Ayrshire cattle

[Big_D]

Anyone crossed with a jersey, the good foraging for food, sounds like it could be a good crossbred animal.

Yeah will take some pics for you

 

[AGN76]

Ayrshire??

 

[coomoo]

I have some pedigrees I’m very keen to breed and keep pure, trying to buy in to the best families. As said above a good Ayrshire is a sound all round animal capable of great longevity

What families are you having success with if not a cheeky question?

 

[Big_D]

@Devon lad

 

[Big_D]

@Seasider forgot actually have two obliques

 

[coomoo]

Great pics @Big_D, how’s the calf shed you’ll see s big difference. My next project all things going well is a calf shed, got them spread over about 5 sheds at this minute in time. Those Ayr/Jer crosses will produce pure cream got many.

 

[Durry cows]

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@Seasider forgot actually have two obliques

Bet they pee you off with missing cubicle like that ours used to be forever munching on wrong place or have I looked at pic wrong?

 

[Seasider]

View attachment 635198 View attachment 635200

@Seasider forgot actually have two obliques

Cheers for the pics, look similar type. Just got in from the shed where our first Oblique heifer calf has just arrived (see the relevance of my question) out of Ryecroft Classic Quilt Ex94 , well happy!

 

[Big_D]

Great pics @Big_D, how’s the calf shed you’ll see s big difference. My next project all things going well is a calf shed, got them spread over about 5 sheds at this minute in time. Those Ayr/Jer crosses will produce pure cream got many.

Yeah overall it's good, they won't bang their heads on the roof anyway! Yeah looking forward to seeing how they turn out, just got the two, got few milkers of cross other way, Ayrshire over Jersey x friesian

 

[Big_D]

Bet they pee you off with missing cubicle like that ours used to be forever munching on wrong place or have I looked at pic wrong?

Haha thought someone would pick up on that, used to get couple break each winter now it's more like one a week, whole place ready for bulldozer tbh

 

[Whitepeak]

My grandad and uncle have a very good herd of Ayrshires, so I have soft spot for them. They have never used any Holstein blood but have used a lot of Canadian Ayrshire genetics.
There's almost 3 types of Ayrshires, all of which can be found on farms within 5miles of us. There's your very traditional Ayrshire, small cow, very hardy and excellent grazer but lower yields. The Canadian Ayrshire, bit bigger, more angular and dairy and slightly higher yields. And then the blended Ayrshire where they've used a lot of R&W Holstein blood, so a much bigger cow giving a lot more milk.

 

[AGN76]

My grandad and uncle have a very good herd of Ayrshires, so I have soft spot for them. They have never used any Holstein blood but have used a lot of Canadian Ayrshire genetics.
There's almost 3 types of Ayrshires, all of which can be found on farms within 5miles of us. There's your very traditional Ayrshire, small cow, very hardy and excellent grazer but lower yields. The Canadian Ayrshire, bit bigger, more angular and dairy and slightly higher yields. And then the blended Ayrshire where they've used a lot of R&W Holstein blood, so a much bigger cow giving a lot more milk.

Where would you get traditional Ayrshire semen from?

 

[coomoo]

My grandad and uncle have a very good herd of Ayrshires, so I have soft spot for them. They have never used any Holstein blood but have used a lot of Canadian Ayrshire genetics.
There's almost 3 types of Ayrshires, all of which can be found on farms within 5miles of us. There's your very traditional Ayrshire, small cow, very hardy and excellent grazer but lower yields. The Canadian Ayrshire, bit bigger, more angular and dairy and slightly higher yields. And then the blended Ayrshire where they've used a lot of R&W Holstein blood, so a much bigger cow giving a lot more milk.

What I’m looking to do is get proper Ayrshire genetics and to a degree avoid R&W, then use Canadian Ayrshire sires to compliment my system. Lower yielding grazing types would possibly get too fat with me although it’s fleshing and ability to graze better I’m looking for.

 

[Whitepeak]

Where would you get traditional Ayrshire semen from?

Not sure tbh, your best bet is probably contacting Sam Wake at Cattle Services Ayr and look for 100% bulls as a starting point. They print the percentage Ayrshire for each bull. I think the Ayrshire have got a heritage committee set up to try and safe guard the old traditional bloodlines, so might be worth contacting them. Although Cattle Services and Ayrshire society are basically the same company.

 

[Whitepeak]

What I’m looking to do is get proper Ayrshire genetics and to a degree avoid R&W, then use Canadian Ayrshire sires to compliment my system. Lower yielding grazing types would possibly get too fat with me although it’s fleshing and ability to graze better I’m looking for.

This is what my uncle has done, he’s a simple system- grass silage and cake in the parlour and summer grazing. In my opinion he’s gone a bit too far down the Canadian route and has lost the strength through the front end and good legs of the traditional Ayrshire. His is a hard farm and cows have to do a lot of walking in the summer though.

 

[TeaBread]

12 years ayrshire ex bf but returned to bf cross for more milk

 

[Cowmangav]

Not sure tbh, your best bet is probably contacting Sam Wake at Cattle Services Ayr and look for 100% bulls as a starting point. They print the percentage Ayrshire for each bull. I think the Ayrshire have got a heritage committee set up to try and safe guard the old traditional bloodlines, so might be worth contacting them. Although Cattle Services and Ayrshire society are basically the same company.

Some very good proofs on some recently proven bulls that are 100 % pure - so the choice just got much much better .

 

[Cowmangav]

What I’m looking to do is get proper Ayrshire genetics and to a degree avoid R&W, then use Canadian Ayrshire sires to compliment my system. Lower yielding grazing types would possibly get too fat with me although it’s fleshing and ability to graze better I’m looking for.

In the last ten years I moved my policy back to greater use of 100% bulls , and also to keeping those females still 100% pure or nearly so , mated to pure bulls.

 

[Durry cows]

8th calver by Nijinsky
Now 5th calver by mandella
Both doing over 40l at the min

 

[Durry cows]

Second calver out of the top cow now dry with her 3rd