Once a day milking

[Beef farmer]

Only problem is our water system is split in 2, which I suppose we could overcome but one line also spurs to the garden. Would a few extra minerals be good for mothers flowers?

May give mother a new lease of life too.

 

[onesiedale]

I was looking for some advice perhaps @simplesimon, @onesiedale or anyone else could help me with. I was going to start a new thread but this one has already answered many of my questions. Seriously considering milking OAD through til about august.

Bit of background, 230 spring calving cows all b & w. Last few years fed 1.1 - 1.4t conc and produced 480-500 kg MS , 6400-6700l. Milk buyer implemented an AB pricing structure last year which gives a daily a allowance, this is to be cut by 20% from April 1st along with what looks like a very measly b price. Simply put anything over 15l a cow will receive a b price. Initial thoughts were to sell cows but I've spent the last 5 years building numbers as a closed herd and improving the farm as we went plus you can only sell them once. In addition, chap that was doing half the milking turned up Monday lunchtime to say he didn't want the work any more.

I've read a lot of papers on OAD this past week and come to conclusion that if we lost 30% production, cut feed from 4 kg to 1kg, didn't replace the labour and b price was 9ppl we'd be in the same place before any savings in parlour running costs etc.

Disadvantages I've identified are
1. SCC is likely to double initially, last 2 tests 85 and 73, milk recording on Tuesday so could identify possible problems and keep them out the tank in transition
2. Milk contract is capped on constituents hence why I think revert to TAD from august.
3. Negative carryover effect on production when reverting to TAD.

My questions are
1. How to mitigate disadvantages set out.
2. Is it best to move now while yield is still rising or wait til cows fully out as still housed majority of day due to ground conditions.
3. Any reasons I should forget the idea and carry on as we are.

Sorry for the long winded post but it's been going round and round my head all week, it's been good to write it down.

Hello @Walwyn , looks like you've put plenty of thought and research into this already.
To answer your Q's;
1.1, your SCC will be less of an issue than perhaps you are worried about. Your current tests show that you are in control of issues here,
1.2 Take your point about the idea of reverting to TAD in August. That time of year your solids on OAD would be way over your cap and the feeling of giving away those solids wont be a good one. However it is one way of mitigating the cap. My thoughts though are that you would be reluctant to go back to TAD if all has gone well for the cows through the summer. Some cows may not suit the OAD routine and could well be dry by August. Hopefully not too many!
1.3 You would probably find the advantages of going back to TAD quite marginal.

2. If you're going to make the move then you really want to be at least making the plans now to get the cows out on grass as soon as possible and be cutting the cake down. The biggest driver of profit for the OAD herd is grazed grass. The more grass you can utilize the better, and the cows will be better and more settled for it too.

3. Cant think of reasons to forget the idea. As with all system changes, it will be important to crunch the numbers and then to make sure that they are monitored throughout the season. You seem to be a good way there with your spring calving herd. Shame about the solids cap. However, with OAD solids in future it would be more attractive a proposition to another manufacturing buyer.

When we moved to OAD it was many of the simple things that came to the front that made the figures work. Cows more content, hardly any vet visits, fertility to the point that we now only serve for 16 days to get all the replacements we need, the rest are beef. Not relying on as many outside inputs, (no reps call here now because they know we dont need to buy anything!). Making much less silage.

All these things do make a difference and it becomes important when you want to be able to ride out the troughs of the volatile cycles in the current climate.

Any more questions, then keep them coming. Its always good to challenge the system.

 

[Sparkymark]

This has been an interesting topic.
As far as genetics go, is it only Jersey crosses that are most suitable for OAD or would other breeds work such as the Scandinavian Reds etc?

 

[Oilseed and Pulse Trader]

This has been an interesting topic.
As far as genetics go, is it only Jersey crosses that are most suitable for OAD or would other breeds work such as the Scandinavian Reds etc?

I hear Montbeliardes are supposed to be quite suitable.

 

[Sparkymark]

I have ProCross cows (Holstein x Viking Red x Montbeliarde). How would they do?
I don't think i'd switch from TAD but just curious.

 

[Oilseed and Pulse Trader]

I have ProCross cows (Holstein x Viking Red x Montbeliarde). How would they do?
I don't think i'd switch from TAD but just curious.

Jersey instead of holstein in the mix would be more suitable!

 

[trexcf]

Hello,
Been lurking on here for about a year and never posted but here goes, what would peoples opinion on going oad on a liquid milk contract be? Already spring block calving 200 cows, relatively low yielding around 6500l but have scope to reduce costs labour and concentrates massively, currently milking around 9 hours a day in late spring so would have huge savings here. Would it be wise or a stupid idea?

 

[onesiedale]

Hello,
Been lurking on here for about a year and never posted but here goes, what would peoples opinion on going oad on a liquid milk contract be? Already spring block calving 200 cows, relatively low yielding around 6500l but have scope to reduce costs labour and concentrates massively, currently milking around 9 hours a day in late spring so would have huge savings here. Would it be wise or a stupid idea?

Would be a good way of reducing your costs further but you will need to do some serious number crunching to see if it works on liquid contract. Your litres will be significantly down and you will be effectively giving away solids.
Meanwhile, start looking around for a solids contract.( easier said than done)

 

[jimmer]

how many grazing type cows could i graze on 120 acres , split into paddocks , milked once a day ? no concentrate

is 15l /day average a reasonable expectation for the first 150 days ? no concentrate

what would i expect a xbred to do constituent wise ? no concentrate

cheers

150 days of grazing on this land , which is good permanent pasture

 

[simplesimon]

how many grazing type cows could i graze on 120 acres , split into paddocks , milked once a day ? no concentrate

is 15l /day average a reasonable expectation for the first 150 days ? no concentrate

what would i expect a xbred to do constituent wise ? no concentrate

cheers

150 days of grazing on this land , which is good permanent pasture

Whats up @jimmer , do you need a oad herd to subsidize your high yielders?

 

[jimmer]

Whats up @jimmer , do you need a oad herd to subsidize your high yielders?

nah
got 120 acres of grazeable grass going begging
b litres not an issue for us
any lift in constituents will be win win

 

[More to life]

how many grazing type cows could i graze on 120 acres , split into paddocks , milked once a day ? no concentrate

is 15l /day average a reasonable expectation for the first 150 days ? no concentrate

what would i expect a xbred to do constituent wise ? no concentrate

cheers

150 days of grazing on this land , which is good permanent pasture

So you mean extra cows bought in?

 

[More to life]

Assuming it will support a 21 day round 170 cows or 200 brown ones

 

[jimmer]

So you mean extra cows bought in?

yeah , was thinking 100 , this would lessen the fert inputs