February is probably the busiest month of the year on the Greenfield Farm in Kilkenny. Over 60% of cows due calve down and weather is typically mixed so silage, meal and grass are part of the diet.
February 2018 was no different. The workload involves calving cows, managing calves, feeding out, setting up fences and milking. The plan in Kilkenny is to calve the cows on the woodchip stand-off pad and not in the roofless cubicles.
For the last few weeks, the cows near calving are picked out of the cubicles in the evening and held on the woodchip pad. The majority calve away themselves. There have been 10 to 15 cows calving per day for the last three weeks but, as we move into March, it is beginning to slow down. The cows left to calve are locked out from feed during the day and allowed to eat from evening time onwards. You need to have cows on this routine (locked away from feed from 8am to 5pm) for at least 10 days to have an effect on calving time. Remember, breeding started on 24 April 2017 and lasted for 13 weeks. Over 85% will calve in the first six weeks.
Eoin Finneran, Ruth and John, with the help of work experience students, have been working through February with good success. There have been calf deaths, but nothing out of the ordinary. The rolling calf mortality is about 8%.
There were six slightly bigger black whitehead calves born in the first two weeks of February as the wrong AI straws were obviously used from the AI flask. The cows and calves survived, so there was no big issue.
Eoin is attempting to stay on top of the paperwork as it is vital for his team to keep calves moving off the farm. Already, the first of the bull calves (40) have been sold and the replacements (80) have gone to the contract-rearers. While this reduces the pressure on sheds and workload, there are still plenty of calves in the sheds, with more than 250 cows calved to date and 365 due to calve in total.
One particular cow was very sick and the vet diagnosed leptospirosis, despite the fact that the herd is vaccinated against lepto. The vet suggested that the cow may have come into direct contact with a rat and contracted a high challenge of leptospirosis. The hoof specialist was in to treat lame cows that have calved. There have been cases of milk fever, with some treated post-calving as a preventative measure, especially older and heavier cows.
The farm is buying in pit silage at €35/t as all the pit silage is gone and all that is left is high-quality round-bale silage. The chances are the round-bale silage will be fed out over the next three weeks as the grass on the farm is rationed out. Similar to other farms, grazing has been hit-and-miss in February and, when it’s sporadic in Kilkenny, you know it’s not happening at all on heavy farms.
Greenfield Kilkenny milking cows are now out day and night grazing as dry weather helps grazing conditions.
Greenfield Kilkenny milking cows are now out day and night grazing as dry weather helps grazing conditions.
Milk supplied
Up to 25 February, there were 41,000 litres collected. The first milk collection was 600 litres on 4 February. Last year, there were close to 50,000 litres supplied in February and it looks like it will probably be close to that figure again this year.
The last test results were 4.86% fat and 3.76% protein (23 February). The protein percentage has come down since the start of February from 4.26% to 3.76% by the end of the month.
The more grass that can be consumed, the better for this figure. Establishing milk yield per cow at this time of the year is difficult given fresh calvers entering every day, milk to calves, etc. Lactose was 4.89% with somatic cell count (SCC) 177,000 cells/ml. An early milk recording has been ordered already to identify the high cell count quarters.
There was no milk sold in December so the only money received in the January statement was a cheque for €1,991 as a ‘‘seasonality’’ bonus payment. The Glanbia seasonality scheme applies to the calendar year and is available to suppliers where June supply is less than 15.5% and February and November supply are greater than 3%. In 2017, Greenfield had 3.1% for February, 15% for June and 4.5% for November.
In 2017, 143,000kg of milk solids were sold, up from 110,000kg milk solids in 2011 (year one). For 2017, the average fat percentage was 4.83% and protein was 3.83%.
February-born calves on Greenfield Kilkenny. A Hereford calf in the background was from an AI straw that got mixed up with another straw.February-born calves on Greenfield Kilkenny. A Hereford calf in the background was from an AI straw that got mixed up with another straw.
Nitrogen
The system in Kilkenny uses 250kg of bag nitrogen per hectare. Last year, 16kg/ha phosphorus, 38kg/ha potash and 46kg/ha of sulphur were also spread. The total grass grown was 16t DM/ha and about 250kg of meal was fed per cow. Already, all paddocks have got either slurry or bag nitrogen.
A small application of 18 units/acre of urea went out in the first week of February on dry paddocks and another 35 units/acre is planned to go out next week weather permitting.
Roofless cubicles
The final invoices are coming in for the cubicles and the total cost for the 256 cubicles is coming in at about €151,000 plus VAT (€590/cubicle).
2017 saw 143,000kg of milk solids sold from the farm up by over 30,000kg since the start of the project.More than 250 cows calved to date from 365 due to calve in spring 2018. Remember, cows first calved on this farm in 2010 so this is the start of the ninth lactation.About 50,000 litres of milk will be sold in February and the last test results were 4.86% fat and 3.76% protein (23 February).
February is probably the busiest month of the year on the Greenfield Farm in Kilkenny. Over 60% of cows due calve down and weather is typically mixed so silage, meal and grass are part of the diet.
February 2018 was no different. The workload involves calving cows, managing calves, feeding out, setting up fences and milking. The plan in Kilkenny is to calve the cows on the woodchip stand-off pad and not in the roofless cubicles.
For the last few weeks, the cows near calving are picked out of the cubicles in the evening and held on the woodchip pad. The majority calve away themselves. There have been 10 to 15 cows calving per day for the last three weeks but, as we move into March, it is beginning to slow down. The cows left to calve are locked out from feed during the day and allowed to eat from evening time onwards. You need to have cows on this routine (locked away from feed from 8am to 5pm) for at least 10 days to have an effect on calving time. Remember, breeding started on 24 April 2017 and lasted for 13 weeks. Over 85% will calve in the first six weeks.
Eoin Finneran, Ruth and John, with the help of work experience students, have been working through February with good success. There have been calf deaths, but nothing out of the ordinary. The rolling calf mortality is about 8%.
There were six slightly bigger black whitehead calves born in the first two weeks of February as the wrong AI straws were obviously used from the AI flask. The cows and calves survived, so there was no big issue.
Eoin is attempting to stay on top of the paperwork as it is vital for his team to keep calves moving off the farm. Already, the first of the bull calves (40) have been sold and the replacements (80) have gone to the contract-rearers. While this reduces the pressure on sheds and workload, there are still plenty of calves in the sheds, with more than 250 cows calved to date and 365 due to calve in total.
One particular cow was very sick and the vet diagnosed leptospirosis, despite the fact that the herd is vaccinated against lepto. The vet suggested that the cow may have come into direct contact with a rat and contracted a high challenge of leptospirosis. The hoof specialist was in to treat lame cows that have calved. There have been cases of milk fever, with some treated post-calving as a preventative measure, especially older and heavier cows.
The farm is buying in pit silage at €35/t as all the pit silage is gone and all that is left is high-quality round-bale silage. The chances are the round-bale silage will be fed out over the next three weeks as the grass on the farm is rationed out. Similar to other farms, grazing has been hit-and-miss in February and, when it’s sporadic in Kilkenny, you know it’s not happening at all on heavy farms.
Greenfield Kilkenny milking cows are now out day and night grazing as dry weather helps grazing conditions.Greenfield Kilkenny milking cows are now out day and night grazing as dry weather helps grazing conditions.
Milk supplied
Up to 25 February, there were 41,000 litres collected. The first milk collection was 600 litres on 4 February. Last year, there were close to 50,000 litres supplied in February and it looks like it will probably be close to that figure again this year.
The last test results were 4.86% fat and 3.76% protein (23 February). The protein percentage has come down since the start of February from 4.26% to 3.76% by the end of the month.
The more grass that can be consumed, the better for this figure. Establishing milk yield per cow at this time of the year is difficult given fresh calvers entering every day, milk to calves, etc. Lactose was 4.89% with somatic cell count (SCC) 177,000 cells/ml. An early milk recording has been ordered already to identify the high cell count quarters.
There was no milk sold in December so the only money received in the January statement was a cheque for €1,991 as a ‘‘seasonality’’ bonus payment. The Glanbia seasonality scheme applies to the calendar year and is available to suppliers where June supply is less than 15.5% and February and November supply are greater than 3%. In 2017, Greenfield had 3.1% for February, 15% for June and 4.5% for November.
In 2017, 143,000kg of milk solids were sold, up from 110,000kg milk solids in 2011 (year one). For 2017, the average fat percentage was 4.83% and protein was 3.83%.
February-born calves on Greenfield Kilkenny. A Hereford calf in the background was from an AI straw that got mixed up with another straw.February-born calves on Greenfield Kilkenny. A Hereford calf in the background was from an AI straw that got mixed up with another straw.
Nitrogen
The system in Kilkenny uses 250kg of bag nitrogen per hectare. Last year, 16kg/ha phosphorus, 38kg/ha potash and 46kg/ha of sulphur were also spread. The total grass grown was 16t DM/ha and about 250kg of meal was fed per cow. Already, all paddocks have got either slurry or bag nitrogen.
A small application of 18 units/acre of urea went out in the first week of February on dry paddocks and another 35 units/acre is planned to go out next week weather permitting.
Roofless cubicles
The final invoices are coming in for the cubicles and the total cost for the 256 cubicles is coming in at about €151,000 plus VAT (€590/cubicle).
2017 saw 143,000kg of milk solids sold from the farm up by over 30,000kg since the start of the project.More than 250 cows calved to date from 365 due to calve in spring 2018. Remember, cows first calved on this farm in 2010 so this is the start of the ninth lactation.About 50,000 litres of milk will be sold in February and the last test results were 4.86% fat and 3.76% protein (23 February). 
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