Greenfield kilkenny

Farmer Pudsey

farmerjack wrote: »

No one from teagasc or any one related.to the greenfield has ever sold it to me as the only show in town, my understanding of the project is that it was established in order to show the challenges that will face large scale conversions on a high level of debt and IMO there doing a bloody good job of it. They are honest and frank about everything that goes on down there

On a side note I'm sick to the teeth of people bashing this project not just on this forum mind you but elsewhere too. If this project was carried out anywhere else it would be applauded. Rant over

The reason people are critical (the same as the Derrypatrick suckler herd) is that they are not adapting to conditions. They never look down the line at projected costs. I am only a stupid gobsh!te and had looked at woodchip pads pre 2008 however as energy cost esculated I took a calculated guess that they were not a goer especially with lagoon sizes needed. Yet these so call experts could not project this. have they looked at the projection for topless cubicles.

Topless Cubicles will work in the south east of the country however farmers using them along the west coast are in for a shock. Along the east coast this is maybe a 2 year in ten issue along the west coast it could be every second year issue. There is an old saying if you cannot learn from your mistakes then you will never learn.

The reality is that if they fed cows last November I think the figure was that they would be 5K better off. It the same at present it is better to feed cows now than have paddocks in sh!te the first week in May.

I normally let cattle out the first week in March. I normally spread nitrogen in february. I cannot do it this year. Grass growth has stoped and unless you want to grow plankton in the Irish sea there is no point in spreading Urea or slurry. We should have been allowed to spread slurry last November not now. We all complain about calander farming this is the same thing but described as low cost, it is not sustainable.

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

I work hard ,as hard as any dairy farmer this time of year and come on it ain't about working yourself into an early grave and clicking up 16 17 hour days just to mKe ur self feel better.my argument with this project is that it is been flogged as nearly the only show in town for guys getting into cows,low cost ,only supplement cows when up really have to,once a cow calves she goes to grass straight away no matter what the weather.just because that's the way the kiwis do it.they don't have the cop on or pocess the management skills to realise they are running this farm in Ireland and Irish conditions are worse than the majority of kiwi conditions.
Cows look in good knick yes but they've had a good winter on good silage/hay/whole crop.now they are undoing all that good by putting cows into a negative energy balance.give it another 2 or 3 weeks once cows have had to endure current feed levels and then well see.production will be back,fertility will be affected as will re growth on paddocks that were poached.
I was on that farm 3 times and know exactly how dry it is,seeing pools of water on roads and paddocks now really tells me that the place is pretty bad and border line fit to be grazing 180 cows.ffs they aren't even self sufficient in building a fodder bank for winter and to cover summer droughts.more interested in overstocking the farm .250 cows is about right for that place at moment till they can get soil index and organic matter right.its like a lot of lads starting and currently milking cows all they want is nos because Tegasc tell them to stock farm at such a level without even thinking how much grass they can grow,wintering facilities etc

I know you work hard Mahoney my comment was pure tounge and cheek. No offence meant.

How else are young farmers supposed to get started if they take on massive loans to build sheds

biddy2013

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I know you work hard Mahoney my comment was pure tounge and cheek. No offence meant.

How else are young farmers supposed to get started if they take on massive loans to build sheds

thats how its always been.... in the past we also had to buy quota too and have seperate facilities to start off, young lads have it too easy now

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I know you work hard Mahoney my comment was pure tounge and cheek. No offence meant.

How else are young farmers supposed to get started if they take on massive loans to build sheds

No offence taken greengrass ,.i never said anything about taking on loans to build a big shed,I recognise it takes a lot of money to start off and nearly always you will always have to go into debt.this is what I now believe you need as a minimum starting off dairying
1 cows
2 functional parlour
3 good grassland management
4 experience,cow nutrition diets and what various different feeds do for ur diet
5 slurry storage to comply with nitrates
5 minimum topless cubicle to house cows for winter and stand off and supplement in conditions such as present
In this country what I outline above is a near minimum of what u need to get the ball rolling.

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

No offence taken greengrass ,.i never said anything about taking on loans to build a big shed,I recognise it takes a lot of money to start off and nearly always you will always have to go into debt.this is what I now believe you need as a minimum starting off dairying
1 cows
2 functional parlour
3 good grassland management
4 experience,cow nutrition diets and what various different feeds do for ur diet
5 slurry storage to comply with nitrates
5 minimum topless cubicle to house cows for winter and stand off and supplement in conditions such as present
In this country what I outline above is a near minimum of what u need to get the ball rolling.

Agree on all the above. But I don't know why you think the cows aren't being fed.
If you watch that video again they have separate groups of cows. 3 I think.
Two groups of milking cows. Say its 130 70 split.
That collecting yard holds 300 cows 130 cows should have well enough space to get there 3 kg meal.
You say they are going damage to paddocks?
You are grazing at the minute, how are you stopping cows going over grazed ground.
The cows are walking through water, so what at least they are not grazing them fields.
Its a good free draining farm so they might be gone in a week, if not they can get the contractor in and pump it into the river, those areas of water will kill more grass compared to the damage the cows are doing IMO.
Ye all say they are not being fed but the proof is there to show that they are. They look good and have a nice shine on there backs. Just cause there getting grass doesn't mean they are being fed any less

Greengrass1

biddy2013 wrote: »

thats how its always been.... in the past we also had to buy quota too and have seperate facilities to start off, young lads have it too easy now

Yep agree a lot easier now than it was to get into dairying only problem now is getting land

conor t

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

The reason people are critical (the same as the Derrypatrick suckler herd) is that they are not adapting to conditions. They never look down the line at projected costs. I am only a stupid gobsh!te and had looked at woodchip pads pre 2008 however as energy cost esculated I took a calculated guess that they were not a goer especially with lagoon sizes needed. Yet these so call experts could not project this. have they looked at the projection for topless cubicles.

Topless Cubicles will work in the south east of the country however farmers using them along the west coast are in for a shock. Along the east coast this is maybe a 2 year in ten issue along the west coast it could be every second year issue. There is an old saying if you cannot learn from your mistakes then you will never learn.

The reality is that if they fed cows last November I think the figure was that they would be 5K better off. It the same at present it is better to feed cows now than have paddocks in sh!te the first week in May.

I normally let cattle out the first week in March. I normally spread nitrogen in february. I cannot do it this year. Grass growth has stoped and unless you want to grow plankton in the Irish sea there is no point in spreading Urea or slurry. We should have been allowed to spread slurry last November not now. We all complain about calander farming this is the same thing but described as low cost, it is not sustainable.

the big problem is that no one in teagasc has to rely on farming for a living

Gillespy

Greengrass1 wrote: »

How else are young farmers supposed to get started if they take on massive loans to build sheds

I like that it's the shed that makes or breaks it for new entrants. Not the land, the cows, all the other infrastructure even including cubicles and slurry storage. Just the actual shed.

Greengrass1

Gillespy wrote: »

I like that it's the shed that makes or breaks it for new entrants. Not the land, the cows, all the other infrastructure even including cubicles and slurry storage. Just the actual shed.

How do you think that? A shed isn't going to grow the grass or feed the cows or milk them?

mf240

Greengrass1 wrote: »

How do you think that? A shed isn't going to grow the grass or feed the cows or milk them?

If they had a shed they wouldn't be ploughing the place apart, because they have nowhere suitable to keep milking cows.

As others have said, sticking up a bit of a shed isn't the big deal some people think it is,

mf240

conor t wrote: »

the big problem is that no one in teagasc has to rely on farming for a living

Sure most of them are only in teagasc because their brothers got the farrm

Markcheese

It's an experiment ...there are things they're doing dead right and things a lot of guys look at and say I do that better..
A least it gets dairy farmers discussing/arguing ...
Plus if teagasc could just write the perfect blanket farm formula why would the country need farmers.. All the land in the place would be leased by some big corporation and run to formula

Blue Holland

Just curious how many of you criticising lack of sheds would be prepared to build on leased land?

mahoney_j

Greengrass ,I mean no offence to u by this but u have a totally one dinensional blind view on that greenfield farm..no one is really talking about building a big shed,convert the oad to topless cubicles
So cows can be stood of or milked off them instead of the mess they have caused over the last 10 days,flogging cows out to grass in waterlogged paddocks. And poaching them.u seriously can't justify or be sure that cows and heifers were all eating 3 kg meal around collection yard.they simply aren't.
You also cows look good but we only seen a handful and they had good hay,silage and whole crop over dry peroid andvit reckon it was this and not grass that caused it.if u know anything about cow nutrition you can't say that those milking cows are getting enough dry matter or energy on the feeding regime for the last 2 weeks.cows will be milking off their back and it will be 2 or 3?weeks when I'd like to see them.again no offence by this but if u say this is a top notch farm at the moment u are seriously blinkered.ive been to many better farms than this with seriously good managers who would put this place andvits management to shame.

mahoney_j

Blue Holland wrote: »

Just curious how many of you criticising lack of sheds would be prepared to build on leased land?

If I had a 15 year lease there I'd have spring milk,topless cubicles and the rest pretty much the same.guyslike Seamus Quigley in loughrea have done this with a simillar set up to kk but wetter land

mf240

Blue Holland wrote: »

Just curious how many of you criticising lack of sheds would be prepared to build on leased land?

Buy a second hand industrial building and put it up, and put in precast cubicles and all can be sold at end of lease, you have to pour concrete and dig a lagoon regardless of which way ya go, what they are spending on woody Woodchips would go a long ways towards it and at least you'd have options when the weather doesn't play ball.

maxxuumman

Blue Holland wrote: »

Just curious how many of you criticising lack of sheds would be prepared to build on leased land?

Precast cubicles and mats... Load them up in 15yrs and flog them.
If they cost 200 to buy and you sold them for 50 quid in 15 yrs time it would have cost you about 3000 a year... peanuts compared to what the OWP is costing directly and indirectly.

Farmer Pudsey

Mahoney you have hit the nub of the matter I have been pointing out for ages that it is there unwillingness to adapt that is killing this project. I pointed out to you why I think that I will be 2-3 week later at turnout this year myself. Next week we are forecast nearly 40mm of rain. No point in rushing out with urea or putting cattle out to graze.

Paddocks damaged now will be slower to dry out as the hoofmarks will hold water, area around gates will be puddle using difference entrances exits is only fooling yourself. And finally when it drys we may like last year(it is more than likly) get hard cold weather and these area's will dry out hard and you will get no regrowth. I have a good dry farm however it is crazy to let cows full time at the moment with no supplementation.. What they are eating is 90% water and as well if they are hungry they will do even more damage. It is time to hunker down and get through the next few weeks with as little damage to land as possible.

mahoney_j

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Mahoney you have hit the nub of the matter I have been pointing out for ages that it is there unwillingness to adapt that is killing this project. I pointed out to you why I think that I will be 2-3 week later at turnout this year myself. Next week we are forecast nearly 40mm of rain. No point in rushing out with urea or putting cattle out to graze.

Paddocks damaged now will be slower to dry out as the hoofmarks will hold water, area around gates will be puddle using difference entrances exits is only fooling yourself. And finally when it drys we may like last year(it is more than likly) get hard cold weather and these area's will dry out hard and you will get no regrowth. I have a good dry farm however it is crazy to let cows full time at the moment with no supplementation.. What they are eating is 90% water and as well if they are hungry they will do even more damage. It is time to hunker down and get through the next few weeks with as little damage to land as possible.

Ur preaching tobyhe converted pudsey!!!

mahoney_j

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Mahoney you have hit the nub of the matter I have been pointing out for ages that it is there unwillingness to adapt that is killing this project. I pointed out to you why I think that I will be 2-3 week later at turnout this year myself. Next week we are forecast nearly 40mm of rain. No point in rushing out with urea or putting cattle out to graze.

Paddocks damaged now will be slower to dry out as the hoofmarks will hold water, area around gates will be puddle using difference entrances exits is only fooling yourself. And finally when it drys we may like last year(it is more than likly) get hard cold weather and these area's will dry out hard and you will get no regrowth. I have a good dry farm however it is crazy to let cows full time at the moment with no supplementation.. What they are eating is 90% water and as well if they are hungry they will do even more damage. It is time to hunker down and get through the next few weeks with as little damage to land as possible.

Ur preaching tobyhe converted pudsey!!!

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Greengrass ,I mean no offence to u by this but u have a totally one dinensional blind view on that greenfield farm..no one is really talking about building a big shed,convert the oad to topless cubicles
So cows can be stood of or milked off them instead of the mess they have caused over the last 10 days,flogging cows out to grass in waterlogged paddocks. And poaching them.u seriously can't justify or be sure that cows and heifers were all eating 3 kg meal around collection yard.they simply aren't.
You also cows look good but we only seen a handful and they had good hay,silage and whole crop over dry peroid andvit reckon it was this and not grass that caused it.if u know anything about cow nutrition you can't say that those milking cows are getting enough dry matter or energy on the feeding regime for the last 2 weeks.cows will be milking off their back and it will be 2 or 3?weeks when I'd like to see them.again no offence by this but if u say this is a top notch farm at the moment u are seriously blinkered.ive been to many better farms than this with seriously good managers who would put this place andvits management to shame.

None taken Mahoney.
But as delaval has pointed out on here before the project was started in 09 and had to start up in one of the worst milk price yrs ever and has had a tough few yrs weather wise since.
Maybe that 90k is only paper profit? Maybe not? Who really knows.
How late long had SQ the pad for? A good few years from what I can remember and only converted it this year. And he is in a wetter part of the country.
I think management there is very good there and they are working with what they have.
They are very open with every aspect and teagasc are learning a lot of things first hand not out of the book any more.
I know if I was put up on a pedistal for every farmer in the country to examine my farm I know for a fact I wouldnt be near as good as any of the monitor farms.
Ye can't put a good thing down, they are showing everything, warts and all.

If its only good for one thing other than showing new entrants into milk how to go about things and costs of set ups it has been worth while IMO

kevthegaff

The most profitable farmers arent in the papers.

Gillespy

The fact they're so transparent makes them legitimate targets for criticism. It's like crying because Simon Cowell said your signing is awful and you have no talent. Don't put yourself out there if you're going to cry.

kevthegaff wrote: »

The most profitable farmers arent in the papers.

Internet forums?

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

None taken Mahoney.
But as delaval has pointed out on here before the project was started in 09 and had to start up in one of the worst milk price yrs ever and has had a tough few yrs weather wise since.
Maybe that 90k is only paper profit? Maybe not? Who really knows.
How late long had SQ the pad for? A good few years from what I can remember and only converted it this year. And he is in a wetter part of the country.
I think management there is very good there and they are working with what they have.
They are very open with every aspect and teagasc are learning a lot of things first hand not out of the book any more.
I know if I was put up on a pedistal for every farmer in the country to examine my farm I know for a fact I wouldnt be near as good as any of the monitor farms.
Ye can't put a good thing down, they are showing everything, warts and all.

If its only good for one thing other than showing new entrants into milk how to go about things and costs of set ups it has been worth while IMO

09 was 5 years ago greengrass and id say the writing was on the wall for pad for 3 if those.as I've said over and over.mabagement is too structured and rigid.they are slow to change or learn ie let farm go too far last year during droughts before introducing feed and also missing out on lp bonus in November cause they wouldn't bring in feed.also they are falling to se the long term damage to cows and paddocks with current feeding and management..the pad also is the starting point for there scc issues which are pretty big

awaywithyou

Will someone explain why they aren't putting feeders into th e parlour?? They don't seem to have any interest in making progress down there...just th same Craic over and over every yr.... I cannot understand the bucketing and shovelling of meal when a few grand would buy them decent batch feeders...

mahoney_j

awaywithyou wrote: »

Will someone explain why they aren't putting feeders into th e parlour?? They don't seem to have any interest in making progress down there...just th same Craic over and over every yr.... I cannot understand the bucketing and shovelling of meal when a few grand would buy them decent batch feeders...

Proably not low cost enough for them.pure madness with 300 plus cows to be still bucketing meal around collection yard.

Farmer Pudsey

Low cost can often be high cost. look at the lads that will not reseed, that will make silage until late June/July and thereby loosing a grazing or two. The fellas that will not buy fertilizer I could go on and on. i am no saint myself and am not a dairy farmers. But the thing that p!sses me off is there failure to adapt. listen we all make mistakes but you have to learn, if it did not work last year it will not work this year.

Labour cost money it alright in the States or NZ where you can hire in at half the cost of Ireland but we are in neither place. As one lad said to me NZ is a volcanic Island it is free draining we are not the rain we got in the last two months would drain in a week to ten days there. I just cannot under stand why they are so afraid of change.

keep going

Blue Holland wrote: »

Just curious how many of you criticising lack of sheds would be prepared to build on leased land?

+1.theres 11 years left in the lease so I wouldnt be pouring concrete there.if it was mine I'd probably lookaround and find tillage ground for outwintering during the winter,put them there for the 2 months dry and bring them home to calve.it would allow 2 things, first push the stocking rate even higher and second alot less chips would do you and they would be calving on clean pads.would put in the in parlour feeders though even for eleven years

farmerjack

keep going wrote: »

+1.theres 11 years left in the lease so I wouldnt be pouring concrete there.if it was mine I'd probably lookaround and find tillage ground for outwintering during the winter,put them there for the 2 months dry and bring them home to calve.it would allow 2 things, first push the stocking rate even higher and second alot less chips would do you and they would be calving on clean pads.would put in the in parlour feeders though even for eleven years

They have admitted that if they were to start again they would structure the lease differently ie include the landowners as a partner this would allow them to consider spending more capital on facilities etc

delaval

An awful lot of repitition on this thread. Funny thing is as a supporter of the project I find myself agreeing with both sides.

Batch feeders are a must, I'm saying this as someone who fed under a wire till 4 years ago and they are an inexpensive gift.

The OWP has been discussed to death here and is adequate for dry cows. I'd imagine that if concrete is to be poured be it OCs or whatever that the land owners would need to do it with 11 yrs remaining, I don't know what their thinking is???

Lessons so far for me
1 Feeders in parlour
2 Owp and oc combination for winter period

To use a dreadful phrase "we are where we are", what would you guys suggest as a way out of their current situation?
This current difficulty is cause by rain nothing else. In my years farming this is the most challenging spring I've encountered on this a real free draining farm.

This will pass and if the cost is reseeding a few acres what's the big deal?

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

An awful lot of repitition on this thread. Funny thing is as a supporter of the project I find myself agreeing with both sides.

Batch feeders are a must, I'm saying this as someone who fed under a wire till 4 years ago and they are an inexpensive gift.

The OWP has been discussed to death here and is adequate for dry cows. I'd imagine that if concrete is to be poured be it OCs or whatever that the land owners would need to do it with 11 yrs remaining, I don't know what their thinking is???

Lessons so far for me
1 Feeders in parlour
2 Owp and oc combination for winter period

To use a dreadful phrase "we are where we are", what would you guys suggest as a way out of their current situation?
This current difficulty is cause by rain nothing else. In my years farming this is the most challenging spring I've encountered on this a real free draining farm.

This will pass and if the cost is reseeding a few acres what's the big deal?

Just read report in journal del and they seem to have a big scc problem again even in heifers.i know the heifers only cone back 2 weeks before calving but the fact that there teat canals are atarting to open dose that not imply that even for dry cows the pad is a non runner????.that scc problem is there since the start.
As for current difficulties yes the rain is causing problems but there should be a plan b which there isn't.instead they have to put cows out ,messing paddocks and messing with cows energy intakes which will have consequences down the road.

mf240

My suggestion is to pick a couple of paddocks to sacrifice, and leave the cows into them at night to lie down after filling with wholecrop and then allocate grass during the day,

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Just read report in journal del and they seem to have a big scc problem again even in heifers.i know the heifers only cone back 2 weeks before calving but the fact that there teat canals are atarting to open dose that not imply that even for dry cows the pad is a non runner????.that scc problem is there since the start.
As for current difficulties yes the rain is causing problems but there should be a plan b which there isn't.instead they have to put cows out ,messing paddocks and messing with cows energy intakes which will have consequences down the road.

Agree, bit do you have a plan B in the interim, I can't think of one

On Scc, its been a problem from day 1 and I'd say if figures weren't so public they would love with 300, less than ideal I know!!

farmerjack

delaval wrote: »

Agree, bit do you have a plan B in the interim, I can't think of one

On Scc, its been a problem from day 1 and I'd say if figures weren't so public they would love with 300, less than ideal I know!!

James o Loughlin has admitted that when they were gathering the herd they put massive emphasis on testing for neospora, bvd, lepto etc but they didn't look at the source herds scc closely enough this has cost them a lot of money, and it's one of the biggest lessons I have taken from the project

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

Agree, bit do you have a plan B in the interim, I can't think of one

On Scc, its been a problem from day 1 and I'd say if figures weren't so public they would love with 300, less than ideal I know!!

For greenfield learn from their mistakes,they havnt been good cat it so far.topless cubicles should be there now due to scc issues and weather patterns over last few years.oh and if I had the money I'd donate them some batch feeders!!.they only seem to know one way there and don't want to admit defeat and trial another

John_F

farmerjack wrote: »

James o Loughlin has admitted that when they were gathering the herd they put massive emphasis on testing for neospora, bvd, lepto etc but they didn't look at the source herds scc closely enough this has cost them a lot of money, and it's one of the biggest lessons I have taken from the project

wouldnt really expalin heifers having high scc though... change the make of parlour id say

delaval

farmerjack wrote: »

James o Loughlin has admitted that when they were gathering the herd they put massive emphasis on testing for neospora, bvd, lepto etc but they didn't look at the source herds scc closely enough this has cost them a lot of money, and it's one of the biggest lessons I have taken from the project

Really good point and a lesson to us all

mf240

I was wondering if they spread builders lime all over the pad every few weeks, with a quad and fert spreader would it keep scc at bay.??

mahoney_j

John_F wrote: »

wouldnt really expalin heifers having high scc though... change the make of parlour id say

My Take on the heifers with high scc.itvis nothing or maby a very small reason to blame the originators herd.the main problem is the pad..I wouldn't want cows within 3 weeks of calving or milking cows on a pad the risks are too high.

mahoney_j

John_F wrote: »

wouldnt really expalin heifers having high scc though... change the make of parlour id say

My Take on the heifers with high scc.itvis nothing or maby a very small reason to blame the originators herd.the main problem is the pad..I wouldn't want cows within 3 weeks of calving or milking cows on a pad the risks are too high.

jaymla627

In realation to scc issues, its one area of the ebi system thats a big let down, as the health traits lameness/mastitis only make up only 6% weighted average of a bulls ebi, in general breeding low scc mastitis resistance bulls is an afterthought with Irish ai companies

delaval

I notice since we started front loading the heifer calving we get a spike in Scc and it recovers after a few weeks. I'd attribute ours to this as cows all passing CMT.

Any thoughts?

Greengrass1

delaval wrote: »

I notice since we started front loading the heifer calving we get a spike in Scc and it recovers after a few weeks. I'd attribute ours to this as cows all passing CMT.

Any thoughts?

AHI told us yesterday that all heifers should be at below 100 for there first year. If its higher than this at there first recording then you have a problem some where akong the line

delaval

Greengrass1 wrote: »

AHI told us yesterday that all heifers should be at below 100 for there first year. If its higher than this at there first recording then you have a problem some where akong the line

They would be but not in the first weeks after calving I find, a lot if stress on them

Greengrass1

delaval wrote: »

They would be but not in the first weeks after calving I find, a lot if stress on them

If there in or around 100 mist if the year there is nothing wrong with that they said but if heifers are showing up in 200plus side something isn't right

6600

Jack seemed to be referring to some staff issue in his report this week. Talking about the lads needing to work together etc. I'd love to know what a typical day entails on that farm. How would you calve that many cows outside and ever get home? Exploit some youthful enthusiasm probably.

delaval

6600 wrote: »

Jack seemed to be referring to some staff issue in his report this week. Talking about the lads needing to work together etc. I'd love to know what a typical day entails on that farm. How would you calve that many cows outside and ever get home? Exploit some youthful enthusiasm probably.

Talking or hinting publicly about staff, only one needs to go the guy talking. I haven't read the report commenting on the post only

kevthegaff

I heard jack is calving down the majority of them knee deep in sh"te, the boys are off in the pub so what i hear:-D!

mf240

No jack thinks he's in newzeland and is insisting that they all have a bar-b-q after milking, (jerseys and onions)

The main herdsman is lying on the waiting room floor of the local doctors, sobbing profusely while still wearing arm length gloves and clutching half a calving jack,

6600

I'd love to know how you would go about calving on a pad these last few weeks. Do they go running around the pad to get out the ones looking like calving and taking off fresh calves. Then hunt the poor cow out into the field in the rain!! Was there last year and I didn't see much handling facilities for calving. No proper crush even. If a cow needs a cesarean what's the protocol? It must be a tough spot.