The Stuff of Legend

Following on from the last post on this site , I have signed a contract with Cogent Breeding Ltd for a Morningview Legend pregnancy with Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious. She is safely in calf now for this contract and if the resulting calf is a bull , then hopefully he will go on to be tested by Cogent in the same way that Chloanne Gallagher was.
Chloanne Hanno Gracious has calved , she had a heifer calf on the 27/11/09 and the sire was Ensenda Taboo Planet , the calf therefore being called Chloanne Planet Gracious. Also , on the 09/12/09 , Chloanne Tulip Gracious calved , this time resulting in a heifer calf by Robthom moscow , so the calf has been named Chloanne Moscow Gracious.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel is nearly at the stage to breed again , and at the moment I am trying to choose a suitable sire , most probably sexed too , as I really do need more members of the amazing Ethel family .
Talking of the Ethel family , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel is the next Chloanne cow to calve and she is due 16/01/10 and the sire is Golden Oaks Alexander , a heifer calf would be the best possible start to the new year !
Chloanne Magna Gracious has been dried off , in readiness for calving down in early March , i know this is a bit early to be drying her off , but really she has worked so hard through her last lactation , that she has earned a good rest .
In 2 weeks time I am going to try to sell the embryo's that we flushed earlier in the year .
There is a sale at Wright Manley's down at Beeston Auction Mart , Cheshire on the 7th Jan , and it will be an interesting experience and really the first time that i have offered Chloanne genetics for sale , so fingers crossed that the breeding is the type of thing that other breeders will want in their herds.
Looking further ahead , it will be the annual herds competition results again soon , and i am keeping all fingers crossed that we can even do half as well as we did last year .

Winter Starts Here !

Well, I have just brought the cows in from the field, ready for milking , and i think that is going to be the last time they are out , until the spring.
The ground conditions are such that it is getting so sticky and muddy out there that it can't be much fun for the girls , so hopefully they will be happier inside all the time now .
The milk yields will hopefully improve too , as at the moment they have been worse than bad !Really , i think they just need that little bit extra pampering and things will improve , we shall see in the next couple of days.

I attended a meeting the other day in North Yorkshire about dry cow and late lactation cow management , and it was surprisingly interesting , and hopefully , by making just a few little changes around the place , our dry and close to calving cows will calve down and join the milking herd with little or no difficulties , last winter went very well , so a repeat of that would be ideal.

We have had some new heifers join the herd and they are just looking a million dollars, they have settled in well and are lying in their cubicles too, which is a bonus !
The youngstock remain out for the next couple of weeks hopefully, weather permitting , as there is still plenty rough grazing to be eaten off and they are just the animals to do it !

Oh the Chloanne cow front , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel has been dried off , ready to calve in mid January , Chloanne webster Gracious is safely in calf to Morningview Legend, and this month should see Chloanne Hanno Gracious calf to Ensenda Taboo Planet .

Long Overdue Update

As usual , i have left it way too long since i updated the goings on and happenings with the Chloanne herd and indeed the main herd too !
Well , as mentioned in the mini-post about Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 , she calved and produced a great little heifer calf , definitely one to watch in the future .
She really is starting to milk well and i suppose pretty soon i will need to turn my attention to the thought of "Do i flush her" or not ? Still have a bit of time to decide but these things always have a habit of creeping up on you .
Also to calve was Chloanne Dolman Ethel , she had a bull calf , but she is really looking smart , having been calved a fortnight now . Once again , i am hoping for big things from her , and also the Ethel's in general.
Both Chloanne Hanno Gracious and Chloanne Tulip Gracious have been dried off and they are now due to calve 29/11/09 and 07/12/09 respectively.
The whole herd have been in at night now for nearly 3 weeks and they do seem to be responding well to the extra food and the comforts of a dry , warm bed at night.
The weather here at the moment is horrible and field conditions are starting to look a bit dodgy , so it won't be long until they are in all the time , just a matter of days i would have thought.

I have re-designed the calf unit a bit , i was never very happy with the little individual pens that they were in , they were a bit old and i do like to see little calves running round , showing off their natural ability to run riot !
Therefore , we have got hold of some multi-calf feeders that feed 5 calves at a time and they just suck their milk , all standing in a line , at the same large bucket .
Early indications are excellent , i am really happy with the quality of the calves and like i say , they are running around , stretching their legs and not in a confined space.

At the moment the herd are averaging 27.4 litres/day which is pretty good going for an all year round calving herd and for the time of year too . Hopefully , once they come in all the time ,. that figure will increase by , hopefully , another 2 or 3 litres/day !

CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 2

This is a photo taken just a day before she was dried off , she has since calved down again , haveing a heifer calf by Ellenneff Storm Johnny, the calf is called Chloanne SJ Gracious 2.
Gracious herself has since joined the herd again and is steadily increasing in yield daily

Say Cheese !

Well it's been the busiest week ever for the Chloanne cows as Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 were getting their photographs taken. The entire weeks activities have been to get them ready for the big day (yesterday). Having NEVER clipped a cow before , it has been the most amazing experience , and the feeling i got seeing them in all their glory was just amazing. A huge thank you must go to Richard Hodgson for being extremely patient with the cows and 'handlers'. I will get to see how they came out , sometime next week.
Hopefully they will be used in promotional/advertising features in the future .

Last week saw the top 1000 PLI cows list published , and the Chloanne girls didn't disappoint, being featured 3 times , but the star of the girls by far has to be Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 , having rocketed up the rankings to 59th in the country based on genetic merit.
She has just been dried off this morning , due to calve on the 12th October , so , fingers crossed it will go okay , and then , perhaps I can start to work on her , hopefully with the involvement of Cogent Breeding .

Forthcoming calvings !

Strange but true , but I had a vet in today and i got him to Pd Chloanne Magna Gracious and I gave him my tale of woe (as described in last post). Well, it turns out she IS in calve after all , so panic over .
Also , more good news , as Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is in calf too .
So, here is the list of upcoming calvings in the next few months for the Chloanne cows.

Chloanne Dolman Ethel, due 06/10/09 to Ensenda Taboo Planet
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, due 09/10/09 to Ellenneff Storm Johnny
Chloanne Hanno Gracious, due 26/11/09 to Ensenda Taboo Planet
Chloanne Tulip Gracious, due 04/12/09 to Robthom Moscow
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel, due 13/01/10 to Golden Oaks Alexander
Chloanne Magna Gracious, due 10/03/10 to Wa Del Hayden
Chloanne Spooky Gracious, due 25/03/10 to Charolais
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3, due 15/04/10 to Golden Oaks Alexander

Breeding Frustrations

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 !

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Silage Pit Filled . . . . . .

Last week saw us get our first cut of silage , cut last wednesday and lifted on the Friday , pit sheeted on Saturday. It got a bit wet on the Thursday , but , fingers crossed , it should still be a decent crop of grass.
With machinery like this , it takes no time at all.

The cows are milking reasonably well , and are still adjusting to the buffer feeding .I have tweeked the ration slightly to reduce the amount of big bale silage available to them , and intakes have increased.

Thoughts are now turning to getting Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious ready for photographing.She will need to be clipped and she will also need to get used to being haultered again .
If i start early , then hopefully it won't be too much of a chore .

CHLOANNE GALLAGHER

As predicted in my last posting , semen from Chloanne Gallagher is NOW AVAILABLE from Cogent Breeding Ltd. Contact them on 0800 783 7258 or email: info@cogentuk.com.
As i sit writing this , the weather is being especially kind to us at the moment,and in actual fact a few small showers of rain wouldn't go a miss. Yields are still on the low side at the moment and we have been advised that it is more dry matter that the cows need . This is easier said than done and despite my best efforts, they are starting to turn their noses up at the prospect of eating big bale silage and straw.
We are now fully onto the PACE / MECH FIBRE way of feeding using our new KEENAN diet feeder. It's amazing and frightening just how much information is available at your fingertips to help monitor just how the cows are performing.
On the cow side of things , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel is finally in calf . it has taken a while but with the end result an Alexander pregnancy , all is good !
The three cows who were flushed have all settled down and are in fact in season today , I plan to AI them tonight.
Silage time is fast approaching and with any luck we should be starting to cut next week.

Update At Chloanne

Time for another update on what has been happening,the cows have been milking amazingly well through out the winter as they have been on a great diet as formulated by Keenan nutrition. However it has to be said that yields have dropped since they went outside . They went out early this year, around the 31st March for days only. Hopefully things should get back to normal.
On the individual cow side of things, the star of the show still has to be Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious, she has just calved down again the other day and gave us a fantastic heifer calf , sired by Dalbytop Phil. The cow herself is looking great and now has a PLI of £231 and is now placed 141st on the UK genetic merit list.
Classifying went well the other day, Chloanne Magna Gracious is now EX90 , making her complete 3 gens straight EX.
Chloanne Tulip Gracious has now gone GP83
Chloanne Hanno Gracious is now GP84
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is now GP83
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is now VG86
Chloanne Webster Gracious is now EX92 (3E), making her still the highest classified daughter of Webster in the country!

Last week saw three Gracious cows getting flushed for the first time.
AS a result, the following embryo's are now available.

2 X (Hayden X Webster X Formation X Aerostar)
2 X (Planet X Air Magna X Webster X Formation)
8 X (Hayden X Goldwyn X Formation X Aerostar)

Chloanne Gallagher is soon to be available from Cogent Breeding Ltd

Job Vacancy

We are currently looking to employ a part time relief milker.

The position would be to milk 120 pedigree Holstein cattle on alternate weekends and to milk when needed to cover holidays etc.

The farm is situated in North Northumberland, close to Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Possibility of 3 bedroomed house available.

Feel free to e-mail for further details

chloanne@moocow.com

Chloanne Update

Having just completed a monthly milk recording, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is STILL milking hard at 33.0 litres a day , which is amazing considering she has been in milk now for 386 days.
She is due to be dried off on the 6th of March.

Our "cover girl", the calf on the main picture is now in calve , just shows how time moves on .
She was AI'd and put to the bull , so it will either be to Ellenneff Storm Johnny or to the elite holstein sire Ensenda Taboo Planet.

I have had no word back yet on the sire of the last Gracious calf to be born.

I have just taken delivery of some semen by a bull call Alexander, he is meant to be the next big thing and he is being used heavily around the world as a sire of sons , so it would be nice to get a couple of Alexander Gracious' running around the place.

Farmers Guardian - Hunday herd triumph in breeders’ competition

Farmers Guardian - Hunday herd triumph in breeders’ competition

Health Status

In keeping with the Elite Herd Health Status , which we hold, today we are TB testing and blood testing animals over 9 months for BVD, LEPTO and JOHNE's.
This is an annual test that ensures we keep the high health levels we have come to expect.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 was confirmed in calf the other day, which is a relief as she was starting to prove impossible to get .
Chloanne Webster Gracious calved last week, another bull calf.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 calved 3 weeks ago , a heifer calf, i am awaiting DNA results to determine the sire.

Sadly, Chloanne Inkwell died, reason unknown.

Herd Competition Results

As mentioned in the last posting, here are the results for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herd competition .

Large herds,
1st E Moffit&Son Hunday
2nd D W & J M Barber Pont
3rd New Heaton Holsteins Newheaton

Small herds
1st D M Sutherland Ellenneff
2nd J P Hall Ashpetal
3rd G & D W J Clark Fleetshot

Progeny group
1st J P Hall Roylane Jordan
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Etazon Lord Lily
3rd G & H Bradley Roylane Jordan

Cow on inspection
1st E Moffitt & Son Hunday Aaron Victoria 22
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Newheaton Lord Lily Cleo
3rd S Ball Chloanne Webster Gracious

Supercow
1st S & A Oliver Aldingham S M Ghost

Heifer in milk
1st S Ball Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious
2nd J P Hall Ashpetal Shottle Sadie
3rd E Moffitt & Son Hunday Shottle Dianna 21

Heifer on inspection
1st S & A Oliver Ansa Talent Ghost
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Newheaton Cello Cleo
3rd J P Hall Ashpetal Shottle Deb

Cow family
1st S Ball Gracious
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Cleo
3rd G & D W J Clark Flower

Mature cow
1st E Moffitt & Son Ansa Basar Linda

Top Herd On Production
E Moffitt Hunday

Most Improved Herd
G & H Bradley Langpark

Top Herd on Inspection
E Moffitt & Son Hunday

Herdsperson of the Year
Stephen Ball

Chloanne Update

Well , here we are , the first posting of 2009.
The cows are off to a flying start this year, all milking well.

Chloanne Spooky Gracious has just calved and has had a bull calf, which i have called Chloanne Inkwell, and is sired by Laurin.
Chloanne Magna Gracious has also calved, again a bull calf and he has been called Chloanne Jamie.

Chloanne Gallagher finally went off to Cogent Breeding Ltd, as per the contract .
Fingers crossed for him , but he really did look amazing when he left.

Chloanne Goildwyn Gracious is continuing to go from strength to strength and has just been ranked 307th in the UK Top 1000 cows on genetic merit, she has been re-classified as VG86 and is still giving around 29 litres a day , despite being nearly a year calved.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is due to calve in about 3 weeks , so fingers crossed for a heifer calf.

Chloanne Hanno Gracious did calf AND produced a heifer.
The calf has been called Chloanne SJ Gracious.

The herd competiton results will once again be announced this week , so as usual, fingers crossed.