David's going Dairying.

davidk1394

The first picture is of the first three way cross heifer calf born.

Second picture is of some of the heifer calves out of WWS straws. The bulls used were Conway, Lunser and Renegade.

Third picture is of the calves in their individual pens for the first few days. We used broken tines off the tedder and some box iron to hold up the rope for the heat lamps.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121914670#Comment_121914670

The hot weather in June caused the main problem I think. A lot of cows were served and came back bulling after 60 days. I think I was expecting too much from them and not giving them enough feed aswell. I moved away from teagascs preachings this spring by giving them plenty of grass, access to silage and their getting 5kgs of meal a day. Cows are content, holding condition and are cycling normally.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121914746#Comment_121914746

How is the JCB going? Do you feed all the cows with it. I have a real itch to get something like it. Mainly for big bags of fertilizer and doing bits and pieces and maybe give in the silage. Though one of my doors maybe a bit low

Wildsurfer

Did you find out what caused those 2 cows to die?

GrasstoMilk

one thing I would say is be consistent with what type of bulls/breeds you use David. You’ll end up with a higgildy piggildy herd of cows. Speaking from experience

choose high ebi bulls with + kgs milk and high %

you don’t need milky cows to sell kgs ms

don’t worry about calf price. 95% of your income is from milk and cull cow sales. Just do the calves well and you’ll sell them no bother. We have jex blood in the herd here and no issue selling calves. Granted it’s 10 years since we were actively crossbreeding

lastly on the teagasc preachings. Look after the cow in the spring and try get grass in when you can.

the main thing is you know there’s room for improvement which is a very good frame of mind to be in

we sold 560 kgs ms last year with a high ebi type cow and have never actively bred for litres. It can be done

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121914874#Comment_121914874

The JCB is going well, it's 1990. My father bought it in 97. It does all the work on the farm and even does a bit for a few local people. Put a new head gasket in it last November. I spent a few pound on it over the last few years to keep it right, it's a great machine being honest.

@Wildsurfer between the information off the Smaxtec bolus, vet inspection and the type of cow we're fairly certain both cows died of twisted stomachs.

@GrasstoMilk in the last 12 months I've learned a lot and I'm being more selective for breeding. The kind of bulls I'm aiming for is fertility at around €80, 0 to 100kg for milk, +.2 for protein and +.3 for fat. If I had a mature cow weight of around 580 to 600kgs.

I have one jersey cross 2nd lactation cow and I'm very happy with her if I'm being honest. I'm going to try move away from pure bred FR cows, fertility, milk solids and an odd lame cow are becoming a problem.

kevthegaff

Herd here is a mix of smaller type fresians and crossbreed. Land is very hilly here and cows do alot of walking. Fertility is normally good but I get lots of lameness. I'd like to come up in the ilk a bit too. What would ye recommend?

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121915773#Comment_121915773

You shouldn't be using wws bulls like renegade unless you plan on putting the feed into them, unless your base cow is a glorified goat they'll do 550-600kgs ms 1st lactation with zero issues but 1.5-2 ton of meal plus quality forage as a buffer when grass quality is poor/not enough of it...

If you expect miracles of 800kgs of nuts with renegade heifers and expect them to go in-calf you'll be disappointed

cosatron

good going david. its going to take at least 5 years before you figure out the type of cow that best suits your system, so don't be afraid to try things out and also there are some savage medium sized holstien bulls out there that suit a grazing system down to the ground. from experience if you wish to increase liters make sure that the bull is +200 kg.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121915983#Comment_121915983

I looked at a herd that has been using WWS straws for the last 10 years and I liked the type of cows he has. I agree with you that those type cows have to be well fed and looked after to get the liters and solids out of them. 12 months ago I wasn't sure what kind of cow I wanted but I think I have an idea of the direction I want to go in now.

GrasstoMilk

If you’re going to use high milk bulls you’ll end up in the high band David. Just be aware of that

were In the high band here, just by 200 l and from my own fav box calculations I’d be better off in middle band selling 550 kgs ms and be able to have more cows

if I stay in the high band i may aim for a herd producing well into 600 kgs /cow to get the same ms /ha compared to if I had a herd of middle band cows

herd of cows doing 600 + kgs ms won’t take the same hardship my current type of cow would

Water John

Not in dairy, but that cross mix you're doing is similar to Pollard Farm in Wexford. Using the Norwegian Red for good health traits.

davidk1394

Hello everyone, hope ye are doing alright with this tricky weather. It’s not too easy to plan ahead at the moment. I just wanted to update ye on how things are going here. It’s a sunny day so far after a heavy night’s rain. We put 70ac of silage in a pit yesterday, it was a mixture of first cut and some heavy paddocks. The spring went well for us, while the weather made things difficult. The cows calved fine, all the calves were healthy and we had very few issues with sickness across the herd. There were two still births during the spring. I still have one cow dragging her heels and didn’t calf yet but she’s due in the next two weeks. We have ten of the thirty water troughs in and another bit of land fenced.

I have an Angus and a Herefod bull with the heifers to take the pressure off breeding. Seventy-five percent of the herd have been served in the first three weeks of breeding. I went with some more straws from WWS, Norwegian Red and Montbeliarde straws from Dovea. Cows are in good condition, they are getting 4.5kgs of meal in the parlor. The most recent milk test results show the cows doing 25 litres of milk at 1.95kgs of milk solids per cow. Grazing has been hard to manage the last while with the cows having to graze heavier covers because of ground conditions. Recently I sprayed off a field and set a breed of stubble turnip called “Skyfall”. I got it off DLF, its starting to grow but I don’t think I’ll be grazing it in three weeks time. I tried it out just to see if it would work as a break crop or if we get dry grazing conditions.

While I haven’t been posting on boards a lot recently I have been following the dairy chit chat thread and saw some commenting on mental health so I decided to speak briefly about my personal life. Since January my mam has being back on chemo therapy and has been in and out of hospital during February and March but thankfully she’s doing well now. My aunt passed away at the end of April which was tough. Last week my partners father also passed away. Both people had died because of cancer. They will dearly missed by both families and myself. I saw my partners father as a mentor who I would go to for advice on a weekly basis as well as my own father. He was onto me previously about joining the ICMSA, so I think I may do it.

The last few weeks have been tough mentally and emotionally but I am very lucky to have some good friends who offered to help out when I was in need. It has shown that family and friends are important and to try not to let things build up internally. Not to be afraid to look for help, to shed a tear or to show your emotions from time to time.

davidk1394

A few pictures over the last few weeks

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122185205#Comment_122185205

Sorry to hear about your mother, wish her the best from here.

I presume your aunt was her sister

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122185205#Comment_122185205

To walk out and sit for a while among the calves on a fine sunny day I find great therapy. They don't judge you.

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122188124#Comment_122188124

Like that ginger, I find the in calf heifers a great place. My daughter calls them Daddys emotional support animals.

straight

That's funny lads. I thought it was just me. I go to the outside block every day to check the heifers and I call it my therapy.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122187017#Comment_122187017

Yes it's her sister, my father is an only child.

Going into a field of stock and just watching them is great therapy. I think the calves are my favourite, but it's hard to beet looking at a nice herd of cows and they are all lying down in the sun.

Cushtie

When we were young we go out into the fields, around lunchtime when the cows were all full and lying down and lie on top of em, or down beside them. They were pure pets. They all had names. We were only milking about 30.

davidk1394

I'm organising a trip for my discussion group up North for the middle of July. We'll be staying around Cookstown for two nights the 16th and 17th.

I have most of it planned but I'm looking for suggestions, ideas or even maybe an invite onto a farm if possible 😁 there's 16 of us in the group. Thanks

davidk1394

Yes, we're visiting him. A friend of mine up there got me in contact with him.

cjpm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122329342#Comment_122329342

Sounds good Dave. Are there any spare seats on the bus for a few of us on Boards?! 😂

Base price

@AntrimGlens was a great poster here on F&F over the years. Hopefully their business venture was successful.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122329342#Comment_122329342

Two nights away from milking, wife and children, you want to go to a FARM.

https://youtu.be/0ss5sCORCOA?si=rCHmY5g6raRMS-H8

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122331666#Comment_122331666

He must have never been to a strip club 😂🤣

older by the day

I'm just suggesting that after a tough year for dairy farming maybe, go carting or paintballing. Golf, even for fellas like me who don't play, its good crack the odd time, and a fine walk.

rather than looking at someone's cows, when you will be back to your own in 48 hours

visatorro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122332917#Comment_122332917

Fella told me his discussion group is split in 2. One half mad for grass and cows, the other half go for the pints at Christmas!

davidk1394

Thanks everyone.

@older by the day there's a few good suggestions there. I want to plan a day out in October and I'd like to organise something totally unrelated to cows.

I know if I organise something like that during the trip it won't go down too well with some of the members.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122333299#Comment_122333299

There is a chance of getting converted to indoor systems up that way.

I was in Cookstown for a wedding before. Grand spot.