I thats it
Member
Normande, Im fair sure I used it, possibly from geno uk when they were on the go
British friesian bulls
- Thread starter Friesianfan
- Start date
- Location
- somerset
thanks, that's what we thought, and from geno as well, cant be to many of them.
Braut, found about 30 straws of him, always thought we should have more calves by him !
Goes to show what can happen, i wonder how many £1,000's of semen, is floating around, in the bottom of flasks, talking to a friend, he found a lot of shottle !
I've only had semen float away once and it was in my farm flask thankfully and not my customers.
That tinkling sound as it hits the bottom and the inevitable cursed word said under your breath!
- Location
- somerset
we were told, it happens at N top up, where they don't put cotton wool pads, on top of each 'basket' of straws, but anyway, for us, its been a cheap year, for dairy, just jersey for the hfrs ! Really, the lucky bit, has been the straws, are of bulls, we don't mind using !
I thats it
Member
I know I've some sexed floating about in the bottom of my flask. Oh well we'll find it some day
Holsteinfriesian90
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
Anyone know if manorpark google is available in the uk?
Try Dovea genetics in Wiltshire
A question to all you bf breeders what would you say the average yield , lameness percentage, and calving interval of friesian herds there a breed i like but bulls such as patrol have negative fertility.ive herd horror stories of feet and poor milk in the breed but ive never had any pure.I run a spring calving herd feet ferility and milk are my top priorities.Have some crossbred friesan jersey and norwegian red jersey calving next year am im better criss cross nr on bf or stating pure bf.I like british friesian for there ability to hold body condition.
Walwyn
Member
- Location
- West Wales
Cant speak for others but we are ped BF spring calving tend to average 6200 3.5P 4.2BF. No selective culling on production as been growing herd, will from now on. Plenty in herd doing 3.8P 4.5 BF. Dont think we have anymore lameness than other herds, and can usually trace issues back through maternal lines and so can be selectively removed.
Haven't checked figures but which base are you looking at patrol on? The friesian fertility index is something like 14 points ahead of the holstein when you look into conversions.
I have no reservations over the fertility of BF. Scanned herd yesterday afternoon. 66% of herd in calf in 23 days of breeding, average 70% 1st conception rate.
I think the issue in breeding BF is a horses for courses factor, take patrol for instance, his dam if I'm not mistake lives in a high input system. Are her best traits transferable to a grass based system, I dont know. I think grass based genetics are lacking in this country due to previous 1 size fits all breeding indexes. Whether the SCI index helps this, the jury's out as still element of conversion from PLI rather than system proven.
I feel I've waffled on, but it's raining and I should really be doing office work ?
What percentage lameness are you getting currently have mainly jersey rarely ever a cow lame have bf crossed holstein after 3rd lactation your talking 50% lameness in a year i know what your saying about certain bulls but by the time the problem lines have been noticed its too late.
Walwyn
Member
- Location
- West Wales
Sorry I meant maternal lines within your own herd. Often if I have a cow go poor on her feet I look up her dam and she also had issues.
Not got %'s to hand but tending to pick 2 up a week in 300 cows. Some of those will be the same cow multiple times. Main issues white line, digi and foul. Need to improve our footbathing which should sort last 2 also think some our white line is linked with a road crossing that's deteriorating. Also seen improvement in white line from 2 years ago by removing some 90 degree turns from cowtracks. Point I'm trying to make is lameness is multifactorial, good genetics do play their part and only 50 % of that is the bull, but a bad bull will show itself quite clearly in a grazing herd.
Holsteinfriesian90
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
Just looked up your pedigree name looks like you have a serious amount of chads. Are you pleased with them?
Some of the concerns you raise are that of a Friesian from 30 years that had an ugly udder with a milking temperament to match.
The modern Friesian is a hell of an animal that can do a job pretty much anywhere.
Spudley
Member
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
We have quite a few Patrols, they pump the milk out but their udder attachment is not great.
organicguy
Member
- Location
- North East of the south west
We are doing 6500 l @ 4.5 BF, 3.5 pr off 1 tonne cake, block and self feed silage. Last year we turned out in Jan for a bit but out mid Feb permanently but housed early in October. 10th August until end of October calved. 200 ped organic..
Feet as Walwyn says are not a problem, if they are the dam is the issue, cure is lead. We do not footbath or routinely trim, trim 5% of the herd for poor shape, but often a cow will go 2 years before needs doing again.
Fertility is generally good, always over 60% conception on first cycle, only 1 Friesian service. Had a problem this year on second and third cycles, not got to the bottom of it but their is semen influence.
I have not selected bulls for good feet but I would never use one with a poor score.
Used to choose 5 plus bulls but have widened my criteria now, have particularily chosen bulls to improve fore udder attachment, which they have done.
Will fit into most types of non extreme system with a lot less grief than a poor holstein.
Have you any concerns of the poor selection of daughter proven friesians on genus list only lakemead jingle is daighter proven
- Location
- somerset
that's my biggest gripe, most of the genomic fr bulls on offer, do not have their 'vital statistics', remembering the fr of long ago, udders and temp, were bad, went to see some fr sired cows, started to count the bottle tits, and wide front tits, not impressed at all. The other end, modern fr, sometimes resemble a 'diluted' hol ! Perhaps I am just fussy, but I will agree, fr feet are better ! Years ago, we used to use the vet, for the odd case, then we started trimming feet, then a foot crush, same timing as the hol blood crept through the herd ! Had someone do a mobility herd score last week, 15% in cat 2, good enough, av, is 30%, and 2 of ours were injury related.
Walwyn
Member
- Location
- West Wales
On the whole yes, they are definitely a more dairy type compared to say a Quentin, but they're all still young and i'd imagine they'll fill out yet. If you wanted to be uber critical maybe front teat placements a touch wide but mostly good functional cows.
Personally it’s the over use of the same blood lines and genomic bulls sired by genomic bulls that I’m not a fan of. Like the new deangate bull a very nice looking bull, out of one hell of a cow with none of the three most common lines, but it’s sired by a an unproven bull with both Glen Albyn and Hylke. Seems they’re contract breeding bulls as out crosses for Holsteins really. That’s just my opinion on them anyway.