Peter Wastenage
Peter Wastenage
Peter Wastenage, in
partnership with his parents,
farms a 121ha (300-acre)
farm tenanted from Clinton
Devon Estates. He milks 175
cows, rears his own
replacements and grows
40ha (100 acres) of maize
DAIRY cows started their grazing rotation in the last week of January. This was preceded by two weeks of warm, dry weather – a real bonus this time of year.
Grass cover was unusually high over the farm, although no fields had particularly large yields, ie over 3000kg/ha. Many fields had a similar cover of about 2500kg/ha and if we had waited until it was longer some would have got away from us.
The milking herd has now settled into the routine of going out in the morning for about 8kg DM grass, then onto the kale and back to the yard for about 6kg DM of maize.
Kale is now down to one field and we expect to finish it by mid-March. The crop still looks very good, but with many more mild days Im worried it will run to head.
The British Grassland Society had a farm walk here on Feb 19. Fortunately, the weather was kind to us for several days before the event and ground conditions were good. All seemed to go fairly well. I must thank Matfold Arable Systems for sponsoring the day, they did an excellent job with the catering.
After discussing mineral and iodine problems at the farm walk and saying that we now have very few calving problems since the annual yield dropped back to around 6000 litres, we promptly had two dead calves in 48 hours. I wont be spending a lot on minerals, just keeping my mouth shut.
Youngstock that have been housed this winter were turned away to grass on Feb 23. Only calves under three-and-a-half months old and bulling heifers will be left at home, the latter will be freeze-branded and vaccinated for leptospirosis before being served from April onwards. No cows are being served at present, giving us a break before the majority of the herd calve next January. This will mean some cows go more than 365 days, but were prepared to do this to condense the calving pattern.
Im now on my third phone call to Dalton to find out where my primary tags have got to. After ordering them in early December, their standard comment of "were delivering within 20 days of ordering, Sir," is beginning to wear a bit thin. *
Producers attending the BGS walk at Peter Wastenages saw the cows on kale – but recent mild weather has increased risk of it heading he says.