January 2012

January 31, 2012: Busy Time

So many people seem to have a starry-eyed vision of dairy farming as a slow, tranquil occupation, perhaps even slightly dull. Anyone who has ever really dairy farmed will know that there are times when one thinks of retiring to a boring, quiet, peaceful sort of job, crocodile dentistry for example. This is thankfully not one of those times, but it has been sufficiently interesting (it always is).

We have been having a lot of footrot lately; without excellent concrete facilities, footrot is pretty much something we learn to live with in summer, and thankfully a few shots of antibiotic, some hot water and antibiotic spray cure most of them easily. It was only a matter of time before one of the Joyful Jerseys succumbed to it, and Fiona got a mild case a few days ago. She was lame with a swollen coronet and hoof; the area between her "toes" was washed out and sprayed with antibiotic. She got a three-day course of antibiotic injections and within two days she was walking out with the cows again.

Bestie is dried up now at 60 days to calving. She and Borina are both due in March. Borina was moved from the heifers' paddocks to the dry cows in preparation for calving. Babe was supposed to calve on the 23rd, but is still pottering happily along on the brink of calving. Once she has calved and settled into her sixth lactation, we'll get the cow farrier out to trim her feet again. It's now a race between Babe and Firn Junior who is due on the seventh of February.

As you can see by today's statistics, Bokmakierie's lactation is going through the roof (by her standards!) and as a result of her good production and Bestie being dried up, the parlour average is picking up very nicely.

Today's stats

Total cows in milk: 6

Total litres produced: 111.8

Average litres per cow: 18.6

Top cow: Bokmakierie 27.4l

January 23, 2012: Condition Scoring

Yesterday all the Hydeaway and Joyful milking cows were condition scored. They are on the whole looking excellent, mainly ranging from 3 to 4, with a couple of big fat 5s and only two or three skinny creatures scoring 2.5.

My lot are all either 3 or 3.5, so I'm very happy with their condition. These cows eat concentrate in the parlour twice a day in the form of high quality pellets; the amount is tailored to the individual cow and for my cows does not exceed about 5kg per meal. At lunchtime in the pasture they all have 4kg of a cheaper concentrate. Their roughage ration consists of the pasture they walk in - which I'm afraid is basically veld - in the daytime and ad lib eragrostis hay (running at an approximate crude protein content of 9%) at night. I would like to feed them better, mainly through decent pastures planted with kikuyu, ryegrass or similar, but for now I'm happy with the arrangement and with their condition.

The milk production could really improve by a few miles but the main problem there is the low genetic quality and not the feeding. I am planning to sell a bunch of the cows in future (heartless as the decision seems at times) and buy only one or two really high-quality heifers, AI them with the best bulls' sexed semen and so build up a good herd. Easier said than done, but possible.

For now, I eagerly await the birth of Babe's calf. Babe is unfortunately in calf to our bull King Arthur and she doesn't look to give us a very promising lactation but her daughters - such as Bokmakierie and Blue Moon - have been doing a lot better than I expected. She's getting closer, her udder is not yet tight but there is pure milk in there.

Today's stats

Cows in milk: 7

Total litres produced: 122.1

Average litres per cow: 17.4

Top cow: Bokmakierie 26.4l

January 21, 2012: Blinkers

Blinkers is the matriarch of most of the Joyful Jerseys clan. My parents bought her for me about ten years ago as an adult cow; she gave us 9 lactations and in the last three or four she persistently got serious milk fever after each calving, taking longer and longer to recover until we very nearly lost her in her ninth lactation (at least, her ninth lactation with us; she was born in 1997 and if she calved at the age of 2, she actually had 12 lactations). Being deeply attached to this dear old bag of bones I begged the parents to retire her. It didn't take much begging as after nearly ten years ol' Blinky has become part of the farm.

Being nearly fifteen years old does not, however, prevent Blinkers from coming into heat every three weeks as regularly as clockwork. She had a quite eventful day today; not only is she in heat but the group of Frieslands she lives with went through the crush to be weighed, measured and inoculated. We have given her vitamin injections and deworming until she must be brimming with the stuff so all she got today was her weight and height measured and a dip for ticks. Yes, I know she is a pet and has no place on a working dairy farm, but at least she is a happy one.

Less happy is poor little Beulah who has just been weaned off her bottle and wanders about bellowing for much of the time, even though we wean them very gradually and she has been drinking water out of a bottle for the past week. Beulah has teamed up with Alex Rover, a Bonsmara calf we more or less inherited from friends of ours after his mother was stolen. They are a quite unlikely couple.

They beautifully demonstrate the differences between breeds and why farmers select specific breeds. Alex is not much taller than most Jerseys his age, but he weighs much, much more and grows sideways rather than up. He is as stocky as a Shire horse and padded with fat in a way that no Jersey could ever be padded, especially having a big chubby bum, thick neck and a large, broad head.

Little Beulah is totally different. She has long legs compared to Alex and a very small, delicate frame; she looks clean-cut on her neck and shoulders and there is plenty of room between her back legs. Her back looks sharp and almost triangular, and everything about her is delicate.

These two couldn't do one another's job properly. Beulah with her skinny legs and narrow body could never produce a decent pie, never mind a steak, even though I flinch at the thought. Alex (assuming he was female) would never produce 30 litres of milk in one day, he's too stocky.

Today's stats

Cows in milk: 7

Total litres produced: 118

Average litres per cow: 16.8

Top cow: Bokmakierie 22.6l

January 16, 2012: Quick Update

Bokmakierie retained her afterbirth for a while, but with the aid of a few injections she finally got rid of it on Friday. She's doing well and producing better than I expected, already touching on 20 litres a day only six days after calving.

Blue Star's cough persists, though it is better after a shot of antibiotics; she also got her first inoculation today. She is very perky and growing well. We put her through the crush on Thursday and she enjoyed herself tremendously.

Babeica once again did not conceive to her third artificial insemination, so now she'll have to go off to our bull, King Arthur. This is a disappointment for me as Babeica is a nice cow, but she never had trouble conceiving to the bull, so hopefully she'll be back on track soon.

Borina is doing beautifully; she went through the crush yesterday. She's growing well and healthy in every way with a shining coat and happy lines the size of railway tracks all over her sides. I couldn't be happier with her condition. I really hope she has a heifer!

On Wednesday afternoon, Fiona for some reason decided not to follow the rest of the cows back home from their pasture. Their cowherd somehow missed her and left her outside; I have no idea why she decided to stay out, as she was as happy as a bird and showed no sign of illness, and is only a few months pregnant.

I noticed my horses staring down at something outside their paddock and upon investigation this turned out to be Fiona. My beloved chestnut, Skye, was selected for the job of herding her back.

Silly cow.

Today's stats:

Cows in milk: 7

Total litres produced: 118.4

Average litres per cow: 16.9

Top cow: Benita 22.0l

January 10, 2012: The Rollercoaster Ride that is Dairy Farming

I may call my stud Joyful Jerseys, but just like anything else, it has its shares of sorrows, too.

Dear old Bokmakierie was due to calve on January 1st. She went a little overdue, but since she was in calf to our own bull King Arthur the date was a little uncertain, as he used to walk with the herd and do his duties without human intervention. Yesterday evening I was pretty sure that she was getting ready to calve; her teats stood all stiff and she tried to trample my dog Blizzard, even though she rather likes dogs.

Last night we had one of those tremendous noisy storms that we get in the Highveld; all thunder and lightning and pounding rain, here one hour and gone the next. Bokmakierie calved somewhere in the middle of that storm and the resulting bullcalf, though full-sized, was born weak. Mom found him at the start of milking unable to stand or even move his head, struggling to breathe and ice cold all over. She rushed him to the house, where his pitiful bellowing called me to arms. We put him in the bathroom (to the bemusement of the resident rabbit) on a pile of hay, rubbed him dry, tucked him up in a towel and horse blanket, and switched the heater on while we waited for his colostrum to defrost.

The little bullcalf didn't live long enough to even get his first bottle.

We are left to suppose that he was born with a defect in his lungs. It's happened once or twice, and in these cases often our best effort is not enough and the Lord takes them home. We tried our best, even though he was a bullcalf, but everything that happens, happens because God wills it; and there was a reason for Him to take the little bull home.

Still sad, though.

Today has been a little chaotic so far with Blue Star having a cough, she keeps getting a slight cold that disappears when treated with antibiotics, then comes back after a week or so. Star never seems sick exactly, sometimes she doesn't even cough, but we hear a slight rattle or gurgle in  her breath when she drinks her bottle. This afternoon we're going to see the vet to give Blizzard her inoculations, so I'll ask him if there is anything else we can try to eliminate the cough. We have tried three different types of antibiotic, used in conjunction with phenylbutazone and occasionally cortisone, with the same result.

On the bright side, Babe is due on the 30th of January and even though she herself is somewhat mediocre, her calves have blossomed and produced much better than she does. Her feet are a lot better now and she's walking with hardly any pain. Bokmakierie's udder looks very promising. This is her fourth lactation and other cows from her sire are late bloomers, so I'm looking forward to a good lactation from her this year. February is very quiet in terms of calvings, but in March my first AI calf is due; a heifer, Borina, in calf to Access, will calve then. Better luck next time, eh?

Also exciting, if we can make it to Jerseyweek in early April this year, I want to enter one of my heifers in the heifer classes. We've always gone to Jerseyweek for the youth shows. I'm thinking of taking Freya as she is very beautiful and just the right age, but she will be six months pregnant at the show and with her in calf to Eclipes-P I really don't want to lose the calf. We'll consult some knowledgable showmen about it before putting her in training.

Today's stats

Cows in milk: 6

Total litres produced: 94.8

Average litres per cow: 15.8

Top cow: Benita 21.0l