretty sure you are not being sarcastic, but to me that is still a little too short/lush for grazing. I would honestly want to wait another 2-3 weeks before grazing that pasture if it was an option. I have never seen scald and my few sheep grazed covers taller than they were most of last...

As far as I know the rhizomes that "fix" the nitrogen are being fed sugars by the clover plant roots. So, a happy healthy plant could be feeding those rhizomes most of the growing season if the pasture was managed to positively affect the clovers. Grazing every 21 days seems like a really good...

Two wide straps, one directly behind the front legs, and directly in front of the udder work well too. I worry about hurting the cow with that much weight on the hip lifts, and try to only use them to get the cow upright, not to move her around. Still not going to look good to the animal...

Slightly off topic, but I keep comparing this discussion with the recent Hoard's article stating that in 50 years average milk production per cow will be 57,000 pounds per year. Having worked on high production dairies for years, 57K seems a little high, but a good goal. Having grazed my own...

That 4,000 pounds doesn't really concern me, as I am sure his calves are sucking down an almost equal amount. Nurse cows raising 2-3 calves each, or milk everyone and leave the calves on....amounts to the same thing in the end. No idea of his prices, but I would imagine it is somewhere between...

When he bought the farm it was in foreclosure.... We are surrounded by pivots in this area. His place is quite hilly in places, but mine is flat as a pancake; my water at least holds still for it to soak in. Either way, if we can't catch and hold as much water as possible, life is going to...