Well,, just when you think things are going fine, there's always something to smack you back down to earth.
Chloanne Magna Gracious has been marginally under the weather this week , and after a quick visit from the vet , she is now on a course of Tylan 200 , to help get her 104 degree temp down. She should respond ok , but unfortunately she has been found to be NOT in calf , just days after being confirmed in calf.
To add insult to injury , Chloanne Webster Gracious is in season today , and i still don't know if Chloanne Goldwyn gracious 3 is in calf , so thats all 3 of the flushed cows , still not back in calf.
So , you would think i would learn , huh , but no !
So i have ordered some Mr. Sam semen to flush Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious, and she should be getting brought in to line for a reference heat next week.
Fingers crossed that things will improve soon !
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious
Well this week has seen the judging of the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition . I think it went quite well , and , true to form , it was the Chloanne cows that headed up the team .
I entered 2 cows into the Cow class, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious and Chloanne Webster Gracious , representing both youth and experience respectively.
For heifer on inspection and production , i entered Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, she is very far on in her lactation now , and yet STILL looks amazing.
I enetered Chloanne Webster Gracious for the Supercow class too , as she has great combined fat and protien figures.
For the cow family class, naturally i chose the Gracious family as a whole , to enter .They just stood perfectly and it would be an amazing achievement to lift the Cow Family trophy for a 4th year in a row .
Results are not until Jan 2010 , so best to switch off and forget about it .
Another great piece of news this week is that Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is to be contract mated again by Cogent Breeding Ltd. This is just the best news ever and this time they would like to try and get a bull calf by Morningview Legend. All exciting stuff and hopefully before all that i will be able to flush her too , just to try and get some valuable embryos. At the moment i am still looking at suitable sires for the flush, one being Scooby Duu and the other being Regancrest Mr Durham Sam.
I entered 2 cows into the Cow class, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious and Chloanne Webster Gracious , representing both youth and experience respectively.
For heifer on inspection and production , i entered Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, she is very far on in her lactation now , and yet STILL looks amazing.
I enetered Chloanne Webster Gracious for the Supercow class too , as she has great combined fat and protien figures.
For the cow family class, naturally i chose the Gracious family as a whole , to enter .They just stood perfectly and it would be an amazing achievement to lift the Cow Family trophy for a 4th year in a row .
Results are not until Jan 2010 , so best to switch off and forget about it .
Another great piece of news this week is that Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is to be contract mated again by Cogent Breeding Ltd. This is just the best news ever and this time they would like to try and get a bull calf by Morningview Legend. All exciting stuff and hopefully before all that i will be able to flush her too , just to try and get some valuable embryos. At the moment i am still looking at suitable sires for the flush, one being Scooby Duu and the other being Regancrest Mr Durham Sam.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Chloanne Update
As i type away , the herd are demolishing 1.5 tonnes of buffer feeding , they seem to be doing this on a daily basis and they are making fairly good work of the grazing paddocks too , so it is true to say that feed intakes are far greater this year than last . Yields are holding up and it was around this time last year that things tailed off , so hopefully we can keep them milking better this year.
So far the baling of straw and silage has gone reasonably well and we are up to date with it and nothing is lying in the swath to bale. We still need around another 1000 large round bales to see us through the winter and beyond.
I have been busy trying to select cows for this years Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club herds competition . As usual , the Gracious family will head up the crew and will hopefully deliver a result or two.
Chloanne Magna Gracious was PD'd in calf the other day to Wa-Del Hayden so that is a really good pregnancy, happy with that.
We have had many pregnancies to Chloanne Gallagher so with any luck, other breeders around the country have had too , fingers crossed for many heifer calves getting registered in 9 months time !
It is our Nation Dairy Farm Assurance audit on Friday , so I am busy getting things ready for it. Sadly, the farming is today , it is more about paperwork and ticking the right boxes , than how the farm looks or functions
So far the baling of straw and silage has gone reasonably well and we are up to date with it and nothing is lying in the swath to bale. We still need around another 1000 large round bales to see us through the winter and beyond.
I have been busy trying to select cows for this years Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club herds competition . As usual , the Gracious family will head up the crew and will hopefully deliver a result or two.
Chloanne Magna Gracious was PD'd in calf the other day to Wa-Del Hayden so that is a really good pregnancy, happy with that.
We have had many pregnancies to Chloanne Gallagher so with any luck, other breeders around the country have had too , fingers crossed for many heifer calves getting registered in 9 months time !
It is our Nation Dairy Farm Assurance audit on Friday , so I am busy getting things ready for it. Sadly, the farming is today , it is more about paperwork and ticking the right boxes , than how the farm looks or functions
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Grass, grass and more grass . . . . . .
Well , it had to happen , having gone virtually weeks with little or no growth in the grass , the heavens have opened , followed by very warm and muggy weather . This has led to a massive growing spell for the grass , and i am now spoilt for choicve as to where to graze the cows.
We run a paddock system here at Northfield , and even in the paddocks we strip graze them , so we can be fairly flexable in our approach to the grass. That is to say , that if there is a strip of grass that i feel may be surplus to requirements , then i can always cut and bale it for feeding in the winter time to the youngstock.
At the moment we are getting ready for 2nd cut silage , even although , as i am typing this it is chucking down with rain.
I have dried off a total of 10 cows in the last week and also 2 have been sold so that is fairly speeding up milking. So at the moment we are only milking 114 cows , the lowest it has been for a long time.
We run a paddock system here at Northfield , and even in the paddocks we strip graze them , so we can be fairly flexable in our approach to the grass. That is to say , that if there is a strip of grass that i feel may be surplus to requirements , then i can always cut and bale it for feeding in the winter time to the youngstock.
At the moment we are getting ready for 2nd cut silage , even although , as i am typing this it is chucking down with rain.
I have dried off a total of 10 cows in the last week and also 2 have been sold so that is fairly speeding up milking. So at the moment we are only milking 114 cows , the lowest it has been for a long time.
Saturday, 27 June 2009
27/06/09
Well, the visit as mentioned last time , by Cogent Breeding went very well .
The cows were just looking a million dollars , especially Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , who , true to form, was just modelling herself off as if being a supermodel.
With any luck this will all lead to her being contracted again for Cogent , in the hope of them getting a bull calf to go on and be tested in the young bull testing scheme.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is also now starting to attract some attention to herself , and once she calves again in October , i think there could be some interest from a couple of companies.
Milk yields in the main herd continue to be steady , although more milk is always welcomed.
We are waiting to here from Keenan Nutrition with regard to tweeking the ration and also from Harbro about a different mineral. Feeding a modern dairy cow is more of a science now , rather than just grass and pellets etc.
The herd finally got their Bluetongue vaccine yesterday , so that is them covered for another year.
Monday will see the foot-trimmer in to spruce up some long-toes in a few of the girls.
The cows were just looking a million dollars , especially Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , who , true to form, was just modelling herself off as if being a supermodel.
With any luck this will all lead to her being contracted again for Cogent , in the hope of them getting a bull calf to go on and be tested in the young bull testing scheme.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is also now starting to attract some attention to herself , and once she calves again in October , i think there could be some interest from a couple of companies.
Milk yields in the main herd continue to be steady , although more milk is always welcomed.
We are waiting to here from Keenan Nutrition with regard to tweeking the ration and also from Harbro about a different mineral. Feeding a modern dairy cow is more of a science now , rather than just grass and pellets etc.
The herd finally got their Bluetongue vaccine yesterday , so that is them covered for another year.
Monday will see the foot-trimmer in to spruce up some long-toes in a few of the girls.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Ground Still Dry
Well , over the last 7 days we have seen some rain , but really it is still nowhere near enough and i have been disappointed in the grass growth . However , i think we will be fine for grass all the same .
Milk yields have increased slightly and the cows appear to be happy. Mastitis levels continue to be at their lowest ever and milk quality is still higH.
We are now starting to think about 2nd cut silage , but are delaying it till next week to see if we can get that last little bit of growth.
Yesterday we all had to sit our refresher course in forklift truck driving .
I can see the point of all the training and testing , and if it cuts accidents and saves a life or two , then all to the good .
Still ,very frustrating when you are put on the spot and asked to actually think about what you do evry day , usually WITHOUT THINKING..
We will be bluetongue vaccinating the cows this week . This will be their booster as they were all done for the first time last year. This is a sensible approach to the problem of bluetongue and one which i wish MORE farmers would adopt.
Milk yields have increased slightly and the cows appear to be happy. Mastitis levels continue to be at their lowest ever and milk quality is still higH.
We are now starting to think about 2nd cut silage , but are delaying it till next week to see if we can get that last little bit of growth.
Yesterday we all had to sit our refresher course in forklift truck driving .
I can see the point of all the training and testing , and if it cuts accidents and saves a life or two , then all to the good .
Still ,very frustrating when you are put on the spot and asked to actually think about what you do evry day , usually WITHOUT THINKING..
We will be bluetongue vaccinating the cows this week . This will be their booster as they were all done for the first time last year. This is a sensible approach to the problem of bluetongue and one which i wish MORE farmers would adopt.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Rain At Last
Well last night it rained , we had 10mm, which is still way short of what we need.
Grass growth has been minimal and the buffer ration seems to be getting increased on a daily basis.
The last thing we want to do is run out of grass totally.
The cows are managing to maintain production , but until they are on better grazing , i can't quite see an increase happening too soon.
Cogent Breeding Ltd are popping in to see me (or more importantly, the cows) on Friday , so I will begin to clip the Gracious cows later on in the week.
All youngstock are now out at grass , and enjoying their "freedom".
Nothing nicer than to see calves and young heifers running amock in the fields.
The DFB troubles are still mounting up , with most of their ex-producers now on a "contract" with the recievers , which is just paying 10ppl.
I heard from an Arla rep today that he turned down 32 producers last week , most DFB producers are also smaller than many Arla producers , this creating another headache, with Arla looking for producers to supply in excess of 1,000 000 litres.
This may prove just too difficult for some and sadly they may end up leaving the industry.
Going to Carlisle tomorrow for a day out and to see the June Border and Lakeland sale of cows, heifers in milk and embryo's.
Grass growth has been minimal and the buffer ration seems to be getting increased on a daily basis.
The last thing we want to do is run out of grass totally.
The cows are managing to maintain production , but until they are on better grazing , i can't quite see an increase happening too soon.
Cogent Breeding Ltd are popping in to see me (or more importantly, the cows) on Friday , so I will begin to clip the Gracious cows later on in the week.
All youngstock are now out at grass , and enjoying their "freedom".
Nothing nicer than to see calves and young heifers running amock in the fields.
The DFB troubles are still mounting up , with most of their ex-producers now on a "contract" with the recievers , which is just paying 10ppl.
I heard from an Arla rep today that he turned down 32 producers last week , most DFB producers are also smaller than many Arla producers , this creating another headache, with Arla looking for producers to supply in excess of 1,000 000 litres.
This may prove just too difficult for some and sadly they may end up leaving the industry.
Going to Carlisle tomorrow for a day out and to see the June Border and Lakeland sale of cows, heifers in milk and embryo's.
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