Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

If it goes badly I’ll post the DoneDeal add of the grazer up and you’ll know exactly

to me it’s either drop cow numbers or at least try and maintain them.

If you’re going to reduce them you’ll never get them back and with the way the economy is were hurting ourselves the most by reducing. If the cows are reduced what hope has the next generation

I hope im wrong there on that one

if you’re going to maintain them you have to do your best to get value out of the extra land taken on. Cutting silage to feed it back out a few weeks later isnt the answer for me going forward, it suited fine to keep things moving on a bit but i always wanted to be as grass based as possible

so hopefully this will get me back there and get as much utilisation out of the ground as possible and luckily the draw isn’t very far from the yard

After a long day yesterday I said I’d get a good start to the day

Livestock sheds are often timber. No idea why.

Have we found middle ground …..you want more cows but need more toys and investement in machinery to keep it whilst some of us want less cows or hold nos but breed a cow that will efficiently produce more milk and solids ….are you planning on not having derogation going forward and ending up somewhere in beteween 170 and 220 …..and don’t tell me you think we’ll keep 220…….best of luck with z grazer ….still think your mad going that route😀 ….you’ll still end up feeding a tonne plus of nuts and still end up feeding silage at stages of year …if home block is under pressure for grass in droughts or crap weather ….your z grazing block will also suffer

the one thing I see with the zero grazers is the alarming risk in tb break downs with lads that have one

We’ll see about the meal. The plan is cut it back a bit any way because we are feeding a bit extra for stocking rate reasons

I’ve no issue having to feed a bit of silage at stages but having to start feeding in September the last 2 years is what I don’t like. With the grazer and with how much land is away now I could have the cows on full grass well into November

I’d a heap of grass on outblocks last September /October ….was z grazing when I could but got very little done ….due to weather …tgeres also compaction issue that time of year ….also feeding value of low dm grass dosnt have kick required to keep milking and also keep condition on cows …I ended up getting sheep in and also grazed some with dry cows ….at that stage of year good quality silage feeds far better

Thinking from DVO side is that ZG removes the animals opportunity to not select a soiled piece of grass.

They have the same opinion on very low post grazing covers.

No idea of the factual stats behind the thoughts.

Cow type irrelevant and your carrying far higher sr now than back then …..

Far from irrelevant in my book, Ive been buffering in autumn because of sr and not enough grass available per cow on the mp

you say you’re feeding because the cows don’t milk enough for you without it

The grass in the backend last year was running through cows not much value to it everyone knows that, but unless last year was to become the norm every year going forward then you can’t just write off all grass produced from august to October/November as rubbish quality.

Everyone has to utilize what they have available to them and if you’ve grass a short distance away then zero grazing could be a no brainer at certain points in the year.

Sure if you were to take the advice of some here everyone could cut numbers by 30% in the upper middle band only have to put in feed to yield and still maintain or increase turnover and profit. I don’t however think that would work for the vast majority.

Do you not see the contradictions in your statement. The land you are using to grow the zero grazed grass can be used instead to grow the maize or wholecrop to buffer feed, with much better milk solids return. And you don't have to drive over the road everyday with your zero grazer.