Dairy cows for 100% Forage System

[brettsacks]

Hello All,

We are looking at starting a dairy herd, initially comprising of 10 cows and building up to 40 milking cows. Our cows' diet will be 100% forage based and they will also be out-wintered. As such, we have given a lot of consideration to the breeds that would work for our system. We landed on: Red Poll, Gloucester and Dairy Shorthorn.

I was wondering if anyone had cattle or a lead on where we could find some stock for sale? We are based in West Sussex.

Any questions, give us a shout!

Thanks

 

[Cowmansam]

First two will be the hardest to come by then in the dairy shorthorn I’d think you would need to buy old breeding as a lot of the more modern stuff is full off Holstein blood that wouldn’t be a good match for out winters

 

[brettsacks]

First two will be the hardest to come by then in the dairy shorthorn I’d think you would need to buy old breeding as a lot of the more modern stuff is full off Holstein blood that wouldn’t be a good match for out winters

Hi, you're spot on. We've found some Red Polls but they're a suckler herd (with good dairy qualities). We're going to take a handful of them.

Gloucesters are proving more difficult to find - maybe there's a reason for that?

With regards to the Dairy Shorthorns, we are being very careful with the genetics and we won't purchase cows that are coming from vastly different systems that the ones we will employ!

Any other cows you'd think would be fit for the systems? Old Ayrshire or British Friesian genetics? If they're around?...

 

[Cowmansam]

Frisian or jersey would be my first choices for forage diet and out winters Gloucester think there’s only one or two herds actually milking if your starting a new business I can’t see a beef breed providing enough milk to make you any money stick to what works would be my advice there’s a reason that Holstein jersey Frisian are the most popular

 

[Cowmansam]

Ayrshire’s and dairy shorthorn are good cattle but both have a lot of Holstein in them now so some careful research would be needed but you would get good cattle for your system that way

 

[Cowmansam]

One more thing before you go buy a load of sucklers get some milk of them and test it I’ve got a few Angus cows I milk and there solids are less than half the jersey and Frisians on the same diet and the less said about the litres the better

 

[brettsacks]

One more thing before you go buy a load of sucklers get some milk of them and test it I’ve got a few Angus cows I milk and there solids are less than half the jersey and Frisians on the same diet and the less said about the litres the better

Interesting... Red Polls, historically, were some of the biggest dairy herds in the UK before the British Friesian.

We have looked into the Jersey but because of it being a higher yielding cow, it does want additional feed inputs... We don't mind lower milk yields as we're going to turn it all into small batch artisan cheese. So the focus is a low input system giving us high quality milk. (Gloucester and Red Poll milk is fantastic for cheesemaking)

I wonder if it's possible to find British Friesians that would do ok on 100% forage + outwintering...

 

[Cowmansam]

They where replaced for a reason another part is probably temperament and udder quality there are many herds using jersey and Frisian with no additional feeds I believe gurnseys are probably the original choice for that supposedly milk off nothing but rough hill land but I wouldn’t know many herds of them about either for Gloucester I would Suggest contacting there breed society probably be you best chance

 

[brettsacks]

They where replaced for a reason another part is probably temperament and udder quality there are many herds using jersey and Frisian with no additional feeds I believe gurnseys are probably the original choice for that supposedly milk off nothing but rough hill land but I wouldn’t know many herds of them about either for Gloucester I would Suggest contacting there breed society probably be you best chance

Thanks - I am in touch with the breed society and speaking to different farmers.

As we're in a low TB area, we really want to restrict our cattle purchases to other low TB areas which further complicates things!

Thanks for your help .. I'll try see if I can find any Frisian farmers with older genetics

 

[Cowmansam]

The old Frisian was a nasty thing with not much milk I wouldn’t be looking to far back there some excellent blood about now

 

[Woolless]

Hi, you're spot on. We've found some Red Polls but they're a suckler herd (with good dairy qualities). We're going to take a handful of them.

Gloucesters are proving more difficult to find - maybe there's a reason for that?

With regards to the Dairy Shorthorns, we are being very careful with the genetics and we won't purchase cows that are coming from vastly different systems that the ones we will employ!

Any other cows you'd think would be fit for the systems? Old Ayrshire or British Friesian genetics? If they're around?...

There's an Ayrshire thread in the dairy section. One or two of the posters on there have cracking cows that I would think would do your job.

 

[Tim G]

The guy making stinking bishop cheese has a herd of Gloucester cattle I think. There is also a small herd (or at least was) in Cambridgeshire.

 

[sjt01]

The guy making stinking bishop cheese has a herd of Gloucester cattle I think. There is also a small herd (or at least was) in Cambridgeshire.

That is Charles Martell. If the OP is not a member of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association I would highly recommend it.

 

[Tim W]

Hello All,

We are looking at starting a dairy herd, initially comprising of 10 cows and building up to 40 milking cows. Our cows' diet will be 100% forage based and they will also be out-wintered. As such, we have given a lot of consideration to the breeds that would work for our system. We landed on: Red Poll, Gloucester and Dairy Shorthorn.

I was wondering if anyone had cattle or a lead on where we could find some stock for sale? We are based in West Sussex.

Any questions, give us a shout!

Thanks

These guys used to milk Gloucester Cattle , not sure if they still do https://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/farm/
They would be full of info. & nice folk @brettsacks

 

[Woolless]

This podcast might be of interest. The guest is a bloke that milks Jerseys in the US on a forage-only system and direct markets. The whole series is worth a look IMO.

Ep. 134 – Ben Gotschall – Managing Market Complexity

Ben Gotschall of Davey Road Ranch joined me to discuss the ins and outs of managing market complexity. We talk about nutritional food, getting that food to market, and getting paid for those produc…

workingcows.net

 

[brettsacks]

There's an Ayrshire thread in the dairy section. One or two of the posters on there have cracking cows that I would think would do your job.

Thanks - I'll have a look through and try find them!

 

[brettsacks]

That is Charles Martell. If the OP is not a member of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association I would highly recommend it.

Thanks and @Tim G ... Charles is in a high TB area and for now we're trying to restrict our search to low TB areas as we're in a very low TB area

 

[Woolless]

Thanks - I'll have a look through and try find them!

Scotland is TB free as well (officially!).

 

[Tim G]

Thanks and @Tim G ... Charles is in a high TB area and for now we're trying to restrict our search to low TB areas as we're in a very low TB area

If you haven't already have a look here.....

Gloucester Cattle

......has anyone got any? Any pictures? Slogging it out on the cross trainer today, and listening to Tom Kerridge talking about Double and Single Gloucester cheese. One of my favourites for cooking with! I've never seen any Gloucester cattle, or I don't think I have..................rare...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

@JP1 mentions a local (to him) breeder which I guess would be a tb4 area.

 

[JSmith]

Is it the Dent family just outside Kirkby Stephen that have a very old herd of dairy shorthorns??