Yeah bought a refurbished one before Christmas
We’ll know come autumn
got new ground close to the yard. Should be able to get a load cut and put in front if the barrier in 40 minutes
cows will eat it during evening milking
push in what’s left over after evening milking and they can clean it up during morning milking
Are you concerned about TB with the zero grazer. If there are badgers and TB in the area the zero grazer is lethal.
Didn’t see it but I did buy a half-dozen maiden heifers off a cousin just now. Non-registered pedigree Hol, born Sept/Oct 2022, €600. A few white ones in the bunch but I picked out more middle of the road types. Still a little leggy but not extreme.
I’ll leave them to the bull or AI them in April before the other 20 in May.
Neospora is a bigger threat with them....
Neospora …badger **** …tb ….and trust me the time stuck in a machine cutting it shoving it in ..drawing **** out ..wear and tear …give me multi cut silage any day
100%
Zero grazing is like drinking grand every now again but if you have to have it every day you ve got a problem
I don't use American bulls bar two in my lifetime I've used Irish bred ebi cows good ones and bad ones ...... and there brutal ......but you see a huge amount of the holstiens used in this country should never have been used. Also a lot of farmers had no idea how to breed cows properly ie locomotion udders rib depth stature leg placement . Doesnt matter the cow type or breed if one and only one of these things are wrong your cow will not reach her potential be that the new 400kg per cow or the 720 that highyeilders are capable of All these things are still as relevant today as ever they were and even more relevant in crossbred cows . But the ai stations know that farmers are not capable or don't care enough to follow the basics .
They Don't for that for Irish bulls though.............I wonder why
He's own argument is they cost less in meal but it's a 150 a cow max in difference for over a third more of an output less cows less cost more output its pretty simple .......kiss ....ya know 😊🙃
Inter-bull do the International proofs
Dovea seem to be mad for bulls this year. They've claimed 2 of mine already this year before they're even born and expecting me to sign a first refusal contract. One of them is even a sexed straw.
I'd say there'll be a major shortage of good ai fr bulls with the use of sexed.
Don’t get too excited ….it’s just to genotype a poteintal bull calf …..slim chance they’ll buy …but still a chance
I got there 24 catalogue today,nearly all the same bulls as last year from what I can see..to me dovea's Irish bulls are a bit more reliable than progressive..last couple of years heifers from the progressive lucky bag ebi bulls has put me right off them.. my older 75 percent British Friesians with negative value for milk are far better cows.
I'm not sure that big international Holstein bulls would suit me either though..
I know. I already have a bull with Munster so anything extra is a bonus. Nice to get the interest all the same.
Think I'll buy some straws off WWS this year. Have heard great reports from farmers.
I wouldn’t agree but we all have our own calculators.
I made 4 cuts of silage this year on one block of ground, yeah good stuff but still not as good as fresh grass imo. I could have our cows on really good silage and maize in the shed and they still milk better if they get grass in their diet. It’s the type of cow we’ve bred and if I go to change it it’ll be be 5 years before you’d see it.
And the only change you could make is extra litres to produce more milk solids but extra litres results in a taller/bigger cow which I don’t like
Pine tree legacy would be a good option from them using him here on the more extreme cows to bring down their size , won't breed massive cows and has great solids/health/milk
They have a few nicely balanced bulls …used Conway across all my heifers last year …few rager reds on my reds
And that is probably not Inc culls if you have the landvto finish them.
I see a couple of lads near me that got rid of the beef operations 6-7 years ago. I not sure if they are any better off. They are running around like blue as5ed flies. They were milking 100ish and added 50-100 more. Actually one of the places seemed to have disapproved, another lad is in his 60's and neither of his young lads are interested it seems.
And it's spud and beef farmers that seem to be buying the land around here.
Have a good shot of conway/renegade heifers to calf down this spring they look like having great potential
Now there's one thing we definitely agree on grass is king I've never disagreed with you on that even the lift It gives autumn calve cows in spring is unreal.... grass brings its own problems and won't stand alone...zero grazing has benefits you but It can bring big headaches . It's something I'm really undecided on.
British freisan or fr crossed with the correct holstien are a very underrated cow
Ya Don't need to use big type of Holsteins ask around there's loads of nice framed bulls about be a class cross on your herd
Be interested to hear about them mj when they are on the ground I've a rep pestering me about that bull
Until you’ve tried it yourself you won’t know what it would be like everyday. Every herd would react differently to it. We zero graze in the backend every year and no matter how good the quality of the silage it won’t hold milk or even give you a slight bump compared to the zero grazing. I think it’s a great tool in the shoulders but I wouldn’t like to be incorporating it into the everyday system on the farm. Lucky here we have a great contractor who does 4 or 5 farms locally and is priced very fair.
Biggest benefit I seen this year with it, was been able to keep quality grass into the cows and plenty of it after getting caught in June/July waiting to take out ground on the grazing block allowed us to top away aswell and not been worried of running out of grass
I simply brought in half the second-cut ground as zg grass and done likewise with the third cut, cows milked as good as any other year when they usually would of been getting 1st cut silage and 2kgs of ration through the feeder as a buffer....
Contractor done 80 load from April to October, saved us having to feed out circa 300 ton of 1st cut silage
Be on ground in next few days …be 2026 before I can make a firm comment on them ….but I’m expecting big things …..going to use some renegade as well this year
Renegade incalf heifer below, the sire of conway their American daughter proofs are unbelievable re solids and milk
