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.