Archive Article: 2000/12/22
John Glover
John Glover milks 140 cows
on his 52ha (130-acre)
county council holding near
Lutterworth, Leics. The
business is run in partnership
with neighbouring tenant
Mark Wilks, with dry cows
and youngstock kept at Mr
Wilks 32ha (80-acre) farm
EVER felt guilty about feeding cows? Up until last weekend we still had 25 dry cows outside. After feeding and bedding indoor cattle we had to splash through mud with the Matbro and wade through mud almost over the top of our wellies to get to the feed ring.
Although cows had 6ha (15 acres) to roam in, they could usually be found near the gate or by the feed ring. I know it is the same for everyone this year, but what made it frustrating was that we were waiting for some new doors and concrete panel walls to be delivered.
We had covered a space between two existing buildings at Marks farm, so only needed the end walls and access doors. It was a great relief to finally be ready to bring them in.
We thought that all we would have to do was open the gate and call them.
This would have been fine except that one of the older cows lying by the ring could not get up. Whether she had been knocked over by the others, I dont know but she was lying in the deepest mud.
We ended up rolling her into the Matbro bucket so you can imagine what we all looked like after we had done that. We put her in a well bedded yard and a few hours later she stood up. You can tell who she is, as she is still wearing a mud pack.
With the weather as it is we had let some cows milk on instead of drying them off and turning them back out again. These were dried off last week and taken up to Marks, however, one developed mastitis a day or so later.
Fortunately, the milking parlour at Marks is kept in working order so it is a simple job to run her in there, milk her out and treat her until the mastitis clears up. As she was giving close to 25 litres a day at the last recording, this is easier than stripping her by hand.
Some dry weather would be nice for Christmas. Sheep with water wings would also be helpful to graze off the Italian ryegrass ley that was due to be cut in October, but now keeps flooding. *
The Matbro has fed and bedded cows though mud and even rescued one stuck in it, says John Glover.