Forage ...how short.?

[Henarar]

He,s a belter of a calf.I will have to think again,i would have thought Angus onto BB cows would be a good cross and easy calving.

we do it the other way round and get good calves as a rule from angus cross cows

 

[Henarar]

The AA from North America has been 'beefed' up and now that we ask the question we find that this myostatin gene is well known in the right circles to possibly be present.

angus isn't angus any more a bit like lim isn't lim or at least some of them are not
do they not DNA test the angus ?

 

[Grassman]

From what I hear most in our area are a few bales less per acre than normal. But because it's all hay or dry haylage or dry silage that would explain the shortfall.
A lot has been cut far earlier than normal so whilst second cuts look hopeless it's still early enough for plenty of grass to grow before autumn.
If it rains in the next couple of weeks we could all be wondering what all the fuss is about.

 

[Grassman]

The lack of carry over from last season is a concern. I had about 300 mini hesstons of haylage carry over at this time last year. I recon I have about 20 now!

 

[Surgery]

angus isn't angus any more a bit like lim isn't lim or at least some of them are not
do they not DNA test the angus ?

We have had one done through my sister at wherthby s in Ireland , Angus bull came back 87% Angus , 13% BB

 

[sheepwise]

AAngus Treebridge bull with recessive double muscling gene didn't go well with Blue x cows.
Lost 3 bull calves, one cow dead and two culled. Out of 25!
Calves that have lived are stunning but I'd rather have 25 alive.

Had to buy another bull.

Got the same problem here with an AA bull. Rarely use him on BB cross cows now.Quite convinced there is something interesting in his back breeding!!!

 

[TripleSix]

Ignore the land in the foreground.
We're on the far side of the valley.

A fire risk at best.

 

[ajcc]

 

[Al R]

We started feeding silage yesterday to the ewes. A lot of them would have only ever seen a round bale feeder during the snow this year! They soon remembered!!

I heard earlier that silage off the field is going for £35/bale with a lot of farms on full winter feeding already.

 

[Grassman]

The field at the back seems to have plenty of moisture

 

[Al R]

The field at the back seems to have plenty of moisture

So does my field in the background, if you keep going from my picture over the horizon you’ll see @ajcc

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Speaking to a dairy guy today, he has done 2 cuts, but has only filled one pit, great stuff but not enough of it, he says he has never needed to take a third cut, maybe 60 bales.

 

[Happy]

Speaking to a dairy guy today, he has done 2 cuts, but has only filled one pit, great stuff but not enough of it, he says he has never needed to take a third cut, maybe 60 bales.

Good few people taking a light second cut at the moment.
As well to right it off as a bad job & start again as plenty of time & heat in the ground for a decent third cut when the rain comes as it surely will.

 

[Dry Rot]

Remember august is the wettest month so don’t fret just yet

And the fertility will still be there too. That hasn't all washed away!

 

[Wooly]

It might be dry, but certainly not a drought on the Aussie scale of a drought.

Some breeds, including Romney sheep and Sussex cattle, just appear to survive and thrive on very little feed. You must remember that they are not using any energy for heat and anything they eat has a high DM content and therefore doesn't go straight through them.

(Photos from Australia and not Romney Marsh.........but soon will be similar !)

 

[Goweresque]

I can't raise cattle on £25/bale bought-in hay.

What's that? £25? Oh yes, the pee-taking has already begun. Farmer don't need to worry about the government screwing them, they do a good enough job of screwing each other.

So in a good year for grass growing when you can't give fodder away are you planning to pay over the odds for it, just to be fair to the forage producer?

 

[Sambo]

The AA from North America has been 'beefed' up and now that we ask the question we find that this myostatin gene is well known in the right circles to possibly be present.

We had a similar issue with a bought in aa bull that the breeder assured us had no N America blood in it.... bulled 120 Holstein heifers before the first calf 'dropped' at 60kg! Went back to the breeder, apparently his mother was an embryo from Canada that they had bought from a sale and didn't know a lot about her.

 

[ladycrofter]

What size bale? £25 doesn’t seem out the way for big squares.
Now if it’s pick up conventional bales that’s a different matter.

Yes, 4x4's about a half mile down the road and pick up and load ourselves from the field. Sorry @Goweresque but I think a rise of 25% is taking the p*ss, especially after prices already going up due to the shortage in Spring. Supply and demand is not at any cost.

As you say there are good years and bad years for grass and everything else, but it seems to escape many people that in the long run things even out. So another of our regular guys is charging the same as last year, and the year before, and the year before. Because he has the big picture where the market AND customers come together. The result is that one has lost our business because he needs to stick the needle in at the first opportunity, and not for the first time.

Thankfully we make our own haylage and only need a small quantity of hay for odds and ends. Not a great deal of money changing hands, it is the principle.

 

[ladycrofter]

It might be dry, but certainly not a drought on the Aussie scale of a drought.

Some breeds, including Romney sheep and Sussex cattle, just appear to survive and thrive on very little feed. You must remember that they are not using any energy for heat and anything they eat has a high DM content and therefore doesn't go straight through them.

(Photos from Australia and not Romney Marsh.........but soon will be similar !)

Those cattle look not too bad! Yes, it is amazing what they seem to get off ground that looks pretty bare. Mine shout for the electric fence to be moved, then give up and go back to the short nearly non-existent stuff. And they are sucklers in good condition, it is hard to believe. For sure we are going to be feeding more straw in the winter, they clearly don't need as much haylage as they make out they do. Good point about hot weather too, a lot of time spent lying dozing or chewing.

 

[Grassman]

Yes, 4x4's about a half mile down the road and pick up and load ourselves from the field. Sorry @Goweresque but I think a rise of 25% is taking the p*ss, especially after prices already going up due to the shortage in Spring. Supply and demand is not at any cost.

As you say there are good years and bad years for grass and everything else, but it seems to escape many people that in the long run things even out. So another of our regular guys is charging the same as last year, and the year before, and the year before. Because he has the big picture where the market AND customers come together. The result is that one has lost our business because he needs to stick the needle in at the first opportunity, and not for the first time.

Thankfully we make our own haylage and only need a small quantity of hay for odds and ends. Not a great deal of money changing hands, it is the principle.

How much can you produce your own for in comparison to buying in?