Time For The Bulls To Go To Work
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Time for the bully boys to go with the herd for the next 4 weeks and give us bit of a break from AI
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Hey I’m Andrew The Once A Day Farmer, I farm alongside my father on my family dairy farm in New Zealand.
Our Dairy system is quite unique as we only milk our 320 jersey cows Once A Day (hence the name), and they stay outside on grass for 365 days of the year!!
Email Enquiries to:
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macknit@gmail.com
If you want to send me something my address is:
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118 Bank Road
RD3 Ohaupo 3883
New Zealand
Andrew, I’ve been putting coarse salt out for the cows for a year now and this year my conception rate was a lot better, probably used fifty doses of seamen less than last year and the cows are much quieter and healthy looking. 👍
That’s heaps aye 😳 I do put salt in the mixer when it gets a bit hotter 👍
Looks lovely there Andrew,countryside is beautiful lush and green ❤
Great video. We have reduced the number of replacements we rear this year and I would say your a bit light on bull power we run 3 with 215 cows and rotate every couple days
Got to be a big cost saver 👌
I think it’s a bit light too but seems to work but I think more bulls would give us better results 👍
Another 15mm of rain today, good for the vege garden, and the grass is still growing mad.
Think we’ve had about 65mm in the last couple of days now 👌
Handling Jersey bulls always gets the blood racing. Devils in disguise. Belgian Blue is an excellent cross for mature cows,and calf relatively easily 🏴
Definitely got to keep your wits about you 😅
Excellent Andrew,I love the logic behind all your decisions. Everything is thought about and considered, fair play.
Also noticed a cow in this video and last video wearing a jacket, she alright?
The grass around the yard is good and yellow, you still on your tidy up?
I got given a cow blanket to try out for a couple of weeks so she was my model 😂
Yep still on clean up, have been a bit busy so on the back Burner a bit but still managed to get it sprayed 👍
Hey Andrew, another awesome video! I've heard jersey bulls can be more aggressive than other breeds, is this a fair statement?
Yep they can be, small man syndrome 😂
Now that you genomically testing will you be able to know which calves are sired AI, and which one are sired by the herd bull?
When I pregnancy test them I know who has an ai calf and only keep progeny from them so don’t have any from the herd bulls.
The DNA is just to match the dams up really 👍
Hi I like your video
Hi Andrew, now that you have the collars have you looked at using ab short gestation xbred at the tail end of mating? I've been on farms that have used it with much success and there's been no calving difficulties.
Yep seriously looking into doing it this year as I think have it’s the collars will make it real easy at the end. Actually have some sitting in the bank 👌
An Angus or Poll Shorthorn bull would be a good idea. Then you definitely know who is taking on the first heat. I also like the idea of a salt supplement for the herd as suggested in the comments. I am a firm believer in supplement lick blocks.
How many cows and bulls do you have?
What's the reason for the cow with the jacket on ?
Got sent some to test out 👍
My husband and I will be doing 6 weeks AB in the coming years but using good semen for the first cycle then cheap jersey or Xbred semen for any that return because we too have had the idea of only keeping our heifers replacements from cows who take on the first mating. Love watching you and the way you farm.
I think it will definitely help fertility.
I was thinking of using short gestation next year maybe on the bottom 20% and then from weeks 4-6 , but haven’t worked out how much that’d cost yet 😂
Thanks really appreciate it 👍
Get a Murray Grey bull into them
- Supplements should improve fertility, I've been using em forever (grandpa did it, so do I).
- There are bigger semen straws, I don't know if you are using already bigger ones but here in Spain there are different sizes and in my experience, it's worth to invest more in bigger straws, it is not profitable at all using smaller and cheaper ones.
- I would usea Angus bulls, it's a great idea what you was talking about the way you did in England, it makes lots of sense.
Cheers
Im pretty sure we only get one size straws over here 🤷
Really interesting Andrew . I hope you are not going to use a beef bull on yourlovely Pure Jersey herd because l think it would be a mistake too do that really. IF they were Holstein or Friesian then l would use a Hereford or Angus bull tho
Thinking about using some maybe in the future but not right at the moment 😅
Now that you have the collars It would be a good Idea to AI in the morning and the evening and not just once a day. By only AI'ing in the morning it could be too late for the cows that had come on after milking the previous day. I have no doubt that would help lower your repeats. especially when using sexed semen.
I would say 95% if not more dairy farmers in NZ only AI once a day, and I can’t because I only milk in the morning, if I did afternoon milk I definitely would tho. Make the timing more accurate
@@TheOnceADayFarmer maybe you could do it when you bring them to the feed pad in the evening if you had a race there. It wouldn't be too much more work and the rewards would be good.
keeping your heifers from the first 3 weeks of AI as agreed with by your vet you would also not have to keep the more volatile jersey bulls - would not get a better return using a heifer bull beef breed for the calves you are not going to keep? - one of my grandfathers was a pedigree jersey dairyman, the other was a beef cattle man and the difference in bull temperament was very noticeable
Only problem I face is that there really isn’t a market for jersey x beef unfortunately, but I can sell bull calves to rearers who use them as service bulls
Andrew do you know how to AI or just Dad everyone on my farm know AI I still breed my own cows even though I only have one leg but I have an artificial one it works great
Just dad knows, I want to do a course one day to learn tho as I think it’d be a good thing to know.
That’s great you can still get around then! 👍
Hey Andrew, are you a AI technician
No I’m not, want to do the course one day too 👍
Wouldn't have those Jersey bulls about me,no point in getting cows in calf if you're not alive !!!!
Why not AI slightly longer and run some beef bulls, AA,Her,Sh etc??
Couple of reasons is that jersey to jersey calve really easy, I can sell some of the jersey bull calves for service bulls to calf rearers but with beef there’s pretty much no market for me.
Hi Andrew, I really enjoy your videos as they are always interesting and informative. I have noticed at least one cow in the heard wearing a coat and I am wondering if you can explain the reason. Cheers
Thanks Ian! Much appreciated, I actually got sent one to test out so she was my cow model 😂
With only 1 bull out at a time,what if he’s infertile,I always have at least 2
Always have that risk but generally haven’t had any problems before (touch wood!
I think your idea of AI on a big heat day is a good one. Only different thing I'd be doing, which is similar to what you said about thw UK, is having beef bull in so you knew what the sire is. Unless you aren't concerned about keeping calves from those cows.
That's just how I personally do it and have a good amount of success with it.
Wouldn’t be keeping the calves so no biggie, but yeah I agree probably better to give her straw to be on the safe side 👍
@@TheOnceADayFarmer you could always use a beef straw if jersey bulls are out
Thanks, good to see where the sun is. Dropping replacement rate 5-10 % is alot , remember the older cows must stay another lactation, which brings their own issues. Only you know your herd, it`s health and fitness. But as you said , it costs money rearing heifers. And a cow will produce more milk compared to a heifer. On balance it will be interesting to see the genetic evolution of your future heifers lifetime profit. But good to see you challenging yourself. Keep up the good work.
Yeah 10% is quite a bit, I think I could drop 5% easy enough tho and as you say it’s costs a lot to raise a heifer and having more cows does give you more milk 👍
LOL my grandpa always kept 2 bulls (a big bull and a smaller bull) with every herd. I asked why - he said the little bull was to make the big bull work harder. LOL
I miss my grandpa so much.
Definitely ai on the busy days
Definitely also agree with better fertility in heifers from the first 3 weeks
Also would you consider synchronising your cows?
Hmm not really, I don’t think it need to at the moment
Perhaps a smaller breed, for ease of calving with the jerseys..Welsh Black or Dexter. It would potentially give you a market for the calves, ideal for lifestyle blocks and boutique meat growers.
Yeah possibly 🤔
AI practice seems very different in NZ you don't seem to make any effort to warm the rod or keep it at body temperature once loaded. Cold water defrosting rather than 36C too from a previous video. Is this really standard for NZ?
I will have a few things
I don’t think the way I do it is standard, most farms have a AI tech come instead of doing it them selves.
Probably should look at doing it better tho as it might improve our repo rates a bit more 👌
But seems to work alright so far 🤷
@@TheOnceADayFarmer You can get water heaters that keep the temperature right and I think you can also get Rod warmers that maintain the temperature if you need to load multiple rods to keep up with the workload. There is no Technician cover in this part of the UK must be a lot more call for it in NZ.
How does the AI process work if you’re getting a tech out to do it? Are they coming every day?
Yep you get a time slot that you have to have all your cows drafted and waiting by so the tech turns up, does them , then onto the next farm. Every day 👍
Males good sense to me
Hey Andrew dairy farmer from Australia here, what we do is 21 days of A.I and only use sexed semen so 90-95% of the calves are heifers and then we pick the best from those to keep as our replacements and has improved our fertility drastically. We also then run beef bulls to mop up whatever is left always 2 in the herd at all times. It’s just another way to make money by either growing them beef cross calves out or selling at a week old.
The only problem I have doing it, is the sexed semen is seriously expensive and the conception rate for us hasn’t really been good enough yet. Hopefully with the collars it will be a bit more accurate 🤞
But sounds like a great system, and your heifer replacements would be really good!
Beef across jerseys is hard here too, not really a market for them unfortunately
Hi Andrew. Have you ever done a fixed time program?
Sorry what do mean?
@@TheOnceADayFarmer using hormones to have them all come on heat at the same time. There is new program called the 7&7 co synch. We've had 100% submission rate from it and about 80% conception. It's a big day of a.i, but it has the potential to massively narrow your calving window. From an a.i tech Aus.
Never really wanted to go down that track to be honest, but it does sound really good and definitely something to consider perhaps 🤔
@@TheOnceADayFarmer Fair enough. You seem pretty open to experiments, might be worth trying it on a select number next year? Maybe your late calvers, try and bring them back a bit. Just a thought. Everyone's an expert in the comments right?
In Ireland the research facility’s are saying that one mature bull over 3 years of age can serve 3 cows every 2 days , and young bulls can do 1 a day , so in my opinion you are short a bit of bull power .I’d say you better ai away for a while with the bulls to let them bed in and get a chance to get used to serveing cows agen , and if you do 3 weeks breeding next year you need more bull power agen for higher repeat rates
Hmmm I don’t know how much to read into that, I know they’ve done the research but it doesn’t work to bad for us, I definitely think on the busy days with a lot of cows on the bulls Quality is probably not getting a few tho
Hey Andrew have you thought of a synce program so all you replace are in the first couple of weeks and the they are in the same age group .because I do timed Ai sexd then Angus bulls in for two weeks then conventional Ai for week then bulls back in
To be honest I haven’t really, i can definitely see why you do tho and it sounds like a great idea! Would be awesome to have them all in the first couple of weeks! 👌
I run a Hereford bull with cows for the last week of AI in case we miss one, get the odd white face calf but usual the AI beats the bulls
I’m sure I heard somewhere AI is 12 hours ahead of the bull 🤷😂
Beef or dual purpose breeds could help ypu make money on the beef side... Good luck.
Not really any market for beef x jersey unfortunately