Wolds Beef
Member
Timeline of a Pedigree Lincoln Red!! Born 11.15am Up 11.30am Sucking with no assistance by 13.15pm. Cost effective calving!!
WB
WB
Why did it take it so long to suck?Timeline of a Pedigree Lincoln Red!! Born 11.15am Up 11.30am Sucking with no assistance by 13.15pm. Cost effective calving!!
WB
Bad mother, that's the LR out the window for meMother is heifer and kept presenting the wrong end!!
WB
Not sure why we have more passengers. Our cows are either rearing calves or back in calf so all doing a job . Calf all year round cos I've always done it and it suits me .Thanks for detailed explanation of you system. Is the main reason you calve all year round because you want to sell cattle all year. That system is “normally” inefficient as it tend to have more passengers and harder to feed the cows making it more expensive. Do you have any costings for the cows?
We found that we coukd buy in weaned 'bucket ' calves for around £350 to £375 at 4 to 5 mths old . Got a good supplier . We go to his yard and pick out what we want and he delivers them . Usually an equal mix of steers and heifers .why have you switched to weaned calves out of interest and roughly how much do they cost?
I'm guessing @Farmer Fin is suggesting that AYR calving gives scope to carry passengers because there aren't as many deadlines to meet.Not sure why we have more passengers. Our cows are either rearing calves or back in calf so all doing a job . Calf all year round cos I've always done it and it suits me .
Don t bother with costings. I seem to do alright and I don't think i can do it any cheaper without compromising the quality of the calves .
OMG stupid too, unbelievable!!No!! Not a bad mother just a stupid Heifer!. I would guess what ever breed you would get that.
WB
Never seen a veg farmer almost kill himself with work trying to save his stock from slow death either. Ground conditions aren't generally the problem, hypothermia and or starvation are the bothers when things go really wrong.
No official calving index but just went through my records and over the last 6 yrs all my cows have consistently calved within 12 months of previous calving . ... having said that I keep a very strict record on when cows are bulling and if they are seen bulling a third time then they are removed from the bull and put into the cull field, though this is very rare ,and immediately replaced with another in calf cow which will be purchased from one of the local markets or off SML.I'm guessing @Farmer Fin is suggesting that AYR calving gives scope to carry passengers because there aren't as many deadlines to meet.
In the system you describe it's not really difficult to have all cows either carrying or rearing a calf, as long as they are served before weaning. Which should be easy considering they always have access to the bull, which makes getting a barren cow quite difficult.
Do you know what your calving index is?
Don't you get heifer calves served with the bulls and entire calves running with them?
Don't you find yourself handling cattle a lot, if you're calving all the time you'll be weaning all the time, pd'ing etc.No official calving index but just went through my records and over the last 6 yrs all my cows have consistently calved within 12 months of previous calving . ... having said that I keep a very strict record on when cows are bulling and if they are seen bulling a third time then they are removed from the bull and put into the cull field, though this is very rare ,and immediately replaced with another in calf cow which will be purchased from one of the local markets or off SML.
All bull calves are weaned at 6 mths or very close to and shut inside and then go onto a rolled Barley mix. Which I grow myself . Heifers go inside for 3 weeks and then out onto another farm .
Is that just below, or just above the soft spot you have for stabilisers?Yes, of course I am, I have a soft spot for the LR. Good cattle.
Weaning calves is easy . Shut them in the creep feeder when they go in, back up with trailer and take off to shed at farm . All my cattle are fed out of a bag with a bit of rolled barley dribbled along the ground at least 3 times a week purely for the reason of cattle management . You only you have to stand at the gate and rattle a bag and they come running . I have purpose built holding pens between some fields where I can easily get cattle in just by following a bag .Don't you find yourself handling cattle a lot, if you're calving all the time you'll be weaning all the time, pd'ing etc.
Don't mean to question, I'm just used to doing everything at once, so I'm curious.