All things Dairy

[Graham R]

Look at the procedure all you want, a mobile race banging and crashing about and people handling cows. Held up in the parlour and collecting yard for twice the usual amount of time.

Id challenge any man/woman to tb test our cows in the ai race, it aint gonna happen, they would just keep flicking their heads.

So maybe i am doing it all wrong, but were doing it as efficently as possible

Isn't your AI race up tight to your parlour, you need at least 4 foot of room at their heads if your going to test in race. Also if vet is fiddling with computer he/she isn't testing, need some one else to scribe.
Well laid out vet race is capable of testing more than 200/hr if staffed right, and in right place, with cows used to herringbone parlour.

 

[Rossymons]

Thinking about it....they wont let you buy in for 60 days will they? As i believe you were clear.

Today was our 12m after we went clear this time last year. Before that we were under for 3 years. Judging by other people experiences it depends entirely on who answers the phone on their end as their seems to be a massive lack of consistency

 

[Beef farmer]

Isn't your AI race up tight to your parlour, you need at least 4 foot of room at their heads if your going to test in race. Also if vet is fiddling with computer he/she isn't testing, need some one else to scribe.
Well laid out vet race is capable of testing more than 200/hr if staffed right, and in right place, with cows used to herringbone parlour.

AH will have questions if a single vet tests more than so many in a single day. There is 5ft between feeders and front of ai race, so ample room, but its not the right place for us to test. I will stick with the mobile race set up round the corner out of the parlour view.

 

[Beef farmer]

Today was our 12m after we went clear this time last year. Before that we were under for 3 years. Judging by other people experiences it depends entirely on who answers the phone on their end as their seems to be a massive lack of consistency

You wont be able to buy in till your next test, you will be classified as a new outbreak...... a lot of new outbreaks get the option of a gamma test to try and stamp it out quickly.

 

[Graham R]

AH will have questions if a single vet tests more than so many in a single day. There is 5ft between feeders and front of ai race, so ample room, but its not the right place for us to test. I will stick with the mobile race set up round the corner out of the parlour view.

Can you do any thing to stop mobile race from rattling and banging, old inner tubes and alkathene pipe can transform a race if used in the right place!

 

[mixed farm]

How many people here, who are further north and dealing with poorer weather and land, would swap those pros and cons for those in the South and visa versa ?

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Not me.
I do sometimes envy the 2 week winters and spectacular grass growth.

But then i remember my last TB test was in 2016 and i wouldn't swap that for anything.

 

[Fergieman]

How many people here who are further north and dealing with poorer weather and land would swap force pros and cons of th in the South and visa vrsa ?

No Chance I would swap. We can sell animals as and when we want without given a 2nd thought and with no pre testing. We have all the adult cattle outside now without a worry of them becoming infected from contaminated grazing.

 

[Beef farmer]

How many people here who are further north and dealing with poorer weather and land would swap force pros and cons of th in the South and visa vrsa ?

Id take 2p price cut tomorrow to be rid of tb. To sell any out of block cows instead of having them in the factory, sell calves. Trade freely.

 

[Beef farmer]

These pesky cnuts wont leave the water troughs alone. The only thing different this year is using a lot of mag flakes, is that attracting them? Filling the troughs with siht and all the bugs that the sky rats bring with them

 

[pappuller]

How many people here who are further north and dealing with poorer weather and land would swap force pros and cons of th in the South and visa vrsa ?

We are central and as goldilocks said its just right

 

[lazy farmer]

first day of service down here in disease infected south. the day started well with the scratch cards showing up well a good number of heats showing up then as the last ones left the paddock around the corner limps a 2yr old heifer who's scratch card is well worn with her front leg waving in the wind first broken limb in my living memory

 

[vantage]

first day of service down here in disease infected south. the day started well with the scratch cards showing up well a good number of heats showing up then as the last ones left the paddock around the corner limps a 2yr old heifer who's scratch card is well worn with her front leg waving in the wind first broken limb in my living memory

 

[bigw]

How many people here who are further north and dealing with poorer weather and land would swap force pros and cons of th in the South and visa vrsa ?

We have had cattle in since the start of September and are still in now as its too wet to get things out, hoping to get the last of the spring barley in this week. But no I think I would stay where I am thanks.

 

[mixed farm]

Just re read my post, don't ever try to write a message while changing clusters, it can be very hard to decipher! I had to edit it and make a few spelling changes!

 

[simplesimon]

These pesky cnuts wont leave the water troughs alone. The only thing different this year is using a lot of mag flakes, is that attracting them? Filling the troughs with siht and all the bugs that the sky rats bring with them View attachment 671556

I go through periods when I have problems with sea gulls, the only thing you can do is empty trough when you get cows out of the paddock and refill day before grazing again. If you leave it full they use it as a toilet for 3 weeks and you end up having to empty and clean it any way. fudging sticking little gits. more of a pain to me than starlings.

 

[vantage]

I go through periods when I have problems with sea gulls, the only thing you can do is empty trough when you get cows out of the paddock and refill day before grazing again. If you leave it full they use it as a toilet for 3 weeks and you end up having to empty and clean it any way. fudging sticking little gits. more of a pain to me than starlings.

Could you make a cover out of ply wood?

 

[Beef farmer]

I go through periods when I have problems with sea gulls, the only thing you can do is empty trough when you get cows out of the paddock and refill day before grazing again. If you leave it full they use it as a toilet for 3 weeks and you end up having to empty and clean it any way. fudging sticking little gits. more of a pain to me than starlings.

I wonder if it is the same little gang, will remove the ones that are here and see if more appear. Dont really want to chuck 2k liters of water away everyday

 

[curiousclueless]

Hello. Hope you don't mind me invading your thread - I'm a new member and didn't want to start one of my own just yet!

I'm a city person, born and raised in London, but I've moved to Somerset, close to a dairy farm. I watch with interest what is going on over there with the tractors going up and down the road and I'd like to understand a bit better what is going on! I thought maybe this would be a good place to ask?

The past few days there has been a lot of activity with cutting grass and gathering it up, is this for 'silage'? Today they are spreading what smells like manure on the fields which they've just cut, is this to try and get it to grow back as quickly as possible so they can cut it again? How many times would that generally happen over the year? Is that field only ever used for growing grass or would they sometimes put the cows in there too - throughout the day they appear in one of the other fields but it only ever seems to be the same one. Also, sometimes there is even tractors out there at night, what would they be doing then?

Sorry for sounding like a total idiot but hoping someone will take the time to educate me a bit! Many thanks.

 

[upnortheast]

How about getting in touch with the farmer. Explain you know little about farming but are very interested in what goes on. with a bit of luck he will take an hour to show you round. A bottle of whisky might help. Look out for "Open farm Sunday" events in your area -Next month