All things Dairy

[Ducati899]

We autumn calve and never had one bust itself in the yard bulling

You’ve done it now

 

[In the pit]

Not when your spring calving and serving may /June when yards are like ice
Through the winter yards tend to get washed with the rain more
I lost 2 last year out of 250 cows

 

[In the pit]

I spent nearly 30 years spring calving and the only place I wanted them bulling was in the field
I’ve had cows hurt there selves in holding pens before now

 

[bigw]

I spent nearly 30 years spring calving and the only place I wanted them bulling was in the field
I’ve had cows hurt there selves in holding pens before now

The ground is like concrete here at the moment and had a cow break her leg the other week after some rain.

 

[In the pit]

Fields are full of them
Does this qualify as multi species leys

 

[lazy farmer]

No but you will be making them anyway nearly always a surplus

Of course there will if he’s buffer feeding.

 

[Cowmansam]

Well if you don’t have a surplus off grass at peak growth your doing something wrong means your overstocked the rest off the time

 

[som farmer]

The right Holstein will stick the walking no problems we still got a few here from before the cross breeding that have stuck the system no problem and I’m fairly ruthless with culling probably 10 percent of the herd is Holstein still and they are all over 7 lactations

the right holstien, that's where it all went wrong, a lot of us didn't choose the right type. But, they came before quotas, and white water etc, so we all went for quantity over quality. Then with the payment structure, aut based, yield was king, so buffer feeding crept to full rations in july/aug, then hols gave more, got weaker, so couldn't walk so far, which crept towards 24/7 housing.
However, there are hols out there, with the traits, that can do the opposite of the above, the right choices were not made, 40 years ago, hindsight is a marvellous thing. Breeders produced what the market wanted, and now, they are beginning to produce the right 'type' of hol, for todays mkt, and with an enormous global gene pool, to select from, increasing numbers will appear, and are.

 

[lazy farmer]

Well if you don’t have a surplus off grass at peak growth your doing something wrong means your overstocked the rest off the time

So you don’t accept that if your feeding silage on the platform and your growth is higher than demand your going to end unnecessary silage.

 

[early riser]

Have often thought. A 100 cow blocked calved herd with a large parlour and little machinery would in affect be a part time job for someone who liked outside work as well.

i get your point but I can assure you that 1 man milking 100 cows is a completely different scenario to two men milking 200 cows, 3 men milking 300 cows etc

Sounds easy on paper but not so much in reality when one person has to keep an eye on everything

 

[DairyGrazing]

The right Holstein will stick the walking no problems we still got a few here from before the cross breeding that have stuck the system no problem and I’m fairly ruthless with culling probably 10 percent of the herd is Holstein still and they are all over 7 lactations

Our Holsteins are in no way small and they are walking 5 km a day at the moment, AYR calving 31litres.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

the right holstien, that's where it all went wrong, a lot of us didn't choose the right type. But, they came before quotas, and white water etc, so we all went for quantity over quality. Then with the payment structure, aut based, yield was king, so buffer feeding crept to full rations in july/aug, then hols gave more, got weaker, so couldn't walk so far, which crept towards 24/7 housing.
However, there are hols out there, with the traits, that can do the opposite of the above, the right choices were not made, 40 years ago, hindsight is a marvellous thing. Breeders produced what the market wanted, and now, they are beginning to produce the right 'type' of hol, for todays mkt, and with an enormous global gene pool, to select from, increasing numbers will appear, and are.

To be fair I think the modern British friesian has come a long way. Still to many frail type Holsteins that won’t last on a grazing system.

 

[DairyGrazing]

Clearly not that profitable though if he is selling up?

He is 75+ and the kids do other things.

 

[Cowmansam]

Our Holsteins are in no way small and they are walking 5 km a day at the moment, AYR calving 31litres.

As do the ones we have here still block calving the right Holstein is the Best cow going it’s just getting the right ones I’ve probably got 35 that are here still after 3sytem changes from Ayr to spring to autumn I don’t keep anything that has issues so they have to keep up its just there’s 300 others that have left the system in the same time frame

 

[DairyGrazing]

The Irish say yes, in the south particularly.

Maybe be if they live like crows. If you want decent pull out of the business and have a life you are going to have to milk some more cows in my opinion.

My Grandfather sold his cows/quota in '99(I think) and made a fortune. My father's milk quota is worthless so his wealth for retirement is in the cows and cash/investments/pension. When I retire will there still be anyone to buy my cows when I want to cash them? I'm working on the theory that I need to be set for life out of cash/off farm investments/pensions.

 

[lazy farmer]

i get your point but I can assure you that 1 man milking 100 cows is a completely different scenario to two men milking 200 cows, 3 men milking 300 cows etc

Sounds easy on paper but not so much in reality when one person has to keep an eye on everything

100 cows blocked calved. 20 calves 20 in calf heifers.?
a properly padlocked platform good tracks Paddocked heifer ground fert spread once a month use of bat latches. Bloody simple part time job.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

100 cows blocked calved. 20 calves 20 in calf heifers.?
a properly padlocked platform good tracks Paddocked heifer ground fert spread once a month use of bat latches. Bloody simple part time job.

You would run yourself ragged milking before you go to work, go to work all day and milk again.

 

[Cowmansam]

Milk once

 

[dinderleat]

100 cows blocked calved. 20 calves 20 in calf heifers.?
a properly padlocked platform good tracks Paddocked heifer ground fert spread once a month use of bat latches. Bloody simple part time job.

Ah yes the perfect farm let me know when you find it with out spending a few mill

 

[lazy farmer]

Ah yes the perfect farm let me know when you find it with out spending a few mill

I’m getting close, just need an underpass.