Cows Inside

When I say that words fail me to describe the type of year its been for cattle , I will use it as the excuse for not keeping this blog up to date . The Spring started off so promising , with an early turnout for the herd . March 21st saw the cows out through the day, and out night and day a month after that. It was the earliest turnout for a few years , and all was looking well. After that , the weather has pretty much gone downhill. Constant rain through out the spring/summer, and a pretty lousy Autumn has been hard on the girls to say the least. I have been surprised at just how well they performed this summer, although yields have been hit a little. Silage stocks are ok for the winter, first cut quality is again, surprisingly good, the same can't be said for 2nd cut , which , quite frankly is closer to youngstock fodder than milk cow material. However , it will have to do as a buffer fodder for next summer. Feeding the dairy cows is always a challenge , keeping an eye on quality but also cost. This years feed bills seem to be going through the roof, but they need fed, and the worst thing we could do is to skimp on quality, although I do sometimes feel I am struggling to get this message across ! ! ! We are on the lookout for a new nutritionist to guide us through the next few months. It's very easy to get the basic feeding correct, it's just the nitty gritty details that need that little bit of expertise. At the moment the cows have been averaging around 28.5 ltrs/day which I feel is quite respectable , but there's always scope for more ! Plenty calves have been born throughout the summer,sire being Emerald, Twist, Teirgan, Gold Crown as well as Hereford calves from our heifers. Service sires at the moment are Toc-Farm Duplex Glauco , Morningview Apprentice, Pirolo Goldwyn Wyman, Siemers Atwood Allthat, Hydaways Goldmine, and Charolais and Limousin on the lower end of the herd. The Gracious family are doing away quite nicely, with two new members , Chloanne Emerald Gracious( Emerald X Hanno X Addison ) and Chloanne End Story Gracious ( End Story X Goldwyn X Hershel ) Pregnancies lined up from the family include sires Stanley Cup, Currajugle Gonzo, Synergy Always Red and Artes. Its good to see daughters now on the ground from Chloanne Lowick,hopefully breeders are happy with the calves so far. More importantly , heifers by Chloanne Gallagher are now being classified. I am fairly pleased with scores so far, we even have a VG85 on farm here. The cows finally came inside on September 24th , much earlier than usual.It all happened very quickly. One minute the weather was fair, the next absolutely foul, leaving me with no option but to house them. As it turns out , this has been the best thing we have ever done . The cows responded well to their new surroundings and have rewarded us with increased yields. The dry cows and youngstock are still outside, bit with colder weather forecast , its only a matter of time before all sheds are full , and winter will be well and truely here !

Chloanne Lowick

At the end of last week , our young Holstein bull , Chloanne Lowick , was finally picked up by Cogent Breeding to be taken down to their premises to begin being tested as a young sire for them! He is by the sire Morningview Legend and is out of the truly great cow Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious.

This is the second bull to be tested from the dam , who is sadly not with us due to complications after calving last year .
It's an amazing feeling when a company is interested in some of the animals and genetics that you are working with , topped only by the news that they will indeed take an animal .
If all goes according to plan , then semen should be ready from him later in the year, with the first offspring being born late summer next year .It really is a waiting game to see just how well the farmers and breeders who used the bulls liked them , or indeed didn't like them. It is the information supplied by them to the AI company that will determine whether the young bull will go on to bigger and better things , or simply not be good enough for their exacting standards.
The first bull , Chloanne Gallagher, now has 61 registered daughters in around 30 herds. I don't have figures of how many daughters could be in commercial herds but do still milk record.Our first daughters are now at the age to be running with the bull , and hopefully over the next few weeks and months more daughters will get in calve.
It is once these daughters start to calve down themselves that their figures will contribute to a young bulls proof. Getting a bull to the point of him having a proof takes a very long time and bucket loads of frustration.
We use plenty of young bull semen throughout the herd as well as using proven bulls . I feel very strongly that more farmers should use some young bull semen , even if it was only 10 or 20 straws.The genetics available now from all studs are the best on offer from around the world, and by using young sires it is a chance to get the very best from the best cow families available . With young bull semen being available from some companies for as little as £3 or £4 a straw, it really is an ideal chance to better your herd for little cost. All proven bulls have started off life as a young bull , and farmers who refuse to use young bull semen on grounds of low reliability etc should think to themselves that if we all took that attitude then no bull would get a fair chance at all .