Something like 2 out of 5 lads who start rearing calves stop again within a few years.
If people get burned paying big money for calves and end up with nothing for themselves after 18-24 months, that’ll put them off whisking milk fairly fast.
No, didn't even see it.
Sheds full of calves here already, too far away, 35 percent replacement heifer calves myself and I find them a hard enough animal to get the value of at sale. My father told me not to bother my hole, that my own are as good if I can feed them more. Closed herd, no subscription to LSL. Busy enough and a bit lazy about trying to organise the whole thing and a few other reasons. 🤣
I wouldn't take much notice of statistics like that. Half baked and change every year or two but lads will still keep on trotting out the same line.
Alot of lads bought too many cheap calves a few years ago and had no facilities or capacity to manage them. But they couldn't help themselves with the bargains. More lads thought they could buy calves cheaper reared. Alot of reasons. More lads are too busy with work, lack confidence with calves, too lazy, etc.
Theres a couple more sales, still time!!
How Did your own fit into your herd? Are they milking about the same as the rest?
There were never a bargain in calves beef was 3.50kg not so long ago how anyone paid anything for them that time is beyond me there was a bit good will and respect from my buyers who recognised the effort to rear them.
Shes projected at 6000 4.11ft 3.66. Held first service aswell. Id be happy enough if she did that coming into a new environment. Shes an auld pet around the place too and was working away on the robot herself after 2 days. Shes a yoke that probably wants abit of extra attention to put condition on thou in fairness.
There was a couple in ballyforan that milk men used to drop calves off to, they wouldn't even give enough beastings to the calves. The couple were very hard working, but were taking advantage of by unscrupulous dairy men and had no chance of keeping the calves alive when treated like this on the home farm.
anyone having any issues with the geno tags? I see one of my calves is now on icbf since last Thursday but they haven't selected the bull for the calf (which was an AI bull ) is this normal now or they just trying to speed up cards being sent out?
Yes it's a long process
Tough going when lads are dropping off free livestock in your yard.
But when tests showed that adequate beastings had not been fed, it was back door Bobby calves
it’s worse it seems to be getting the ai bull I used had two double muscle genes but this calf is showing up as having no genes so I will be watching this closely in the coming days
People Need to own their own sh1t and not blame others for their own failings imo. They couldn't resist taking the free calves and failed to manage them after. My father never gave blessings to a calf in his life and he reared alot of calves over 40 years. I never lost a calf to scour as far as I can remember.
So what did he do with the cows colostrum. Dump it and give the calf some other milk. Chances are he let the calf suck his mother.
I’d be with you on people owning their own sh*te. Some always want to blame others.
But anyone can get caught out. You half own that.
If it happens a second time, then that’s different. You 100% own that.
II'm not for one second saying that the couple involved weren't gullible and a bit of a want in them, but plenty of lads out there to take advantage of a situation and walk around with their heads held high.
Ya,, They all suck is his policy. If they didn't, then they got fed at the next feeding time. None of this 321 policy of tubing the calf in the middle of the night with 3 or 4 litres. Never in his life froze colostrum or stored it. Lads blaming a dairy farmer for not giving enough colostrum are only looking for someone to blame for their own failures imho.
Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice, shame on me....
A cow came in this morning with her pap badly cut in the cubicles. Think I'll leave that quarter be for a week. Hope she won't get mastitis. I called the vet before to one like that and he sliced it off. Made a balls of it.
I had one the 2 back spins badly cut about a month ago. Cheno unction at each milking, am able to milk her properly now
Were they leaking out the side? I had two cows it happened to this year. Both leaking out the side and not milking from the teat canal. I actually culled both as one was 11 and the other 8. The 8 year old went to a cell count of 3 million in the teat behind it and good cull prices, so all things considered they had to go.
One of them was worse than the other and was leaking out the side. The cheno unction kept the teats soft. I had another with blackspot and had to cut her spin off, so she's a 3 spinner now.
Following a similar policy this year,all calves get 24 hrs with mother.i let ye know after season but so far all good.it has surprised me how quick they are to suck themselves
We find if the calf get a chance to suck the mother it is very hard to train them to suck the bottle or the feeder.
Particularly a limousin
If they suck at all on the cow. Then they'll fight for 24 hours not drinking. Could be longer. If you get them off the cow straightaway before they feed then there's no missed feeds and you've a calf fighting fit for anything.
I'm getting on well this year with a mineral dose to the calf after it's first feed and the precision microbes in the milk after. Cows all had their mineral boluses at in early december that I dropped for a few years too so there's a bit of everything there too.
If I've a calf that has sucked the cow and refuses the bottle it'll get a second mineral dose (Growvite forte) and usually the next feed it'll start.
Id see a couple of calves suck the cow and when youd get her over to milk she would have teat seal in all her spins still. If your teat sealing it might be something to watch out for. Couple of lads i know are very particular about biestings. Was in a yard one day and the young lad walked over to the auld lad and said the calf sucked the cow and her beistings only tested 17 on the refractometer, what will we do??
I wouldn't even like to touch my one. It's barely hanging on. She was in good form this morning but sore and off her ration this evening.
On You tube today, I saw one dairy farmer had a cow get injured and go to knackery and another farmer had one of his favourite cows sliced her teat off. That's farming. Can't win them all.
Probably nowadays some thing could be done with a teat with a hot glue gun and carefully glueing back the side up. But would all depend on the teat damage and operator.
(Just thinking of soldiers in war conditions and my own success in glueing back together a cab light on a loader that a bale dropped and broke off on the cab).
