milking through the winter

case 5150

hello all, milk price v good at the moment is tempting me to milk late march, april calvers and cull cows for the winter, about 25 in all, i am ok for quota what do ye think, milk with the high price and feed silage and meal or pull the plug in the next 2 weeks nd get the hell out of the pit til feb ?? break be nice tho:D and so would the extra few pound:rolleyes:. all opinions welcome

sh1tstirrer

I did that the last few years I was in dairying. I used to get up at 5am as the milk was collected early and the tank needed washing and also milked early in the evening. It was worth it to have a milk cheque coming in every month of the winter. The way I looked at it the cows still had to be fed all they needed extra was a bit of ration.

case 5150

i agree with what your saying, it no extra chore to milk them few and time that in it the cheque will be nice to have, did you give them much meal in the parlour when kept milking them

whelan1

how are they milking at the minute? i too really like the comfort of getting a cheque each month

sh1tstirrer

case 5150 wrote: »

i agree with what your saying, it no extra chore to milk them few and time that in it the cheque will be nice to have, did you give them much meal in the parlour when kept milking them

It's hard to remember now but guessing I would think that I have them no more than 6lbs 3 each milking.

case 5150

whelan1 wrote: »

how are they milking at the minute? i too really like the comfort of getting a cheque each month[/QUOT

there giving around 15 litres at the moment on bale silage and 2kgs of meal at the minute, but hard to know the exact figure because i drying off every few days in batches of 10. father has fodder beet in his yard for finishing bulls so i might sneak a load or 2 off him:rolleyes: and feed it to them. what ye think of beet as feed to cows??

irishh_bob

case 5150 wrote: »

i agree with what your saying, it no extra chore to milk them few and time that in it the cheque will be nice to have, did you give them much meal in the parlour when kept milking them

i wouldnt envy anyone who milked through last winter , -10 on average each night for thirty days plus , milking took half the day

sh1tstirrer

Beet is alright for cows as long as you don't feed them too much of it. You also need to clean beet for cows.

bogman_bass

would it be worth going once a day for the winter to give yourself a bit of a break? extra half hour in bed for two months would be nice!

whelan1

irishh_bob wrote: »

i wouldnt envy anyone who milked through last winter , -10 on average each night for thirty days plus , milking took half the day

don't even mention it, pure hardship!

sh1tstirrer

bogman_bass wrote: »

would it be worth going once a day for the winter to give yourself a bit of a break? extra half hour in bed for two months would be nice!

It would increase cell counts and the cows would dry off sooner than you would want them to.

irishh_bob

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

It would increase cell counts and the cows would dry off sooner than you would want them to.

going once a day has only a marginal effect on cell count towards ( where cell count is not a problem ) the end of lactation and what is lost in volume is made up for in a marked increase in solids and a reduction in electricity , its a terrific idea from around late october on

Bactidiaryl

beet is a great feed for dairy cows but i find that sugar beet is far better. if feeding beet it needs to be balanced with a 22-25% high phos ration. as with washing i just mix it with a tanco feeder and the dirt just falls to the floor and can then open the hyd door.a little dirt is no harm for milking cows my nutritionist tells me as it contains a bit of calcium but for dry cows make sure its well clean.if on once a day with late lacation cows keep an eye on lactose levels. they need to be below 4.35 or co-ops can get cranky.i reckon if you give them around 4kgs ration you should get a good response and a bit of fat on the culls.

whelan1

Bactidiaryl wrote: »

beet is a great feed for dairy cows but i find that sugar beet is far better. if feeding beet it needs to be balanced with a 22-25% high phos ration. as with washing i just mix it with a tanco feeder and the dirt just falls to the floor and can then open the hyd door.a little dirt is no harm for milking cows my nutritionist tells me as it contains a bit of calcium but for dry cows make sure its well clean.if on once a day with late lacation cows keep an eye on lactose levels. they need to be below 4.35 or co-ops can get cranky.i reckon if you give them around 4kgs ration you should get a good response and a bit of fat on the culls.

lactose should be above 4.35

F.D

if the creamerys give higher prices during the winter to try and level out the peak during the summer i'd say everyone will be doing it.

jeff greene

If you have quota and cows that will milk, I don't understand the problem. Don't go OAD indoors with stale-ish cows as they'll just dry themselves off and scc will become an issue, thats my experience from last winter when the cold weather forced us the go oad. OAD on Christmas day only, maybe;)

case 5150

jeff greene wrote: »

If you have quota and cows that will milk, I don't understand the problem. Don't go OAD indoors with stale-ish cows as they'll just dry themselves off and scc will become an issue, thats my experience from last winter when the cold weather forced us the go oad. OAD on Christmas day only, maybe;)

ye was thinking there today milk oad christmas day anyway, hopefully be no hard winter or else no choice only shut down. what percentage protein ration would ye recommend ta feed my ladies i keepin on milking

Min

I just hope we don't get much snow this winter as I want to stay milking. Last winter had to dry off the cows when the snow came, had no tubes when drying them off but luckily mastitis was not an issue, just kept a few milking for the house, the cats :P and on OAD, that frost was pure hardship.
Nothing like that in sight at the moment, thank God.

fatoftheland

for milking cows they need an overall protein diet of 18%. the ration protein depends on the forage protein but your concentrate needs to be high enough to do this some need 18 % some need 24%

jeff greene

Min wrote: »

I just hope we don't get much snow this winter as I want to stay milking. Last winter had to dry off the cows when the snow came, had no tubes when drying them off but luckily mastitis was not an issue, just kept a few milking for the house, the cats :P and on OAD, that frost was pure hardship.
Nothing like that in sight at the moment, thank God.

Couple that with frozen scrappers, frozen slurry channels, frozen bales, slippery yards, no water:( Not this year again hopefully.

fatoftheland wrote: »

for milking cows they need an overall protein diet of 18%. the ration protein depends on the forage protein but your concentrate needs to be high enough to do this some need 18 % some need 24%

I think the current advice is the keep the overall cp around 16.5%, I believe a more level production curve, reduces weigh loss and aids fertility

kkdela6

Just wondering what did some of yee do last year in a bid to prevent the freezing of pipes in the parlour? im sure some lads came up with some innovative ideas.
we used to dismantle the clusters and let all pipes drain overnight, and left all the taps on a slight trickle. twas a bit of a pain but it was better than having to try and unfreeze everything every morning

jeff greene

kkdela6 wrote: »

Just wondering what did some of yee do last year in a bid to prevent the freezing of pipes in the parlour? im sure some lads came up with some innovative ideas.
we used to dismantle the clusters and let all pipes drain overnight, and left all the taps on a slight trickle. twas a bit of a pain but it was better than having to try and unfreeze everything every morning

That and blocked up the doors and put an electric heater on, still only milked oad. A few points still froze but after a few days, we knew what to do. A space heater on a timer would be good, need good doors though.

kkdela6

i'd say the electricity bills must have been fairly high for yee so? for the lads doing oad milking what time would yee normally do it at?

jeff greene

kkdela6 wrote: »

i'd say the electricity bills must have been fairly high for yee so? for the lads doing oad milking what time would yee normally do it at?

Hadn't much choice, had one in the dairy also to keep the tank and water from freezing

whelan1

1 OF THE MORNINGS it was nearly dinner time before we got the plant defrosted:D we used to leave a super ser on in the parlour, leave taps dripping, leave lights on block up all doors and pray, left all pipes off clusters

kkdela6

jeff greene wrote: »

Hadn't much choice, had one in the dairy also to keep the tank and water from freezing

I suppose at least a conistent paycheque can soften the blow. Having said that, most farmers i know much prefer to have the few weeks off between the end of novermber - december - january. god knows working a 24/7 job like dairying they well deserve it.
had yee any bother getting the tank into your yard? there was a week or two we had to transport all our milk to a pick up point near waterford city ourselves, as the tanker refused to come to farms around our area due to the snow and ice.

funny man

Just a general comment on milking cows on, these cows are the late calvers and will be again next year, most of them anyway so it is critical that silage is excellent or at least very good or the body condition of these cows can be compromised.

jeff greene

kkdela6 wrote: »

had yee any bother getting the tank into your yard? there was a week or two we had to transport all our milk to a pick up point near waterford city ourselves, as the tanker refused to come to farms around our area due to the snow and ice.

They used a tractor + trailer with a tank inside it, came every 4 or 5 days. No hope of the lorry coming up our road anyway.