950 gallon cows

zetorman · 08-02-2011 10:27AM #1

Small Dairy farmer here doing my sums. Last year I supplied 950 gallons per cow. Spring calving in North west.....out early April & back in again late Oct. Have paddocks and move fence after every milking. Think I manage grass ok. Fed about 400kg of nuts per head. Should I up the nuts and go for increased yield or should I stay as I am ??

whelan1 · 08-02-2011 10:27AM

what type of cows have you got ?

barryoc1 · 08-02-2011 10:31AM

Just wonderin did you take into consideration milk fed to calves in your calculations?

sh1tstirrer · 08-02-2011 11:37AM

At those yields you should get them out to grass a month earlier even if it was for only 3 hours a day and cut out meals altogether.

zetorman · 08-02-2011 12:22PM

Most of my cows are reindeer type Holsteins !! Have crossed them with montbeliarde and find them much better for my system.
This year have 2 Norwegin red cross heifers to calf. Feed 1 kg of 18% nuts per milking from calving until end of breeding season in mid july. Then cut to half kg per milking for rest of season.

jeff greene · 08-02-2011 12:40PM

Most important question, are you making money out of your current system,? Any health issues or fertility problems? What is Jack Kennedy favorite saying, ‘Yield is Vanity, Profit is Sanity’ Most guys on low input farms get that kind of yield, in reality 400kgs is nothing over 300 day lactation to a 600kg cow. Grass quality and quantity is more important.

You have to do your own maths as to your cows yield potential and meal price , my reindeer type Holsteins give almost double yours but I don’t listen to Jack:D

linebacker52 · 08-02-2011 12:57PM

I wouldn't increase meal feeding but would look at increasing stocking rate if possible

whelan1 · 08-02-2011 01:04PM

linebacker52 wrote: »

I wouldn't increase meal feeding but would look at increasing stocking rate if possible

why? would he not be better off getting more out of what he has

kk_man · 08-02-2011 01:47PM

I think a big help might me allowing your cows more grass. Obviously not now but when your growing more than you can eat. I used to move fences after every milking but I found it restricts cows too much. regardless of how good you are at allocating grass you will always leave the heifer and shy feeder short. At least give them a day and if possible 3 or 4 milkings. At least then your only forcing them to graze tight every 4th time and its easier on you. I found it a big help

snowman707 · 08-02-2011 02:25PM

kk_man wrote: »

I think a big help might me allowing your cows more grass. Obviously not now but when your growing more than you can eat. I used to move fences after every milking but I found it restricts cows too much. regardless of how good you are at allocating grass you will always leave the heifer and shy feeder short. At least give them a day and if possible 3 or 4 milkings. At least then your only forcing them to graze tight every 4th time and its easier on you. I found it a big help

we changed from 12 hour paddocks to 2 to 4 day paddocks and would never go back. as well as increase in yields, we also got a rise in solids, we don't graze bare with the cows , we use the sheep for that.

funny man · 08-02-2011 07:43PM

zetorman wrote: »

Small Dairy farmer here doing my sums. Last year I supplied 950 gallons per cow. Spring calving in North west.....out early April & back in again late Oct. Have paddocks and move fence after every milking. Think I manage grass ok. Fed about 400kg of nuts per head. Should I up the nuts and go for increased yield or should I stay as I am ??

As jeff already said are you making money at it? i assume your suppling C Gold, if so you are being paid on milk solids,
what milk solids are you selling per hectare?as this will be your limiting factor going forward
What stocking rate are you carrying and can you increase it more?
How compact is your calving pattern?
Is there alot of heifers or carry over cows in that?
what is the fertility like in the herd ?

stanflt · 08-02-2011 08:24PM

feed the cows as much as they can eat

last year i milked 100cows on 67 acres and managed to cut 20 of this for first cut silage and 15 second cut on the grazing platform. had cows out by 14th feb-nearly ran out grass by mid march(slow spring) i feed 900kg meal per cow and also feed maize in august sept. cows averaged 1800gal

every bodys system is different-your current one may be the best one for your situation:)

5live · 08-02-2011 08:49PM

zetorman wrote: »

Small Dairy farmer here doing my sums. Last year I supplied 950 gallons per cow. Spring calving in North west.....out early April & back in again late Oct. Have paddocks and move fence after every milking. Think I manage grass ok. Fed about 400kg of nuts per head. Should I up the nuts and go for increased yield or should I stay as I am ??

Whats your stocking rate? If you dont have fertility problems and are making money would you be better off reseeding and increasing grass allocation to the cows to improve intakes and produce more milk cheaply? That way you are improving your farms profitability and not the feed companys

sh1tstirrer · 08-02-2011 09:44PM

jeff greene wrote: »

in reality 400kgs is nothing over 300 day lactation to a 600kg cow.

It's 20 tonnes for 50 cows. €6000 at €300/tonne or 12.6c/gallon.

jeff greene · 08-02-2011 10:16PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

It's 20 tonnes for 50 cows. €6000 at €300/tonne or 12.6c/gallon.

Kudos on having a calculator, you missed my point completely, 400kgs of meals is 350kgs DM, over a 300 day lactation a cow will need over 5000kgs DM, making grass quality and quantity more important.

Dan Ryan has a good article in todays Independent about meal feeding, a man that knows what he is talking about.

sh1tstirrer · 08-02-2011 10:52PM

jeff greene wrote: »

Kudos on having a calculator, you missed my point completely, 400kgs of meals is 350kgs DM, over a 300 day lactation a cow will need over 5000kgs DM, making grass quality and quantity more important.

Dan Ryan has a good article in todays Independent about meal feeding, a man that knows what he is talking about.

My point is that its a waste of money feeding 950 gallon cows meal when they can easily give that yield from grass alone.

dar31 · 09-02-2011 12:00AM

[QUOTE=

Dan Ryan has a good article in todays Independent about meal feeding, a man that knows what he is talking about.[/QUOTE]

that lad makes me cringe every time i read his articles.
had the misfortune of listening to him speak a few times

funny man · 09-02-2011 12:00AM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

My point is that its a waste of money feeding 950 gallon cows meal when they can easily give that yield from grass alone.

Very simplistic view if the genetics are for alot more milk, there is a possability that there is some other factor holding them back from producing to their potential. You cannot run Holsteins on a grass only system no matter what grass you can grow, thats where so many go wrong.

jeff greene · 09-02-2011 12:53PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

My point is that its a waste of money feeding 950 gallon cows meal when they can easily give that yield from grass alone.

Exactly my same point, quality grass is more than adequate for those yields, a kilo of meal a day wont make up for poor grass.

jeff greene · 09-02-2011 12:54PM

dar31 wrote: »

that lad makes me cringe every time i read his articles.
had the misfortune of listening to him speak a few times

Call me crazy but I like to take my advice from guys that are on farms daily, working in real life situations. How many cows does he handle every year, sees the good and the bad and what works in terms of fertility, he talks alot of sense IMO

sh1tstirrer · 09-02-2011 02:43PM

funny man wrote: »

You cannot run Holsteins on a grass only system no matter what grass you can grow, thats where so many go wrong.

Thats true but the op is milking holstein montbeliarde crosses.

dar31 · 09-02-2011 07:46PM

jeff greene wrote: »

Call me crazy but I like to take my advice from guys that are on farms daily, working in real life situations. How many cows does he handle every year, sees the good and the bad and what works in terms of fertility, he talks alot of sense IMO

there is no denining it he knows his stuff, but it is all aimed at the high yeilder pedigree lads and that is fine. he has seems to ignore the cost of what he says and some times the practicalities of it. he has been around for a good while and he seems to have fallen into a grove and dosent budge from it.

the last time i listened to him he spent most of the time promoting him self and his interests. the speaker after him made him look like an amateur.
in short, i just took a dislike to him

funny man · 09-02-2011 08:30PM

zetorman wrote: »

Most of my cows are reindeer type Holsteins !! Have crossed them with montbeliarde and find them much better for my system.
This year have 2 Norwegin red cross heifers to calf. Feed 1 kg of 18% nuts per milking from calving until end of breeding season in mid july. Then cut to half kg per milking for rest of season.

says he has crossed them, how many crossbreds?

poor farmer · 09-02-2011 10:10PM

Average calving date and days in milk have a major influence on annual yield

John_F · 09-02-2011 10:31PM

+1 on dan ryan, should be more of him in media, should be in the journal once a month at least, instead of grass watch there should be cow watch. people are going on about sh!t about grass, grass is lovely but if you have a holstein cow her demands are more than 18kg dm grass. Problem now is with people gone down the cross breeding route, and still have the black and white cow in the system, some cows have lower demands and more have higher demands putting even more of a stain on the high yielded. in my view its eeither one or the other, 100% fr ho, 100% br fr or 100% jersey crosses and nr reds. i wish there was more of what the cow wants rather than getting into covers of 2400, take that greenfield farm in kilkenney, how many people think that system will work with the black and white cow? i dont anyway

that cow can be pushed more, but all comes down to grain and milk price,

dar31 · 09-02-2011 11:13PM

6 gls a day from grass after that a cow needs to be supplemented. plenty of lads milk 1800 -2000 gls cows making the best use of grass as possible, they will get that 6gls first from grass and then supplement the cow for the extra gallons. personally i prefer my cows to work for me rather than me working for them.

John_F · 09-02-2011 11:16PM

depends on the cow doesnt it dar? like a good milker will milk more than that using energy off her back>>fertility problems>>fail!, but a crossbred will keep the fat on her back

950 gallon cows

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