Changing from Holstein bull to Jersey

Henwin

Hiya,
Bout 4 years ago my boyfriend switched from suckler & tillage farming to dairy farming. With the help of loans he put in a new parlor, new slatted unit and machinery.

He bought 20 purebred Holstein Friesan cows, he is now up to 48. He has 33 acres at the homeplace and leases another 50 a few miles away.

He is finding the holsteins very high maintenence, they need a lot of ration and the ration bills are huge. I reckon he is overstocked.

Anyway what he is thinking of is either buying in a British friesian bull or maybe a Jersey. Another option wud be to reduce to maybe 38 cows.
Its tough at the moment with all the repayments and ration bills.
Any advice on what option wud be best or shud he stick it out for a few more years.

jersey101

Would you not consider AI be it HO or JE its a better way to go. You get the puck of all the best bulls

case 956

well fairplay op, I would say stick to Friesian and use AI, destock to 40 cows and feed 1 tonne meal ith higher litre than using jerseys

jersey101

case 956 wrote: »

well fairplay op, I would say stick to Friesian and use AI, destock to 40 cows and feed 1 tonne meal ith higher litre than using jerseys

not all about yeild

Henwin

ya holstein eat more than the british friesian. they are bigger and produce more milk but they need so much TLC over the british friesan or jersey that the extra milk they produce is gobbled up by more feed.
AI might not be the answer though as the heifers are reared on the leased ground, he did an AI course this year, only got 12 cows in calf so bought a holstien bull as cover. its a lot of hassle if you dont catch them in time.
So we will definetly be going the bull route. we have 2 holstein bulls, 1 for the heifers and 1 for the cows.
his current thinking is to get 2 Jersey bulls for the next 2 years and go back to holstein after that. they wud bring the solids up as well.

But I reckon he shud get 2 British friesian bulls as they are gud milkers but not as high in maintenence

Sam Kade

I would cross with bf middle of the road cow. I see some ad on done deal selling frx weanling bulls with pointy backs obviously jersey he wants 300 each for them
:rolleyes:

freedominacup

jersey101 wrote: »

not all about yeild

Oh yes it is.;)

















Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah:p

delaval

WARNING

DO NOT BUY A JERSEY BULL

THEY ARE THE MOST AGGRESSIVE AND UNPREDICTABLE ANIMALS I'VE EVER WORKED WITH

I actually think that with your limited land base Je is not the answer.

I wish you well but use AI not stock bulls.

Timmaay

Whats the calving interval like with them? And what sort of average kgs of MS is he getting from them now? The only real disadvantage of a modern HO is fertility, once he can keep a tight calving pattern, and then avoid letting the cows milk their backs off they shouldn't be much more maintenance than any other breed. Its when he runs into problems with and insufficient diet and fertility issues that the wheels come off the wagon, and they become very high maintenance.

He is stocked about 3.6lu/ha on the grazing block, high by anyones standards but certainly still do-able once its good land and good swards/correct p/k etc. Maybe drop down afew cows but 2bh I wouldnt fancy making a living on anything less than 40cows. Maybe consider buying in maize/wholecrop etc to offset the variable price of concentrates.

jersey101

You could use the bull on heifers and AI the cows. not telling anyone what way to run there business but i would say AI is the best way to go if your stocked as high as you can, you can breed better genetics into your herd instead of having all your heifers from the same blood line

case 956

that wa my point delaval in my opinion and just my opinion before anyone thinks different, jerseys don't suit a farm with less than 100 cows, with his milking platform stocked at 48 cows I think holestins with extra nuts fed be more profitable than jerseys and by using ai he can pick high solid b and w bulls ... op would he not consider synrising heifers and ai and let bull mop up and ai cows for 9 weeks and bull then mop up, I my self not a fan of dairy stock bulls due to aggressive nature and all eggs in the one basket regard calves

jersey101

1003940_761596170533854_992109186_n.jpg
this is my lad he's a pure JE castrated, he's very quite never had a bother with him, very good at picking up the cows in the shed. if he ever gets a bit unpredictable with me he will be gone, but for now ill keep him on

Timmaay

AI isn't 1/2 as big a problem as people make it out to be either, you only need to AI for the 1st few weeks of the breeding season, very easy with the milkers as you look at them twice a day. Heifers harder, but a teaser bull really does the job with them very well, let in a normal bull after afew weeks, use synchronization with them also to shorten the window of having to keep an eye on them.

But as regards not using AI at all, moving forward with an increased use of sexed seman, for any farmer who is unwilling to use AI I'd advice them not to even bother breeding replacements, instead do a deal with a good local dairyfarmer and buy his replacement AI breed heifers! And this would hold true especially if you struggle to hit target weights and calf down heifers in jan/feb as 2yr olds. Too many farmers seem to underestimate the cost of replacement heifers, Low EBI heifers off stock bulls with poor solids etc arent worth much over 1000quid, and believe me if the farmer struggled to get them to hit target weights and calf them down late etc, he will spend closer to 2k before they give a drop of milk!

case 956

jersey101 wrote: »

1003940_761596170533854_992109186_n.jpg
this is my lad he's a pure JE castrated, he's very quite never had a bother with him, very good at picking up the cows in the shed. if he ever gets a bit unpredictable with me he will be gone, but for now ill keep him on

he castrated jersey????

jersey101

case 956 wrote: »

he castrated jersey????

yupp

Timmaay

jersey101 wrote: »

1003940_761596170533854_992109186_n.jpg
this is my lad he's a pure JE castrated, he's very quite never had a bother with him, very good at picking up the cows in the shed. if he ever gets a bit unpredictable with me he will be gone, but for now ill keep him on

Castrated is totally different ha! Big problem with stock JE bulls is their are so light and nimble, if they flip and go for you you have utterly no chance of out manoeuvring them. Granted the odds are stacked against you if any bull flips and your in the wrong place, but you will have zero chance against a JE, and they are considerably more likely to flip, its just their nature.

jersey101

Timmaay wrote: »

Castrated is totally different ha! Big problem with stock JE bulls is their are so light and nimble, if they flip and go for you you have utterly no chance of out manoeuvring them. Granted the odds are stacked against you if any bull flips and your in the wrong place, but you will have zero chance against a JE, and they are considerably more likely to flip, its just their nature.

ye there pretty mean tbh. I was thinking of keeping 2 calves this year and make a proper teaser but i dont a mad yoke around

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

1003940_761596170533854_992109186_n.jpg
this is my lad he's a pure JE castrated, he's very quite never had a bother with him, very good at picking up the cows in the shed. if he ever gets a bit unpredictable with me he will be gone, but for now ill keep him on

So he's not a bull he's a bullock

jersey101

delaval wrote: »

So he's not a bull he's a bullock

ye he's castrated.

case 956

then he wont get wicked, thinking of vactomising a Friesian weanling here and use for this yr, what a teaser temper like as never had on here

jersey101

case 956 wrote: »

then he wont get wicked, thinking of vactomising a Friesian weanling here and use for this yr, what a teaser temper like as never had on here

id doubt that, when bullocks start to fatten up they get very brave, see it alot in the fr bullocks

Milked out

case 956 wrote: »

then he wont get wicked, thinking of vactomising a Friesian weanling here and use for this yr, what a teaser temper like as never had on here

A vasectomised bull is still a bull, so can be wicked as well. It's generally suggested to use them for one or two years at most as its with age that they are more likely to get wicked, altho they can be from the off. Kept a bull calf to vasectomise and always put him with stronger animals i.e. bigger incalf heifers or dry/ cull cows it seemed to prevent him from trying to throw his weight around and he turned out quite enough, altho he was gone by 30 months. Have two here to vasectomise this year hopefully they'll end up similar but at the first sign of aggressive behaviour they'll get the road

Timmaay

case 956 wrote: »

then he wont get wicked, thinking of vactomising a Friesian weanling here and use for this yr, what a teaser temper like as never had on here

In fairness it depends on the animal, but the one thing is sure, you can never know when they will flip, the quietest of bulls can turn at any stage. I used a fairly active HE bullock here all summer to pick out cows, much easier job I reckon, none of the expense of a getting him vactomised, and much less risky, but you need one who is still interested in females obviously ha! Twin heifers can be very useful also, the hormone imbalance confuses them ha!

Milked out

OP This year was worse than most in terms of feed costs due to the bad spring and in general the poor silage around from 2012, At any sort of a stocking rate similar to yours the cows will have to be fed, regardless of breed particularly when conditions are challenging. I would suggest looking at the overall business not just the feed costs and see how savings or improvements can be made. It may be a case of trying to grow more grass and taking out surpluses at the right time to fill the feed gap instead of using ration all the time or perhaps reducing the stocking rate a tad which may allow the cows remaining to perform better in the long term. On AI if he is not confident himself call the local AI man, the added cost is more than covered by improved genetics and safety given the bull would be around for a shorter period as opposed to the whole season. Also the grass measuring thread would be a good spot to look at, the last few pages have an off topic discussion on breeding and the main thread can be very useful as all our systems revolve around grass in some shape or form and its something that we can all improve on. Also join up to herdplus on the ICBF site if you are not already as it is a great tool for recording everything and seeing how you are going. Milk recording a few times a year also very useful, the more info you have on your stock the more informed the decisions you make are

C0N0R

Timmaay wrote: »

Castrated is totally different ha! Big problem with stock JE bulls is their are so light and nimble, if they flip and go for you you have utterly no chance of out manoeuvring them. Granted the odds are stacked against you if any bull flips and your in the wrong place, but you will have zero chance against a JE, and they are considerably more likely to flip, its just their nature.

I've ten of the nice gentlemen down in a paddock waiting to be introduced to the girls, can't wait! At least there only here for four weeks. But I have to agree, jersey stock bulls suffer badly from small man syndrome.

Henwin

Milked out wrote: »

OP This year was worse than most in terms of feed costs due to the bad spring and in general the poor silage around from 2012, At any sort of a stocking rate similar to yours the cows will have to be fed, regardless of breed particularly when conditions are challenging. I would suggest looking at the overall business not just the feed costs and see how savings or improvements can be made. It may be a case of trying to grow more grass and taking out surpluses at the right time to fill the feed gap instead of using ration all the time or perhaps reducing the stocking rate a tad which may allow the cows remaining to perform better in the long term. On AI if he is not confident himself call the local AI man, the added cost is more than covered by improved genetics and safety given the bull would be around for a shorter period as opposed to the whole season. Also the grass measuring thread would be a good spot to look at, the last few pages have an off topic discussion on breeding and the main thread can be very useful as all our systems revolve around grass in some shape or form and its something that we can all improve on. Also join up to herdplus on the ICBF site if you are not already as it is a great tool for recording everything and seeing how you are going. Milk recording a few times a year also very useful, the more info you have on your stock the more informed the decisions you make are

Ya very good advice there, he does milk recording a few times a year, he has joined up to herdplus and ICBF as well as scanning cows.
He doesnt grass measure so maybe he will look into that.Teagasc advised him to invest heavily at the start by buying over 20 cows at once and put in all the infrastructure, but in hindsight maybe if he increased slowly and have tillage as a side income then maybe he wud be better off. he kept all female calves the last few years as well and will sell them in march/april so maybe if he sells unwanted calves early he wudnt have to feed them for over a year.

case 956

Henwin wrote: »

Ya very good advice there, he does milk recording a few times a year, he has joined up to herdplus and ICBF as well as scanning cows.
He doesnt grass measure so maybe he will look into that.Teagasc advised him to invest heavily at the start by buying over 20 cows at once and put in all the infrastructure, but in hindsight maybe if he increased slowly and have tillage as a side income then maybe he wud be better off. he kept all female calves the last few years as well and will sell them in march/april so maybe if he sells unwanted calves early he wudnt have to feed them for over a year.

he will still need to keep 12 to 14 replacements for his current herd size, I would consider ai using sexed semen on heifers and convential on cows and allow a angus or Hereford bull mop up r another breed with a short gestation

Timmaay

The other thing, esp if feed costs are an issue, so many farmers seem to take feed for granted, buy whatever off the local merchant. Its an area I'll admit to only getting serious about myself recently, I'll now always spend an hour or so pricing up different brands and spec of nuts before I order, the cheapest isn't always the best of course, but I'll go for the best value I can find. At the minute there is an astronomical price difference between similar nuts, up to 60 euro/ton, take them 48 cows beening fed 1.5ton/yr,thats 4grand a different over a year!

Further to this I've used the advice of a nutrionist moreso lately, to help get the most out of my cows, while keeping them in as good condition as possible. I ain't quite there yet, but its all a steep but fun learning curve.

Farmer Pudsey

What he is doing is possible however he hast to stick to Holstein/Fresians. Is he making pit or bale silage. In my opinion he be better off with the majority as bales. This would allow him the flexibility to feed on and off to suit grass growth on the grazing block. He needs a lot of good quality silage and bales give flexability.

On feeding I would stay with the millers with less than fifty cows no point in trying to mix and match straights. As he has tillage experience it may be possible to grow some arable silage or even peas and barley which he could crimp however it may not reduce cost. A lot will depend on the land quality on the grazing block. It needs to be reseeded if it is not already done. Having soil fertility trace elements and lime right is most important.

I would not dismiss using a stock bull especially if heat detection is an issue. I saw a lad tighten up his calving pattern in one year going from 15% empty's and half the cows calving in March/April to a situation where he had 70% calved by the start of march and only one cow in April and no empty(small herd less than 40 cows) however he purchasses a very well bred HO bull. Remember cows milking a month longer will increase O/P by 8-10%

What he has to remember is his situation is totally different to a lot of other farmers he is limited in a big way by his grazing platform. His cows have to be doing in excess of 1500 gallons/year and 40 cows doing 1700 gallon/per year are better to him than 46 doing 1500 gallons.

mahoney_j

As many here know I'm an avid fan of the hol freisan so here's my two pence worth
You've small acres round parlour and are pretty much at max at 3.6.you need to shove out at least 1500 gallons per cow but crucially about 600 kg plus of solids also..5 to 6 weeks of ai using high ebi high fertility bulls with plus 30 kg of solids.then let in a sweeper her or as bull as they'd be a bit quiter than a jersey.thatcway you have a valuable bull calf also and a cull which a jex wouldn't leave u.i would also get ur herd pbr and this will also add further value
Something else I'd do is join a discussion group ,it's amazing what you'd pick up seeing different places.best of luck

Farmer Pudsey

Henwin

I see where he has a background in tillage. He should consider setting Peas and barley as he has the tillage skills. Starting with 5 acres will yield 12-16 tons of a 16-18P feed ideal for cows. He will need to crimp it so I would advise blowing into the white sausages. He could build this up to 15 acre which would give him 45Ton ish of a high quality ration.
I advise slow steps he has tried to build too fast so no rushing fron one system to another. The system he is trying with Ho is the one most likly to suceed. mIf he want to use a few JE straws on heifers and see what way they work out but post 2015 he should be pushing for an 1800 gallon cow.

He has the advantages of tillage skills which will allow him to reseed and grow his own tillage. The reason I am pushing peas and barley as opposed to maize is that he will be able to grow at a low cost, he has loads of slurry as he will be supplementing with silage inside most of the summer. To grow paes and barley 5-6K gallons of slurry and a little urea tilled in as peas will provide rest of Nitrogen. He should have it in the yard with lad charges at around 150/ton including a 50/acre land charge. I am no including his own labour and am presuming he has access to most of the machinery required.

On the leased ground he could also reseed 10+ acres to a hybrid/red clover mix again this will use up slurry and give 3 cuts of good quality silage. After the peas and barley each year he could planf a catch crop of Rape on 1/3 of it this would provide forage for his heifers from November to Christmass. No need to try all this in the one year. The big thing is small steps and tweak the system to suilt his setup.

mf240

I would also recommend AI.

The big advantage with jerseys are there ease of management but your bf is limited by land not Labour so he needs Holstein to maximise his output per hectare.

cosatron

Henwin,
My dad and myself have the exact same situation as you. We run 44 cows on about 40 acres, have 40 rented and buy in our bales. We've been at this for years and sure the nuts bill is high but we are getting by cause of the cows we have, bf/ho. But one thing we do is, we inseminate all the good cows for replacements and run a hereford bull to tidy up and a hereford bull with the heifers on the rented lad, we find that we get good prices for the hereford calves in spring and towards the back in of the year we sell the strippers at a good price, which will not happen with jersey's. One thing i've learnt about dairy farming is to be patience, the goods years will outdo the bad and never change from what you know.

RobertKK

You can get AI bulls that have a bit of Jersey in them, but it is so small it doesn't affect the calf in terms of size.

A bull I like and have used is GXY - has 3% jersey but with Jersey like components in the milk and great fertility according to the genomic values.
http://herdplus.icbf.com/bull-search/view/animalId/760400926


A lot of good advice by the way has been given in previous replies. I don't see Jersey bulls as the answer, you really need to try and use some AI and like the previous post said, a hereford bull to clean up would be a much better idea.

Sam Kade

cosatron wrote: »

Henwin,
My dad and myself have the exact same situation as you. We run 44 cows on about 40 acres, have 40 rented and buy in our bales. We've been at this for years and sure the nuts bill is high but we are getting by cause of the cows we have, bf/ho. But one thing we do is, we inseminate all the good cows for replacements and run a hereford bull to tidy up and a hereford bull with the heifers on the rented lad, we find that we get good prices for the hereford calves in spring and towards the back in of the year we sell the strippers at a good price, which will not happen with jersey's. One thing i've learnt about dairy farming is to be patience, the goods years will outdo the bad and never change from what you know.

Wouldn't you be better off to Ai the heifers with easy calving fr as these are the higher genetic merit animals in the herd and calving early? It can be done even on rented land synchronise them Ai then let the bull pick up repeats.

Timmaay

Sam Kade wrote: »

Wouldn't you be better off to Ai the heifers with easy calving fr as these are the higher genetic merit animals in the herd and calving early? It can be done even on rented land synchronise them Ai then let the bull pick up repeats.

Agreed, bulk of the heifers should hold to the 1st serve once they are fit for breeding, old enough etc. Especially if you're herd is an average ebi now, you will turn around afew nice heifers well over 200ebi in 2 generations, or 4yrs.

Henwin

cool, loads of gud advice, ill show him the thread tomorrow.
He has his own baler and wrapper, he baled bout 1000 bales this year. the cows, heifers and yearlings are been fed 4 bales of silage and 1 bale of straw a day through the diet feeder. they all get different amounts of ration too, not sure how much. Ya thinking AI mite be the best option now
Thanks for all the advice

cosatron

Sam Kade wrote: »

Wouldn't you be better off to Ai the heifers with easy calving fr as these are the higher genetic merit animals in the herd and calving early? It can be done even on rented land synchronise them Ai then let the bull pick up repeats.

Hopefully in the next couple of years we will be in a position to ai heifers. I've 2 years of DIY ai done so the confidence for the heifers will be there next year.

keep going

I think you might have to have a chat about that little machinery addiction problem he has sounds like a good bit of gear for 44 cows

Farmer Pudsey

keep going wrote: »

I think you might have to have a chat about that little machinery addiction problem he has sounds like a good bit of gear for 44 cows

Would agree I would see no need for a diet feeder especially if feeding bales why put silage and straw through a diet feeder for weanlings and yearlings if they do not finish it is only going stale, I see no need to feed them straw either silage ad-lib and a little ration on top if needed.

My gut feeling is no need of baler or wrapper either I know 7.5k would seem a lot however between time diesel and machinery I question the value however he has it so it is questionable if you would save much by getting rid of it.

freedominacup

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Would agree I would see no need for a diet feeder especially if feeding bales why put silage and straw through a diet feeder for weanlings and yearlings if they do not finish it is only going stale, I see no need to feed them straw either silage ad-lib and a little ration on top if needed.

My gut feeling is no need of baler or wrapper either I know 7.5k would seem a lot however between time diesel and machinery I question the value however he has it so it is questionable if you would save much by getting rid of it.

HO weanlings need straw in their diet. It's important that they grow at the right rate as if they put on too much weight they start to deposit fat in their udders which hit's milk yield down the line.

delaval

freedominacup wrote: »

HO weanlings need straw in their diet. It's important that they grow at the right rate as if they put on too much weight they start to deposit fat in their udders which hit's milk yield down the line.

And the Keenan is necessary for that isn't it?

Farmer Pudsey

Wouls see no reason for a diet feeder, in that situtaion I would try to cut silage to spec( lower quality) This is why I think bales are great aopposed to pit. Maybe 68-72DMD silage would be adequate for these, 2nd cut hybrids that go stemmy might be suitable. Outside of tillage country straw is costing over 20/bale in mid size quanties this is much the same price as mid quality silage therefore no need of a diet feeder. It what I always go back to think outside the box.

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

And the Keenan is necessary for that isn't it?

It makes it easier to get it right but not necessary.

Henwin

As regards to the baler and wrapper, he feels tat it works out cheaper to do his own instead of getting a contractor.
ya i agree tat the diet feeder is unessary, but he feels tat the straw stretches out the feed longer, cause he was feeding the cattle 6 bales a day but now they are eating 4 and a half with a straw bale. id say keenans salesman was very good at selling them , saying they are very good on their stomachs, milk yields increase etc.

mahoney_j

Henwin wrote: »

As regards to the baler and wrapper, he feels tat it works out cheaper to do his own instead of getting a contractor.
ya i agree tat the diet feeder is unessary, but he feels tat the straw stretches out the feed longer, cause he was feeding the cattle 6 bales a day but now they are eating 4 and a half with a straw bale. id say keenans salesman was very good at selling them , saying they are very good on their stomachs, milk yields increase etc.

On the diet feeder if it's already there I'd hold on to it as it will suit your cow going forward(1600 gallons plus and 60o kg plus solids.you will be buffering in feed atvdifferentvstages of the year and will be able to incorporate things like straw,maize ,fodder beet,brewers grains etc into the diet if they can be sourced.cant say I'd be bothered with the baler just look for a local contractor with a fusion baler.
Really embrace grass measurement to grow as much as possible and aim to get your silage as high in dmd as possible as poor silage is a bad feed for hol freisan unless your going to supplement heavy wit concentrate.

mahoney_j

Henwin wrote: »

As regards to the baler and wrapper, he feels tat it works out cheaper to do his own instead of getting a contractor.
ya i agree tat the diet feeder is unessary, but he feels tat the straw stretches out the feed longer, cause he was feeding the cattle 6 bales a day but now they are eating 4 and a half with a straw bale. id say keenans salesman was very good at selling them , saying they are very good on their stomachs, milk yields increase etc.

On the diet feeder if it's already there I'd hold on to it as it will suit your cow going forward(1600 gallons plus and 60o kg plus solids.you will be buffering in feed atvdifferentvstages of the year and will be able to incorporate things like straw,maize ,fodder beet,brewers grains etc into the diet if they can be sourced.cant say I'd be bothered with the baler just look for a local contractor with a fusion baler.
Really embrace grass measurement to grow as much as possible and aim to get your silage as high in dmd as possible as poor silage is a bad feed for hol freisan unless your going to supplement heavy wit concentrate.

galwayhillbilly

I'm no dairy man but being reared on a farm where I was always told don't be dependent on someone else, always have your own machine. I can understand why someone would be fond of having their own machines
I don't see why a full time farmer would not do a few maintenance courses and buy in some good quality uncomplicated un-computerised second hand machines. The outlay would be very small(compared to new) and with good maintenance they would last 20+ years.
In a tight weather window of maybe 2 days your contractor might not be able to get to you on-time in peak season. he certainly wont want to know, if you are only cutting a bit of excess grass on a grazing bloc. I have had this experience with the poor summer of 2012
Part-time farmers and machines is a different story

funny man

questions for the guys that are crossbreeding;

• how do you rate crossbred bulls (ebi:BW)
• do you criss cross jeXfr and then FRxJE
• does anyone use a third breed

I have 50:50 crosses calving down here at the minute and I just wanted to know where is the best road to go from here.

Farmer Pudsey

galwayhillbilly wrote: »

I'm no dairy man but being reared on a farm where I was always told don't be dependent on someone else, always have your own machine. I can understand why someone would be fond of having their own machines
I don't see why a full time farmer would not do a few maintenance courses and buy in some good quality uncomplicated un-computerised second hand machines. The outlay would be very small(compared to new) and with good maintenance they would last 20+ years.
In a tight weather window of maybe 2 days your contractor might not be able to get to you on-time in peak season. he certainly wont want to know, if you are only cutting a bit of excess grass on a grazing bloc. I have had this experience with the poor summer of 2012
Part-time farmers and machines is a different story

Outlay could be significant where do you stop with machinery. You also get caught with maybe needing a bigger tractor or needing to change more often. You carry aboutthe same risk as you are unlikly to find ab issue unless you are using a machine and it will atke you longer to fix an issue than a contractor who is familar with equipment. I often find that people that have issue find a contractor on time are the ones that ring the morning they want them. I get it cut as well I am unually in contact 3-7 days before hand letting him know that I will be looking for him next week.

Greengrass1

Father went mad buying yokes here and I think it has held us back 5 yrs paying for them. Spent money on a diet feeder and hedge trimmer when it should have been put into roads and slurry storage. I'll keep the machinery and look after it now that we have it but as soon as there wrecked I won't buy again.
The one thing I think is very handy here is the mower. If I hadn't the baler or wrapper I would still have the mower if only for taking out paddocks