Suckler scanning

Beames

Member
Location
South wales
Scanned 15 heifers back in February and had 14/15 in calf all 5-6 months. was feeling generous and gave the heifer another chance. Had the vet check her last weekend as he was on the farm and she is now in calf but a bit fat for my liking.
 

puppet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
sw scotland
Scanned 15 heifers back in February and had 14/15 in calf all 5-6 months. was feeling generous and gave the heifer another chance. Had the vet check her last weekend as he was on the farm and she is now in calf but a bit fat for my liking.
You have a whole winter to starve her
 
Neighbour/ relation is a big finisher, would buy probably 200 feeding cows, would have minimum of 40 calve. A joke. Why people see them as empty? Very unlikely they are scanned, or you would hope not, very unlikely to be seen bulling unless another is and daft farmer sees the one she is riding is bulling as well, best of it he had 2 dairy heifers calve last week, he doesn't want them, rather barren, even though buoyant calf trade will help, but it is poor imo, especially those dairy heifers, such an inexcusable waste.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Neighbour/ relation is a big finisher, would buy probably 200 feeding cows, would have minimum of 40 calve. A joke. Why people see them as empty? Very unlikely they are scanned, or you would hope not, very unlikely to be seen bulling unless another is and daft farmer sees the one she is riding is bulling as well, best of it he had 2 dairy heifers calve last week, he doesn't want them, rather barren, even though buoyant calf trade will help, but it is poor imo, especially those dairy heifers, such an inexcusable waste.

On the plus side, a fresh calved dairy heifer will be worth a lot more that a killing heifer.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Neighbour/ relation is a big finisher, would buy probably 200 feeding cows, would have minimum of 40 calve. A joke. Why people see them as empty? Very unlikely they are scanned, or you would hope not, very unlikely to be seen bulling unless another is and daft farmer sees the one she is riding is bulling as well, best of it he had 2 dairy heifers calve last week, he doesn't want them, rather barren, even though buoyant calf trade will help, but it is poor imo, especially those dairy heifers, such an inexcusable waste.
It would be interesting to know if they had been scanned

Never send a cow on cos its bulling,had a few do that and still be in calf
 

Forever Fendt

Member
Location
Derbyshire
It would be interesting to know if they had been scanned

Never send a cow on cos its bulling,had a few do that and still be in calf
I have one that shows some kind of heat but is always in calf,no matter how big or how small the herd is i think scanning is a valuable management tool,i did read that someone said 90% will get in calf why bother scanning, i don't want to be keeping 10% empty over winter just for the sake of scanning them,Did them in self locking yokes this time it was far easier than crush
 

waterbuffalofarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Penzance
We scanned ours on Wednesday. Only 8-9 out of about 40 animals :( it's terrible tbh. Dunno why they never got in calf. All are starting to get in calf now, due to days shortening and stuff (cycle very similar to sheep) there are 2 however which have been empty in over a year, they calved once, no problems at all and milked well, should have gotten back in calf again. They've been AI'd run with the stock bulls more times than I can say. Kept coming back bulling :( bull is not at fault he's working. Found out other bull wasn't working, so abbatoir for him :) just one of those years I guess. Means we have to start production asap to survive, as won't have much milk until end of next year.....
 
Last edited:
Neighbour/ relation is a big finisher, would buy probably 200 feeding cows, would have minimum of 40 calve. A joke. Why people see them as empty? Very unlikely they are scanned, or you would hope not, very unlikely to be seen bulling unless another is and daft farmer sees the one she is riding is bulling as well, best of it he had 2 dairy heifers calve last week, he doesn't want them, rather barren, even though buoyant calf trade will help, but it is poor imo, especially those dairy heifers, such an inexcusable waste.
Yes, see this on the slaughter line at work. If you follow it up they've often been bought at the mart by a big finisher but some farmer has let them go when they would have been detectably in calf. With good reason in a minority of cases, I suppose? Occasionally, the vet has made a blunder.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Yes, see this on the slaughter line at work. If you follow it up they've often been bought at the mart by a big finisher but some farmer has let them go when they would have been detectably in calf. With good reason in a minority of cases, I suppose? Occasionally, the vet has made a blunder.

I used to have a book called "Basic Butchery of Livestock and Game" written by an American slaughterhouse vet. In it, he says that they would often have cull cows calve in the lairage or on the killing floor. Apparently the resultant calves were colloquially referred to as "Louisiana Swamp Veal".

I once read a book about the Iditarod sled dog race. The musher there said that these calves, and any foetus discovered at the abattoir were not fit for human consumption. So they're ground up and used to feed the sled dogs. The book said a rather coarse grind is used, and it wasn't uncommon to find whole eye balls in the mix.
 

waterbuffalofarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Penzance
That's just completely disgusting! Sorry but this angers me!!!!! An animal heavily in calf should not by any law be sent to the abbatoir. I do however know of one guy who sent a supposed empty cow to abbatoir, they killed her and found out she was a couple of months away from calving... :(
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
That's just completely disgusting! Sorry but this angers me!!!!! An animal heavily in calf should not by any law be sent to the abbatoir. I do however know of one guy who sent a supposed empty cow to abbatoir, they killed her and found out she was a couple of months away from calving... :(

Why?

It's legal to shoot heavily pregnant female deer. Indeed, official advise for muntjac culling is to specifically target obviously pregnant females.
 

waterbuffalofarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Penzance
Why?

It's legal to shoot heavily pregnant female deer. Indeed, official advise for muntjac culling is to specifically target obviously pregnant females.

I just think it's wrong. On both levels tbh. Why deliberately kill a heavily pregnant animal? If you're gonna kill an animal kill one which isn't expecting. It's a waste in my opinion. If the animals only a pregnant to the point the feotus is small, then it's not a problem, if it's pregnant to the halfway point, then that's wrong.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
I just think it's wrong. On both levels tbh. Why deliberately kill a heavily pregnant animal? If you're gonna kill an animal kill one which isn't expecting. It's a waste in my opinion. If the animals only a pregnant to the point the feotus is small, then it's not a problem, if it's pregnant to the halfway point, then that's wrong.

Interesting moral distinction. I guess we all have our own personal lines somewhere (y)
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
Yes, see this on the slaughter line at work. If you follow it up they've often been bought at the mart by a big finisher but some farmer has let them go when they would have been detectably in calf. With good reason in a minority of cases, I suppose? Occasionally, the vet has made a blunder.
We had some scanned in Spring. One old favourite was thin due to having raised twins. We knew she had run on but gave her a chance. Always produced top price calves and never missed before. Vet said she was about 6 weeks but that the calf wasn't "viable". Turned her out and she calved a cracking bull calf within 2 months? Years ago had a bunch of heifers scanned. He wasn't sure on one. (different vet) Said try her again later. No, not in calf. Pre movement tested her for Mart, couldn't take her for various reasons. She started bagging up. Thumped a calf in her and she went on to have a calf every year!
 

waterbuffalofarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Penzance
We had some scanned in Spring. One old favourite was thin due to having raised twins. We knew she had run on but gave her a chance. Always produced top price calves and never missed before. Vet said she was about 6 weeks but that the calf wasn't "viable". Turned her out and she calved a cracking bull calf within 2 months? Years ago had a bunch of heifers scanned. He wasn't sure on one. (different vet) Said try her again later. No, not in calf. Pre movement tested her for Mart, couldn't take her for various reasons. She started bagging up. Thumped a calf in her and she went on to have a calf every year!

That's brilliant news. I love it when animals prove vets wrong lol
 

waterbuffalofarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Penzance
Yes. But could prove costly, or, as has been said, they land up on the killing lines. Vets are not skilled in pd testing as they used to be. IMHO. Rely heavily on scanners. Not their fault. Just the way things have advanced.

I've found that to be true tbh. Some of my cows they said not in calf but bulling, turned out they were just in calf, only just though. There is a point in time tho where you shouldn't scan as the calf has dropped and isn't visible, so you have to scan earlier or at a later stage in pregnancy when it rises again.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

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

  • 1,285
  • 1
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/
Top