All things Dairy

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
maybe on your farm but the vast majority of cows don’t last as long as they did 30 years ago.
we have xbreds, plenty make 7+, got a few 11 served, but those years when it was not a problem, we were holstien, and not many of them make 7th, quite a few a lot less. Few years ago, took calves to Shaftsbury mkt, in a pen, was 1 6month hfr calf, with a big red tag, farmers were saying BVD or johnes, started at a very low price, but ended up at a price, well over normal. That sums up some farmers attitudes to disease.
 

LTH

Member
Livestock Farmer
Never thought about that! Was going to have contractors come and do it, what's the risk if going onto silage ground thats 5.5 miles away? Would have thought almost 0? Otherwise I'm going to have to buy a tanker next spring 🙄
a lot of diseases stay in the ground for quite a while, think BVD is like 6 months. Anyone coming onto farm can bring disease in but spreading slurry probably more likely but I don’t know what the risk is to be honest. We get contractors to spread hull muck and sometimes slurry onto land away from the farm we make silage on.
 

Farmer Keith

Member
Location
North Cumbria
Never thought about that! Was going to have contractors come and do it, what's the risk if going onto silage ground thats 5.5 miles away? Would have thought almost 0? Otherwise I'm going to have to buy a tanker next spring 🙄

I’m not sure on the level of risk but it’s certainly there, our vet said not to graze ground spread with YS for a year was best practise for Johnes so that tells you how long it lives, you’d have to assume that keeping it off the leaf helps so the move to dribble bars etc can only be a positive thing. Obviously we live in the real world so have to make compromises to get the job done. Ultimately it’s going to be difficult to stay clear of all the diseases unless there’s some sort of coordinated approach between all farmers, particularly with the easy ones like BVD if we all tested and culled all the PIs in theory it’s simple enough to eradicate, not so easy with a disease like Johnes or Digi though.
 

jimmer

Member
Location
East Devon
Following on from all the digi chat does anybody know where it lives through the summer? I’d assume the cow as it’s often the same ones that are troubled with it each winter but they never show symptoms through summer and you can’t see any lesions etc on them. I never foot bath from April to September and things like the auto scrapers have definitely slowed it down in winter but maybe the summer is the time to be bathing if you could kill any residual infection off? That said Im sure there’s a genetic component and those cows are simply picking up new infections from the buildings as plenty of cows here would never get it regardless of footbathing I’m sure.

We were a flying herd and it’s fair to say we bought everything in going over the years, I’m not sure anybody that buys in can ever claim to be of high health status, whatever that is, even a closed herd using contract foot trimmers, vets, slurry contractors etc etc etc is at risk every time these guys come on farm when certain diseases like Johnes and digi are all over the place.

By all accounts digi only lives for sub 24hrs on/in a carrying host like sh!t, it has to be transfered to a host that it can burrow into like a cows foot, where it multiplies then breaks out into the visible lesions that then become infectious and the cycle continues
Where it lies dormant (ish) during the summer is a mystery
These were the stats/data being taught, about 7/8 years ago
 

pappuller

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
M6 Hard shoulder
Never thought about that! Was going to have contractors come and do it, what's the risk if going onto silage ground thats 5.5 miles away? Would have thought almost 0? Otherwise I'm going to have to buy a tanker next spring [emoji849]
You'll need more hours in the day before long son, if your busy enough now youll be on a 24hr shift with more cows and more tractor work.
 

I thats it

Member
How do you find yours? our 3-5 lactation fleck crosses are beyond doubt the most difficult stock to have ever had to deal with.what I mean by that is they are soo laid back it’s difficult to get them
To do anything!
They can be a little bit of a challenge at times
Apart from temperament how do you find them? I thought they would be too heavy for your system.
The 2 faults we find are as you've said they can be stubbornly quiet. we've one that will not be sent. you've to take the rest and she'll follow behind. The other fault is the 50% hols 50% fleck sorts can be huge once mature. to combat we've started trying to calve in at 24months rather than 30, and just started (still only calves) putting sexed jersey onto them to bring size down and increase solids.
Still prefer over quiet stock to wild beasts
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Never thought about that! Was going to have contractors come and do it, what's the risk if going onto silage ground thats 5.5 miles away? Would have thought almost 0? Otherwise I'm going to have to buy a tanker next spring 🙄
price of tankers, with dribble bar, or similar, would probably buy you another 20 odd cows. Unfortunately there is a limit to what you can do about diseases coming into your farm, depending on what your neighbours do, how much wildlife comes from them, or others, onto your farm. TB, under present plans, is going to stay, and other than housing your herd, in badger proof sheds, it's pot luck, if you stay clear, or not. The great pity is that, if we had a co-ordinated national policy, we could eradicate lots of diseases, not digi though ! You can only be sensible about disease risks, and do your best to avoid them.
 

Jdunn55

Member
You'll need more hours in the day before long son, if your busy enough now youll be on a 24hr shift with more cows and more tractor work.
That's the issue, exactly why I was going to get a contractor in to do slurry as I need to be concentrating on my cows that will be calving not worrying about slurry.

My idea was to buy my own tanker but have a contractor come and spread it using my tanker, that way it doesnt lose me any time just some money
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
That's the issue, exactly why I was going to get a contractor in to do slurry as I need to be concentrating on my cows that will be calving not worrying about slurry.

My idea was to buy my own tanker but have a contractor come and spread it using my tanker, that way it doesnt lose me any time just some money
Just be aware of the possible ELMS rules on emissions and low level spreading @Chips has a different approach but not sure if it will qualify.
Trailing shoe definitely has major benefits on nitrogen losses.
 

Jdunn55

Member
Just be aware of the possible ELMS rules on emissions and low level spreading @Chips has a different approach but not sure if it will qualify.
Trailing shoe definitely has major benefits on nitrogen losses.
My old boss had 2 tankers one with a trailing shoe and one with splash plate, we did half a field with each and come spring you could see a noticeable line up through the field where the grass with the trailing shoe was way further ahead of the stuff that only had splash plate on it
 

early riser

Member
Location
Up North
That's the issue, exactly why I was going to get a contractor in to do slurry as I need to be concentrating on my cows that will be calving not worrying about slurry.

My idea was to buy my own tanker but have a contractor come and spread it using my tanker, that way it doesnt lose me any time just some money

This is what I do. I have no time to be tanking slurry day in day out but I have bought a big new tanker for other parties to pull with their tractor. Rather pay a young lad £25-30/Hr to wear their tractor out than paying someone £15/hr to milk my cows so that I can do it myself. I loathe spending money on kit but like you I have no digi etc and determined to keep it that way as long as possible
 

Jdunn55

Member
This is what I do. I have no time to be tanking slurry day in day out but I have bought a big new tanker for other parties to pull with their tractor. Rather pay a young lad £25-30/Hr to wear their tractor out than paying someone £15/hr to milk my cows so that I can do it myself. I loathe spending money on kit but like you I have no digi etc and determined to keep it that way as long as possible
Always pay tractor and driver £25/hour and we put fuel in so they cant complain about long trips burning too much diesel or hilly ground etc

Atleast if I have a tanker of my own if I get some spare time in the summer i can take some out myself
 

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
That's the issue, exactly why I was going to get a contractor in to do slurry as I need to be concentrating on my cows that will be calving not worrying about slurry.

My idea was to buy my own tanker but have a contractor come and spread it using my tanker, that way it doesnt lose me any time just some money
I thought you were spring calving
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
My old boss had 2 tankers one with a trailing shoe and one with splash plate, we did half a field with each and come spring you could see a noticeable line up through the field where the grass with the trailing shoe was way further ahead of the stuff that only had splash plate on it

We did the same and found no difference in growth, just 10k cheaper without it.
 
Location
Cornwall
The 2 faults we find are as you've said they can be stubbornly quiet. we've one that will not be sent. you've to take the rest and she'll follow behind. The other fault is the 50% hols 50% fleck sorts can be huge once mature. to combat we've started trying to calve in at 24months rather than 30, and just started (still only calves) putting sexed jersey onto them to bring size down and increase solids.
Still prefer over quiet stock to wild beasts

That is my worry that they will be too big but we haven’t got huge cows mainly Holstein friesian cross and have been using haribo so hopefully they will be the smaller type flecks.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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