It just makes it worst for next year
, as I and other spring calvers have said ,is to not have April, May and June to count towards to A total, so you could drop litres and not feck up next year,
Arla
- Thread starter jade35
- Start date
, as I and other spring calvers have said ,is to not have April, May and June to count towards to A total, so you could drop litres and not feck up next year,
Green Grass
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
And here I am thinking of going 10/7 end of July. To try n get some autumn b liters.
From the spiring oad cows.
From the spiring oad cows.
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
Good point, I’m going to suffer a bit here as I didn’t think there was any margin in pushing the autumn calvers so we’ve sent less milk over winter, they’ve kicked on big time since we turned out. Should allow me to get my hands on a bigger premium this back end though.It just makes it worst for next year
What you say means this incarnation of seasonality is unlikely to have any effect in terms of reducing the flush?
Kiss
Member
- Location
- North west
I don’t know anyone who’s changed calving to target it
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
We’ve more spring calvers this time, I was midway through rolling some autumns over when they announced it right at the end of 2022.
Yep, you're just chasing A litres, we could put more milk to calves during the flush if it wouldn't affect A litres, but the powers to be seem to have their own plan
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
I think the scheme was proposed by a group of farmers/members not the powers that be, there’s certainly a working group but I’ve no idea how it all functions.Yep, you're just chasing A litres, we could put more milk to calves during the flush if it wouldn't affect A litres, but the powers to be seem to have their own plan
- Location
- God's side of the border.
I do, and a few AYR units definitely have. There may be a disappointing bonus in the Autumn.
frederick
Member
- Location
- south west
Yes also know of flying herds that are thinking of concentrating when they buy cows.
Milkcow365
Member
- Location
- Sw Scotland
Always been the case at h and h you know when the arla + is on
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
So the net result of the new scheme is spring calvers can’t reduce output in the spring for fear of dropping their base litres and all year rounders buy more late summer calvers to catch the premium
Deep summer trough and huge spring flush incoming. In their defence it does feel like an impossible problem to solve, calving in June looks as unappealing as ever but that’s the only thing that really solves the issue.
Deep summer trough and huge spring flush incoming. In their defence it does feel like an impossible problem to solve, calving in June looks as unappealing as ever but that’s the only thing that really solves the issue.
frederick
Member
- Location
- south west
Or looking at it slightly differently.
Spring calvers produce milk for about 1.2-1.5ppl less over the 12 month period but that penalty I would believe is far less than the savings a spring system can achieve. Arla then have other options to deal with the peak milk because it wasn't as expensive.
Autumn calvers can get the headline price or just about maybe a bit more if they are late summer calvers. They then keep winter output up.
All year round calvers can alter their profile slightly to take advantage of the scheme and help fill the summer trough.
The peak and trough problem will never be solved by block calvers moving but by the rest changing a bit because they can.
I think the carrot and stick is about right. 1.2-1.5 I would think is about only half to a third of the saving that an efficient spring Calver can make over a housed autumn system and its capital requirements.
The system you choose will still be far more dependent on the farm you have rather than the price you will be paid.
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
The majority of farms are AYR but they peak in May what ever system they run, if these farms make small changes it will have a big affect on milk supply.
We actually calve 50% of our cows in June! We start mid May when all the heifers calve as well, and calve 80% of the herd by the end of July with nothing calving between November and May. I find it really suits our all grass system and Arla's milk profile. We take a big first cut when a lot of the cows are dry followed by a smaller 2nd cut which then leaves a large grazing platform for rest of the summer. All the cows calve outside and the majority are safely back in calf before housing time.
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
Do you ever struggle with dry summer meaning no grass available to graze? Just would worry me that you get all the cows milking well, then come July there's no grass for 3-6 weeks and the cows get messed up?
Otherwise it sounds lovely
100%.
We used to grow maize/whole crop and start buffer feeding in July, since going all grass it was only when we had that very hot summer a couple of years back that we have had to buffer feed in the summer. We always keep a smaller pit in reserve just in case! It's usually late Sept when we start feeding silage. We are on fairly heavy land so not like on thin light soils though.
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
Do you turn your dry cows out in the spring or keep them housed until calving time? Our autumn block used to start on the 20th July but we dropped them back to late August as it was elongating the winter and the previous system wasn’t really paying a premium.
We turn them out and then 2 weeks before calving they are tightly stocked and fed hay and dry cow nuts.