Greenfield Farm manager David Fogarty has constructed a neat footbath in the exit race. He designed it based on the guidelines of Neil Chesterson, who visited the farm late last year. The key Chesterson details are:

  • The footbath must be part of the exit race itself (not a diversion).
  • Wide footbaths allow better for cow flow. For herds of up to 250 cows, make it 1.5m wide. For larger herds make it at least 2m wide.
  • The length must be at least 2.5 metres but a maximum of 3 metres.
  • The floor of the bath must be the same level as the approach concrete and exit concrete, with no stepping down or up into it.

    • The grass walk on Monday showed grass growing at 86kg per day and, when it was walked again on Friday, the result was 100kg per day. Farm cover per cow is up to 164 kg on Friday from 123kg per cow on Monday.

    Drought stress

    The signs of drought stress are apparent and, should no rain arrive, a much lower growth rate is expected next week. To slow the rotation, a paddock intended for round bales was pre-mowed for the milking herd.

    There are still a few cows (5%) that haven’t come bulling or at least haven’t been caught bulling. Vasectomied bulls are out with the herd to help identify cows now that repeats have slowed down. The last milk test shows a result of about 20kg per cow at 3.80% protein and 4.36% fat at 169,000 cell count and 4.82% lactose.

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