Dairy herd average

[simplesimon]

You guys do things a bit different over there. I don't think I can think of anyone over here doing a routine such as yourselves. Is this something you want to keep doing or have you tried keeping cows in lactation year round?

we calve in the spring to match the cows feed demand to grass growth, therefore keeping costs down.

 

[Iogijones]

Still good figures though, you with ARLA?

Yes with arla milk link contract.

 

[Iogijones]

question for all the farmers milking jerseys. do you use any beef breeds and if so is their much demand for the calves. I'm on oad so would like to have more jersey in the herd but beef calves do make up a half decent income at the moment.

Ive been using british blue, lim and angus. British blue are good calves been selling between £140-£190 at 6wk old but make sure its an easy calving bull. Lim are ok selling for £110 ish and angus are a bit small but ive sold them for £100 at home and very easy calving. Ive been using too much unproven british blue which i had to pull a few calves which buggerd a bit on the calving pattern!

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Blues are the bulls that we've found to produce a good looking beef calf but I don't think I would ever want to run natural service bulls. Its a bit of a dilemma in in block calving situation, at the moment I'm running dairy service bulls to get as many heifers as possible but I really don't know what I'll do in a coupled of years when I only need 20% replacements.

Beef bulls are lazy and I had a disaster with an Angus bull a few years ago, multiple cesars, dead cows etc, yet I really don't want to do more than 6 weeks AI.

 

[multi power]

Seasonal calving here in autumn. Suits this farm. Can get drought here but early springs n short winter n also higher milk price

 

[rugbytommy]

question for all the farmers milking jerseys. do you use any beef breeds and if so is their much demand for the calves. I'm on oad so would like to have more jersey in the herd but beef calves do make up a half decent income at the moment.

we used a bit of angus ai in our second round this year. The calves looked ok , nothing special to begin with. now, they look cracking at 10 months old. they are jersey x but we have had a few beef fellas around to look at them and they couldn't tell! tb has stopped us from getting rid..

 

[simplesimon]

Blues are the bulls that we've found to produce a good looking beef calf but I don't think I would ever want to run natural service bulls. Its a bit of a dilemma in in block calving situation, at the moment I'm running dairy service bulls to get as many heifers as possible but I really don't know what I'll do in a coupled of years when I only need 20% replacements.

Beef bulls are lazy and I had a disaster with an Angus bull a few years ago, multiple cesars, dead cows etc, yet I really don't want to do more than 6 weeks AI.

I'm pretty much all AI. i have 2 bulls for 310 cows +70 bulling heifers. one bull (hereford) goes with heifers after 3 weeks ai and the other goes with the cows after 6 weeks. having lots of bulls around the place all year isn't really worth while when 90% will be incalf after 6 weeks.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

We've used some Danish, but have always been a bit dubious as until recently most Danish cows were in tie stalls and their type was terrible. Dangly udders, bad feet and winged shoulders. Also, none of the Danes bother to name their cows so I don't think they take much interest in the breeding, which doesn't fill me with hope.
We use American on the lower yielders, Canadian on the high yielders and mix in a bit of Danish and NZ to keep the components up

I've never used a Canadian bull, can I ask what they add to the mix? Would quite a lot of Canadian cows not be in tie stalls as well?

Edit: just been looking at the Semex website. I quite like the look of Gillard Pancho ET but I'm not sure about many of the others. Too many with negative daughter fertility lacking strength.

 

[jerseycowsman]

I've never used a Canadian bull, can I ask what they add to the mix? Would quite a lot of Canadian cows not be in tie stalls as well?

Edit: just been looking at the Semex website. I quite like the look of Gillard Pancho ET but I'm not sure about many of the others. Too many with negative daughter fertility lacking strength.

Canadians are strong, typey cows that won't kill themselves with ridiculous yields like the American ones do.
To be honest, I don't take much notice of some of those dairyco figures. We have a calving index sub 370 days so must doing something right.
Unbelievably the Canadians do turn their cows out in summer then tie them back for milking!

 

[jerseycowsman]

I'm pretty much all AI. i have 2 bulls for 310 cows +70 bulling heifers. one bull (hereford) goes with heifers after 3 weeks ai and the other goes with the cows after 6 weeks. having lots of bulls around the place all year isn't really worth while when 90% will be incalf after 6 weeks.

What do you get for your Hereford x calves?

 

[simplesimon]

What do you get for your Hereford x calves?

around £100-150 as soon as we can get a passport for the herefords but most of our beef calves will be BB's.

 

[Baling Hay]

@aggravated farmer why do you not graze your cows?

 

[Princess Pooper]

This may be a dumb question, but do you guys milk year round or have a calving in period and start back up? I dunno how you all do things in the UK.

There are almost as many systems in the UK as there are farms. AYR and fully housed, AYR and grazed in summer, block spring calving (Feb-Mar), block autumn or winter calving, split block....

 

[aggravated farmer]

@aggravated farmer why do you not graze your cows?

So we can feed them high quality tmr. I remember the old pastures we had out back. No one I guess liked chasing cows in for milking.

 

[Baling Hay]

So we can feed them high quality tmr. I remember the old pastures we had out back. No one I guess liked chasing cows in for milking.

But is so much cheaper to graze and a good pasture can be as good as a TMR in the UK anyway. Maybe your climate does not suit ryegrass?

 

[aggravated farmer]

But is so much cheaper to graze and a good pasture can be as good as a TMR in the UK anyway. Maybe your climate does not suit ryegrass?

We have done a little ryegrass. It does alright. We stick to orchard and alfalfa. The town I went to school was known for being a big potato farming community. We have similar climate compared to the UK. Though a more hot and humid summer and a colder snowier winter.

 

[Baling Hay]

We have done a little ryegrass. It does alright. We stick to orchard and alfalfa. The town I went to school was known for being a big potato farming community. We have similar climate compared to the UK. Though a more hot and humid summer and a colder snowier winter.

What is your annual rainfall?

 

[aggravated farmer]

What is your annual rainfall?

39 inches of rain and 42 inches of snow. Always feels more than what is reported though.