I took the final decision this week to stop milking 365. In reality the decision was made for me when I discovered that cow 365 wasn’t in calf at the scanning. It is a shame to see a first calver being culled but for a small cow she has a very long and active right leg and also a blind quarter.
The rest of the scanning had been uneventful with 8% empty. Four empty first and second calvers will be kept. Worth only a few hundred as culls they are worth two or three times that as a maiden heifer equivalent.
This week I dried off the remaining culls and they were sold on farm to a local fattener. I don’t fatten anything myself now, preferring to concentrate on the breeding stock. I also housed some late calvers with the autumn herd. This has reduced the stocking rate on the milking platform to 3 cows/Ha. It will reduce further again in the next few days as I pull out a few spring calvers that need a slightly longer holiday.
Mild weather
The reduction in grazing herd and the fabulous dry mild weather has allowed me to pull the buffer feeding and use grass only. At a yield of only 10litres on OAD milking they only need supplement if there is poor weather or a lack of grass. Grass is certainly not lacking, in fact I am slightly behind schedule on the autumn grazing plan at 55% grazed instead of 60%. The growth rate means there is already around 800 kg/Ha on the first paddocks closed. It is a little risky as this is one of my exposed easterly facing fields. The blanket of well-rotted FYM it received should help insulate it against the worst of any cold weather. But for calendar farming the current conditions would be perfect to top up every grazed field with a slurry tonic.
Autumn calving
Meanwhile the autumn herd is over 50% calved at two weeks past the “on paper” due date. No problem to report except for one cleaning held by the mother of a set of twin heifers. She is on OAD like all the bunch of colostrum cows. They are kept in a separate house and milked last in the morning. It is great safety to have the pipe out of the bulk tank beforehand.
The rest of the autumn calvers are now showing a dilution effect on the milk solids at 4.51% fat and 4.03% protein at the last collection. A slight drop from averaging 4.9% and 4.3% mid-month.
Read more from Harold Kingston here.