Recent content by Sandpit Farm

This one is 'Live Only' like the Neil Chesterton one was. Definitely worth watching, Joep is really interesting! https://ahdb.org.uk/events/cattle-handling-keep-calm-keep-moo-ving-with-joep-driessen

Is there a way I can stop getting notifications of these posts on my email? I keep reading them and its a waste of time to be honest

I must have this wrong. The dairy equivalent of this is a farm with 4,200 cows producing 8000 litres each. £40,000 profit would be a worry. The average herd size is 150 cows. I can't think of many single site businesses whose shareholders would be happy with that figure. Even just taking the...

Suggestions of removing the claw are fair (but obviously that's a vet job! so they will be best place to advise). In honesty, it is probably the cheapest option with less pain if the plan is to cull her at the end of the lactation. Depends what it looks like when pared back. You just have to be...

It has turned into a fairly major wall ulcer - may even have an abscess. The wall is going to grow at about 5mm every 6 weeks so it will keep pinching it. You need to get someone in who can carefully pare it back and apply a block that will stay on. She then needs pain relief and to be on a...

I agree. I can see it being a matter of knowing where your calves are going before they are even born. Then a matter of making sure you can guarantee they will be better than calves from the next farm to keep the rearers’ loyalty. The biggest problem is the boom and bust. Everyone wants the...

It isn't related to the consultation but it is related to Red Tractor and calves. AHDB are running this webinar for people worried about calf stipulations and breeding policy/housing contingency. As I understand it, these are already implemented... https://ahdb.org.uk/events/gb-dairy-calf-strategy

Would pain relief help? May be worth a try

I think it will work the other way round. As a calf rearer in a cattle area, why would I drive to Norfolk for my calves?

I can see Maize becoming a bit of a challenge from an environmental payments point of view. Bare ground at the wrong time of year would put off arable people but I guess there are options with earlier varieties or undersowing. Not sure how the ELMS scheme will deal with that. There would also...

Had that chat with her in the many conversations. She is a huge advocate of treats. A molassed treat that cows can lick from a bucket or you can put directly into their mouth and they will lean forward for more. She says it is the same principle as a dog, reward good behaviour (not bad) and make...

I honestly don’t know. It certainly wouldn’t be my decision to make but if I were in a position where I had a list of farmers wanting something, I would want to make sure I fulfilled it if I were the beef levy board.

It isn’t a webinar, it’s an online discussion group for 30 people - a one off. Very different. They get emailed a link. You email [email protected] saying you are a beef levy payer who saw the Temple Grandin webinar and would be interested in a beef version of the above. They will add you...

It’s not. The just the meeting on 24th Feb is restricted to Dairy farmers. If beef folks but their name down, they are considering doing beef ones. It just may be a bit later. The challenges on dairy handling can be very different to beef - hence it makes sense to have a meeting for either one...

If you don’t hear about this stuff, your details must be wrong at their end. A posted invite is probably not practical at £2/throw. Printing and posting etc. Reckon if you have an email address, it is correct and they have permission to email you - you should hear of this stuff.