Non return rates

[Davy]

I'd rather feed a bit more than hope megalac fixes the problem. Your asking them to make 24 litres off grazed grass which is too much work for them during serving.

 

[Headless chicken]

What rain? In 6 weeks of ai we have had only 2 proper wet days

This year certainly but we’ve had it in the past when it’s been miserable as sin

 

[Headless chicken]

@Grassman247 do you work with a nurtionist? Or atleast the company you buy cake from?

 

[som farmer]

having swopped to spr calving this year, one of the 'big' suprises we have found, is that, some of these xbrid grazing cows will give a lot of milk, 30-40 litres, it is asking an awful lot to get those cows, back I/c on 4 kg cake, what would you feed your autumn herd for that yield ? and you have good fertility there. spr calving herds seem to go, either of two ways, you have the diehard, don't feed f all cake and yields off 4/5000 litres, to herds achieving 7000 liters+. at what point does it become a 'not' spring grazing herd? we don't feed any buffer, but our higher yielders are getting 7kg of conc.
we don't intend to start calving till 1 march, so while we have achieved 70% submission rate, we don't know repeats yet.
but if you watch the protein on your individual cows, it would appear to show, those with low p are the ones that seem to have fert problems (most of these have been carried over the winter)

 

[Grassman247]

@Grassman247 do you work with a nurtionist? Or atleast the company you buy cake from?

We have a consultant that we use 4 times a year but rarely get nutritional advice, too many people trying to sell you something these days and if it makes no difference they don’t give you back the money you’ve spent. Would rather push on and work harder at doing a better job ourselves

 

[Grassman247]

having swopped to spr calving this year, one of the 'big' suprises we have found, is that, some of these xbrid grazing cows will give a lot of milk, 30-40 litres, it is asking an awful lot to get those cows, back I/c on 4 kg cake, what would you feed your autumn herd for that yield ? and you have good fertility there. spr calving herds seem to go, either of two ways, you have the diehard, don't feed f all cake and yields off 4/5000 litres, to herds achieving 7000 liters+. at what point does it become a 'not' spring grazing herd? we don't feed any buffer, but our higher yielders are getting 7kg of conc.
we don't intend to start calving till 1 march, so while we have achieved 70% submission rate, we don't know repeats yet.
but if you watch the protein on your individual cows, it would appear to show, those with low p are the ones that seem to have fert problems (most of these have been carried over the winter)

Autumn herd would probably be around the 6-7 kg mark at serving, submission rates have been very good at around 90% and same with the heats, our second year using patches and it’s been the first year that we’ve had very few cows with short day repeats indicating that heat detection is spot on.

Possibly we need to feed more cake during service period to keep the energy levels up

 

[lazy farmer]

As the old saying goes, milk in the tank,money in the bank

Well not all old sayings are true.....

 

[lazy farmer]

Autumn herd would probably be around the 6-7 kg mark at serving, submission rates have been very good at around 90% and same with the heats, our second year using patches and it’s been the first year that we’ve had very few cows with short day repeats indicating that heat detection is spot on.

Possibly we need to feed more cake during service period to keep the energy levels up

More cake would mean more milk.

 

[Princess Pooper]

having swopped to spr calving this year, one of the 'big' suprises we have found, is that, some of these xbrid grazing cows will give a lot of milk, 30-40 litres, it is asking an awful lot to get those cows, back I/c on 4 kg cake, what would you feed your autumn herd for that yield ? and you have good fertility there. spr calving herds seem to go, either of two ways, you have the diehard, don't feed f all cake and yields off 4/5000 litres, to herds achieving 7000 liters+. at what point does it become a 'not' spring grazing herd? we don't feed any buffer, but our higher yielders are getting 7kg of conc.
we don't intend to start calving till 1 march, so while we have achieved 70% submission rate, we don't know repeats yet.
but if you watch the protein on your individual cows, it would appear to show, those with low p are the ones that seem to have fert problems (most of these have been carried over the winter)

One of the earliest adopters of the 'NZ system' that I know of lives in West Wales, their family moved to block spring calving of grazing rats decades ago. They learned fairly early on that being a purist for the sake of it was a hiding to nothing and after trying it with no cake found that was not the way to go. I'm not sure how much cake they feed, not a great deal, certainly not up to 7kg, but they found it essential for fertility and that is the most important attribute for them. They are highly successful and now run thousands of cows across multiple units. They stress the importance of doing what is right for your cows, your farm situation and your own aspirations rather than sticking rigidly to some system suggested by consultants.

 

[Grassman247]

One of the earliest adopters of the 'NZ system' that I know of lives in West Wales, their family moved to block spring calving of grazing rats decades ago. They learned fairly early on that being a purist for the sake of it was a hiding to nothing and after trying it with no cake found that was not the way to go. I'm not sure how much cake they feed, not a great deal, certainly not up to 7kg, but they found it essential for fertility and that is the most important attribute for them. They are highly successful and now run thousands of cows across multiple units. They stress the importance of doing what is right for your cows, your farm situation and your own aspirations rather than sticking rigidly to some system suggested by consultants.

I think I know who you mean and they were one of the farms we visited in 98 when we converted. Nothing wrong with taking a good idea and evolving it to suit the country. After all we don’t live in NZ

 

[pappuller]

Well not all old sayings are true.....

Why not ? Unless your paid in cash for the white stuff [emoji85]

 

[lazy farmer]

Why not ? Unless your paid in cash for the white stuff [emoji85]

Much prefer the 80/20 rule and that includes my cows.

 

[Grassman247]

Why not ? Unless your paid in cash for the white stuff [emoji85]

Milk from forage is where the main profit is, anything extra is a bonus, has taken consultants about 15 years to realise that after spending so many years slating grazing cows

 

[pappuller]

Milk from forage is where the main profit is, anything extra is a bonus, has taken consultants about 15 years to realise that after spending so many years slating grazing cows

Fully agree with your first statement, wouldn't know about your second. Don't do consultants.

 

[pappuller]

Much prefer the 80/20 rule and that includes my cows.

You mean the Pareto principle I presume ?

 

[pappuller]

You mean the Pareto principle I presume ?

One thing I can remember from my o level economics [emoji23]

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Tis a tricky balancing act at middling yields.
Not quite enough to warrant buffer and difficult to do off grass.

I'm at low 30's and 6kg at the moment with stale cows. That's about as low as I dare go, maybe I'm missing a trick.

 

[dinderleat]

Tis a tricky balancing act at middling yields.
Not quite enough to warrant buffer and difficult to do off grass.

I'm at low 30's and 6kg at the moment with stale cows. That's about as low as I dare go, maybe I'm missing a trick.

With stale cows !!!!!!!

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Tis a tricky balancing act at middling yields.
Not quite enough to warrant buffer and difficult to do off grass.

I'm at low 30's and 6kg at the moment with stale cows. That's about as low as I dare go, maybe I'm missing a trick.

Barely worth getting out of bed to milk at that level, you might as well just dry off and have a nice holiday.

 

[More to life]

Tis a tricky balancing act at middling yields.
Not quite enough to warrant buffer and difficult to do off grass.

I'm at low 30's and 6kg at the moment with stale cows. That's about as low as I dare go, maybe I'm missing a trick.

@Grassman247 is only feeding for 29gk in energy terms the additional yield must be supported with weight loss and this is at optimum conditions. I’d also suggest NZ genetics are breed to be fertile at half the current yield and would be unproven at 30 plus liters.