"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..

[clod hopper]

Could this be part of the reason for poor longevity in dairy cattle?

Yes a small part. There's a relation between very high milk production and fertility which is the main reason . The is a lot of fertility hormones used. Other things like lameness and mastitis. A dairy cow has much more stress than a sucker

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Yesterday I had a 6 month (one of the four I bought in the spring) bottle-fed calf down on his side all bloated. pear on the left side, apple on the right, when seen from behind.It was abig pork delivery day, I couldn’t get him back to the barn for numerous reasons, so I just walked him, and then my husband took over. Every 15 minutes or so. In the evening he finally put his head down and started to eat. The vet said it was frosty bloat. Today it is 23C - go figure. A group of troublemakers, including the 4 had gotten between two electric wires, set up for the next few days rations, away from the hay, and stuffed themselves with frosted grass. I will keep an eye on him, add some ACV to the water.Any other tips?

If he goes big again, get a bottle of beer, or fizz, and drench him with it (straight from the bottle) and the bubbles will collapse the froth so the gas trapped can escape.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I always assumed it’s a factor. I don’t have lots of experience with dairy cattle however from what I’ve heard ulcers are fairly common. (We never had ulcer issues in beef cattle)

Ulcers would be a symptom of rumen pH.

No idea what the average dairy cows liver looks like.

Not good, usually.

Down here the cirrhosis on livers is pretty much a given, free ammonia in the system from a diet that's almost always high protein - basically you couldn't get more protein into an NZ dairy cow unless you fed it meat, herbivores don't have an endocrine system designed to deal with "spring grass that lasts 10 months a year" so it drastically shortens lifespan.
Basically, when they're killing dairy cows, 95% of livers will be condemned

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Are the bottle calves more troublesome? Everyone pushes them around, they’re kind of scrawny, all four have funny shaped middles, and they don’t seem to thrive like the mother-fed calves. No surprise there. . However, I have seen photos of @Kiwi Pete ‘sbottle fed calves and they grow like gangbusters. What’s the trick?

Mimic their life with a dam - they will pick at grass from early on, so let them have fresh grass!
Don't artificial them too much, just because we can doesn't mean we should.
One of the big problems calf-rearers have is they are scared of "germs", are cows scared of germs?
Do cows use disinfectant?

Epigenetics are a major but unseen part of development, a calf born in its environment will suit its environment, because when it comes out it is colonised by microbes from the soil and mum's saliva and dung etc. If you take that away, then the risk of issues increase.
If the cow dies during birth, the calf will still spend a day there, that time with mum is all important IME; I just ask the dairy farmer what time of day the calf was born as I know they collect them in early afternoon.
So if it's a SP keeper, then they'll leave them on mum til the next afternoon instead of hurrying - both us, and Nick and Liv (their BIL and sister) have noticed the difference in calves that have not been pulled off mum too soon. Thus the relationship is a vital element IMO

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Nice little heifer from a nice little heifer.
Typical skinny rat of a Hereford @Blaithin

 

[Henarar]

View attachment 910115View attachment 910116
Nice little heifer from a nice little heifer.
Typical skinny rat of a Hereford @Blaithin

Heifer hardly looks like it needs feeding up

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Heifer hardly looks like it needs feeding up

I've been apologising for her, "oh, she'll look a lot skinnier when she has her calf"
we were leaning on the gate wondering if she was going to clean or calve again certainly in fair condition

 

[Henarar]

I've been apologising for her, "oh, she'll look a lot skinnier when she has her calf"
we were leaning on the gate wondering if she was going to clean or calve again certainly in fair condition

as long as she milks the calf well and she looks like she will its better they have something to fall back on, might be a hard summer yet.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

as long as she milks the calf well and she looks like she will its better they have something to fall back on, might be a hard summer yet.

It may be a tough enough week! Check this out:

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Hence... panic stations

Cow/calf pairs and lambers indoors for the next few days.

 

[Henarar]

It may be a tough enough week! Check this out:

Beast from the south
Batten down the hatches

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Garden ornaments FML

I always said I wouldn't be one "of those people"

Lawn / garden has had about 55 days recovery I think. Or 65. I don't have it on the chart, but I did have some good sheltered areas setaside for the spring equinox.
"Last 2 weekends of September" my old man claimed to hardly ever fail to deliver crud weather, not proven him wrong yet. This storm (see above video) looks like a real lamb-killer TBH

 

[texas pete]

Hence... panic stationsView attachment 910118
Cow/calf pairs and lambers indoors for the next few days.

Lambing sheep indoors in NZ, who'd have thought it...Do you want me to get DHL to send you a couple of hundred sheep hurdles and plastic water buckets so you can make a proper job of it? I can even supply string to tie everything together.

Seriously though, it looks a badun, damn good job you have that shed as contingency, just have to accept the losses otherwise.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Lambing sheep indoors in NZ, who'd have thought it...Do you want me to get DHL to send you a couple of hundred sheep hurdles and plastic water buckets so you can make a proper job of it? I can even supply string to tie everything together.

Seriously though, it looks a badun, damn good job you have that shed as contingency, just have to accept the losses otherwise.

Yes - we're extremely shelter-deficient here, especially anywhere from due south around to the northeast. I can hear them pushing lambs out every time I open the fireplace to put wood on it's going to be a clusterf**k of Labour-gov't proportions - but it beats picking up dead'uns

 

[texas pete]

Yes - we're extremely shelter-deficient here, especially anywhere from due south around to the northeast. I can hear them pushing lambs out every time I open the fireplace to put wood on it's going to be a clusterfudge of Labour-gov't proportions - but it beats picking up dead'uns

Not much between you and the Antarctic really is there.

They wouldn't want to be inside lambing by the fire anyway, they'd get too hot.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I think we're about 2000 miles off the edge of the ice sheet. Certainly in summer, the glow from down there at night makes it seem close.


We're protected from the prevailing SW pretty well, the hills that way are like rows of crocodiles and either tear the guts out of the clouds or glides them offshore. But when it comes from a southerly direction..... only 10 metre swells and a few seagulls for shelter

edit, 1600 miles

 

[JohnGalway]

Hence... panic stationsView attachment 910118
Cow/calf pairs and lambers indoors for the next few days.

Needs must. Good to have the facility when you need it. Do you have much tree cover on the place Pete? Buying 250 in November for deliver in Feb, going to plant them in some pretty extreme places. The eventual little microclimates should be awesome for whatever critters I have on the place by then.

 

[Woolless]

Yes - we're extremely shelter-deficient here, especially anywhere from due south around to the northeast. I can hear them pushing lambs out every time I open the fireplace to put wood on it's going to be a clusterfudge of Labour-gov't proportions - but it beats picking up dead'uns

You'll know that it's been a proper lambing when one drowns in a bucket

 

[Crofter64]

View attachment 910115View attachment 910116
Nice little heifer from a nice little heifer.
Typical skinny rat of a Hereford @Blaithin

Looking good there Pete! Too bad she had to calve right into a manure pat.
I had a heifer calve last week that I thought was three weeks early, but its just that the A.I. caught the earlier try. Nice little Red Devon calf ( Australian genetics ):

I was thinking of not castrating him and letting him breed my little herd, including his mother, before sending him on . The A.I. people just cancelled their afternoon visits, so if you don’t see heats by 8 am you have to wait till the next
day
I have a few more coming from similar genetics( different bulls, same breed) but this mother and calf are the direction I would like to go going forward.(mother is red Angus out of a Milking shorthorn/ jersey cross cow.) :Milky enough to feed two calves, beefy enough to finish well. Good dispositions.

 

[Blaithin]

View attachment 910115View attachment 910116
Nice little heifer from a nice little heifer.
Typical skinny rat of a Hereford @Blaithin

Hereford calves I can somewhat stomach. The adults are shat.

Look at that udder! She’s not going to be able to keep up with that calf in a month. Going to produce like a sh!t Hereford and put all her food on her ass until it pushes an eyeball out