Today is my last day at work before an extremely well earned break of 7 days . Prior to this I was last off in February , and prior to that , God knows when . I am scheduled to take 28 days holiday a year , last year I ended up carrying 5 days over and got paid for 14 , so in reality I only took 9 days . So I started this year with 33 , and ended up carrying over 24 . I'd like to think that in the weeks and months to come , this shortfall in time off can be reversed . It's certainly not good for anyone to work these types of shifts , especially when a working week can easily be in excess of 75 - 80 hours !
Anyhow , hopefully when I come back I will find the herd in a content and happy mood . They are now in at nights , whilst still grazing what grass is left through the day ! This is just an exercise project rather that anything else . Most of their feed is now getting fed through the Keenan mixer wagon . The milk has really dropped sharply this autumn , I think they really were out for too long at nights , and this lost milk is proving really hard to get back on them . Hopefully , by the time I come back , they might even be in through the day and then they will be on a totally balanced diet for the rest of the winter !
The new cubicles got finished on time , and I am so pleased with them . the cows have been exploring them , and so far most seem to be prepared to try them without much fuss. The main things I am noticing about them is that the cows are lying far better than they did in the old style cubicles that we had , and this in turn is helping to keep the beds so much cleaner . Hopefully this will continue through the winter too .It would have been nice to have posted a few pictures of them on this site , but , alas , my digital camera is broken , and my phone is away getting repaired too , so I can't even post anything on Twitter . As soon as one of them is fixed I will post some pic's of the cubicles and other projects that we have being doing through the summer !
Friday, 15 October 2010
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
The Girls Need In
We are now at that time of year when the weather is trying to do it's best to make things as tough as possible . Don't get me wrong , we have had it much worse at this time before , but it always creeps up on you non the less. roadways start to get mucky , gateways have puddles in them and in general , the land starts to get wet . Grass quality is also rapidly decreasing and now would be the time to be thinking of bringing the cows inside for the winter .
This is always a tricky topic here . On the one hand there is ME that is saying " Bring them in" and on the other is the BOSS saying "NO , they're fine outside" . Of course , both camps are correct , up to a point . It just depends what you want from your herd of cows and how you want them to perform , particularly later on in the year. The argument for keeping them out revolves around the fact that there is still grass outside. this is fine , the cows will eat the grass and it is now a really cheap feed , trouble being there won't be as much feed value in the grass as is thought . Now , again , that in itself is okay if you are not pushing for yield and you just want the cows to produce milk at a leisurely pace. If high yields are to be maintained then the "girls" must be kept on an optimum plain of nutrition for as much time as possible. We are feeding around 3.5 tons of expensive buffer feed at the moment and they are just cleaning it up in a matter of hours just after milking. Then , they get shoved outside and some of the good is undone by them foraging around in the wet fields , especially at night , where temperatures are starting to dip. Basically , at the moment we are nearly getting a roller coaster effect in their nutrition .
Most other herds in the area are now inside , but we always go through this annual ritual of keeping them out , until the milk falls sufficiently to become a worry, and then they are hurriedly brought in and expected to pick up where they left off , before the fall in production.
If thee cows were brought in sooner , before the dip in yield , then they would have a steadier output , a more balanced ration , and ultimately , adapt to their winter housing way quicker , with no ground to make up in the short term .
(There, got that off my chest ! )
This is always a tricky topic here . On the one hand there is ME that is saying " Bring them in" and on the other is the BOSS saying "NO , they're fine outside" . Of course , both camps are correct , up to a point . It just depends what you want from your herd of cows and how you want them to perform , particularly later on in the year. The argument for keeping them out revolves around the fact that there is still grass outside. this is fine , the cows will eat the grass and it is now a really cheap feed , trouble being there won't be as much feed value in the grass as is thought . Now , again , that in itself is okay if you are not pushing for yield and you just want the cows to produce milk at a leisurely pace. If high yields are to be maintained then the "girls" must be kept on an optimum plain of nutrition for as much time as possible. We are feeding around 3.5 tons of expensive buffer feed at the moment and they are just cleaning it up in a matter of hours just after milking. Then , they get shoved outside and some of the good is undone by them foraging around in the wet fields , especially at night , where temperatures are starting to dip. Basically , at the moment we are nearly getting a roller coaster effect in their nutrition .
Most other herds in the area are now inside , but we always go through this annual ritual of keeping them out , until the milk falls sufficiently to become a worry, and then they are hurriedly brought in and expected to pick up where they left off , before the fall in production.
If thee cows were brought in sooner , before the dip in yield , then they would have a steadier output , a more balanced ration , and ultimately , adapt to their winter housing way quicker , with no ground to make up in the short term .
(There, got that off my chest ! )
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Change In The Weather
Well it's now the 25th of September and the weather has taken on a more seasonal role . lately it it has been so mild , dry and really quite pleasurable to work in .i knew this wouldn't last for ever and boy, has it changed . Yesterday saw fierce winds whipping in off the coast and the rain just lashing horizontally. Through the night it has been drier but bitterly cold . All this will not help our milk recording that I am hoping to do later today.
Overall the cows have milked fairly well through the summer and they (and I) have made good use of the grass available to them and also the buffer getting fed through the Keenan feed wagon. However all good things come to an end , and the season for cheap(ish) milk production is one of those things !From quite soon , the cow will be kept inside in the all new, all singing, all dancing cubicles that we have installed through the summer . Also a select few will get to stay in the 5 star straw accommodation , expanded from other years to now house slightly more . This however means that all the food that they eat will have to be fed to them , rather than then grazing it themselves . This is time consuming , labour intensive and above all , VERY expensive.Hopefully the end result will be more milk which should offset some of the extra costs.
We have the classifier coming in on Tuesday . he will look at some of the animals and score them according to how he feels they measure up to the "ideal" cow. All the points for the various traits (feet, body, mammary, etc) are then collated and a final score is given . So fingers crossed for then .
It has occurred to me that I haven't rambled on about any Chloanne births recently. that's because there hasn't been any , but that should be about to change over the coming months . below is a list of My cows that are due in the future.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel due 30/10/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( Sexed)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 due 01/12/10 to Ked Outside Jeeves
Chloanne SJ Gracious due 22/12/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( sexed)
Chloanne Hanno Gracious due 23/12/10 to Ralma Oman crest
Frankham Sept storm Ethel due 29/01/11 to Cogent starsky
Chloanne Tulip Gracious due 21/02/11 to Ked Outside jeeves
Chloanne Goldwyn gracious 3 due 31/03/11 to Golden Oaks alexander
Chloanne Spooky Gracious due 08/05/11 to Ladys Manor Autumn
So it should be a fairly productive winter for the girls .
Staffing continues to be one of our major headaches on the farm . Trying to get anyone who readily wants to commit to giving up every second weekend to milk cows is proving to be difficult . We have a "bank" of 3 people who I can call upon , but they really only want to do it in a "helping out" capacity , not in a real commitment style , so the hunt goes on , but I am also acutely aware that the responsibility is now landing on my doorstep all the time to find people to milk and that's not always easy . I would like to think that fairly soon i will be able to get a few days off , it so seldom happens that sometimes you have to wonder if it is all worth while . all work and no play etc . . . . . . !
Overall the cows have milked fairly well through the summer and they (and I) have made good use of the grass available to them and also the buffer getting fed through the Keenan feed wagon. However all good things come to an end , and the season for cheap(ish) milk production is one of those things !From quite soon , the cow will be kept inside in the all new, all singing, all dancing cubicles that we have installed through the summer . Also a select few will get to stay in the 5 star straw accommodation , expanded from other years to now house slightly more . This however means that all the food that they eat will have to be fed to them , rather than then grazing it themselves . This is time consuming , labour intensive and above all , VERY expensive.Hopefully the end result will be more milk which should offset some of the extra costs.
We have the classifier coming in on Tuesday . he will look at some of the animals and score them according to how he feels they measure up to the "ideal" cow. All the points for the various traits (feet, body, mammary, etc) are then collated and a final score is given . So fingers crossed for then .
It has occurred to me that I haven't rambled on about any Chloanne births recently. that's because there hasn't been any , but that should be about to change over the coming months . below is a list of My cows that are due in the future.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel due 30/10/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( Sexed)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 due 01/12/10 to Ked Outside Jeeves
Chloanne SJ Gracious due 22/12/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( sexed)
Chloanne Hanno Gracious due 23/12/10 to Ralma Oman crest
Frankham Sept storm Ethel due 29/01/11 to Cogent starsky
Chloanne Tulip Gracious due 21/02/11 to Ked Outside jeeves
Chloanne Goldwyn gracious 3 due 31/03/11 to Golden Oaks alexander
Chloanne Spooky Gracious due 08/05/11 to Ladys Manor Autumn
So it should be a fairly productive winter for the girls .
Staffing continues to be one of our major headaches on the farm . Trying to get anyone who readily wants to commit to giving up every second weekend to milk cows is proving to be difficult . We have a "bank" of 3 people who I can call upon , but they really only want to do it in a "helping out" capacity , not in a real commitment style , so the hunt goes on , but I am also acutely aware that the responsibility is now landing on my doorstep all the time to find people to milk and that's not always easy . I would like to think that fairly soon i will be able to get a few days off , it so seldom happens that sometimes you have to wonder if it is all worth while . all work and no play etc . . . . . . !
Monday, 23 August 2010
Premier Herd Comp & Premier Feed
Today we had a judge round the herd of cattle , judging for this years Holstien Uk Premier Herds Competition . We found ourselves in this competition this year due to the successes of last years Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club competition.
I am not getting myself overly excited about our chances in this event , as to be honest , the calibre of the other herds in the region will be quite something else . However , in the true spirit of the phrase "It's not the winning but the taking part", I must admit I do like to enter things like this , if only just to meet other people, namely the judges and any stewards that come round with them . It is at things like this that much conversation is had , a bit of banter , a lot of gossip , oh, and if there's any time left , perhaps a look at the cows as well ! ! ! Today was such a day , a great walk round the herd , a look at the dry cows , a brief chat about the breeding etc and that was that ! It's always nice to have other people come and walk through your cows from time to time , a fresh pair of eye's looking at your stock can quite often highlight areas of breeding that you take for granted , rightly or wrongly. So fingers crossed , but I'm not holding my breath .
Today also saw us take delivery of 160 tons of draff , or Malt Distillers Draff , to be precise. This came from The Glenlivet and The Glenfiddich distilleries up in Scotland , and will be a part of our winter ration for the cows. the cows milk very well off this by-product and we have always found it extremely good value for money . This years loads were ordered some months ago , so we have got it all at a very good rate. Hopefully we will soon have ouyr winter rations formulated so that we can start to order in our protien blends for the winter too.
I am not getting myself overly excited about our chances in this event , as to be honest , the calibre of the other herds in the region will be quite something else . However , in the true spirit of the phrase "It's not the winning but the taking part", I must admit I do like to enter things like this , if only just to meet other people, namely the judges and any stewards that come round with them . It is at things like this that much conversation is had , a bit of banter , a lot of gossip , oh, and if there's any time left , perhaps a look at the cows as well ! ! ! Today was such a day , a great walk round the herd , a look at the dry cows , a brief chat about the breeding etc and that was that ! It's always nice to have other people come and walk through your cows from time to time , a fresh pair of eye's looking at your stock can quite often highlight areas of breeding that you take for granted , rightly or wrongly. So fingers crossed , but I'm not holding my breath .
Today also saw us take delivery of 160 tons of draff , or Malt Distillers Draff , to be precise. This came from The Glenlivet and The Glenfiddich distilleries up in Scotland , and will be a part of our winter ration for the cows. the cows milk very well off this by-product and we have always found it extremely good value for money . This years loads were ordered some months ago , so we have got it all at a very good rate. Hopefully we will soon have ouyr winter rations formulated so that we can start to order in our protien blends for the winter too.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Hi's & Lo's of The Last Month
It's been a busy old time here since the last post . I knew it was going to be , what with putting in the new cubicles and cows calving and the start of leading in bales of straw etc .
The new cubicles are taking shape fast and they do look great (even if i do say so myself !). We are now about half way through the project and it's amazing how little all the building work and disruption has affected the cows , they just walk past it , raise an eye brow , flick an ear and start to eat the buffer feed. Hopefully we should be on track to complete the shed by late August .
So the first of this years straw has now been brought in. Just about 250 barley bales . We buy them off our neighbour , who rents the fields from us . We buy the straw by the acre , which i think has been a good idea rather than paying stupid prices , and already , the first field had a hell of an amount of straw on it, so now it's just a case of waiting till the wheat and spring barley is ready .
This blogs "cover girl" , Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious calved early in July , a bull calf , which i have named Chloanne Lowick . As mentioned in the last post , he is sired by Morningview Legend and has been contracted to Cogent Breeding Ltd. He really looks fantastic despite only being a few weeks old .
sadly , the calving , which was stress free and easy , took it's toll on the dam . She went on to take a displaced abomasum. This was operated on and we hoped she would rally round from that . Unfortunately she still seemed "seedy" so after further examinations , we decided to operate again, on the other side , for suspected peritonitis. Sure enough , she was a bit of a mess in side , and after a further 9 days , the decision was made to put her to sleep . this is never an easy choice to make , and , with this cow in particular , probably the hardest decision I've had to make on the farm. A truly great cow , with a great "personality", a great loss to the herd.
However , her first calf that she had , Chloanne Gallagher, now has 42 daughters on the ground in over 21 herds so fingers crossed that her genetics will go on to do as much good on other farms as they did here .
On the staffing front , after all the advertising and "interviewing" , the boss is still not really any further on with finding a suitable candidate for the post of relief milker . This is proving very frustrating for everyone else , as it leaves us short staffed on weekends and just in general during this busy summer . So here's hoping that something/someone turns up soon , and here's hoping for some better luck in the coming weeks and months
The new cubicles are taking shape fast and they do look great (even if i do say so myself !). We are now about half way through the project and it's amazing how little all the building work and disruption has affected the cows , they just walk past it , raise an eye brow , flick an ear and start to eat the buffer feed. Hopefully we should be on track to complete the shed by late August .
So the first of this years straw has now been brought in. Just about 250 barley bales . We buy them off our neighbour , who rents the fields from us . We buy the straw by the acre , which i think has been a good idea rather than paying stupid prices , and already , the first field had a hell of an amount of straw on it, so now it's just a case of waiting till the wheat and spring barley is ready .
This blogs "cover girl" , Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious calved early in July , a bull calf , which i have named Chloanne Lowick . As mentioned in the last post , he is sired by Morningview Legend and has been contracted to Cogent Breeding Ltd. He really looks fantastic despite only being a few weeks old .
sadly , the calving , which was stress free and easy , took it's toll on the dam . She went on to take a displaced abomasum. This was operated on and we hoped she would rally round from that . Unfortunately she still seemed "seedy" so after further examinations , we decided to operate again, on the other side , for suspected peritonitis. Sure enough , she was a bit of a mess in side , and after a further 9 days , the decision was made to put her to sleep . this is never an easy choice to make , and , with this cow in particular , probably the hardest decision I've had to make on the farm. A truly great cow , with a great "personality", a great loss to the herd.
However , her first calf that she had , Chloanne Gallagher, now has 42 daughters on the ground in over 21 herds so fingers crossed that her genetics will go on to do as much good on other farms as they did here .
On the staffing front , after all the advertising and "interviewing" , the boss is still not really any further on with finding a suitable candidate for the post of relief milker . This is proving very frustrating for everyone else , as it leaves us short staffed on weekends and just in general during this busy summer . So here's hoping that something/someone turns up soon , and here's hoping for some better luck in the coming weeks and months
Friday, 2 July 2010
Steps in the Right Direction
Well, that's it for another year , the 2nd cut silage is safely in the pit . Yields for both the 1st and 2nd cuts have been poor , but I feel we should still have plenty to see us through the coming winter , due to us having quite a surplus the previous few years . Rain has finally remembered where we live and has now decided to be a regular visitor , but probably a welcomed visitor as we were desperately needing some . The grazing of the cows starts to get a bit more challenging from about now , due to the variable quality of the grass. It is starting to get a bit tricky trying to guesstimate how much they need to fill themselves up , and more importantly , how much they actually need to produce the milk AND keep maintenance of themselves . However , I am still extremely happy with the way the cows are performing this year , and they are looking better than they ever have done .
Fertility seems to be on the up too , which is always a good thing , as the main goal of farming has to be to get your animals back in calve , thereby keeping them and your business profitable. As mentioned in previous posts , heat detection is extremely important and you can't afford to take any shortcuts on this . Therefore it really has been my No 1 priority this summer , to see as many cows in heat as possible , and any that I fail to see get presented to the vet during our fortnightly fertility visits.
At the end of this month is the judging for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition , so as usual , it is now all eyes on to the girls to see just who to put forward for the various classes. As of just yet , i haven't a clue, but I'm sure all will come clearer over the next week or so !
It's just 10 days now until Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is due to calve . She is in calve to Morningview Legend , and has a contract on the pregnancy for a bull calf to be sold to Cogent Breeding Ltd. Normally I would give my right arm for a heifer calf from one of my cows , but I would really love to see another one of my bulls get tested by a company . Fingers crossed !
Fertility seems to be on the up too , which is always a good thing , as the main goal of farming has to be to get your animals back in calve , thereby keeping them and your business profitable. As mentioned in previous posts , heat detection is extremely important and you can't afford to take any shortcuts on this . Therefore it really has been my No 1 priority this summer , to see as many cows in heat as possible , and any that I fail to see get presented to the vet during our fortnightly fertility visits.
At the end of this month is the judging for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition , so as usual , it is now all eyes on to the girls to see just who to put forward for the various classes. As of just yet , i haven't a clue, but I'm sure all will come clearer over the next week or so !
It's just 10 days now until Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is due to calve . She is in calve to Morningview Legend , and has a contract on the pregnancy for a bull calf to be sold to Cogent Breeding Ltd. Normally I would give my right arm for a heifer calf from one of my cows , but I would really love to see another one of my bulls get tested by a company . Fingers crossed !
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Changes !
Well since my last post , I feel that many things have changed or are about to , on the farm. The silage was got in , all in reasonable condition , we could certainly have done with a bulkier crop , but by the way the silage fields have come away already , I think we will more than make up any short fall with the second cut.
With silage out of the way , I can now turn my attention to other jobs and projects , mainly the complete refit of the cow cubicles , ie, the beds that they lie in through the winter . I have no idea how old the ones that i am taking out are , but they are well past they're "sell-by date" and are basically just falling to bits . So bit by bit I am cutting out the old and making way for the new .We have nearly decided which company to pick , after viewing different manufacturers products on various farms .it's so interesting to see just how much min/max dimensions have changed over the years with regard to cattle housing , so much so that we are able to put an extra cubicle in every row , as by today's standards our old cubicles are too wide !
In the last couple of weeks we have been advertising for a new relief milker to cover alternate weekends for me and also holiday cover (I must look up the dictionary definition of holiday 'cos I don't come across THAT word too often here !)
With the advert put in the Farmers Guardian and Scottish Farmer, we have had a good response , with applicants from all over .It's always interesting interviewing people and reading CV's . I suppose if I had any comment to make on this subject it is that I wish people would read the advert properly , we had a lot of calls about the job and people were asking about hours/pay etc , when it clearly stated PART TIME. Clearly the job market is still a mine field out there . Hopefully by this time next week we will have the post filled .
To help with the day-to-day management of the herd I use a computer system called Uniform, I doubt i could run the herd as effectively without it . We have just upgraded to "Pro" package , sounds very grand , but basically it gives me way more information than i had in the past and enables me to keep tighter grips on output , fertility, feeding etc . It's fun at the moment , still working out everything it can do that the last one can't . I'll soon get the hang of it soon .
Cow wise the herd have had a very good summer out at grass , with the weather being unkind really only in the last few days . They are going to be spoiled soon as they will eventually find themselves grazing lovely new grass that is surplus to silage requirements , so hopefully that will boost the milk . At present they are averaging 28.6 litres /day, with only a token gesture of buffer ration in the trough , and on the whole i feel they are a much "happier" , more content herd than last year .
Later in the summer we are about to extend our straw bedded cattle court , which will give us nearly double the room , however i don't want to put double the cows in , as i want it to be comfy and clean , so double the space , a few more cows and all should be good. All in all , if we do the cubicles, the straw court and keep the "girls" as happy as they are just now , then this coming winter we should really start to see the results , both in the cows themselves and , more importantly, in the milk tank
With silage out of the way , I can now turn my attention to other jobs and projects , mainly the complete refit of the cow cubicles , ie, the beds that they lie in through the winter . I have no idea how old the ones that i am taking out are , but they are well past they're "sell-by date" and are basically just falling to bits . So bit by bit I am cutting out the old and making way for the new .We have nearly decided which company to pick , after viewing different manufacturers products on various farms .it's so interesting to see just how much min/max dimensions have changed over the years with regard to cattle housing , so much so that we are able to put an extra cubicle in every row , as by today's standards our old cubicles are too wide !
In the last couple of weeks we have been advertising for a new relief milker to cover alternate weekends for me and also holiday cover (I must look up the dictionary definition of holiday 'cos I don't come across THAT word too often here !)
With the advert put in the Farmers Guardian and Scottish Farmer, we have had a good response , with applicants from all over .It's always interesting interviewing people and reading CV's . I suppose if I had any comment to make on this subject it is that I wish people would read the advert properly , we had a lot of calls about the job and people were asking about hours/pay etc , when it clearly stated PART TIME. Clearly the job market is still a mine field out there . Hopefully by this time next week we will have the post filled .
To help with the day-to-day management of the herd I use a computer system called Uniform, I doubt i could run the herd as effectively without it . We have just upgraded to "Pro" package , sounds very grand , but basically it gives me way more information than i had in the past and enables me to keep tighter grips on output , fertility, feeding etc . It's fun at the moment , still working out everything it can do that the last one can't . I'll soon get the hang of it soon .
Cow wise the herd have had a very good summer out at grass , with the weather being unkind really only in the last few days . They are going to be spoiled soon as they will eventually find themselves grazing lovely new grass that is surplus to silage requirements , so hopefully that will boost the milk . At present they are averaging 28.6 litres /day, with only a token gesture of buffer ration in the trough , and on the whole i feel they are a much "happier" , more content herd than last year .
Later in the summer we are about to extend our straw bedded cattle court , which will give us nearly double the room , however i don't want to put double the cows in , as i want it to be comfy and clean , so double the space , a few more cows and all should be good. All in all , if we do the cubicles, the straw court and keep the "girls" as happy as they are just now , then this coming winter we should really start to see the results , both in the cows themselves and , more importantly, in the milk tank
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