All things Dairy

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
thought yak semen was a fad to bring back cows into the block, 8 month gestation period.
went very quiet, so presumably a failure.
NZ were developing a short gestation hfrd, haven't heard much about that either, is that successful, or not ?

The Yak experiment failed because conception rates were so appalling that less cows were incalf at the end of the block so results were financially worse off compared to carrying on as you are.

Theres been work done on short gestation bulls and I believe a company in NZ markets some short gestation semen. But the recommendations for the dairy bulls in the range was that any heifer calves should be sent as Bobbys and not kept as replacements. We've all seen plenty of Jersey X beef calves given away as its felt they'll never make nothing.

I'm not sure if the company still sells this low gestation semen or not but if the calf is terrible or worse I'm wondering what the point is?
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
thought yak semen was a fad to bring back cows into the block, 8 month gestation period.
went very quiet, so presumably a failure.
NZ were developing a short gestation hfrd, haven't heard much about that either, is that successful, or not ?
SG Herefords are available here as Shimpton Hill, but calves are poor quality and not that much shorter, calves in NZ would be going as Bobby's, don't think many people still use them here now.
 

vantage

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembs
Twin jersey heifers out of a heifer (4th set)🙈
View attachment 1029559

Downer mastitis cow finally up this morning 😃
View attachment 1029560

dry cows chilling for the long weekend 🤣

View attachment 1029561
Did all the autumn calvers and heifers last Thursday at the TB read, one maiden heifer scanned twins.
SG Herefords are available here as Shimpton Hill, but calves are poor quality and not that much shorter, calves in NZ would be going as Bobby's, don't think many people still use them here now.
Shimpton or Shrimpton?:cool:
 
Anyone on here using a shear bucket? Shear grab is needing replacing and was wondering what’s peoples opinions on them
Great for carrying silage round yard or handling maize as you drop nothing, but hard to get a full bucket with grass as they take a lot more to push in to face. We only have a 90 hp telehandler may be different with a bigger machine.
 

Jdunn55

Member
I used limo because that's what I've been used to using (previous 5 years of work I've only ever seen limo or Hereford used). Regarding calving problems, Friesians tend to be fairly easy calving, you'll always get the odd one but I am yet to calve a single one of my cows this year - heifers I do tend to find are a bit more difficult but I think that's the same for most breeds?
Last year the only ones I had problems with were my heifers that had Hereford bulls, the ones that had limos calved unassisted. Personally (and no offense meant to anyone) I do not like herefords, I think the heads on them are too big (have spoken to a few others who have said the same), the good ones calve as easy as an angus and have the value of a limo, the bad ones calve worse than limos and have the value of an angus, therefore I would rather use angus or limo.

When I served my cows last year, I didn't think about gestation length, I was more concerned about getting them in-calf and the extra value of a limo vs angus. This was a mistake but you live and learn.
This year, one of my main aims is to tighten my block up to 70 days total calving. I will be using Friesian semen for the first 45 days on cows that I would like a Friesian calf from, I will be using Limo semen for the first 45 days on anything that I would not like a Friesian calf from and then for the last 25 days I will be using the shortest gestation bull available, whether that is angus, hereford or some yak I don't care as long as they get In-calf
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
I used limo because that's what I've been used to using (previous 5 years of work I've only ever seen limo or Hereford used). Regarding calving problems, Friesians tend to be fairly easy calving, you'll always get the odd one but I am yet to calve a single one of my cows this year - heifers I do tend to find are a bit more difficult but I think that's the same for most breeds?
Last year the only ones I had problems with were my heifers that had Hereford bulls, the ones that had limos calved unassisted. Personally (and no offense meant to anyone) I do not like herefords, I think the heads on them are too big (have spoken to a few others who have said the same), the good ones calve as easy as an angus and have the value of a limo, the bad ones calve worse than limos and have the value of an angus, therefore I would rather use angus or limo.

When I served my cows last year, I didn't think about gestation length, I was more concerned about getting them in-calf and the extra value of a limo vs angus. This was a mistake but you live and learn.
This year, one of my main aims is to tighten my block up to 70 days total calving. I will be using Friesian semen for the first 45 days on cows that I would like a Friesian calf from, I will be using Limo semen for the first 45 days on anything that I would not like a Friesian calf from and then for the last 25 days I will be using the shortest gestation bull available, whether that is angus, hereford or some yak I don't care as long as they get In-calf
Chuck the limo in the bin all he will do is cost you 10 days the following year
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
I used limo because that's what I've been used to using (previous 5 years of work I've only ever seen limo or Hereford used). Regarding calving problems, Friesians tend to be fairly easy calving, you'll always get the odd one but I am yet to calve a single one of my cows this year - heifers I do tend to find are a bit more difficult but I think that's the same for most breeds?
Last year the only ones I had problems with were my heifers that had Hereford bulls, the ones that had limos calved unassisted. Personally (and no offense meant to anyone) I do not like herefords, I think the heads on them are too big (have spoken to a few others who have said the same), the good ones calve as easy as an angus and have the value of a limo, the bad ones calve worse than limos and have the value of an angus, therefore I would rather use angus or limo.

When I served my cows last year, I didn't think about gestation length, I was more concerned about getting them in-calf and the extra value of a limo vs angus. This was a mistake but you live and learn.
This year, one of my main aims is to tighten my block up to 70 days total calving. I will be using Friesian semen for the first 45 days on cows that I would like a Friesian calf from, I will be using Limo semen for the first 45 days on anything that I would not like a Friesian calf from and then for the last 25 days I will be using the shortest gestation bull available, whether that is angus, hereford or some yak I don't care as long as they get In-calf
Also if using sexed you shouldn't need friesian for more than 21 days.
 

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
How do you mean? Sorry, brain isn't functioning today!

If you're looking to cut it by that many days tells me you're block is very spread out and it takes a lot of days to finish calving. By cutting it by that many days in one go there will be a big number of cows that won't have a chance of being bred because of the date change. You've cut more 3 services off the breeding window.

Now if that 70 days is being spread about 2 blocks and you're prepared for a higher empty rate then that's different.
 

Jdunn55

Member
If you're looking to cut it by that many days tells me you're block is very spread out and it takes a lot of days to finish calving. By cutting it by that many days in one go there will be a big number of cows that won't have a chance of being bred because of the date change. You've cut more 3 services off the breeding window.

Now if that 70 days is being spread about 2 blocks and you're prepared for a higher empty rate then that's different.
Ahh I see, current spring block is February-July, next year should be february-march. If they aren't in-calf then they will move to the autumn block which will be august-september (cutting out october next year)
That should give me 4 months of calving, 4 months of serving and atleast 2 months with less to worry about (january and July)
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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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