sheepwise
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
So you have a set of twins running or a hungry calf on a cow with mastitis and you wouldn't set onto a perfectly healthy, milky cow which had a dead calf. It's called stocksmanship in my book.
Scottish Sub Calving index 410 days
- Thread starter unlacedgecko
- Start date
- Location
- Fife
And mine.
I had a several cows wean adopted calves this year. None of those adopted cows saw the bull again though. As they didn't wean their own calf. They weaned a calf, but not their own. So they spent the summer with the fatteners then went to kill at weaning.
- Location
- Buxton, Derbyshire
None of my second calvers would get the payment if they were Scottish! I calve all my heifers in Jan/Feb/Mar after one round of AI in April prior to turnout and then 6wks with the bull (all repeats held in 3wks this year). They then go with the main herd who start calving in mid April to coincide with turnout. So they can potentially have a calving interval of 450days! However for subsequent calvings most have a sub 380day CI.
I don't have space inside for calving everything Jan/Feb/March and I prefer AI'ing and calving heifers inside. I'd want more than £100 per calf to change.
I don't have space inside for calving everything Jan/Feb/March and I prefer AI'ing and calving heifers inside. I'd want more than £100 per calf to change.
- Location
- Buxton, Derbyshire
I'm giving her a 2nd chance, but she won't have a 3rd!
99 times out of 100 I'd have gone in the shed to find a calf sucking.
And the calf is registered to her
I tag all dead calves and register the birth.
Had a cow a couple of years ago that calved beside a burn, so obviously I had a drowned calf in the morning, she produced a cracker the year before and each year since, she’s one of the best in the place, accidents happen and are forgivable here, plenty other things aren’t tbf.
- Location
- Scottish Borders
Only cows with live calves go to the bull here. Anything that loses a calf goes to the cull field. When I look back at records from before I started doing it it's amazing how many cows go on to be repeat offenders.
Plus when I can bring a home bred bulling heifer into the herd for similar or less money than the offending cull cow is worth then I'd say it's a no brainer
Plus when I can bring a home bred bulling heifer into the herd for similar or less money than the offending cull cow is worth then I'd say it's a no brainer
- Location
- Fife
Fastest way to improve a herd/flock is to cull the bottom 10%
- Location
- North of Perth
What do you do if a cow loses a calf when she's just finished running with the bull.cull or keep?
- Location
- Scottish Borders
At that stage I would probably end up keeping her
livestock 1
Member
I think we should set up an agony aunt type page here asking @unlacedgecko about wether to cull or not to cull
I have a limmy who put her calf bed out was to calve had a calf that wouldn’t suck wouldn’t let the calf suck didn’t have much milk
Now I know you are all for giving them a second chance but I’m sorry to say this she is going
Would you wait to see if she made any more mistakes?
I have a limmy who put her calf bed out was to calve had a calf that wouldn’t suck wouldn’t let the calf suck didn’t have much milk
Now I know you are all for giving them a second chance but I’m sorry to say this she is going
Would you wait to see if she made any more mistakes?
sheepdip
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Will we still be able to claim sub on a heifer’s calf even though its mother doesn’t have a calving index? And will the carbon police know the difference between a heifer and a cow that had a dead calf the previous year ?
- Location
- sw scotland
The changes are part of the drive to reduce emissions by increasing efficiency. So far, so good. If you read the study by SRUC the introduction says it is not clear that reducing the CI will actually have much impact on methane, etc. It is the same idea as scrapping a perfectly good old diesel car to make a new one with a hugely damaging carbon footprint.
By running Spring and Autumn herds then we let some slip back which costs nothing in the summer. I would argue that keeping a few extra cows over winter costs almost nothing as 22 will get roughly the same trailer of silage as 25. So a cow calving late May but empty at November scanning would be straight into the Autumn herd, served mid November and calve the following September which only delays the calf by around 4 months. Obviously you need to choose your cows and the circumstances.
That cow would miss the new calf payment but the alternative is to introduce an extra heifer which is always riskier for a dead calf and cuts store cattle numbers. We run a closed herd.
Looking at some cows history I saw 2 which lost 3rd calves then had another 9 and 12 calves ( including twins) all unassisted.
It's a lot more complicated than just methane.
By running Spring and Autumn herds then we let some slip back which costs nothing in the summer. I would argue that keeping a few extra cows over winter costs almost nothing as 22 will get roughly the same trailer of silage as 25. So a cow calving late May but empty at November scanning would be straight into the Autumn herd, served mid November and calve the following September which only delays the calf by around 4 months. Obviously you need to choose your cows and the circumstances.
That cow would miss the new calf payment but the alternative is to introduce an extra heifer which is always riskier for a dead calf and cuts store cattle numbers. We run a closed herd.
Looking at some cows history I saw 2 which lost 3rd calves then had another 9 and 12 calves ( including twins) all unassisted.
It's a lot more complicated than just methane.
- Location
- sw scotland
I presume you get a payment for the first calf registered to the animal or else 14% of calves will get nothing. Maybe that is the intention?
livestock 1
Member
Will many change to all year calving?
Doubt it. All the inefficiencies of doing that would far outweigh any sub received.
livestock 1
Member
What inefficiency is getting more calves out of a cow?
Fair enough if she is unproductive but if you set a calf onto that cow she’s being as productive as her herd mates in that she’s rearing a calf.
How many are you going to get more from? They can only calve once a year at best.
Are you meaning the few that slip back from say a spring to an autumn calving herd so lessening the barren gap?
Not the building blocks for an efficient herd keeping many of those types long term.
Far better to have them calving in either spring or autumn blocks with all breeding, feeding and routine treatments done at single timings than continually buggering about at the same tasks all year round.
livestock 1
Member
You must hold the bull off your heifers when they are ready to bull
Time lost before you’ve even started I couldn’t do that
How would that shorten your calving interval?