Low fpd

[Jdunn55]

I am.
if I’m right it will be obvious.
We had a bacto problem for a month last yr. in Desperation i milked without it for one milking and although I had an issue cool8ng the milk before the lorry came(maybe speak to them first) it was well worth it my bacto halved and my sanity was saved.
Its certainly one thing I would be trying to eliminate beforegetting into conspiracy theories.

Hmm, might well try it but my last few bactos have been 9, 12, 11, 19 and 10 which I think is fairly good, I'm willing to try anything though, I've only just started and really dont need to be upsetting my milk buyer

 

[Jdunn55]

From reading the above it almost feels like what they're doing should be illegal, fining us for a problem that isnt a problem based off an inadequate test

Just had a 505 and 507 !
Watching with interest.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

I have really poor access to water when cows come in for milking, there's just one trough they walk past then they're quickly shut away from it. I've never had an fpd issue and it's frequently over 520 which would appear impossible from the table above. I've just moved the cake bin out of the yard and I'm going to put a 500g trough in its place. It will be interesting to see if it changes anything.

 

[lazy farmer]

Hmm, might well try it but my last few bactos have been 9, 12, 11, 19 and 10 which I think is fairly good, I'm willing to try anything though, I've only just started and really dont need to be upsetting my milk buyer

My point is tick off the obvious before reaching for the rule book.

 

[betweenthelines]

The legal "test" as per contract states a FPD level.
This is set by the customer, and trading standards.

If the result say FPD is low than extenous water could be present.

It's like saying well the cows milk is natural with her butterfat at 3% no matter what the contract says!

Exactly "Could" -the test is at best inconclusive, at worst, it's allowing a fraud to be committed against farmers.

As for your last comment, I'd rather trust a cow than a contract to decide what is natural!

 

[celtis man]

Thanks everyone, nice to know it's not just me doing something wrong! Once theyve been milked theres plenty of troughs for the number I'm milking, any more and I might have to look into getting some more.

As for the field theres only a trough in the gateway as it is normally just a silage field with maybe some heifers running on the whole field later in the year. This could obviously be improved if necessary but as its normally a silage field I'm hesitant to spend too much money having said that I am considering atleast a second trough.

I've just come off the phone with my milk buyer who has said theres nothing they can do in regards to waiving the fee but in fairness she is trying to help me. Shes suggested doing more sampling at different times of the day and doing more samples as well as before and after milking etc and I suggested doing samples straight from the cow too which shes fine with. My nutritionist has suggested that it may have come from a lack of chloride in the diet and could try adding granular sodium chloride in addition to the rock salt to try and improve things.

My only other suggestion is changing milking times quite drastically. Instead of milking at 6am and 4pm like present, milking at 9am and 9pm but bringing them in earlier and letting them just eat some silage and drink in the yard for 2-3 hours in order to let any water they drink 'settle' if you see what I mean? Would this work?!
Thanks again everyone

I have been reading your plight about fpd , we bring ours in for afternoon tea of beet and nice silage too top up before milking as there isn't much grass about ! normally about 2hrs ahead of evening milking and maybe a hour in the morning just for silage . i do wonder if this dry weather has had a weird effect. our fpd was 515 on last test but our urea is low at 58 but our fat is 4.3

 

[Bramble]

I have been reading your plight about fpd , we bring ours in for afternoon tea of beet and nice silage too top up before milking as there isn't much grass about ! normally about 2hrs ahead of evening milking and maybe a hour in the morning just for silage . i do wonder if this dry weather has had a weird effect. our fpd was 515 on last test but our urea is low at 58 but our fat is 4.3

Is your milk urea level really 58? Do different companies report it differently? Always been told by our nutritionist it should be around 0.3, try and keep it between 0.25 and 0.35. Even if the decimal point has moved a couple of places for reporting reasons it looks quite high

 

[sjt01]

Is your milk urea level really 58? Do different companies report it differently? Always been told by our nutritionist it should be around 0.3, try and keep it between 0.25 and 0.35. Even if the decimal point has moved a couple of places for reporting reasons it looks quite high

NML report urea as mg/l, giving normal values between 100 and 300

 

[Sid]

Is your milk urea level really 58? Do different companies report it differently? Always been told by our nutritionist it should be around 0.3, try and keep it between 0.25 and 0.35. Even if the decimal point has moved a couple of places for reporting reasons it looks quite high

0.3 would be 300 on that scale.

Last tests here were 99,96,117,75

 

[Bramble]

NML report urea as mg/l, giving normal values between 100 and 300

NML are reporting mine as a %, so the same company reports differently depending on milk buyer. Confusing

 

[In the pit]

Before posting the question on here did the op go through everything what could possibly be putting water in the tank??
I have been at it for the last few weeks with low fpd and found a knacked plate cooler,so new plate cooler and hopefully problem solved

 

[Princess Pooper]

NML are reporting mine as a %, so the same company reports differently depending on milk buyer. Confusing

Same here, our column has % at the top, and our value is 0.023, so if anyone asked I would say 0.023.

 

[organicguy]

I have really poor access to water when cows come in for milking, there's just one trough they walk past then they're quickly shut away from it. I've never had an fpd issue and it's frequently over 520 which would appear impossible from the table above. I've just moved the cake bin out of the yard and I'm going to put a 500g trough in its place. It will be interesting to see if it changes anything.

Ours FPD struggles to get above 515-518 even in the winter.

 

[Sandpit Farm]

There was a link in this week's forage for Knowledge email https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-libra...49f&esid=01d0a199-9da9-eb11-9442-002248001205
May help some

 

[betweenthelines]

Brilliant, a report that cites 5 other possible causes of low FPD than adulteration, but tells you to check for adulteration first, and does nothing to test the validity of the test!

Why do farmers put up with being treated as automatically being treated as guilty, even when the test itself is discredited?

 

[westwards]

Brilliant, a report that cites 5 other possible causes of low FPD than adulteration, but tells you to check for adulteration first, and does nothing to test the validity of the test!

Why do farmers put up with being treated as automatically being treated as guilty, even when the test itself is discredited?

Its funny I had a warning about a low FPD at the start of the month and 2 days later a wonky BF sample ,our BF is steady at 4.3/4.4 and I get one 2days after the low FPD at 3.42 BF
Why is it NML can make mistakes with BF/ Prot/ cc and bacto but they are never wrong with water or antibiotics ? and you are guilty until proven innocent .

 

[Jdunn55]

To say I'm p*ssed is an understatement. So after having fpd's varying between 504 and 507 for the last 10 days, the cows came into a field closer to the parlour for the last 2 days to eat it down ready for spraying for turnips. My nml text came through this morning and fpd has shot up to 511 again! They're back out in the far field again so will be interesting to see what fpd does now!

In my view fpd is punishing me for letting my cows drink which is either a welfare issue or an inadequate test and I shall be explaining that to my milk buyer once my red tractor paperwork is sent off!

 

[lazy farmer]

To say I'm p*ssed is an understatement. So after having fpd's varying between 504 and 507 for the last 10 days, the cows came into a field closer to the parlour for the last 2 days to eat it down ready for spraying for turnips. My nml text came through this morning and fpd has shot up to 511 again! They're back out in the far field again so will be interesting to see what fpd does now!

In my view fpd is punishing me for letting my cows drink which is either a welfare issue or an inadequate test and I shall be explaining that to my milk buyer once my red tractor paperwork is sent off!

And if I was your milk Buyer and you spouted off nonsense like that to me I would reply by saying if you cared that much about animal welfare you would be Getting extra water Out to that far paddock

 

[Jdunn55]

And if I was your milk Buyer and you spotted of nonsense like that to me I will reply by saying if you cared that much about animal welfare you would be Getting extra water Out to that far paddock

They have water out there! They drink, I see them walking back and forth to the trough and even bought them up at lunch yesterday to the trough to eat silage and make sure they drank some water, very few were thirsty! It's the walk into the yard that does it, it makes them thirsty, it doesnt seem fair for me to then deprive them of water when they're thirsty!

 

[lazy farmer]

They have water out there! They drink, I see them walking back and forth to the trough and even bought them up at lunch yesterday to the trough to eat silage and make sure they drank some water, very few were thirsty! It's the walk into the yard that does it, it makes them thirsty, it doesnt seem fair for me to then deprive them of water when they're thirsty!

How far are they walking ?