Farmer Focus Livestock:Tim Downes’ Angus bull has MOT

Our Aberdeen Angus bull has had the bovine equivalent of an MOT, involving a sperm test using an electro-ejaculator, a service provided by our vets.

On the first test he was firing blanks, with not a single live sperm spotted, making 987kg of prime beef and no chance of getting anything in calf. His second test gave us hope it was a temporary blip and a further test in three weeks time will tell.

The test certainly made our eyes water. The new Bateman portable handling system allowed us to hold him safely and has proved to be an asset for treating animals in fields far from the buildings.

We are looking at installing hutches for seven-day-old calves in groups on an outdoor pad, the main reason being to improve ventilation. If you read this and know of any group hutches looking for a new home, we would be interested. Later in the year, we will host a farm walk to look at the changes to our calf rearing system.

The wet July prevented us from harvesting any whole-crop, crimped grain or second cut silage. We hope when our next Harper student starts in the next few weeks, it will be full steam ahead.

In the parlour Andy is getting to grips with the new eco-dippers complete with bristles to tickle the teats and save dipping fluid. With the mud we have experienced this year, they are proving excellent; who was it who forecast a scorcher?

The joker who sent me a personal quote is being fairly optimistic that we need a trailed sprayer on our organic farm, perhaps he has seen our wheat crop. A rain gauge is one piece of equipment that would be more useful.

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