All things Dairy

[DairyGrazing]

concerns me about the width, of a face, and spoilage because of that. We would have to build a new clamp, as our pits now away from cubicles. Having had the EA jobsworth around, any new pit, would need planning permission, and pre-start approval, by EA, on how you would deal with a 'leak', and how you would construct it, their standards/regs would put £1,000's on the cost, basically you would have to have a sealed concrete base, with an effluent drain, around the whole slab, with associated effluent tank, min 20,000 litres, and they specify type of concrete. Not sure any of ours had pp. EA condemned 2 pits here, 1 for being a stone base, the other for no effluent tank, rusted away. You need to be very careful, our pits were pre '91, so escaped some regs, but, by putting in the eff tank, he could have insisted it had to comply with todays regs.
thankfully, the indoor pits, had cattle in, no way he would have left them alone !

Some people of here seemed to have had massive dramas with lagoons and silage pits is this area or EA man specific?

Can you drain straight into a lagoon or do you still need an effluent tank in between?

 

[In the pit]

It takes half an hour + for them to walk to the end of the drive which is the perfect amount of time for all the sh!t in the parlour to stick to the floors, walls, and stall work, by the time I then get that cleaned to an acceptable standard my poor calves wont be fed until god knows when which isn't great for growth which is vital at that stage as they're growing the fastest they ever will be and that's ignoring the fact sometimes it takes me half an hour to ai all the cows that are bulling, had 8 to do one morning

It works far, far better for me to feed a bale of silage a day than it does not to, maybe not for you and that's great but what works on one farm doesnt always work everywhere else

I feed calves oad and they grow at 1 kg / day . It’s not when you fed them it’s how much what determines growth

 

[pine_guy]

I feed calves oad and they grow at 1 kg / day . It’s not when you fed them it’s how much what determines growth

Agreed, but not legal for the young ones

 

[frederick]

Agreed, but not legal for the young ones

You can put the milk in once a day. It's just illegal if it's all gone after 5 minutes

 

[DairyGrazing]

I feed calves oad and they grow at 1 kg / day . It’s not when you fed them it’s how much what determines growth

From what age? Personally I dont agree with it and I see it as a risk to our social license to milk cows. No matter the benefits it will not sit well with the consumer.

 

[pine_guy]

You can put the milk in once a day. It's just illegal if it's all gone after 5 minutes

Well yes, that’s exactly what we do, 200l drum, bag of milk and 100l water. Whisk up and plonk in the pen.

edit - but it never runs out.

 

[som farmer]

Some people of here seemed to have had massive dramas with lagoons and silage pits is this area or EA man specific?

Can you drain straight into a lagoon or do you still need an effluent tank in between?

no, you have to have a min 18,000 litre tank, for less than 1,000 to, over 20,000.
very 1 man specific, down to dotting the eyes, and crossing the t's, in the rule book, he's very good at cutting and paste, huge sections of that rule book, in his 'reports'. His problem here, he cannot reconcile our lagoon size, with his aerial photo, despite his manager, and his promar free visit, agreeing with us. And, after doing some gutters, we are fully compliant, with NVZ regs. He condemned all the silage pits, on 1 very large unit, and l think they are, and doing, big enough to challenge. Biggest problem, you don't know if he is satisfied with your answers, send them off, no reply, then pops up, months later, asking for same figures again !
his name seems to be well appreciated by the firms supplying the remedial 'stuff', he has provided a huge boost to their sales !
But, seriously, we have no idea if he is content with our figures, and no idea when, or if, he will jump out again, we fully expect him to, so everything done by the book.

 

[nonemouse]

Moving fields/electric fences, should keep 60 cows going for a few days

 

[betweenthelines]

It takes half an hour + for them to walk to the end of the drive which is the perfect amount of time for all the sh!t in the parlour to stick to the floors, walls, and stall work, by the time I then get that cleaned to an acceptable standard my poor calves wont be fed until god knows when which isn't great for growth which is vital at that stage as they're growing the fastest they ever will be and that's ignoring the fact sometimes it takes me half an hour to ai all the cows that are bulling, had 8 to do one morning

It works far, far better for me to feed a bale of silage a day than it does not to, maybe not for you and that's great but what works on one farm doesnt always work everywhere else

Half an hour? Either you've got a very long drive or very slow cows!

As long as you feed the calves at regular times, they won't care if it's 8m and 6pm or 10.am and 6.30pm


Edited to add:

The reason the cows take so long to walk to the end of the drive is that you are buffer feeding/feeding too much. If they were just on grass, they'd get to the end of the drive and be waiting to get out to grass in five minutes, not 30!

 

[Mr Jones]

Mr & Mrs F, and teulu bach, now on Instagram. And doing a very good job of promoting what they do for a living.

 

[vantage]

Mr & Mrs F, and teulu bach, now on Instagram. And doing a very good job of promoting what they do for a living.

I wondered where he’d gone, not so much traffic here now.

 

[Martyn]

Half an hour? Either you've got a very long drive or very slow cows!

As long as you feed the calves at regular times, they won't care if it's 8m and 6pm or 10.am and 6.30pm


Edited to add:

The reason the cows take so long to walk to the end of the drive is that you are buffer feeding/feeding too much. If they were just on grass, they'd get to the end of the drive and be waiting to get out to grass in five minutes, not 30!

I don't agree, I don't buffer feed but my fat Friesians often walk out the cubicle shed and have a lie down on the cow track, happily chew their cud! Totally different beast to a cross bred, and we are feeding no concentrate just grass.

 

[Mr Jones]

I wondered where he’d gone, not so much traffic here now.

I will put the link up, if Mr F has no objections or beats me to it, in the next day or two.

 

[Jdunn55]

Half an hour? Either you've got a very long drive or very slow cows!

As long as you feed the calves at regular times, they won't care if it's 8m and 6pm or 10.am and 6.30pm


Edited to add:

The reason the cows take so long to walk to the end of the drive is that you are buffer feeding/feeding too much. If they were just on grass, they'd get to the end of the drive and be waiting to get out to grass in five minutes, not 30!

I've got a very long drive...
They walk out fast enough (sometimes struggle to keep in front of them and get gates open quick enough!) But have to walk over half a mile and then it's alwaysthe last 2 or 3 granny cows who arent lame but just a bit slower than the rest that extend the time it takes by 10 minutes

 

[Jdunn55]

I may divide opinions on here quite a lot but I reckon we can all agree that pulling these off cows when they're scanned in-calf is very very satisfying

 

[som farmer]

I've got a very long drive...
They walk out fast enough (sometimes struggle to keep in front of them and get gates open quick enough!) But have to walk over half a mile and then it's alwaysthe last 2 or 3 granny cows who arent lame but just a bit slower than the rest that extend the time it takes by 10 minutes

the first ones, always the same ones, gallop, when the yard gate is opened, the OAP's, just dawdle along, at a snails pace, over a distance, they spread right out. Coming in, it's those 'fast' cows that are the first, across the road, coming in. Grazing cows, are a very different animal, compared to buffer fed hols !
We used to go 1/2 mile along the road, including a xroads, that was a rat run, through to a school, get the timing right, some very unhappy school mums, some would get very abusive, we no longer farm that ground, but l found it quite amusing. Uncle used to drive his dairy, over 3 roads, a B road, and 2 lanes, an hour each way, not my idea of feeding cows, but.

 

[dinderleat]

I may divide opinions on here quite a lot but I reckon we can all agree that pulling these off cows when they're scanned in-calf is very very satisfying View attachment 981223

@jimmer will love your use of the stickers

 

[Jdunn55]

@jimmer will love your use of the stickers

I do listen to the advice on here

Just fyi, 2 is small enough, I wouldnt bother cutting them into thirds, don't ask how i know this information...

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Some strong milky cows going through Leek on Tuesday. Genuine sale. I know the family selling them and know they are well looked after cows.
@pappuller
@happycows
Just tagged a few people I know are flying herds.
If anyone is free to support the sale it would be appreciated.

 

[pappuller]

Some strong milky cows going through Leek on Tuesday. Genuine sale. I know the family selling them and know they are well looked after cows.
@pappuller
@happycows
Just tagged a few people I know are flying herds.
If anyone is free to support the sale it would be appreciated.

Yes, I know JP very well, been on a few genus trips with him in the past, a proper character is The Don