Old milking parlours for small herds

Ok thankyou and well done.

I work on one farm where they are loosed housed.Always mastitis and i hate mastitis.

I was going to suggest to them about using cubicle lime on the straw area.Do use it everywhere on the straw?And do you apply it?Product?
sorry for not answering but i have been out with the plough ! anyway the cows shed / we use whatever wynnstay sell i think it's £4 a bag we put it on the concrete then blow the straw around . we do cull quite hard for mastitis as we always have replacements as i think its the best way to solve the problem ... i always think its better to walk a cow off than drag her up the knackerman's ramp !
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
sorry for not answering but i have been out with the plough ! anyway the cows shed / we use whatever wynnstay sell i think it's £4 a bag we put it on the concrete then blow the straw around . we do cull quite hard for mastitis as we always have replacements as i think its the best way to solve the problem ... i always think its better to walk a cow off than drag her up the knackerman's ramp !
with the decline of holstien in our herd, one of the things we expected to change, was the knackerman, not that he comes a lot, but no, hasn't changed much, the 'accident' side, won't change, but the cow side we thought would, not really though, what has changed, is the age of cow, we have 8/9/10 calvers about, and that age, is the problem, nice to see cows last to that age though. The other problem with xbreds, bloody things will struggle, and struggle, rather than 'stay down' like a hol !
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
with the decline of holstien in our herd, one of the things we expected to change, was the knackerman, not that he comes a lot, but no, hasn't changed much, the 'accident' side, won't change, but the cow side we thought would, not really though, what has changed, is the age of cow, we have 8/9/10 calvers about, and that age, is the problem, nice to see cows last to that age though. The other problem with xbreds, bloody things will struggle, and struggle, rather than 'stay down' like a hol !
Knacker man depresses me! I see it as a fail.

Comes here far more than he use to, but less in percentage terms since we have doubled the cow numbers.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Knacker man depresses me! I see it as a fail.

Comes here far more than he use to, but less in percentage terms since we have doubled the cow numbers.
it is a fail, but we all get them, but a xcow going having down 6+ lactations, is better than a hol, having done 2 or 3 lactations, could be classed as a 'success', at least the x covered cost of rearing ! The other 'bad' point about x's, is they have a huge will to live, and if going 'down' will struggle and struggle to get up, hol will just stay there ! till you sort them out.
Been having a browse on UK sires, they have fr bulls available born in the 70/80's, its interesting to compare, what was probably the top bulls of the day, to the bulls of today, and see how far breeding has changed the breed.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
I find the knackerman a catch 22, I hate seeing them but I also hate getting rid of old cows and the more old cows you have the more likely you are to see the knackerman ☹
By that time you hope they owe you nothing.

18 year old here was shot on farm. Only reason, didn't want her to go through the stress of travelling and slaughterhouse.
 

LTH

Member
Livestock Farmer
If your not bothered by the knackerman coming, it’s obviously something which happens too often. No one can help accidents, but if your breeding a cow which can’t manage your system or any system then it’s a problem. Shouldn’t be having to shoot young cows for going down and not getting up
 

Whitewalker

Member
I think if you put less stress on the cows and they can carry flesh as a backup then your in a better position. Thankfully we haven’t put any down in a fair few years but it does always seem like failure when we do and guilt when selling them but if they are hitting the teens of years and always been productive and well looked after then it’s the best you can do
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
that's always been an advantage with small herds, you have more time to 'moolycoddle' individual cows, big herds just have to much to do, not a criticism, just fact. 1200 cow herd close by, just lost it's new cowman, 1 week, and the several prior to him, never stayed long either. What is the point, of overworking yourself, and staff like that. We have been helping a friend move farms, 250 cows were left up here, under a 'good' herd manager, for 3 three months, what a mess, p/ports don't match breed/sex for calves, load not i/c that should be, feet....Cant really blame friend, he's had to sort out 500 milkers at new, try and sell 550, the 250 are the last, clear out 1 farm, and sort this unit out
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
with the decline of holstien in our herd, one of the things we expected to change, was the knackerman, not that he comes a lot, but no, hasn't changed much, the 'accident' side, won't change, but the cow side we thought would, not really though, what has changed, is the age of cow, we have 8/9/10 calvers about, and that age, is the problem, nice to see cows last to that age though. The other problem with xbreds, bloody things will struggle, and struggle, rather than 'stay down' like a hol !
I think this probably shows you've taken your replacement to low.
We all get knackerman cows but perhaps if you were slightly more selective at service you could prevent some of these and as @LTH has said earlier walk more of them up the ramp.
A high replacement rate is a bad thing but aiming for the lowest levels will bring its own problems.
I'm happy to sit in the 20-25% zone and hope to be able to selectively cull on yield and risk at next lactation.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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