Dairy guys, how's calving going?

delaval

Corious as to how things are proceeding any problems and more important solutions.
We now have 55% calved, really hope we can beat last years 6wk figure of 65%:mad: We are calving the cows 14 days now and heifers were due 1 week earlier but in fact had 30% calved before due date.
We have had 4 dead calves 2 vet assist, 1 assist that was still born and 1 lost because we were in bed! We check cows at 11.30 and don't see again 'till 6am.
At this stage we have enough heifers on the ground for 2 years time although heifers are also welcome:)
Calves going well all being vacc. for IBR and Rsv. We do in groups 3 times per week.

keep going

35% milking but 5 abortions in that -dread going to the shed in the morning where the ones farther away from calving are. nothing showing up in tests.:(

maxxuumman

Started on the 28th of Jan. 66% calved as of yesterday. On my own so pretty busy. Calving seems to be slowing down, which is no harm. Have lost 1 cow and 2 calves. One calf at birth and one calf born with no back passage. Too many in calf heifers still to calve, 18 out of 38 still to calve. Disappointed with this.
Getting alot of bull calves as well. 53 bulls/32 heifers

delaval

keep going wrote: »

35% milking but 5 abortions in that -dread going to the shed in the morning where the ones farther away from calving are. nothing showing up in tests.:(

Sorry to hear this. Have you a vaccination programme in place? We were like that last year with calves afraid to go into them, we had a big outbreak of pneumonia and also got a bad dose of crypto, lost and had to put down too many calves really goes against your nature.
Hope things improve, sorry I have no suggestions.

delaval

Maxuum, did you sychro your heifers last May?

Sam Kade

Delaval would you not get up around 3am to check on the cow? If she was only a few hours from calving at 11.30 her pin bones would be well down.

kevthegaff

im nearly 50% there with 48 calved, i lost 2 that aborted in the start but im milking them. The last 46 i have hardly had to use the jack-i have no camera, so i could have to get up a couple of times during the night, no problems so far touch wood:)

grazeaway

keep going wrote: »

35% milking but 5 abortions in that -dread going to the shed in the morning where the ones farther away from calving are. nothing showing up in tests.:(

that sucks. we had a few of them about 4 years ago, unusual for it to happen as we run a suckler herd that are out wintered during the day(hadnt had one abort since back when we were milking and even that was over 10 years ago). 1 was strange but when the 2nd happened we got a bit worried. eventully found the cause. E-coli. we are usually very good at having clean bedding for then cows but we must have missed something. we use a disenfectant powder on the cubciles now.

stanflt

kevthegaff wrote: »

im nearly 50% there with 48 calved, i lost 2 that aborted in the start but im milking them. The last 46 i have hardly had to use the jack-i have no camera, so i could have to get up a couple of times during the night, no problems so far touch wood:)

Not spring but have 92 calved. Only 59 more to go. 46 heifers and 50 bulls so far 2 of each dead. Lost no cows yet. Had my first PBm calve last night. Cows milking well at 33litres and 4.08fat 3.43 prot . 36fresh Calvert sold so far. 14 bull calves tested for ai already. 5 results which won't be selected not holding out much hope either

delaval

75% calved today, big improvement on last year. We are on a slow down for a few days good chance to catch up on a few jobs but would really prefer to keep going.

Cows milking well on grass and 4 kg 12% nut, delivering to coop 1.8kgms/day.

We had a major scc breakdown but thankfully back under control, milking 2 groups.

Bf 4.71%
Pr 3.70%

Crypto got into younger calves treating with Halocur under control now we think!!

mahoney_j

Things going pretty well for me (hate saying that just in case)55 out of 73 calved and 60% heifers to bulls which has never happened to me before.Lost one heifer calf which was found at bottom of scrapper passage one night at 11.30(pretty pissed about that one as i gave most of that night registering calves and on done deal and on boards!!)and one cow and calf that did the splits and just caked it.Cows out full time for the most part and are currently milking close to 26.5 ltrs at 4.46 fat and 3.49 prot and on beteween 4 and 6 kg of a high maize 18% nut.Vaccinating all calves at a week old for pnuemonia with bovipast and feeding them 750 grammes of milk powder(maverick( in 3 litres of water once a day from a week old,Really happy with how they are doing.

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Things going pretty well for me (hate saying that just in case)55 out of 73 calved and 60% heifers to bulls which has never happened to me before.Lost one heifer calf which was found at bottom of scrapper passage one night at 11.30(pretty pissed about that one as i gave most of that night registering calves and on done deal and on boards!!)and one cow and calf that did the splits and just caked it.Cows out full time for the most part and are currently milking close to 26.5 ltrs at 4.46 fat and 3.49 prot and on beteween 4 and 6 kg of a high maize 18% nut.Vaccinating all calves at a week old for pnuemonia with bovipast and feeding them 750 grammes of milk powder(maverick( in 3 litres of water once a day from a week old,Really happy with how they are doing.

We are also using once a day but finding a few calves really not taking to oad, do ever find this to be the case?

Your solids are excellent and doing over 2kgs/day very good for early March

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

We are also using once a day but finding a few calves really not taking to oad, do ever find this to be the case?

Your solids are excellent and doing over 2kgs/day very good for early March

Yeadh im fairly happy with milk results delaval,Cows on grass full time and no silage which is a big help,But im going to bring back in some high quality wraps from sunday which they will have acess to at nigt only.Dont think it should affect them too much but my ladies have big appetities and with the weather getting very cold i dont want to chance it and get a tetany case.on the calves dont put them on once a day till a week old and up to that it at least 3 feeds of beastings and then milk twice a day untill day 7 then straight to powder.I feed them at about 12 o clock every day and they have all settled to this without any fuss.They also have ad lib acess to wheaten straw

keep going

anyone else hitting a lull in calving at the moment

maxxuumman

Complete lull. Almost 90% calves, but nothing in the last 4 days. I'd say there will only be 2 in the next 7 days. Even though I got them scanned in August, I have a feeling I am going to have a few more empty than planned. Getting a terrible run of heifers to bulls. 41 heifers to 73 bulls. Well p!ssed of with that

td5man

keep going wrote: »

anyone else hitting a lull in calving at the moment

1calved last week and no sign of anything else for a few weeks

whelan1

2 calved yesterday and 2 today, 2 fr heifers yesterday and 2 fr bulls today, doing well on the fr heifer front, now to keep them all alive

Timmaay

Nothing here last few days, another next one not due until the end of the month, however still 16 left to calf, last "spring" one due 4th July :O

And yep, the heifer rate is probably only 1/3 of the ones from this year, but we had a good run last spring and winter, so on balance I was expecting it!

stanflt

just after having our 9th heifer calf in a row:) which nearly leaves it 50;50

12 bull calves back genotyped so far by AI companys all over 210 but none over the magic 300ebi. all from vg and ex dams and gdam- not expecting to get one selected now from this spring


30 left to calve

freedominacup

keep going wrote: »

anyone else hitting a lull in calving at the moment

Just past it. Last 10 were hanging around for a while but 5 in the last few days incl 2 yesterday one started at parade time and the other at milking. Both calved on their own thankfully.

delaval

Lull over now had a slow 10 days 3's & 4's. Calving sheds full tonight, a busy fortnight ahead should be pretty tidy in 3 wks.

Does anyone know why this slowdown happens every year?

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

Lull over now had a slow 10 days 3's & 4's. Calving sheds full tonight, a busy fortnight ahead should be pretty tidy in 3 wks.

Does anyone know why this slowdown happens every year?

Changeover from A.I. to natural service and the diligence drops off in the last week or 2 of A.I.?

stanflt

anyone going to the icbf event in corrin mart on wed

maxxuumman

freedominacup wrote: »

Changeover from A.I. to natural service and the diligence drops off in the last week or 2 of A.I.?

Naa, lull happens every year here, and some years stock bull in late, sometimes early. The calving lull never matches, tis a strange one.

stanflt

maxxuumman wrote: »

Naa, lull happens every year here, and some years stock bull in late, sometimes early. The calving lull never matches, tis a strange one.

12 heifer calves now in a row- the latest being the first red Holstein calve on the farm in 35 years

whelan1

stanflt wrote: »

12 heifer calves now in a row- the latest being the first red Holstein calve on the farm in 35 years

is it a hmy? had one in january, pride of place around here:D

dar31

Haven't counted them up, but must be a dozen or more red hfs on the ground so far this year

10% of last springs hfs were red as well

TEAT SQUEEZER

MJI sired a red for me this year .. first ever ... pigeonwood red in the background ..

keep going

stanflt wrote: »

12 heifer calves now in a row- the latest being the first red Holstein calve on the farm in 35 years

stan please dont take this the wrong way but would you ever f**k off,alot of the fr threw bulls and since the beefs started landing they are all heifers so not in the mood to hear this kind of stuff

Timmaay

Ha don't worry it will balance out longterm for everyone, which means lots of bulls are in store for Stan soon, and heifers for ya! We had loads of fr heifers last year, only 6 this year in total so far, but that's life!

Mulumpy

Timmaay wrote: »

Ha don't worry it will balance out longterm for everyone, which means lots of bulls are in store for Stan soon, and heifers for ya! We had loads of fr heifers last year, only 6 this year in total so far, but that's life!

I normally have fr heifers calves for sale but only scrapped enough for meself this year. On the upside have had some smashing hereford bull calves last couple of weeks no two years the same

delaval

keep going wrote: »

stan please dont take this the wrong way but would you ever f**k off,alot of the fr threw bulls and since the beefs started landing they are all heifers so not in the mood to hear this kind of stuff

60 calved since Sunday 35 heifers :P:P

mahoney_j

60 calves in 3 days delaval,Some going.Had 9 in one day in late feb,Actually prefer it helter skelter like that hate a real long drawn out peroid calving cows.Anyway im down to 2 and should be wrapped up in less than 10 days.three quarters delighted to be finished calving but quarter scratching the head wondering how im going to keep grass into them!!what i wouldnt do for a bit of mild weather

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

60 calves in 3 days delaval,Some going.Had 9 in one day in late feb,Actually prefer it helter skelter like that hate a real long drawn out peroid calving cows.Anyway im down to 2 and should be wrapped up in less than 10 days.three quarters delighted to be finished calving but quarter scratching the head wondering how im going to keep grass into them!!what i wouldnt do for a bit of mild weather

We had a lull for 10 days or so and it's great to be back at it. We're almost done good thing usually, a bit bitter sweet with slow growth. I keep thinking this is only March and is seasonal but I would pay money for a mild week. I know that things will turn quickly but it would really want to happen soon. I was in a paddock today that has an area fenced off where we felled a few trees. The paddock was grazed but there was almost as much back as was in fenced off area, we were right to have grazed but a bit of kindness would be worth a lot of money.

keep going

my turn to gloat abit- plenty grass for milkers and on 2.5 kilos ration so maybe we are as well off with them gone late.

Tipp Man

Last few to calf - had a break 10 days ago where nothing calved for 5 or 6 days then another 12 have calved since.

Only 8 left

deerejohn

Looking forward to a more compact season next year:P

Started calving on 1st sept and have 250 calved with 35 more to calve in april.
We start calves in 30 single hutches and have`nt changed our calving pattern as much as we should have over the years and significantly the last year. We have been guilty of matching calving to current facilities, but next year will be different.
We plan to commence calving on nov 1st, over 100 cows have been served to calve next dec:eek: But we will get over that:D

Calving went quite well. just 1 rda (which fixed herself without operating), some retained afterbirths, 1 or 2 milkfevers.

Calves were mixed enough, couple strong calves drank too much milk and died, a run of rotavirus did for 4 heifers,(no rotavac available at the time), the usual 3 or 4 with no dung passage plus a couple which lung damage got the better of. All in all we have over 100 holstein heifer calves at the moment, but not all calves born were holstein.
Just looking at our icbf annual report, the avg per cow for the 9 years listed on the report is 2,037 gallons at 3.78 bf and 3.24 protein.
Our aim moving forward is to improve milk percentages and fertility.

mahoney_j

Last cow calved an hour ago and a set of lovely twin heifer belgian blue calves.74 cows to calve,Lost one cow that did the splits and one fr heifer and one fr bull calf at birth.Ended up with 32 fr heifers which is a 58% heifer to bull ratio on fr calves.started on 28 jan and finished to day which is a 10 week calving season so pretty happy with that,Now all i need is heat and a small bit of moisture and grass to start bursting out of the ground!!.Like everyone else my place is starting to look like a desert due to the lack of growth

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Last cow calved an hour ago and a set of lovely twin heifer belgian blue calves.74 cows to calve,Lost one cow that did the splits and one fr heifer and one fr bull calf at birth.Ended up with 32 fr heifers which is a 58% heifer to bull ratio on fr calves.started on 28 jan and finished to day which is a 10 week calving season so pretty happy with that,Now all i need is heat and a small bit of moisture and grass to start bursting out of the ground!!.Like everyone else my place is starting to look like a desert due to the lack of growth

Puts paid to the notion that ho's are problematic from a fertility point of view. Really impressive performance.
What's your replacement rate? What was your empty rate after 10 wks breeding?

mahoney_j

The holstein just requires a bit more tlc delaval.66 cows selected for breeding last spring ended up with 61 in calf.26 heifers and 23 in calf,one had a big cyst in her womb and 2 had cysts on their ovaries.No stock bulls just run 2 teaser bulls and all ai.Its tough going from late april to late june but results really pay off when u get big nos in calf.Always try and get silage of 75 dmd plus and make high quality wraps from surplus grass.Herd health is something i pay a lot of attention to.Milk is screened 4 times a year.No bvd virus in herd and no pi calves.Have low level ibr antibodies so vaccinate for that as well as bvd salmonella and lepto.all cows and heifers also get all sure trace bolus every april.
Calves are reared by my father and are treated like children,beastings and whole milk for 10 days and then milk powder once a day (started on 600 grammes and built up to 750)along with ad lib straw and a 18% nut.once turned out they go to outside farm onto best possible grass ahead of maiden heifers.They will get 1 to 2kg of that 18% nut for most of the summer and autumn.Protein is king for calves and i have no problem going with 1 to 2 kg of meal so they will get to a target weight of 340 to 350 kg at start of breeding.