Livestock Farmer Focus: Fire crews have been busy at Dale Whalley’s

I’m in trouble this month for missing the copy deadline, but my excuse is genuine. We had a house fire three weeks ago which completely ruined the upstairs, so we are having to sleep next door in the farmhouse.

Luckily we were all downstairs at the time. If the children had been in bed, we dread to think what could have happened. The smoke was so intense I couldn’t even reach the top of the stairs to try to stop it. The fire brigade were here within five minutes and at least there is no structural damage.

Embarrassingly, we had to call them out again the following weekend to help winch a cow which had escaped, walked on to the top of the slurry pit, broke a sleeper and fallen in. The same crew arrived and we managed safely to rescue her. I think they quite enjoyed doing something different, even though it was a bit dirty.

Maize harvest is complete and yield was good, with early analysis suggesting 35% dry matter with similar starch levels. Grains were hard and will need a few weeks to soften, but not too much is passing through the cows. The extra starch in the diet has helped maintain yields and milk protein has risen to 3.4%. High-yielding cows have been housed full time, but stale calvers and dries are still outside.

We had our first heifer calve to sexed semen recently, and things can only get better as she had a dead bull calf. It was a difficult calving due to the size of the calf but it does highlight the benefits of hopefully having easier smaller heifer calves.

Replacing staff is always difficult, but Paul’s replacement, Alan, who started recently has settled in well. Unfortunately I’ve now got to find another replacement, as our other staff member has decided to leave.