Dairy chit chat II

George Sunsnow

Yeah boluses
Expensive but better than a few extra dead cows
It won’t be completely effective

Buford T. Justice XIX

visatorro wrote: »

Using all guard here. I wouldn't not use them know. I only ever gave it to them at drying off. Gave whole herd bolus in April. I think cows looked better anyway, am scanning next week. I used to give topical iodine aswell. I think it made a difference, read somewhere about too much iodine in cows so not sure what to do now

Do a blood test and it will show your level of iodine and if you need to cut back or keep doing what you're doing.

Iodine and selenium are both low in the Irish cattle population as a whole so even if your cows are marginally above average, the rest of the milk in the load will bring the levels down in the load as a whole.

Mooooo

Would they still require mg., or are there boluse that can release that slowly?

whelan2

Some of ye are talking about spring calvers. What do ye do for autumn calving ones. Much higher risk of milk fever in the autumn

freedominacup

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Do a blood test and it will show your level of iodine and if you need to cut back or keep doing what you're doing.

Iodine and selenium are both low in the Irish cattle population as a whole so even if your cows are marginally above average, the rest of the milk in the load will bring the levels down in the load as a whole.

Careful with the iodine. There's some talk that farmers have been including iodine at rates up to six times what us required. I can't remember where I saw it but also becoming a consumer issue.

yewtree

freedominacup wrote: »

Careful with the iodine. There's some talk that farmers have been including iodine at rates up to six times what us required. I can't remember where I saw it but also becoming a consumer issue.

+1

Some lads are over supplementing iodine, our rates are way above what is supplemented in uk and europe.
i think it causes an issue with infant milk formula .

Buford T. Justice XIX

freedominacup wrote: »

Careful with the iodine. There's some talk that farmers have been including iodine at rates up to six times what us required. I can't remember where I saw it but also becoming a consumer issue.

A bit on it here.

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/dairy/department-raises-concerns-about-iodine-levels-in-dairy-feed-35866402.html

The new recommended levels are appropriate for farms without iodine deficiencies. That is why I suggested a blood test to identify any deficiencies that may be on a farm before increasing supplementation levels.

And even with a deficiency identified, it is still difficult to get increased iodine levels put into feed to bring levels above the current minimum levels. I fight that fight every month here so I will be looking at other methods of increasing iodine levels because I know there will be an economic and animal health response to increasing their current iodine levels.

GrasstoMilk

Mooooo wrote: »

Dont want to use buckets, enough grass there for them, would put them in ifibwas feeding silage tbh as ground would be destroyed otherwise

We use the block minerals from
Grassland. Not molasses based.

Find them very good

whelan2

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We use the block minerals from
Grassland. Not molasses based.

Find them very good

I use them in the spring time. Calsea pre calver. Find them good. Do you use the holder thingy oit in the field?

Mooooo

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We use the block minerals from
Grassland. Not molasses based.

Find them very good

Where do you put them in the field?

mahoney_j

I bolus all breeding stock 3/4 weeks pre breeding with Mayo healthcare all guard bolus .5 days pre breeding I start adding 1 cc per cow of lugiols iodine to water till breeding season over
For calving I use powdered minerals on silage from Christmas week on ,iodine added to water a week before calving and stops once finished .lost a few calves at start of Calvig a few years back ,all still born vet immediately suggested iodine in water ,he also did bloods and they showed a big iodine deficiency .a cow can get too much iodine and if she dose it can come through in milk and she will also pass it in urine

GrasstoMilk

Mooooo wrote: »

Where do you put them in the field?

Put them beside the trough. Either on the holder on the wall in the shed or a spike in the field. Seaweed based. I use the high phos ones for breeding. Heifers and cows have steaming heats off them.
Great for winter milkers we find

blackdog1

mahoney_j wrote: »

I bolus all breeding stock 3/4 weeks pre breeding with Mayo healthcare all guard bolus .5 days pre breeding I start adding 1 cc per cow of lugiols iodine to water till breeding season over
For calving I use powdered minerals on silage from Christmas week on ,iodine added to water a week before calving and stops once finished .lost a few calves at start of Calvig a few years back ,all still born vet immediately suggested iodine in water ,he also did bloods and they showed a big iodine deficiency .a cow can get too much iodine and if she dose it can come through in milk and she will also pass it in urine

Cosecure I has iodine in it i find dusting minerals hit an miss with animals but im a big advocate for not changing a thing that is working. also mayo sell iodine tablets that ive used in the past that are very good. 1 per cow per week in the water trough.

mahoney_j

blackdog1 wrote: »

Cosecure I has iodine in it i find dusting minerals hit an miss with animals but im a big advocate for not changing a thing that is working. also mayo sell iodine tablets that ive used in the past that are very good. 1 per cow per week in the water trough.

Only thing putting me off bolusing pre calving is having to do different batches of cows at different stages over winter.dont know if I’d trust a bolus given in early mid December to late March /April calver .piwdered mineral works well here anyway and as u say when something is working you’d be slow to change .should of added I also give mag flakes on silage once cows hit calving pens

Keepgrowing

A little premilking snack for the ladies. 4th cut but weather too dodgy so zgraze

alps

Just in case you think the debate will go away, I've copied a piece from a German circular that we get...

Experts now suppose a large-scale conversion of German dairy production within the next two years: In the near future, GMO-free feeding will most likely be standard; not due to any changes in legislation but because of the requirements of retail in the extremely competitive German market (the 4 biggest retailers have a market share of more than 66% of the total food turnover) with price-conscious consumers and intensive societal discussions about sustainability in agriculture. Retail is defining the future market standards, isn't it?

By the end of 2017, about 30% of the total dairy production in Germany will be GMO-free with Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg leading the way (about 70% of the locally produced milk will be GMO-free).

Gawddawggonnit

alps wrote: »

Just in case you think the debate will go away, I've copied a piece from a German circular that we get...

Experts now suppose a large-scale conversion of German dairy production within the next two years: In the near future, GMO-free feeding will most likely be standard; not due to any changes in legislation but because of the requirements of retail in the extremely competitive German market (the 4 biggest retailers have a market share of more than 66% of the total food turnover) with price-conscious consumers and intensive societal discussions about sustainability in agriculture. Retail is defining the future market standards, isn't it?

By the end of 2017, about 30% of the total dairy production in Germany will be GMO-free with Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg leading the way (about 70% of the locally produced milk will be GMO-free).

My Coop are actively trying to do exactly the same thing. The objective is to be completely gmo free by end 2019. This is meeting with some strong opposition from farmers, especially the ones that don't have enough land to grow their own soya.
I'm in two minds about it.
One one hand, if the consumer demands it, then the consumer should get it. On the other hand, there's no real scientific evidence to indicate that gmo' are bad for human health...
I'm not sure of the price differential between gmo and non gmo soya, but I'm doubting that the price will rise to cover the extra cost.

Upside would be that my grain maize would surely rise in value. Not a bad thing as you couldn't give it away for free these last five years. I'd prefer to be producing yellow gold than white gold!

Fwiw ask any (honest) miller what's the best quality maize and they'll tell you that French maize is by far the best, but they continue to use N/S Américain maize for price reasons...French maize is non gmo.

Timmaay

Pregraze covers gone a little outa control.

George Sunsnow

Timmaay wrote: »

Pregraze covers gone a little outa control.

Better to have it that way than the opposite!

whelan2

Alot of rain fell here yesterday. Ground getting mucky. Will open pit today.

atlantic mist

alps wrote: »

Just in case you think the debate will go away, I've copied a piece from a German circular that we get...

Experts now suppose a large-scale conversion of German dairy production within the next two years: In the near future, GMO-free feeding will most likely be standard; not due to any changes in legislation but because of the requirements of retail in the extremely competitive German market (the 4 biggest retailers have a market share of more than 66% of the total food turnover) with price-conscious consumers and intensive societal discussions about sustainability in agriculture. Retail is defining the future market standards, isn't it?

By the end of 2017, about 30% of the total dairy production in Germany will be GMO-free with Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg leading the way (about 70% of the locally produced milk will be GMO-free).

brought the gmo free subject up with my glanbia rep bout a year and a half ago and his response was that the gmo feed only makes up 5% of cows total feed and was not an issue, bord bia rep didnt have an issue with it either(their biggest concern was the calves on big dairy units following the nz style of dealing with bobby calves huge % of calves going to knackery within in first week, bit removed from the customer but thats the downside to being solely focused on Business to business sales, they are a bit slower to react to consumer demands and lag behind the competition

ted_182

A few of the youngest calves are coughing abit even tho they were dosed last week, would ctc powder be a good job for them?

freedominacup

atlantic mist wrote: »

brought the gmo free subject up with my glanbia rep bout a year and a half ago and his response was that the gmo feed only makes up 5% of cows total feed and was not an issue, bord bia rep didnt have an issue with it either(their biggest concern was the calves on big dairy units following the nz style of dealing with bobby calves huge % of calves going to knackery within in first week, bit removed from the customer but thats the downside to being solely focused on Business to business sales, they are a bit slower to react to consumer demands and lag behind the competition

Glanbia tune already changed. I was having conversations like that around the same time and drawing blank looks, different scenario now. Biggest problem I see is that they are trying to overcomplicate it.

Farm organisations have to insist that you can't be a little bit gmo free in the same way that you can't be a little bit pregnant. Either the EU is going gmo free or it's not.

Gmo free means gmo free, completely irregardless of the cost to consumers or else there's no restrictions and everybody can feed or use whatever amount of gmos they please. No more Lord make me pure just not yet.

whelan2

Have a few first calvers not giving much milk. Would it be too long to have them dry from now until February? Or would the rest do them good?

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

Have a few first calvers not giving much milk. Would it be too long to have them dry from now until February? Or would the rest do them good?

How much they milking and how much feed they getting ,solids are most likely very high thus there milk value is pretty high .unless in poor bcs I’d stay milking and maby only milk oad ,leave in herd as normal and just mark them and let through parlour as normal

Gawddawggonnit

freedominacup wrote: »

Glanbia tune already changed. I was having conversations like that around the same time and drawing blank looks, different scenario now. Biggest problem I see is that they are trying to overcomplicate it.

Farm organisations have to insist that you can't be a little bit gmo free in the same way that you can't be a little bit pregnant. Either the EU is going gmo free or it's not.

Gmo free means gmo free, completely irregardless of the cost to consumers or else there's no restrictions and everybody can feed or use whatever amount of gmos they please. No more Lord make me pure just not yet.

There would be a fair smell of duck shyte in Bruxelles if gmo feed were to be banned from import into the Eu.
Think of all the chicken, beef and pork producers that would instantly see their costs escalate.

I would be in favor of the whole island of Ireland becoming gmo free. It could be a little awkward with Brexit though...everyone would have their 'suss' for gmo maize/soya etc from the North.

Gmo/glyphosate/gluten free are all buzzwords that look good to consumers and I suppose if they want it give it to them.

I think that Glanbias splurge on their gluten free oatlets being gmo free is taking it a bit too far...gmo oats haven't been invented yet!

freedominacup

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

There would be a fair smell of duck shyte in Bruxelles if gmo feed were to be banned from import into the Eu.
Think of all the chicken, beef and pork producers that would instantly see their costs escalate.

I would be in favor of the whole island of Ireland becoming gmo free. It could be a little awkward with Brexit though...everyone would have their 'suss' for gmo maize/soya etc from the North.

Gmo/glyphosate/gluten free are all buzzwords that look good to consumers and I suppose if they want it give it to them.

I think that Glanbias splurge on their gluten free oatlets being gmo free is taking it a bit too far...gmo oats haven't been invented yet!

I'm not talking about a little bit gmo free dawg. Those producers wouldn't have to worry about being undercut by imports using cheaper inputs. Gmo free EU means just that. No gmo in any food products for sale in the EU. Call their bluff.

kowtow

freedominacup wrote: »

I'm not talking about a little bit gmo free dawg. Those producers wouldn't have to worry about being undercut by imports using cheaper inputs. Gmo free EU means just that. No gmo in any food products for sale in the EU. Call their bluff.

No more Jack Daniels?

freedominacup

kowtow wrote: »

No more Jack Daniels?

A hidden upside.

K.G.

Cows in for nights,opening bales and beet feeding.oh feck winter is here