livestock 1
Member
Is this a carbon bollix thing?
Scottish Sub Calving index 410 days
- Thread starter unlacedgecko
- Start date
- Location
- North of Perth
Am I right in that if a cow goes past the 410 days she'll miss out on the claim but if she then calves within the 410 days next time she's eligible?
Ey oop @unlacedgecko ...i'm back. More questions for you....
Bin a long day including 2 lots of remote TB testing, piles of snow, strong winds, loader tractor blown a hose.....and a bad calving.
She's a 4 y/o 2nd calving SD, docile as anything, lovely bag, had and reared first calf fine.
Found this morn just after 8, 3 fields out in 3-4" of snow, sheltering against a tree line.
2 fused feet sticking out her stern.
Evidently a schmallenburg (spelling?)
I phoned a message through to t'vet before I even started to move her back.
(I've only tried to calve one of em before, and that eventually needed the vet anyway.)
Turned out to be a breach, which we got out with the jack with no drama.
(dead) Calf's head and front legs were all 'back' and rigid...IE came out WITH shoulders. Vet reckons her pelvis was massive.
She kept completely calm, desperately wanted to eat any cleansings we dropped, and when we needed the loosebox for another calving , she's back out on a blasted hillside tonight.
(hill reared SDs really are the best kept secret in UK cattle farming)
I won't be buying a calf for her, but if we have a surplus calf in the next 2-3 days, I'll fetch her back in to set it on.
So...should I cull her?
It's no fault of hers.
She'll summer easily, breed quick, and likely put on 100kg and more in stored condition. Will then winter in a cheaper group.
She'd be of a damline I inherited from my very distant ancestors, and as part of a whole, is beyond price to me.
It's a rhetorical question, as I'm sure you've guessed, but perfectly illustrates the nuance thing.
ringi
Member
That's my understanding.
- Location
- Fife
Hope the TB testing went well.
Luckily we have no schmallenberg here, I have no farming ancestors and I attach no emotional value to livestock.
- Location
- Scottish Borders
How would you do it?
Fertility is only part of the puzzle.
Docility, weight, performance, pelvic size, feet, locomotion, skeletal and muscular characteristics, myostatin carried/not carried, dams/sire milk, dam udder and teat presentation, muzzle width and so on and on.
You absolutely need to know the cows your replacements are coming from in my own opinion.
Just buying in something that is the correct weight and breed will invite it's own issues
sheepwise
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Your cow will be eligible if she satisfies the criteria the following year.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
So if Only 80% of calves qualify do they get the lost 20% money added to the qualifying calves or dose humza use the saved 20% for xmas party ?
sheepwise
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Trouble is they need to be seen to be doing something and reality is they could have come up with something much worse. The good thing is we still have a calf scheme with the same budget, which is something our counterparts in England and Wales would love to have.
- Location
- Scottish Borders
Those are all metrics that I cull on.
The discussion was about about cow fertility and calf survival so that was the direction I was focusing
- Location
- Scottish Borders
Apparently it's a ring fenced pot so the qualifying 80% should get extra money?
The pot stays the same so it’s added to the qualifying calves.
Diet and nutrition. Most suckler farmers put their cows under pressure one way or another through under/over feeding or missing minerals.
Feeding 500g soya for 3 weeks pre calving gave a fertility bump to cows here
sheepwise
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Yes
- Location
- Fife
You can feed fertility into anything.
That doesn't make sense I'm afraid
If you have a set of twins just register 1 to her
TheRanger
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Haven't read the whole thread. 410 calving interval is hardly a very high aspiration. there should also be some sort of minimum age to first calving (28 months?) IMO. Pretty much the vast majority of calves will qualify, as any cows that has a calving interval of >410 days on paper, probably had an unregistered dead calf, which in future will now be registered as a dead calf, making her calf the following year eligible.
Not much point in bringing in these rules if everything qualifies anyway. I'm sure almost every calf will qualify on paper going forward once people have had time to study the full scheme rules and get their paperwork in order.
Not much point in bringing in these rules if everything qualifies anyway. I'm sure almost every calf will qualify on paper going forward once people have had time to study the full scheme rules and get their paperwork in order.