Cows, calves and veterinary

MT cow and number games

62 was ten years old last spring, daughter of Lawmuir Lassoo and an A12J4 dam. She's one of the top producers in the herd, very placid and a bit of a slow milker. Comes in the first row.
I hoped for a heifer out of her last spring but it turned out that she'd been gestating a schistome (inside out) calf which the vet cut up for her and is now buried behind the calf shed. (You didn't want images did you?)

She's the only cow that has had an observed heat since the bull left the herd a month ago.
Since I'll never see a daughter of hers now, I'm rather glad of one thing - one of the bulls I used as an AB sire last spring is a great-nephew of 62. If Lassoo can sire daughters like that, his genetics are very welcome in my herd.

I'll be waiting rather curiously for the results of PD - which I still have to arrange, at some point when I've decided how I'm going to draft away from the molasses trough at milking time. It seems odd to consider it a 'problem' having what is apparently a very low empty rate, but it's created a situation where I'm still carrying on-farm more cows than I want to take through next winter, and expecting 27 heifers home in May.
Around twenty cows are expected to calve 1 October or later, mostly in the first two weeks of October. This corresponds with the time I started doing AB again, while still running the bull with the larger herd.

One or two other farmers have suggested that it's a good time to sell surplus cows, to realise the high prices. I'm looking ahead to the next, hopefully larger, share-milking job and the advantage of having cows that can rejoin the herd for the cost of trucking, and considering leasing out cows once I know what numbers I've got to juggle.

Unless someone really wants 62 to rear calves for them over winter, she's coming to the end of her dairy career.

(Does that answer a certain 'child's' question about making room in the herd for incoming heifers?)

It's too early to confirm these figures, but this is how the 'balancing act' will probably pan out:

1 June 07 - 160 cows on farm, 44.5 effective hectares.
Four late-calving cows to be sold to South Island.
Two MT heifers culled (to meat works) in June 07.
Sale of four late calvers fell through, decided to keep them
One cow death due to stomach ulcers
One cow death due to milk fever.
One MT heifer culled (to meat works) in September.
Bought one Angus bull.

1 Jan 08 - 155 cows on farm and milking, plus one angus bull.
Feb - culled angus bull, one late calver, one MT eczema cow, two low producers.

March 08 - 151 cows on farm, 131 milking 20 dry.
Aim to carry about 150 through winter.
Expecting to cull 3-5 MT cows following PD (sale of young cows, to works for older ones or poor performers).
Expecting to add 25 heifers (presuming 1 - 2 MT)

Cows in-calf and on farm 31 May 08 - 173
Surplus of 23 to be leased out.

Initially I was expecting a surplus of about ten, but there's not much doubt that there will be some cows available over and above what can be carried on this farm.
The reason for scaling back the numbers - and 150 may still be slightly high - is the age profile of the herd. Close on two thirds of my herd are two and three year olds, animals that are still growing and increasing in capacity to produce. As this group gets older, their feed requirement and production both increase until they reach maturity at around four years old - so the most efficient number of cows per hectare reduces. To add to this scenario, the incoming heifers are largely crossbred, and enter the herd at a roughly equivalent size (and hence feed demand) as the adult Jersey cows.
Last year, expecting the addition to the herd of 40 jersey heifers (plus one Friesian and threee crossbred heifers) and with feed on hand coming out of an under-stocked year, I increased cow numbers by twenty-nine - a huge jump.
I estimated in the early spring that we were probably overstocked by about five cows. Right now, we're over-stocked by about fifty thanks to slowing grass growth and drought conditions. (Last time I walked the paddocks ahead of the cows a 'controlled starvation' ration without supplement - and at that stage there was no molasses and no word of any being available - or increasing the area grazed per day sufficient to feed around a hundred cows was on the ground.)

posted by nellta holdings @ 4:43 PM