Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

alps

cute geoge wrote: »

I will only be starting calving next week and march 20th before I am normally able to get them out for a few hours .If the weather stays dry from Paddys day ,my ground dries up other wise it will be first week of April before thet see grass .My question is am I still calving too early but I seem to get nervous if I don't have some few calved in Feburary .I found the milk supplied barely covered the meal bll when I used start in early Feburary and then Protein used to drop down to 3% and under if I could not get them out until April

Mean calving date 40 days before magic day for your farm. Magic day is more complicated for you as the farm maybe growing more than cows demand, but conditions still dont allow that access...

However if you take a guess that you can cant graze full time until say April 15th...it gives a mean calving date of 6th March, and if calving compact a start calving date of 14th February..

You have assessed the situtation bang on...Every day you calve the cows before Feb 14th, you are fully feeding the "whole herd" on bought in feed.

There may be other factors, like stock sales etc that would make you move the start day earlier, but from a milk only scenario, the above formula is not far out..

alps

stanflt wrote: »

No grazing done- no fert out - and practically no slurry out
Zero f***is given- cows health is more important

Good to see priorities given to cow health, but didnt ever hear that grazing, fertiliser spreading and slurry spreading were detrimental to cow health..

Baulked at the fertiliser here too....very small.opportunity to go the week before the forecasts of those big snow storms...hmmm...so nothing out..missed the opportunity..

mahoney_j

alps wrote: »

Good to see priorities given to cow health, but didnt ever hear that grazing, fertiliser spreading and slurry spreading were detrimental to cow health..

Baulked at the fertiliser here too....very small.opportunity to go the week before the forecasts of those big snow storms...hmmm...so nothing out..missed the opportunity..

With the enviro /dero goggles on was there really an opportunity ????,ground conditions,weather snd ground temps all against going with fertiliser up to now ,absolutely no point but still most weeks n journal it’s encouraged to go .....I hope we get dero renewed ,advisors and ag publications promoting same shouldn’t be happening ,farming is changing and moving on time the advice those too .
Slurry out ,no fertiliser and won’t be till things are right ,fields are healthy ,have been grazing when I can ,won’t get close to hitting my 40% target by March 01 but so be it sheds were built and we were chasing bales and making good silage and Maize last year for times like these the cow is the priority this early in lactation get it wrong now she won’t hit and hold peak
I feel a lot of cop on is going out of farming and we’re too busy looking at everyone else and what there at .now calves to feed cows to milk and cubicles to line !!!!

mahoney_j

stanflt wrote: »

No grazing done- no fert out - and practically no slurry out
Zero f***is given- cows health is more important

Common sense and priorities in abundance ...

Mooooo

Just to add more madness to the equation, only dried off the last of the late calvers today.
Delayed calving this year by the week, with the weather it seems like the right call but once it turns I'd be a bit behind numbers wise to catch up. Also only have half the required replacements born at the minute, had 99% of em landed this time last year. Nice to have em earlier. Delaying calving is ok but if a few things don't work out breeding wise it can catch you out as well, as it did me.
Missed that chance for fert as well alps. Wasnt brave enough and the way it turned out it would have been safe enough to spread it on the drier ground.

Gawddawggonnit

alps wrote: »

No problem restricting....definitively different to starving..

Intakes imv are about MJ not DM..

Disagree.
I’d rather cows with a belly full in crap weather than saying that they’ve got their daily nutrition allowance on an empty stomach....just put yourself in their position,

Gawddawggonnit

alps wrote: »

Big difference in ground. After a couple of dry days we can snatch grazings here, but we couldn't possibly go for an all day or all nighter unless it got extremely dry, and even at that we wouldn't have the allocation to give them.

However, the later we leave those snatched grazings, the less grass we have available for the cows in the second rotation, which is on the run io to bulling. To me, that is the mortal sin, not being able to allocate full allowance/demand at that time.

Full demand will never be achieved if grazing covers <1300, and if you want to achieve that, you need the days between 1st and 2nd grazing.

IMHO, the mortal sin is thinking that grass is more important than animal welfare.
Just saying.

Mooooo

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Disagree.
I’d rather cows with a belly full in crap weather than saying that they’ve got their daily nutrition allowance on an empty stomach....just put yourself in their position,

The idea isn't an empty stomach, you want them going out after finishing the feed at the barrier in order for them to eat when they are out for the few hours, and back in again to silage. You send em out with full stomachs they'll either walk or lie down, in which case you may just leave them in the shed. All you want is a bit of appetite, not have em starved. As I said before cows were only out for 3 days here this month, mainly due to the ****e weather and ground conditions but a couple of days it was more due to me not being ready or being too distracted / tired / lazy / input whatever to get em out for a bit.

K9

mahoney_j wrote: »

With the enviro /dero goggles on was there really an opportunity ????,ground conditions,weather snd ground temps all against going with fertiliser up to now ,absolutely no point but still most weeks n journal it’s encouraged to go .....I hope we get dero renewed ,advisors and ag publications promoting same shouldn’t be happening ,farming is changing and moving on time the advice those too .
Slurry out ,no fertiliser and won’t be till things are right ,fields are healthy ,have been grazing when I can ,won’t get close to hitting my 40% target by March 01 but so be it sheds were built and we were chasing bales and making good silage and Maize last year for times like these the cow is the priority this early in lactation get it wrong now she won’t hit and hold peak
I feel a lot of cop on is going out of farming and we’re too busy looking at everyone else and what there at .now calves to feed cows to milk and cubicles to line !!!!

If ground wasn’t suitable for fertiliser it wasn’t suitable for slurry. A lot of lads taking the high moral ground over not spreading fertiliser and at the same time moaning over adhering to the slurry deadlines.

K.G.

At the end of it all though, its all about the weather.a fine day and good feed of grass often perks up a cow after calving

Gawddawggonnit

stanflt wrote: »

No grazing done- no fert out - and practically no slurry out
Zero f***is given- cows health is more important

Ditto, same here only absolutely nothing spread on grass due to regulations.
Plenty spring barley planted a month ago around here...it’s either rotten in the ground now or white as snow from the severe frost. We could’ve had cows out a month ago no bother, but why stress them with grass that’s of little value?

Gawddawggonnit

Mooooo wrote: »

The idea isn't an empty stomach, you want them going out after finishing the feed at the barrier in order for them to eat when they are out for the few hours, and back in again to silage. You send em out with full stomachs they'll either walk or lie down, in which case you may just leave them in the shed. All you want is a bit of appetite, not have em starved. As I said before cows were only out for 3 days here this month, mainly due to the ****e weather and ground conditions but a couple of days it was more due to me not being ready or being too distracted / tired / lazy / input whatever to get em out for a bit.

+1.
But the pricking involved in on/off grazing...staff here complain like they were school teachers when we do this ‘snatched’ grazing thing.
It’s the weather that decides at the end of the day.

Gawddawggonnit

K.G. wrote: »

At the end of it all though, its all about the weather.a fine day and good feed of grass often perks up a cow after calving

Nailed it.
Jeez, it’s only a bit of common sense.

straight

I knew it would be only a matter of time before someone mentioned majic day. I've urea in the yard. If I put it out there before the heavy rain would I really have got much value out of it? Ground is fairly saturated now

Timmaay

I'd consider this a dry farm with reasonably low rainfall by Irish standards, but this has been one of the worst February's in my memory (we had a very wet Feb in 2014 I think also, but it wasn't this bad), ground conditions and weather are pure and simple what dictate if the cows get grass or not, they were out for full daytime grazings for 3 or 4 days last week, in the last 3days I wouldn't dream of going out, and won't get to again until it drys up more, that will take 3 or 4 good drying days. Once it's dry the dm is most certainly in the grass, and any restriction is no more than for afew hours. I won't be too pushed to go out if it looks like its gonna piss again 2days later, no point chopping and changing the cows diet that much.

Say my name

On a positive note this must be one of the most progressive winters for grass for a while.
There seems to be plenty of grass about and all a lovely dark green colour.
No frost burn or washed out yellow grass.
And that's from the locality.

Had the cows out since calving started end of Jan. In some days out some days.
Not worried as the grass is there and regrowth is very good on any grazed.
Not worried about golf ball grazing. It'll all be grazed in the next rounds. The important thing is the plant is there now and long and it'll allow a quick regrowth when grazed.
Often days I went to bring them in after a few hours out and they looking at me wondering what the hell I was doing bringing them in. You'll know the cows what they want. Silage is at the barrier full time too before and after let out.

No fert spread and some slurry out.
Every day you'd notice more growth now and grass getting darker away.

Say my name

On a picture related note.
On one of the days when they were out.



Not a clear image. But yellow dung flies having the sexy time on a pat.

Ah it's still dairy farming...

mahoney_j

Say my name wrote: »

On a positive note this must be one of the most progressive winters for grass for a while.
There seems to be plenty of grass about and all a lovely dark green colour.
No frost burn or washed out yellow grass.
And that's from the locality.

Had the cows out since calving started end of Jan. In some days out some days.
Not worried as the grass is there and regrowth is very good on any grazed.
Not worried about golf ball grazing. It'll all be grazed in the next rounds. The important thing is the plant is there now and long and it'll allow a quick regrowth when grazed.
Often days I went to bring them in after a few hours out and they looking at me wondering what the hell I was doing bringing them in. You'll know the cows what they want. Silage is at the barrier full time too before and after let out.

No fert spread and some slurry out.
Every day you'd notice more growth now and grass getting darker away.

So much sense in that ,for what it’s worth seeing same here re grass despite no chemical n ,healthy lush green colour and what’s grazed whilst needing a boost is growing

Siamsa Sessions

mahoney_j wrote: »

So much sense in that ,for what it’s worth seeing same here re grass despite no chemical n ,healthy lush green colour and what’s grazed whilst needing a boost is growing

Agree - great post.

Nice dark green colour around here too. If the weather even half settles, the maiden heifers will go out to grass next week. The plan is to leave out 3-4 every few days. They're being out-wintered on rape in a field beside the yard so it's easy enough to bring them in and pick out a few.

straight

Say my name wrote: »

On a picture related note.
On one of the days when they were out.



Not a clear image. But yellow dung flies having the sexy time on a pat.

Ah it's still dairy farming...

Teagasc says the yellow tips on that grass means it's out of nitrogen?

alps

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Disagree.
I’d rather cows with a belly full in crap weather than saying that they’ve got their daily nutrition allowance on an empty stomach....just put yourself in their position,

I could do with it, if that's what you mean😁😎😎

Base price

straight wrote: »

Teagasc says the yellow tips on that grass means it's out of nitrogen?

Frost/wind burn.

alps

K.G. wrote: »

At the end of it all though, its all about the weather.a fine day and good feed of grass often perks up a cow after calving

And the Man..or Woman..

alps

The cup of tea after letting the cows out....the relaxation of it....is there any better hour in the day..

Say my name

straight wrote: »

Teagasc says the yellow tips on that grass means it's out of nitrogen?

Ah there's nitrogen salesmen in teagasc.

Oh jeez going on other years where we often had burnt up grass in March. This is paradise.

Loads of nitrogen in that grass without it being spread.

The Rabbi

Say my name wrote: »

Ah there's nitrogen salesmen in teagasc.

Oh jeez going on other years where we often had burnt up grass in March. This is paradise.

Loads of nitrogen in that grass without it being spread.

Product pushers,no matter what you are doing or what your results are you need to use this or that and more of the other.
All available from our sponsors.

Water John

The Rabbi wrote: »

Product pushers,no matter what you are doing or what your results are you need to use this or that and more of the other.
All available from our sponsors.

Was in the chemist a few days ago for my prescription and while waiting browsed the veterinary section. The amount and range stuff aimed at me the farmer customer.

orm0nd

Base price wrote: »

Frost/wind burn.

And/or waterlogged root system.

straight

Passed the halfway mark in calving last night after 17 days. It was a bit of a shock to the system after my winter break. I think my pinch point now is not enough single pens for training and transitional milk. God be with the days when you could have half the amount of cows, calve them over a few months and have the wife feed all the calves.

GrasstoMilk

straight wrote: »

Passed the halfway mark in calving last night after 17 days. It was a bit of a shock to the system after my winter break. I think my pinch point now is not enough single pens for training and transitional milk. God be with the days when you could have half the amount of cows, calve them over a few months and have the wife feed all the calves.

Not a fan of single pens here, too much work, all in a group pen, 2 feeds on a bottle and onto a teat feeder, 4th feed they have the hang on it