How long will ye milk to this yr spring calvers?

kevthegaff

Im gona dry off first of december, gona dry off some heifers and lame ones in two weeks too

Tipp Man

Between 15-20 Nov as per usual. Unless the weather gets bad and they have to go in earlier in which case we'll dry them off earlier. Try to limit milking indoors to the least amount of days possible

Heifers calving last week of Jan
Cows start Feb 1

linebacker52

Will milk to the end of this month anything in poor condition, lame will be dried off this week doubtful I will have enough grass to milk in to November and lactose is getting close to the limit now. start calving mid January.

maxxuumman

Empties tomorrow ( on OAD to slow then down)
Lame and light cows, mid Nov
Rest, 1st dec

Calving from last week of Jan.

keep going

simple the day the grass runs out.have dried a few already but one thing is certain i will not pay money to milk cows this nov/dec and if i am feeding ration to cows indoors thats what i am doing no matter what about quota.feed because of cow condition/feed shortage but do not think it pays to milk this winter

kevthegaff

keep going wrote: »

simple the day the grass runs out.have dried a few already but one thing is certain i will not pay money to milk cows this nov/dec and if i am feeding ration to cows indoors thats what i am doing no matter what about quota.feed because of cow condition/feed shortage but do not think it pays to milk this winter

if your milking a cow say in november with silage and 5kgs of ration, do they eat more or less silage then a dry cow on just silage alone?

keep going

kevthegaff wrote: »

if your milking a cow say in november with silage and 5kgs of ration, do they eat more or less silage then a dry cow on just silage alone?

marginally more but will they put on condition on this years silage if they are milking and then when are you going to put it on and how.dont see too many fat girls around the country this year

kevthegaff

keep going wrote: »

marginally more but will they put on condition on this years silage if they are milking and then when are you going to put it on and how.dont see too many fat girls around the country this year

no i have 12 emptys and i was thinking of milking a few more late calvers into december if it would fatten the emptys and maybe save some silage, prob wont as im gettin sick of milking in this weather

keep going

in a normal year thats not an unreasonable thing to do but this year a combination of silage quality,ration price and cow condition is making it dodgey.i would be afraid id milk on and end up feeding(extra)ration when they are dried off to try and get them up to 3 for calving.in my own experience last year was the first year i was satisfied with cows condition calving down and i think it has improved my fertility this year so i am being a bit cautious about it.mind you havent scanned yet and probally wont but im not seeing that many cows bulling

Tipp Man

It's a tough call because this is the milk that really makes the profit for you - very high solids, no fertiliser and little meal