FINISHING CULL COWS

case 5150

I have 15 cull cows and 3 empty heifers for fattening. these are holestin and british freisian, i dosed the cows and heifers 2 weeks ago for worms and fluke and be killing hopefull mid jan, i wonder how much meal should i feed these to get them fit for mid jan

6480

case 5150 wrote: »

I have 15 cull cows and 3 empty heifers for fattening. these are holestin and british freisian, i dosed the cows and heifers 2 weeks ago for worms and fluke and be killing hopefull mid jan, i wonder how much meal should i feed these to get them fit for mid jan

it will take alot of meal cos alot of cows are a bit thinner this year for a start , would u not sell them in the mart , i got from 720 back to 580 for oldish cows

Farmer Pudsey

case 5150 wrote: »

I have 15 cull cows and 3 empty heifers for fattening. these are holestin and british freisian, i dosed the cows and heifers 2 weeks ago for worms and fluke and be killing hopefull mid jan, i wonder how much meal should i feed these to get them fit for mid jan

As bob would say sell live to stay alive. If the heifer's are BF and have flesh maybe on good silage and 5kgs of a good quality ration. There is no way that I would feed ration at over 300 euro/ton to cull fresian cows not to mind holestin cows I would either sell or store over winter and grass in the spring.

epfff

meal too dear to feed cull fresians this winter
they need 12kgs plus for 90 days
stroe and try and kill off grass
as for 5kg to the heifers i would be afraid i would insult them with less than 8kgs and again meal too dear for fresians at the minute

6480

alot of the men that feed cull cows only buy them now to have to let out next spring on grass

Farmer Pudsey

epfff wrote: »

meal too dear to feed cull fresians this winter
they need 12kgs plus for 90 days
stroe and try and kill off grass
as for 5kg to the heifers i would be afraid i would insult them with less than 8kgs and again meal too dear for fresians at the minute

I agree however I did stress if they had a bit of flesh and he had good silage. A lot of finishers do not make good silage however a lot of dairy farmers have 70++dmd silage so in the heifers case if they were BF and already had a cover of flesh (over 500kgs)5kgs would get them to a fairly finished in January not completely but at the state the factory will take them. If not grass them the economics do not add up otherwise.

case 5150

my silage is only 67% dmd, i think yer right in what ye are saying ta blood and sell in mart cos ration is too dear and wont have the grass next spring to let them out on

keep going

age is huge thing in fattening culls if they are youngish it is well worth doing but if they are agey your better off waiting for spring grass

whelan1

price after falling for them.... but best to get rid

jomoloney

i sold some culls last week we were milking them OAD for a month and they were getting 5kgs meals

prices ranged from €780 for a very big MOX (640kgs) with no flesh to €910 for a BR Fr (670kgs) with a nice cover

IMO the fleshier cows made the poorest money on the day

i normally finish and sell to the factory Feb/March but lack of fodder and high meal costs decided to sell now.

Joey

dasheriff

As pudsey said if they are in good condition and fairly young they are worth driving on..Iv 2 pins of these at the moment and on good silage and 6 kg a day and they are thriving mad..if u can get them into grade 3 let them off then..

Farmer Pudsey

Next year lads would want to get away from the hay and the big bulky cut in late june/early july. They will have to start making good silage. I know that grain prices will vary but i year where grain is expensive good silage will make you money and will be the difference between being able to finish and have a margin and not. THe days of throwing 10-15kgs/day of ration into cattle is gone

bob charles

I find if we are paying much over a euro a kilo for milking cows we are better off without them. Thankfully only have around 25 milker cows and these are getting the seconds feed of the yard (yesterdays leftovers from in front of the beef) so these kinda are being feed cheap for this reason as 50% of the feed would be dumped if the cows didnt eat it up anyway