Livestock/General Farming photo thread ***READ MOD NOTE IN POST #1***

Richk2012

reilig wrote: »

I find that your own experience of a bull is usually what he is like. CWI probably suits your system, the way that you feed your cows and the way that they are bred. There's no reason why he shouldn't continue to be a good calver for you if you keep doing what you're doing.

Dunno would i agree totally with that .
He has never calved a blue before .

Some of them throw double muscled calves from bulls that other cows like simmentals or charlaois would have no problem with .
And the shape or size of a blue cow wont really determine the size of the calf .
More down to genetics .

naughto

Username John wrote: »

Seeing as everyone is putting up photos of lovely cut fields, with heavy crops...

I said I'd post some pics of my "Grass 2013 kick-off"

Hay down...

(I'd bet some of ye have bigger lawns, its really only a small square of grass in front of the house)



The machinery





And it only took a few hours... (remember I said it was small patch) :rolleyes:

a load of stopping and starting cos the blade got all blocked / clogged...
a whole load of cursing.... :mad:
a breakdown cos of broken sections...
more cursing... :mad:

Sure what else would I be doing on a Sunday afternoon

Ahhhhh.... the satisfaction of looking out at it now, and it all patchy and quare looking, uncut bits coming up through it...

u would have being better off using a syide(i have no idea how to spell it)the yoke death carries with him

moy83

Driving lessons for the young lads !
My father never had time or patients to stay in the cab with me when I was learning but in fairness he would spend all day long with my two now .

naughto

moy83 wrote: »

Driving lessons for the young lads !
My father never had time or patients to stay in the cab with me when I was learning but in fairness he would spend all day long with my two now .

is that a mayo hat the young lad is wearing??

moy83

naughto wrote: »

is that a mayo hat the young lad is wearing??

No its some kind of mohawk wolly hat that he decided was to the fashion today .
We dont follow hurling or football in this house , its all rugby . We were in the ospreys clubhouse the weekend and he was in his element

stanflt

a few cows

a cgh 2nd calver just gone 3yo


a 2yo flt



a 3rd calver 4yo ramos- FLT HALF SISTER


a 4th calfer roumare




a 3rd calver RUU my favourite cow



some autumn and spring calving 2yo

Kovu

stanflt wrote: »

a few cows

Something I've always wondered. How can you tell them all apart?! Just by the tags?

Although seeing as I can tell 6 pb lm apart from looking at their rear ends, maybe I've answered my own question

moy83

Is that a simmental you have in the front of the group stan ?:D I didnt have you down a dual purpose kinda guy :P
My favourite looking one of the cows is the 4yr old ramos - half flt sister .
If I was a judge of dairy cows would I be anywhere right with her being the best of the pictures you put up ?

whelan1

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Something I've always wondered. How can you tell them all apart?! Just by the tags?

Although seeing as I can tell 6 pb lm apart from looking at their rear ends, maybe I've answered my own question

every animal is different, know most of mine by the look of them:) even the pb angus all look different

stanflt

maize 7ft tall in mid july

reilig

Richk2012 wrote: »

Dunno would i agree totally with that .
He has never calved a blue before .

Some of them throw double muscled calves from bulls that other cows like simmentals or charlaois would have no problem with .
And the shape or size of a blue cow wont really determine the size of the calf .
More down to genetics .

Don't know if I'd agree totally with that.
Have often calved down a bb heifer to a bb bull. Double muscle on a newborn calf comes from too much feeding when he's in the cow/heifer. A proper diet can determine an awful lot!! If the man is calving other heifers and cows to this bull, then there is good reason to assume that his bb is on a similar diet and should calve just as easy as the rest. Genetics have a bit to do with it, but as the supplier of the feed, the farmer can do far more than genetics to control the size of the calf in the womb!

Odelay

stanflt wrote: »

maize 7ft tall in mid july

How much are you charging to let the kids free in the "Maze" for an hour or several.......:pac:

btw nice crop, from the movie Ghost, "Grow it, they will eat" or something similar......

Timmaay

The neighbours maize has hit 7ft also, he's just about to start feeding silage to the cows with the drought, so is very thankful to have the maize, he is expecting a yeild of 22ton. Well tempted myself to go for afew acres next year, might buy in 100t or so this November.

Richk2012

reilig wrote: »

Don't know if I'd agree totally with that.
Have often calved down a bb heifer to a bb bull. Double muscle on a newborn calf comes from too much feeding when he's in the cow/heifer. A proper diet can determine an awful lot!! If the man is calving other heifers and cows to this bull, then there is good reason to assume that his bb is on a similar diet and should calve just as easy as the rest. Genetics have a bit to do with it, but as the supplier of the feed, the farmer can do far more than genetics to control the size of the calf in the womb!

How 'often' would you calve a Belgian Heifer to a BelgianBlue Bull :eek: ???

Id never put anything else other than an easy calving Limo or an Angus into a maiden Blue .

Double muscle doesnt come from over feeding either .
Its a gene called mystatin(forgive spelling) carried by Belgian Blues .
If you cross blue on blue and both are carrying the gene , there is a could chance the calf will inherit this trait too .

If you over fed a simmental or charlaois cow carrying a Limousin , your not going to get a double muscle calf .
You will prob get a big fat calf with a difficult calving thrown into the bargain but chances are he wont be carrying the gene and bulging with muscle on the hips like blue calves do be .

On the diet end of things i agree , nobody wants cows over fat at calving , and a restricted diet before calving will help greatly , but this man may have left it a bit late for that as were half way through july and they are due next month although i didnt see an exact date

moy83

Richk2012 wrote: »

How 'often' would you calve a Belgian Heifer to a BelgianBlue Bull :eek: ???

Id never put anything else other than an easy calving Limo or an Angus into a maiden Blue .

Double muscle doesnt come from over feeding either .
Its a gene called mystatin(forgive spelling) carried by Belgian Blues .
If you cross blue on blue and both are carrying the gene , there is a could chance the calf will inherit this trait too .

If you over fed a simmental or charlaois cow carrying a Limousin , your not going to get a double muscle calf .
You will prob get a big fat calf with a difficult calving thrown into the bargain but chances are he wont be carrying the gene and bulging with muscle on the hips like blue calves do be .

On the diet end of things i agree , nobody wants cows over fat at calving , and a restricted diet before calving will help greatly , but this man may have left it a bit late for that as were half way through july and they are due next month although i didnt see an exact date

No time like the present to start the diet , its in the last few weeks that the calves start to really grow

quadboy

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Something I've always wondered. How can you tell them all apart?! Just by the tags?

Although seeing as I can tell 6 pb lm apart from looking at their rear ends, maybe I've answered my own question

I could always spot the next cow in the shed whose turn it was for milking without looking at their tag although most would know their turn and be waiting by the gate and others would come when you called there number, they were well trained

just do it

Dealing with the impending 2014 fodder crisis! Picture below is cows and calves returning to paddock this morning.


I've started bringing them in to the shed in the morning so I can creep feed the calves. They were well used to calf nuts when turned out so knew straight away what was waiting for them in the trough in the creep area!


Cows must be back in milk and grass is limited so plan is to start weaning cows in about a fortnight and reserve best grass for weanlings.

Timmaay

Field burning up, took this at the wkend.



I just happened to see this below photo now from a flash flood of the very same field, about 20m lower down in it, from back in Feb this year! Some year its been



And had this on my phone also. Hmmm time to spend money on more concrete, lucky it didn't fall down fully, definitely on borrowed time!

delaney001

That roadway and drainage looks very well J.D.I

I'd say your delighted with it now

kowtow

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Delaval has finally run out of grass and opened up a desert oasis. Luckier than a black cat that lad, he got the weather for opening day and all!

Too much structure altogether for deLaval.

It has a roof for one thing.

And all those idlers standing around it.. not one of them milking.

just do it

delaney001 wrote: »

That roadway and drainage looks very well J.D.I

I'd say your delighted with it now

Sure am. Really gives you a lot more options management wise, especially when time and personnel are scarce!

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

maize 7ft tall in mid july

Is it tasseling already? looks a good few weeks ahead of maize down these parts that are around the 5 - 6ft mark and a few weeks of tasseling. What variety as I presume your growing it for bulk?

delaval

bob charles wrote: »

Is it tasseling already? looks a good few weeks ahead of maize down these parts that are around the 5 - 6ft mark and a few weeks of tasseling. What variety as I presume your growing it for bulk?

'Growing it for bulk'
Is that a backhanded compliment, Bob?

Ignore him Stan, I think it's a great crop!

stanflt

bob charles wrote: »

Is it tasseling already? looks a good few weeks ahead of maize down these parts that are around the 5 - 6ft mark and a few weeks of tasseling. What variety as I presume your growing it for bulk?

benicia bob

Conmaicne Mara

kowtow wrote: »

And all those idlers standing around it.. not one of them milking.

They're waiting for him to install the square bale pool.

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

benicia bob

Taught as much, its a serious variety to grow bulk, personally I dont like it as its not suitable in a beef TMR, fine for cows tough.

I was able to spray a poor field of mine just to give you an idea of how far behind we are down here. contractor spreading the fert on it managed to stripe it:mad:

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

'Growing it for bulk'
Is that a backhanded compliment, Bob?

Ignore him Stan, I think it's a great crop!

No, dont mean it to be. Maize varieties selection depends on what % of maize is going into the TMR. I grow grain maize varieties for forage as I need a highly concentrated pit of maize as I would be trying to pack as much energy as possible into animals each day to speed up turnover of animals. I also use a much lower seed rate so than stan so as to get bigger ears, but my crop will be 6ft at max as less competition for light keeps the plants down

It looks a super crop

delaval

A bit of al fresco dining, ye with all ye're fancy sheds

delaval

delaval wrote: »

A bit of al fresco dining, ye with all ye're fancy sheds

Don't mind broken stake feeder hit it, so it did!!!

Muckit

stanflt wrote: »

maize 7ft tall in mid july

Spotted maize outside portumna at around 4' and thought it was doing well:rolleyes:

delaval

bob charles wrote: »

No, dont mean it to be. Maize varieties selection depends on what % of maize is going into the TMR. I grow grain maize varieties for forage as I need a highly concentrated pit of maize as I would be trying to pack as much energy as possible into animals each day to speed up turnover of animals. I also use a much lower seed rate so than stan so as to get bigger ears, but my crop will be 6ft at max as less competition for light keeps the plants down

It looks a super crop

What levels of starch would you be getting?

redzerologhlen

Busy day!!

Muckit

I know clare is hilly, but you're some man to get them 3 high with a double bale handler!

redzerologhlen

Muckit wrote: »

I know clare is hilly, but you're some man to get them 3 high with a double bale handler!

All I can say is no yard in North Clare was designed thinking there would ever be a 22ft trailer going through it...pure torture but all the piers are still standing!!

mikeoh

pakalasa wrote: »

Well, did she calve ok? My own one calved during the night. No problems, thank God.

Not yet ..time up Aug 1 to Angus so hope she won't take too long I hope I'm as lucky as you........anyone ever get one induced or is it better let nature take its course??

reilig

Richk2012 wrote: »

How 'often' would you calve a Belgian Heifer to a BelgianBlue Bull :eek: ???

Not very often. I prefer my BB females to cross with a LIM or a CH. However, I have calved quite a number over the years to an easy calving BB bull. Don't recall ever having to get a vet to assist!! Would have had them on a restricted diet for at least 10 weeks before calving due date.

One lad in our BTAP group calved 14 BB heifers to SFL last year and claims to have to only assist one.

Would agree that there is a risk of a BB being born with the double muscle gene - but if you selectively feed the dam before calving, you can ensure that this double is not grown and that the calving is an easy one. We want the double muscle to start to form when the calf is 4 to 8 weeks on the ground!

Seaba

FL21 LM heifer calved earlier today.
Happy the cow brought a heifer but disappointed when we first saw her as she is tall, leggy, narrow and light - nothing to look at, but willing to bet she will turn into a very good cow. Mother has a lovely bag of milk and does a great job on her calves.
According to the book FL21 is supposed to have a great "pelvic structure" so I hope they are right.

Bizzum

Seaba wrote: »

FL21 LM heifer calved earlier today.
Happy the cow brought a heifer but disappointed when we first saw her as she is tall, leggy, narrow and light - nothing to look at, but willing to bet she will turn into a very good cow.

We've a few FL21 weanlings, I suppose they're typical of an easy calving Lim bull when born. There's growth on them all right, a few very fancy ones too. They're lively too, infact a couple are very saucy.

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

What levels of starch would you be getting?

usually get same starch% as Dm%. I would be aiming for 40/40. just looking at lab results and one of last years wholecrop wheat pits was 37% starch,45%dm. Wouldnt mind more of that type of stuff this year but doubt it as the weather is too hot during grain fill IMO.

blue5000

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Yer man could be swapping the signs around again soon.

iverjohnston

http://www.imageshack.com/i/g1jzpej

http://www.imageshack.com/i/04v6faj

:(:(:(:(:(:(

vanderbadger

iverjohnston wrote: »

http://www.imageshack.com/i/g1jzpej

http://www.imageshack.com/i/04v6faj

:(:(:(:(:(:(

ouch, what caused that

iverjohnston

Seems to have been a bent blade, must have clipped a stone. How's your welding?

nashmach

iverjohnston wrote: »

http://www.imageshack.com/i/g1jzpej

http://www.imageshack.com/i/04v6faj

:(:(:(:(:(:(

Oh dear - new bed time?

vanderbadger

iverjohnston wrote: »

Seems to have been a bent blade, must have clipped a stone. How's your welding?

its a magician you need
same thing happened myself a few years back, stone bent down blade but it put a straight cut thru bed, was that area of the bed mended before , its looks kinda thin there or something

iverjohnston

nashmach wrote: »

Oh dear - new bed time?

Only as a very last resort. Going to try a patch first.

"was that area of the bed mended before , its looks kinda thin there or something " not in my time of owning it.

moy83

iverjohnston wrote: »

http://www.imageshack.com/i/g1jzpej

http://www.imageshack.com/i/04v6faj

:(:(:(:(:(:(

Ah iver , you would burst helsinki steel !

jerdee

would you be better off getting a new bed frame and transferring across the gears and stuff...

delaval

First pic I saw nothing, second one says it all
Have you full comp?

iverjohnston

What is this "full comp" you speak of?