We were host to two local farming discussion groups today. They came to study our farming operation and share ideas. As usual this gave us the incentive to have a big tidy up which is hard work but gives a great feeling when it is done.
We are just entering into a share farming arrangement with a young couple. This is an innovative step to allow an ageing farmer to “step back from the coalface” and let a young couple get a foothold into farming. It create a great deal of interest and debate.
Cows are still calving fast . We have crossed the 300 mark and now have only 60 left to calve. We now have sufficient replacement heifer calves to grow on and can sell the surplus to other farmers for some welcome extra income.
The drier weather has allowed us to continue fencing some boundaries on the farm which had deteriorated. We are also muck spreading and harrowing fields.
We will soon be putting on extra fertilizer to encourage grass to grow for silage.
This will be harvested at the end of May or Early June to provide food for next winter.
Towards the end of the week we ploughed some fields for re-seeding. This rejuvenates the grass sward and improves grass growth so that cows have more to eat.
Due to the weather improving we have also began to place some of our older calves outside. This is a great time on the farm as the work of winter feeding is reduced.
This week on the farm we have been focusing on grass growth. As I mentioned in a previous post it is important to get good growth in order to have plenty of grass for the cows to graze on. If there isn’t enough grass in one field it means that the cows will have to be moved on to a new field sooner, this is not what we aim for as farmers due to wanting to utilize the grass as best as possible. Due to our farm being on a New Zealand based grazing system we tend to control our cattle’s grazing through sectioning of the fields with electric fences. This helps us ensure that all the best grass is eaten in the field. The fields are eaten on a cycle that consists of the rotational grazing of each field around the farm. This is done so that the grass from each field that has been grazed has enough time to rejuvenate itself. This takes roughly 21 days to complete. After the cows have grazed the field we then spread fertilizer to help provide plant nutrients for the grass and cow muck to help encourage grass growth.
Up to date we have calved 259 cows. 85 of them are heifers, 164 bull calves. Out of these 259 calves 10 of them died due to illnesses or difficult births. Also during calving we had 10 sets of twins. This is the most that we have ever had on our farm. Having twin is not always a good thing for a cattle farmer. This is because when a cow gives birth to two boys or two girls they both survive and live a healthy life but once the cow gives birth to a male and female it gets more complicated due to the male tending to get all the important organs leaving the female with none. This is not the same with all animals though. Due to being a dairy farm we only keep a few of the male calves. This is because of the female calves only being able to produce milk, because of this factor we sell the majority of our male calves to a local farmer for him to rear for beef. At this point of time we have kept behind 14 male calves and sold 160. The ones that we have kept have been hand picked by the farm manager for them to be reared and then placed with the herd in mating season.
There is a special shed on the farm where all the calves are kept, you could call it a nursery. There is a systematic approach used when rearing calves due to a large quantity being born. The calves are placed in groups, which are separate gated pens that contain a bed of straw. The groups are placed into groups according to how old they are and how fast they can drink milk. This is to ensure that each calf is treated equally and they all drink the same amount of milk.
The milk is fed with calf milk feeders which have teats similar to a cow’s teat from which calves suck their milk from. They also receive hay and cattle meal. Calves are weaned on to dry feed at 8 weeks old.
The grass has began to grow again on the farm meaning the cows are able to graze outside and stay longer in one field due to there being more grass. It is important to a farmer that the grass grows so that the cows obtain more vitamins, minerals and energy so the produce a lot of milk. More and more cows are calving by the day, which also means that the amount of cows that are being milked is also growing. When we look at the process of milking it is a very systematic process involved. This is especially true when looking at the cleaning process. We clean the cow’s teats prior to milking and circulate detergents to clean the milking equipment after milking.
Once the weather had fully cleared up and the soil in the fields had become harder, we could then begin on some much needed tractor work. This tractor work consisted of fertilizing fields.
Nitrogen, phosphate and potash which is a plant food is spread on a field once a month to encourage growth with a fertilizer spinner on the back of a tractor.
During the beginning of March milk prices have fluctuated. The milk price is important to farmers. This is because it is the sale of milk which pays the bills and keeps farmers and farm staff working in the countryside. Milk is an undervalued product and used as a loss leader in supermarkets. It is really a super food and should not be sold for less than bottled water as it often is.
The cows are still calving with us now having 210 cows calved up to date. We have had a mixture of bull and heifer calves and as I type there is another cow is calving.
The bad weather which has come to the UK this spring has left farmers badly affected. We take a moment to think about the farmers that have lost land and stock due to the flooding and storms.
The following link displays how farmers in Wales are helping the farmers of Somerset through providing feed for their animals. During these traumatic times all farmers must work together.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-26706024
Our farm was lucky to avoid the flooding due to being on high ground. We did have trees fall on roads and in fields, which meant extra work. We also had a lot of rain during this period, which meant the grass was affected and tractor work was put on hold due to the ground being so wet. Being a farmer is a 24/7 job and even though the stormy weather has hit us hard we still have to continue looking after our stock. Due to the weather being so bad we kept our cows inside for their safety and continued to feed them silage (fermented grass), which we had cut over the summer period. This way the cows would still obtain the energy, protein and minerals that are needed and be kept out of harms way.
Once the weather was over we took the opportunity to move some young stock over to our other holding. These young stock are almost ready to go outside and begin to eat grass once they are strong enough and the weather had warmed up. Each calf is given a number and passport on birth. Passports are necessary to monitor the movement of stock throughout their life. The information on movements is kept by the Ministry of Agriculture on a central file. It became necessary after issues caused by foot and mouth 10 years ago.
Within farming most of the jobs can be quite repetitive. On a daily basis the cows are milked twice a day, once in the morning between 5-9am. The milking time taken changes continuously throughout the calving period due to more cows giving birth and beginning to produce milk and therefore being able to join the herd. Before the milking begins the cows need to be collected from the field that they are in. This takes roughly an hour to complete depending on how far the field is from the milking parlor. At around 11am a milk tanker arrives to collect the milk. The milk that is in the tanks are from the previous afternoon milking and that morning milking. The tanks roughly hold 5000 litres each . While we wait for the milk tanker to collect the milk we contain it in a tank that continuously stirs the milk and maintains it at a temperature of 4 degrees C. This is to retain the freshness of the milk. A manufacturing company called First Milk collects our farms milk. They purchase the milk from us on a contract basis. The milk is then transported to their factory and made into Pembrokeshire Cheese, which is sold in most leading supermarkets.
Up to this point 168 cows have calved. There are no weekends off for farmers during calving time as there is no telling when a cow might calve. Sometimes we have to stay up past midnight due to a cow calving in the early hours of the morning and then get up the next day to continue with the days work. It’s important to have someone continuously watching the calving cows just in case something happens and the cows need assistance. These things could range from a calf becoming stuck or being born breached. On our farm we tend to share out the calving nightshift so that everyone get a fair amount of sleep.
Over the past couple of day we have been creating new tracks around the farm. We create tracks around the farm that connect each field together. The tracks are like roads, if the cows were to walk along the fields they would destroy the grass, having tracks is also better for the cows feet by helping to prevent them becoming lame. When we create a track we hire a JCB to dig up the area that we want the track to be on. Once the area has been dug up we then tip a mixture of rubble and soil into the area making sure to leave any large stones out to prevent injuries to the cows hooves. The surface is then run over with a roller to crush any large stones that have been left on the surface and to create a flat surface for the cows to walk along. Once the tracks are complete we then place fence posts and wire along it in order to prevent the cows from entering the fields on either side.
The fence posts are placed by digging a hole in the ground using a small scoop placed on the front of a JCB. The fence posts are placed a similar distance apart in order to obtain consistency. The fence posts are then placed in the holes while one person holds on to the post while the other pushes into the ground using the front of the JCB or a post driver. Depending on what field they either use barbed wire, plain wire, or electric fence wire which is placed through staple links in the fence.
Bryony Petty 