All things Dairy

[Jdunn55]

Love a bit of stubbornness, got told that "you won't possibly be able to milk that thing!"

She wAs going to be sold with a calf at foot as a suckled cow, but now I want to prove a point so...

Gertrude the limo and i are just about to enjoy the first round of milking together, if no one heres from me within the next few hours, assume she won the battle
View attachment 1178762View attachment 1178763

I'll take 100 Gertrude's

 

[Jdunn55]

Your still milking at this time of night?!

Yes, involved in 2 car accidents on the way home from market yesterday (not my car but was first car behind both of them) so ahd to stay for police statements etc,

then got back and found the farm in chaos (dont ask)
finished milking at half 1 this morning,
went out at 8 this morning and had a phone call to say my heifers have all escaped across the road

Got them back and the milk tanker turned up
So then had to wait for the tank to wash before I could start milking
Then the bulls escaped (electric fencer was shorting out by slurry pit as the wire had managed to get tangled with the barbed wire...)
Then I had 5 cows calve this afternoon

Am Trying very hard to keep going without breaking down but it seems to be one thing after another this week

 

[som farmer]

I'll take 100 Gertrude's View attachment 1178764

we tried milking our beef cows and heifers when we started milking again.
only succeeded with 1 beef cow, a simx

hfrs, the hereford and AA were quiet enough, one limo was just evil, the other one, you approached with extreme caution, either quiet as a lamb, or the opposite, she didn't last long.

none of them gave much milk, and that was white water, sold them when they calved again, with their calf.

and yet, over time, we have milked an odd beef cow, that yielded 8,000 and good fats, as we have some that haven't.

and don't worry about things going wrong, they only do it to annoy you. And just as well have all the mishaps happen together, then you ( hopefully ) get a nice calm spell !!!!

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

I'll take 100 Gertrude's View attachment 1178764

We had a limo that ended up being an inconclusive on the tb test so ran with the bull. She calved didn’t take the calf so we milked her in the parlour didn’t last long
as she dried herself off after 2 months. . Blues milk better than limos

 

[som farmer]

We had a limo that ended up being an inconclusive on the tb test so ran with the bull. She calved didn’t take the calf so we milked her in the parlour didn’t last long
as she dried herself off after 2 months. . Blues milk better than limos

what shocked me milking those beefers, was constituents, or severe lack of, l just presumed they would be high, definitely not white water, BF in the 2% range, volume half expected to be low.

milked 'reasonably' well for couple of months, then sweet f all. Which would match the calves requirements well, ties in with us in how we rear/wean replacements.

on another thread, talking about age for weaning calves, some saying 6 weeks is far to young, yet that has been the 'accepted' age, as far back as l can remember.

We cut back at 6 weeks, and cut out over the next two. A lot depends on calves themselves, if 'poor' take longer, and how many to wean, to make a pen full, available milk etc.

so, at what age, are dairy farmers weaning their calves off ? Bearing in mind, my previous quote, re lactation/constituent value of sucklers, at what age are they completely 'independent' from milk.

 

[sidjon]

what shocked me milking those beefers, was constituents, or severe lack of, l just presumed they would be high, definitely not white water, BF in the 2% range, volume half expected to be low.

milked 'reasonably' well for couple of months, then sweet f all. Which would match the calves requirements well, ties in with us in how we rear/wean replacements.

on another thread, talking about age for weaning calves, some saying 6 weeks is far to young, yet that has been the 'accepted' age, as far back as l can remember.

We cut back at 6 weeks, and cut out over the next two. A lot depends on calves themselves, if 'poor' take longer, and how many to wean, to make a pen full, available milk etc.

so, at what age, are dairy farmers weaning their calves off ? Bearing in mind, my previous quote, re lactation/constituent value of sucklers, at what age are they completely 'independent' from milk.

All at 110kg+, would be 80% blue and rest Hereford, easiest time to set calf up for life in the first couple of months, never understand why people don't push them hard during milk rearing when the fcr is at its best.

 

[Spudley]

12 weeks here. We aim to calve at 22 months so like to give them the best start possible.

 

[bigw]

Why on earth would you sell cows only to start milking a beef heifer @Jdunn55

 

[Beef farmer]

Love a bit of stubbornness, got told that "you won't possibly be able to milk that thing!"

She wAs going to be sold with a calf at foot as a suckled cow, but now I want to prove a point so...

Gertrude the limo and i are just about to enjoy the first round of milking together, if no one heres from me within the next few hours, assume she won the battle
View attachment 1178762View attachment 1178763

She's worth more with a calf at foot, than your average cow price.....

 

[Jdunn55]

Why on earth would you sell cows only to start milking a beef heifer @Jdunn55

Mother was bought incalf,

she calved,

I went to register her and she was down as male so couldn't,

I sent off passport and then got it back, didn't realise they don't automatically just send out the passport for her (she was all registered within 27 days but over the telephone so is fully registered)

Went to sell her with the rest of the group and realised I didn't have a passport

Sorted that but then tb test ran out and couldn't be bothered to retest 1 animal in truth

6 months later she was retested and pd'd 7-8 months incalf to friesian bull which wasn't surprising as she was running with the bulling heifers of the same age

She's just calved and had a friesian heifer so don't want to leave the heifer on her and can't be bothered to fight with her to get a beef calf on her so will milk and fatten up

She did 15 litres on her first milking

 

[dinderleat]

l wouldn't really like to forecast the trade going forward, this year.

milk price will rise, l think/hope, so some will look to up production, that's the plus side.

the downside is the EA and slurry regs, EA are visiting farms, and telling farmers what they have to do, to continue milking, and stay within the rules. And the cost involved in doing so, are rather large, quoted figures £200,000+. Costs are high, because storage has to be built under their specific standards.

or in other words you cannot just extend/dig a bigger, hole, our spat with EA, they had aerial photo's of our lagoon, which didn't match the actual size of it, on the ground. One couldn't admit we had 'grown' it, ever so slightly , as that had been illegal since 1991, unless you had got p/p. That's a bit of a bugger.

so, if your storage is not sufficient, and you need more, it has to be to EA standard, pre-approved by them, and must meet the current EA regs, plus you need planning permission.

if you are a tenant, on a FBT with a set number of years, you have a choice, pay for it yourself, ask the l/lord to do it, which would mean you pay extra rent, or some other agreement, or you cease milking.

The other way, carry on milking, till told to stop. The EA seem to be rather keen on these regs, pushing the blame for 'polluted' rivers, onto farmers, rather than the water boards illegal release of raw sewage, if they concentrated on that, domestic water bills, would rise sharply.

so, come the autumn, could be a lot of cows on the market, all down to the new regs. Or someone sees some sense, and waters it down somewhat. Not sure l would rely on that.

Has ea actually ever stopped anyone milking cows? Most farmers use it as an excuse. As long as you don’t pollute ea can’t do anything.

 

[som farmer]

Why on earth would you sell cows only to start milking a beef heifer @Jdunn55

went back into milking. We had a suckler herd, money was very tight, so tried the beef hfrs/cows. Anything to put milk back into the tank. They served a purpose.

sold with calves at foot, locally, wasn't many years before he was selling them, to start milking.

now, we are looking at sucklers again, wheel always turns round !

All at 110kg+, would be 80% blue and rest Hereford, easiest time to set calf up for life in the first couple of months, never understand why people don't push them hard during milk rearing when the fcr is at its best.

sheer stupidity, and a waste of money, being tight on young calves, with their feeding, you will never get a better food conversion rate, again, from that calf.

this is why l asked age of weaning. For decades the accepted age for weaning was 6 weeks, and calves survived, and calved at 24 months, so there was nothing wrong with that.

current thinking is longer on milk, probably pushed by those selling powder ! We aim to get them off milk by 8 weeks, if they are eating 2kg+ conc/day, of a proper calf starter conc, not dairy cake. You need to get the rumen functioning, to get the calf motoring.

not sure 12 week weaning is that beneficial to the calf, they may look great, but is it delaying rumen development ? And therefore slowing down growth potential ? The most important thing is to get the rumen functioning asap.

And l have put my tin hat on !

we reduce the amount of water, in the milk feed, not the strength of milk, we feed stored colostrum, which is 'high' quality milk. Reducing fluid intake from milk, starts them off on fresh clean water, and starter ration earlier, no trouble to get to 2kg conc +, nor will anybody find fault with our calves. Real body growth starts when the rumen gets going.

 

[lazy farmer]

Has ea actually ever stopped anyone milking cows? Most farmers use it as an excuse. As long as you don’t pollute ea can’t do anything.

It’s funny how folk feel the need to justify a change of career. If you’ve had enough you’ve had enough there should be no shame in it. Who gives a f**k what your neighbours think.

 

[Ducati899]

went back into milking. We had a suckler herd, money was very tight, so tried the beef hfrs/cows. Anything to put milk back into the tank. They served a purpose.

sold with calves at foot, locally, wasn't many years before he was selling them, to start milking.

now, we are looking at sucklers again, wheel always turns round !

sheer stupidity, and a waste of money, being tight on young calves, with their feeding, you will never get a better food conversion rate, again, from that calf.

this is why l asked age of weaning. For decades the accepted age for weaning was 6 weeks, and calves survived, and calved at 24 months, so there was nothing wrong with that.

current thinking is longer on milk, probably pushed by those selling powder ! We aim to get them off milk by 8 weeks, if they are eating 2kg+ conc/day, of a proper calf starter conc, not dairy cake. You need to get the rumen functioning, to get the calf motoring.

not sure 12 week weaning is that beneficial to the calf, they may look great, but is it delaying rumen development ? And therefore slowing down growth potential ? The most important thing is to get the rumen functioning asap.

And l have put my tin hat on !

we reduce the amount of water, in the milk feed, not the strength of milk, we feed stored colostrum, which is 'high' quality milk. Reducing fluid intake from milk, starts them off on fresh clean water, and starter ration earlier, no trouble to get to 2kg conc +, nor will anybody find fault with our calves. Real body growth starts when the rumen gets going.

Didn’t realise you’d ventured into the milking beef job at some point,every days a school day

 

[dinderleat]

Didn’t realise you’d ventured into the milking beef job at some point,every days a school day

Thought he tells us everyday …..

 

[dinderleat]

Thought he tells us everyday …..

To be fair reckon Som farmer could write a good book/novel

 

[kp_n_plghng]

Som farmer could certainly write a book going on the length of his avg post. Trouble is by the time folk got to chapter 3 and realized it was the same as chapter 1 and 2, that books going in the bin.
Sorry som couldn't resist, but you do repeat yourself old boy

 

[frederick]

Has ea actually ever stopped anyone milking cows? Most farmers use it as an excuse. As long as you don’t pollute ea can’t do anything.

They have threatened to notify red tractor that the farm is not ea compliant and then its red tractors problem to stop the farm milking.

I have had that threat. Post resolution had a long discussion with EA officer about the fact that if they want to stop someone they need to do their own dirty work. He understood but said the red tractor route is far simpler cheaper and much less hassle for them.

 

[kp_n_plghng]

Has ea actually ever stopped anyone milking cows? Most farmers use it as an excuse. As long as you don’t pollute ea can’t do anything.

Heard exactly the same. Where farmers are good at their job and love what they do, they will prevail.

 

[nonemouse]

Heard exactly the same. Where farmers are good at their job and love what they do, they will prevail.

Dead tractor seems to drive more dairy farmers out of production than EA, mainly by grinding them down with pettiness. (This actually affects smaller farmers that care about animal welfare, but they seem quite happy to let large multi site operators with major animal welfare issues keep farming)