random happenings
Home and took a couple of apple turnovers out of the freezer and remembered that there were things I’d wanted to bake for calving and hadn’t got round to yet – but I’ve got the ingredients now, thinks I optimistically. I’ll do it next week.
Who is I kidding?
Not only has calving very much started, I’m up for a midnight/1 am check tonight. So I might be playing on the internets till then instead of sleeping.
Two older Jersey cows, not started yet. Not worried about malpresentations, want to be in time to prevent major complications to milk fever.
This morning of about 18 cows (including slips, another the other day at seven months gestation who gave a tiny bit of milk tonight) calved I’d seen 15 bulls.
Since then four heifers have been born.
More bad omens – it rained today, I decided for the second time to feed the dry cows maize on the clean concrete in the yard.
When they’d had enough they headed off down the farm, just as they’d done the previous time. I was in the dairy, heard a fair diminishment of noise and looked out to see about half a dozen heifers wondering where the escape route was.
The cows could open pretty much every gate at the last farm. But they tended not to. This is the third time so far one of the gates at the yard on this farm has been opened and they’ve had to use a different technique all three times.
Today they evidently burst the chain. I’m not sure you could call that a technique.
They ended up in the paddock I’d set up for the milkers, and I decided not to get them back. The milkers – including the three suckler cows – are in the corner of the paddock I was going to give them tomorrow, that would have represented about a quarter of the day’s area for the dry herd.
One of the reasons why paddocks need gates at both ends. I’m so used to consecutive grazing that I don’t even think in terms of how many days to get out of a paddock – just give them what they need and sort it out later when they come to a dead end in every paddock with sufficient grass remaining to feed a fraction of the cows in the herd that day. Do you move them then move them on again an hour later? Split the herd in two? Use the other herd to clean it up? I don’t suppose it matters how it’s done as long as the grass is utilised. I might have ended up giving the dries the extra area today to try and prevent pug damage, but the soil here doesn’t seem to pug readily.
It’s going to be a noisy night by the sound – the milking herd sounds practically behind my window (though I know they’re a paddock away). 23 is suffering separation anxiety. Noisily.
I have a home for three of the four calves and waiting to see if someone is keen to pick up a red whiteface heifer – Jersey/Hereford cross. If not she’ll either stay with me (and her dairy crossbred herdmate) or with the steer calves.
