Awful Protein test

babybrian

Im an angry man, and puzzled and a little lost.

Right heres the story, our cows are not the best at protein, last year they were 3.34% but I can deal with that and have started to give the cows higher protein bull AI this breeding season so hopefully in a few years time this will improve.
Now the big issue I have is on the 22/7/10 I got results of Protein 2.98% which is ludicris. The cows had been getting some silage until the 16th because of the dry weather but when the rain came that stopped and while they were on silage Protein was holding around 3.25%.
Anybody experience anything like this before??? They also went from light covers of grass plus silage to aftergrass that was leafy and I would have nearly eaten it myself and we get these results. Plus they went from 12 hour allocations to 24 hours allocations of grass which in theory is supposed to bring up protein.......

My theory is that the creamery has got it badly wrong and I will be ringing them on Monday for an explanation, the lactose result was also crazy at 4.18 which is similar to a result we got last December when cows were giving 12lrs/day as opposed to now they are giving 25ltrs/day...:mad:

whelan1

its a joke milk recording always has our protein about .2% above the creamery , what can you do ?

st1979

Whelan i suppose you could blame the milk recording for not being accurate i know when i was using the normal milk recording my fats and proteins were always wrong ( proteins were always higher and fats were always lower on my milk recording than on my milk statement) I at the time was not being paid on constitutents so i liked it as i was gaining quota cause of fat %. Then moved to DIY milk recording and the fats and proteins are much closer. I put this down to the sampling system of the milk meter and its exact agitation before sampling compared to the milk recorder giving the jar a quick blast to stir it.
FMP done trial sampling of a couple of routes about 8 years ago and got the samples to be tested in lab up north and there were some differences they repeated the trial test about 2 years ago and found the samples were virtually the same as glanbias. The company who tested the milk both times explained that the sensitivity of the testing equipment has got way more precise in the intervening years. The coops are all inspected by the department to see that there equipment is accurate and the milk recording companies do not.
Also who in the coop is willing to falseify test results as they would be up for fraud and if the coop ever had to make the person redundant they would blow the whistle.

Back to the OP start to look for reasons inside the farm gate. Are cows sick in anyway or stressed. I fed last spring grass that i taught was the best grass ever but my fats plummeted and soon after my proteins as they started to get accidosis from the protein rich fibre poor grass

whelan1

st1979 slightly off subject are you member of fmp ? do you think they are worth the money they get every month from our cheque ?

st1979

not a liquid supplier anymore but still a member. I am probably getting no benefit from my sub anymore as they really don't seem to be interested in the 50% of fmp milk sold as manufacturing. But i can understand that a bit as it kind of needs to be focused on the 1 thing that makes it unique. As a former liquid supplier i think its the only show in town and getting involved is very worthwhile especially for younger people. I see u havent had a meeting for 3 years which is inexcusable. Local meetings are ok but try to get to be elected to go to dublin meetings thats where u see the business and the pressures that liquid market face. Its a constant battle but will never hopefully change as i was in uk recently and saw what happens when farmers just focus on inside the farmgate. If u want to retain a liquid quota u need to retain fmp. IFA are ok but there is too many in it who are spring milk men who dispise liquid farmers cause u are all getting paid way way too much in there opinion. When in realitity if u have goodish solids a spring guy is getting paid same or better.
Also if u get a genuine problem with glanbia the fmp guys can help u sort it which might be impossible on your own. i had a problem with having too much liquid quota deducted everytime i bought some more and milk advisor couldn't see the error he was making i got no where but the fmp lads fought my case and ended up getting a couple of grand repaid.

whelan1

my da was heavily involved with lmp years ago and it really annoys him that the local boys cant get their fingers out , at this stage it would nearly be an embarrassment to hold a local meeting :rolleyes:

milkprofit

If you are a member organise a meeting - get on with it instead of waiting for someone else to do it who is your local chair man God helps thoes who help themselves