Farmer Focus: Can I be Jeremy Clarkson’s dairy consultant?
Eurig Jenkins © Richard Stanton The new season of Clarkson’s Farm reminds me I’m glad I’m not in the hospitality business.
It’s nice to see copies of Farmers Weekly in his pub office, but I doubt my articles would attract much attention from Jeremy, as my dairy enterprise is a world apart from his diverse enterprises.
I was once asked in my early farming career why I did not diversify, rather than having all my eggs all in one basket.
As I pondered for a second, my father’s wise words of wisdom were: “We make damn sure we don’t drop the basket.”
See also: Mow prior to grazing cows to boost grass use
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Up until mid-June, the weather has been unsettled with rainy showers daily, which is good for grass growth, as we needed it.
Pre-mowing the whole grazing platform has come to an end. It takes some effort to mow grass for the cows during milking to avoid it drying out before the cows return to graze it.
But I think this method, which we have been doing for probably 20 years, works much better than topping after the cows. I find it hard that others don’t use the same system.
With 900,000 litres of parlour washings applied after grazing, we are set up for some fantastic quality for the milkers to graze next month.
The emphasis now is on maintaining their milk output and getting them to hold their pregnancies.
We managed to serve 94% of eligible cows in the first three weeks of breeding – mostly dairy semen – then switched to Belgian blue. Now, the dairy bulls are in to sweep up.
Ten barren cows have gone to slaughter – most had been dry before April due to different issues, but they weighed well and a nice amount of cash has entered the bank account.
The mower blades have all been replaced and ready to go in the next dry spell, and nd I have serviced and greased the silage kit. Apart from a loose air brake mechanism, all seems good to go now.
Electric fence maintenance is up to date on the grazing platform.
We still have one cow capable of pushing over temporary electric fence posts when they get short of grass, but with her not put up for breeding this year, hopefully this little issue will be resolved.