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

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