CHLOANNE HOLSTEINS

Keeping Cosy !

2012-01-20T07:40:00.009Z

Well, we are half way through January now , and the weather this winter has really been exceptionally kind , if you discount a couple of extremely windy days. Worth remembering though that the Winter still has a good few weeks to run its course so best to stay on the wrapped up side of things, as these two young trendy girls are demonstrating. Blue is just SO their colour.
I am using these jackets to keep the calves just that little bit warmer and hopefully the will convert their food into growth more than just trying to stay warm.

The two "glamour" girls are the newest members to the Chloanne herd.
Chloanne Twist Gracious is out of Chloanne Moscow Gracious and is by Cogent Twist.
She was born on the 6th January.
Close behind her , being born on the 8th January is Chloanne Doberman Gracious, out of Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, and sired by Coppertop Doberman.

It is unreal the amount of grass that grew last year , and also the amount of grass that was still in the fields after the cows had grazed them . We have been wintering sheep for the last month and they will stay here till the end of January. They really do have their work cut out for them , as there is acres of the green stuff to get through. Another few weeks and we shall be looking towards this years grazing and before you know it the fields will be getting rolled etc etc.

The cows are milking fairly well with some of the fresh calvers now up to the dizzy heights of 55 ltrs/day. Always great to see cows doing yields like that effortlessly.

Cow fertility too, has been on the up side lately, hopefully as a result of the feeding they get . We have some good pregnancies lined up for through the year , to bulls like Ralma Gold Crown, Hydaways Goldmine, Chloanne Lowick, Bomaz Marion Emerald, Regancrest Clinton, Coldsprings Garner and some young bulls too.

Busy Autumn

2011-11-02T16:31:00.005Z

As usual I have left it FAR too long to post an update as to what has been happening here. 3 months nearly. The only excuse I have is that it has been busy, busy, busy !
The main work has been in getting the straw all baled and led in , getting more silage bales made , to make best use of the large quantities of grass we have had , and keeping a close eye on milk production.
Silage stocks seem to be a bit on the lean side this year , and that's a bit of a worry . You never know just what the British winter is going to throw at you , and the silage shortfall could really come and bite us in the Spring .We are now going to start and incorporate big bale silage into the ration in an attempt to slow down the rate of usage in the main silage clamp. hopefully this won't have too much of an impact in yields.
The cows have really eaten large quantities of buffer feeding throughout the summer, but this has, I think, paid for itself in better condition scores and generally healthier cattle . I can honestly say that on the whole I have never seen the cows looking as good.Fingers crossed they can make the transition to winter housing with little upset. The cows have actually been in at night for the last 2 weeks and I'm sure they have appreciated it just as much as I have . It's no fun walking the dark fields at 3.30 in the morning trying to find cows.

One of our main "projects" for the summer was to put cubicle mattresses down. These have been a great success with the cows taking to them instantly. They always had rubber mats before , but they had a tendency to move about a bit, so these are far better.

I too have found the mattresses to be so much easier to work with , no more pushing and shoving mats back on the concrete twice a day , so it's a win win situation .

Last month we also upgraded the pulsation in the milking parlour. This was a job that was well overdue , in fact should probably have been done about 10 years ago when we last did a bit of work in the parlour. We have taken out the old Fullwood pulsation with the old master relays and now each unit has it's own pulsation , which only works when the cow is actually getting milked . it takes a little getting used to a first , when all the units are off and there is no sound of the thump thump thump of the old pulsators. The benefits to the cow are that that we should have eliminated any variation in the vacuum levels that the old set up might have had , and indeed , so far , the vacuum level gauge never moves at all during milking. The other benefit that all milkers are noticing is that the milkings do seem to be quicker, so that's got to be a good thing for both animal and operator .

Chloanne Lowick finally went on sale from Cogent breeding last month .He is available as a young sire at the moment.

It's always great to see a bull that you've bred go on to be used in other breeders herds. I'm sure he will do some good in their herds.

Soon it will be time for all the youngstock to come inside and then it truly will feel like winter. Surely we can't have as bad a time as we have had the last couple of years. It would be nice just to have as good a winter as we have had autumn. Fingers crossed !

Who's The Daddy ?

2011-08-08T12:15:00.006+01:00

I have had a few recent discussions on Twitter about bulls, good ones , bad ones, why I use particular ones, what I'm looking for in a bull, which bull has done good , and which ones have done harm . It did kind of get me thinking as to some of the answers to these points.
In these days of maximising profit, longevity has to be the key to any breeding policy . Replacing animals has to be one of the most costly things you can do , so the less often you have to do this the better. So a bull that has a positive lifespan score is always going to be a step in the right direction.
But this has not always been the case. I remember many years ago when the main objective was to get as much milk from the cows and therefore keep using bulls with high milk figures and you were onto a sure fire winner. Problem was these cows just didn't last , they were literally being milked to death. Over the years , breeders have come to realise that whilst milk production figures are important in a bulls figures , so too is the need for the milking daughters to last as long as possible in order to contribute to the farms profit for as long as possible.

Looking back over the last 14 years to the bulls we have used in the herd , it is a real who's who of the Holstein breed , with many popular names and also a few names that have come and gone , never to be heard of again.

Singingbrook NB Mascot was a bull that came onto the scene in a big way , he was THE bull to be seen using and we in turn used him , looking back at how his daughters milked , they milked fine , but their mammary systems left much to be desired .
Pirocco Magnitude I can remember as being an easy calving bull and we used him our heifers. He left some cracking daughters that had some fairly tidy udders on them .
One bull that really did leave his mark on the herd was Hairybriez, he was a Mascot son. We had many daughters by him , each one instantly recognisable by the distinctive "dotty" markings .I don't think we had a really bad daughter by him and his influence is probably still felt in the herd today . Certainly the markings are still here.
Young bulls have always been used here , as mentioned in other posts here on the blog. Many from Cogent and many from Genus alike . In all , I would say that they have not done us much harm at all . In the early years of using young bulls , it was the young bulls that had the highest index figures , and often it would be daughters of those bulls that went on to be our highest index cows.
Etazon Lord Lily and Eastview Meadowlord have easily given me some of the nicest cattle I've milked. We still have 6 Meadowlords around now.They are tall, graceful and very black cattle , they certainly stood out from the herd.
Urnieta Zelati was an interesting bull when I first used him , and I always wish I'd used him more heavily .Looking back we were using him in July 2003 , so that was quite early for him . His daughters were milk machines and we still have 5 milking in the herd today.
Two bulls which I acquired were Conant Acres Alonzo and Silvershade Saunders. We has many many daughters of these bulls and on the whole they have done us no harm at all . We still have 5 Saunders milking and 3 Alonzo's.
Another bull worthy of a mention has been Hanno, a very under rated bull in my opinion. With 6 daughters still on the go , they just keep going , and never really show themselves to you for anything untoward. They're the best kind of cow .
For more up to date bulls , we have youngstock on the ground from bulls such as Alpag Iron Active , Cogent Loader, Chloanne Gallagher, Wa-Del Hayden, Dalbytop Phil, Cogent Desmond, Chloanne Hannover ,Go Farm Pitbull and Bangaro Red to name a few.

Current service sires for the herd are Ralma Gold Crown and Bomaz Marion Emerald.
Current service sires for some of the Chloanne girls have included End Road Oman Bronco , Cogent Twist and Coppertop Doberman.

Today we are looking for the bull which will leave a truly "Long Life cow" .
They must be capable of passing on sound feet and legs , a mammary system that is both functional and can handle the quantities of milk expected from a modern Holstein. Calving ease and somatic cell counts are now even more important in a bulls proof as these traits should hopefully contribute to a cows profitability.

There is no one bull that will deliver all things to all herds in one generation, no matter how good his figures look in the catalogue!
It's a simple matter of keeping on breeding the best cattle you can and as long as you see some progress in either the classification results, the herd averages in milk production or the average number of completed lactations in the herd , these are steps in the right direction

Marley and Me

2011-06-29T12:32:00.002+01:00

As quick as one bull has left the herd , another has arrived in the shape of Chloanne Marley . He is sired by End Road Oman Bronco and is out of a cracking little heifer Chloanne DP Gracious , who herself is out of Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , the dam of the two bulls that have already gone down to Cogent Ltd. Its never an easy decision to make as to whether I keep a bull or not . Sometimes it's because of the cow family , sometimes it's because of the sire , or even just because he looks a tidy calf that will develop into a stunning bull (hopefully). I have kept this one because of his breeding , on both sides , and also because there is only one other Bronco bull registered at the moment(29/6/11) so it's nice to have an early son from a sire .
The family line has proven itself time and time again and I'm confident that Chloanne DP Gracious will out perform her herd mates to stand out as the rest have done.

Chloanne Webster Gracious is due to calve this week too , she is in calf to Morningview Legend . This will be her 7th calving and she has an impressive lifetime yield so far of 88,374 ltrs. A nice easy calving will see her well on her road to getting near being a 100t cow.

Another exciting pregnancy is Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, who is now safely in calf to Coppertop Doberman. This is a mating that was suggested to me by ABS Genus, and it would be nice to get a heifer calf off her for me , but also if it were a bull then if Genus were at all interested then that would be ideal too . It's left with them that I will keep them informed as to how she is doing . At the moment she has a lactation yield of 10,865 ltrs in 201 days and she's still milking around the 38 ltrs mark every day.

Some of the girls will be getting classified at the end of next week so with any luck they will move up a point or two.

Chloanne Lowick

2011-06-21T12:31:00.005+01:00

At the end of last week , our young Holstein bull , Chloanne Lowick , was finally picked up by Cogent Breeding to be taken down to their premises to begin being tested as a young sire for them! He is by the sire Morningview Legend and is out of the truly great cow Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious.

This is the second bull to be tested from the dam , who is sadly not with us due to complications after calving last year .
It's an amazing feeling when a company is interested in some of the animals and genetics that you are working with , topped only by the news that they will indeed take an animal .
If all goes according to plan , then semen should be ready from him later in the year, with the first offspring being born late summer next year .It really is a waiting game to see just how well the farmers and breeders who used the bulls liked them , or indeed didn't like them. It is the information supplied by them to the AI company that will determine whether the young bull will go on to bigger and better things , or simply not be good enough for their exacting standards.
The first bull , Chloanne Gallagher, now has 61 registered daughters in around 30 herds. I don't have figures of how many daughters could be in commercial herds but do still milk record.Our first daughters are now at the age to be running with the bull , and hopefully over the next few weeks and months more daughters will get in calve.
It is once these daughters start to calve down themselves that their figures will contribute to a young bulls proof. Getting a bull to the point of him having a proof takes a very long time and bucket loads of frustration.
We use plenty of young bull semen throughout the herd as well as using proven bulls . I feel very strongly that more farmers should use some young bull semen , even if it was only 10 or 20 straws.The genetics available now from all studs are the best on offer from around the world, and by using young sires it is a chance to get the very best from the best cow families available . With young bull semen being available from some companies for as little as £3 or £4 a straw, it really is an ideal chance to better your herd for little cost. All proven bulls have started off life as a young bull , and farmers who refuse to use young bull semen on grounds of low reliability etc should think to themselves that if we all took that attitude then no bull would get a fair chance at all .

Perfect Grazing . . . . . .So Far !

2011-06-15T12:40:00.003+01:00

With us now into mid-June , silage is now a distant memory , and we are now watching the grass growing (all be it slowly)ready for 2nd cut . The ground is very dry and we have really only had one day of any real rain . On the grazing side of things the cows are keeping on top of all the grazing strips this year . I have never seen them eat the grass the way they have this year , no waste at all so far. Obviously this is a great sign , it means they are utilising the grass very well , but it also means that I have not had any strips to cut and bale , and this in turn will have an effect as to how much extra grass we will need to find to bale later on .We had a bountiful supply of bales just before turnout , but these were sold . . . . . a decision that could very well come back to haunt us .It is now looking like we may have to open up our silage pit quite soon , to ensure that we can continue to buffer feed the cows through the summer.
With all this food that the cows are eating , it is pleasing to see positive results, not just in the bulk tank, but also in the condition of the cows and also in the fertility of the herd , which has remained fairly high. Also our nutrition advice is spot on at the moment , and we are achieving FCE figures of 1.5 , which at this time of year and for a herd grazing outside , isn't too shabby.
We are focusing more and more on the state of grazing grass , and trying to tackle any weed issues we have . These tend to be field specific , and we are trying to get rid of the dreaded Chickweed , easy to kill but at the expense of the clover in the sward. Some of our fields will have been in the same grass for quite a number of years now , and that is something we may have to address, obviously newer and better varieties come along , and it is unrealistic to expect a 4 or 5 year ley to last 6 or 7 years without some form of drop in quality and performance.
Overall the cows have had the best Spring/Summer that I can remember , nice and dry , no mud to have to contend with , and I really think this has all had a knock on effect to the cows health . Somatic cell counts continue to be the lowest we have had , and that too is a general indication of the status of the herd health. Long may it continue . Rain at night , heat in the day , surely not too much to ask for ?

2011-05-09T17:13:00.007+01:00

Well the cows will soon have completed their first circuit of the grazing paddocks available to them . It really has been the best Spring that the cows have had for years , and it makes such a difference to the way they eat the grass .We always try to get them out as quick as possible in the year , and this year we were ahead of last year , both for day grazing , and also for nights. With the grass growth good , and also the cows getting buffer fed at milking times , they have milked well , and above all they are holding their condition.
It is very often a challenge to regulate the grass , making sure that they have sufficient clean grass ahead of them and also keeping an eye that they are cleaning up what they are given , both in the trough and in the field . If they waste the grass , especially on the first time round in the grazing cycle then the next growth is never as good as it should be. The pictured grass is what they are currently grazing , and it really is too long for them ,. however they have been making a fantastic job of it . The next strips to graze have all had their fertiliser and now that ewe have had rain , should easily start to catch up , hopefully in time for the cows next time. Over the summer we are going to be looking into the idea of NOT feeding concentrates in the milking parlour in future. I am in favour of cutting it out, feeling that the cows could better utilise other products mixed in with their TMR. The only down side would probably be that some of the more pampered girls might be a little "shy" to come into the parlour without their usual bribe of cake. It's certainly an experiment worth trying though , as parlour concentrate is in excess of £220/t at the moment and little chance of it coming down in price. We are keeping a close eye on the cost of feeding the cows , it's amazing the number of farmers who haven't got a clue just how much it cows to fed their herd. At the moment it is costing us £1.81 per cow ration that goes through the mixer wagon . We are milking 127 cows at present and I am feeding them for 100 rations , so really we are spending £1.42 /cow on the buffer ration . We feel this is money well spent though , even when out at grass. The benefits of the buffer system clearly out weigh the small cost of the food.
The weather has finally broken , and the rain is very welcome , for both grass growth and also for just giving the land that little bit of "give", the ground was getting really quite hard and not such a good surface for the cows to walk on .Once again , I can't remember a year when I've been so glad to see heavy rain fall , even if it has meant me getting wet from time to time !

Spring Turnout for Milkers

2011-04-13T07:52:00.002+01:00

This last week has seen the cows finally get a taste of fresh grass again after the long winter. It's always a time that is looked forward to , by both us and the cows . The mood generally lifts on the farm and the cows do genuinely get a spring in their step as they walk to the fields.They have been out during the days for the last week , and tonight they will be kept out at night too , with them now only getting buffer fed during milking times.
As much as it is lovely to see the cows outside , it does bring its own series of problems and issues that must be addressed as the season folds out. During the winter , i have had complete control over all aspects of the cows day, eg, water, food, environment, climate etc. Now, with them going outside , I have generally lost that control. How much are they eating? How much dry matter is in the diet ? Is the walk to the fields affecting their feet ? Will fertility improve now that they are out in their "natural" surroundings? Will body condition suffer as a result of different nutrition and improved milk yields.
Hopefully over the next couple of days , they will get onto a balanced buffer ration and yields will lift.
This year, Keenan are launching their "Pace At Grass" programme for their Pace box on the Keenan mixer wagons. This should give me more of a handle on just what the cows are getting out of the grass/buffer, and I should be able to regulate the amount of buffer needed to compensate for field differences , sward variation , weather etc.
The cows are all given a magnesium bolus when they go outside , just as a precaution against grass staggers. They are also fed high mag minerals for about the first week of grazing too .
Grass growth has been fairly good lately , with the weather being kind to both the land and the cows . Long may it continue , and then up will go the shout that we are looking for rain . We really are never satisfied with our lot when it comes to the good old British weather.
Silage fields are looking good ,although they are probably the fields that really could do with a good shower or two of rain. As with other years we will be looking to do silage first cut around the 18th - 20th May.
All youngstock are still inside , probably until the end of the month.

Northumbria Holstein Breeders Herd Competition

2011-02-09T13:12:00.004Z

In January the results were announced for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition , which is always judged in the previous August.
This year we were pleased with our successes.
As a farm we managed to lift the titles of Best Large Herd , Top herd on Production and also Top Herd on Inspection . It's always pleasing when a judge appreciates what we are trying to do . On the individual classes , Chloanne Webster Gracious was named Super Cow , and Ellenneff Duce Cavaliero was placed first in the Heifer on Production class. Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 came third in her class for Cow on Inspection.
As I've no doubt said before ,It is always a pleasure to have a judge , or indeed anyone come along and look at your herd , they will always see things that you have taken for granted, and maybe offer you that one missing nugget of advice that spurs you on .Sometimes things are staring you straight in the face and you fail to realise it . In my case , this year I didn't enter the Progeny group , It's not a class I find easy to find entries for . Well on the day of judging , I slowly found myself admiring daughters of a bull called Kings-Ransom Duce . Slightly on the smaller side than what we are used to , these animals are quite black , but the most amazing aspect of these heifers is the shape of their udders , a real joy to see when they come in the parlour to be milked. So why didn't I put in a few of these for the progeny group ? I haven't a clue , but I will be following these girls closely over the coming months and if at all possible , I will try the class this year .

Frankham Sept Storm Ethel has had a calf , and this time , a cracking heifer calf. The sire is Ked Outside Jeeves , and is again , another welcomed member to the Ethel family.
As I've had a few of the girls calf , my thoughts are now turning to getting them back in calve again. I have bought some Cogent Twist semen this year . He seems a fairly handy bull , so fingers crossed for some heifer calves later on .
I am also considering implanting some embryo's in the near future . I have a couple of heifers that would lend themselves quite well to this , and if I can rake up a couple more , It would certainly sweeten the job with regard to price etc. .

The main herd is down in numbers at the moment , which means that the dry cow pens are positively bulging . This will reverse itself in the coming weeks as they all start to calve down and join the ranks of the milkers again. Until then though , I am making the most of the slightly easier milkings , knowing that once the numbers rise again , so does the time taken to milk them !

Jess

2011-01-07T07:12:00.005Z

This week I had to say a final "goodbye" to my Border Collie , Jess. Old age finally got the better of her , she was 15 and a half , which by any stretch of the imagination has been one hell of an innings for a dog . As much as you know these moments are going to come , and her health was failing all the time , it's still one of the hardest moments . Jess was just one of life's constants , she was always there, usually under your feet or lying in the way . Behind a door was always a favourite so that when you got up in the morning the door would push her too !
I "bought" Jess as a pup , and she was from amazing working parents , but I have never used her as a working dog . The instict was definately there, and she did have a general idea how to move a herd of cows along . I say "bought" , because i actually traded in a washing machine for her . Best trade ever !
A better natured dog you'll never meet . She would bark at strange cars and the postman , but would be wagging behind . Wagging the tail that would touch more electric fences than she would have liked , latterly she learned to keep the tail down ! She could "header" a football better than any dog I've ever seen on the TV do , she would chase football and the kids all the time . Her skills never quite developed on the retrieval side of things . She could run after a stick , then just lie down beside it , or bring it half way and then make you go and get the damn thing yourself .
When the kids were young , Jess develped a habit of hovering around their high-chairs , just waiting on the spillages to land on the floor from the trays above . Always amazing with the kids , she always looked as if she was protecting them at all times .
I got a black Labrador about 3 years ago , not sure how Jess would react . It was the best desicion I ever made as I'm quite sure it gave Jess an extra couple of years . It seemed to give her an extra bit of zest , and above all a play mate .
As much as she was a faily quiet dog in the last few months , it's is a strange feeling in the house at the moment , and I know that Max, the Lab is kind of at a lose end , knowing something isn't quite right .
I know that I'll never replace Jess , you can't achieve the impossible .
Just a pet in a million . She is missed by us all .

Our Dairy Farm Assurance Audit

2011-01-05T05:16:00.004Z

Yesterday it was our Dairy Farm Assurance Audit, an on farm inspection covering many aspects deemed to be important in the safe, clean , responsible production of food , in our case milk . This audit used to be carried out by the milk buyers themselves , who for us is Arla , but for the last 3 audits it has been an independent company carrying it out on behalf of the industry.
When these audits get mentioned there is usually a sigh from folk and the look of dread . On the whole I have always tried to approach them with a positive attitude, and would like to think that by us being quality assured that it will bring us a premium for our product . Sadly that never seems to be the case, with it being a compulsory audit anyway. Any non-compliance's must be rectified with-in 28 days. Happily , we were passed with flying colours, so big sighs of relief all round .
So what all was checked ? Well on arrival the milking parlour was checked for cleanliness ans my milking routine was discussed to make sure that no short cuts are taken during milking . In the dairy , the doors walls and lights were given the once over to check for cracks , defects and in general to ensure that the room was vermin and bird proof . We checked the cows housing , which was fine as the cubicles were all new just last year . All pens of stock were checked to see that all animals had adequate room and that they all could have contact with other animals etc . As you can start to see , all these checks are pretty common sense things which all farmers/stockmen around the country are ensuring high standards of anyway.
In the office is where the real fun and games starts with these inspections . Piles and piles of paperwork , layed out , just in case he needed to see relevant evidence of this and that .
So , medicine records , movement records, staff training records , animal transport records , chemical safety data sheets , milk quality facts , herd health plan , vet visits , feed delivery records to name but a few , were all checked , just to ensure that we operate a safe and clean operation .
Traceability is a vital element of food production and that is a major part of producers paperwork . All inputs must be traceable back to source and all sources must be "this'n'that" registered . it's a real mine field.
Well , the bottom line of all this is that we ticked all the right boxes and we live to fight another day , with a certificate on the wall to prove such a fact. It would be nice to be receiving a premium for a quality product, produced to the exacting standards that the industry sets . Maybe one day !

In The Dairy - Doddington Dairy

2010-12-22T07:01:00.000Z

The White Stuff !

2010-12-09T05:13:00.003Z

Unfortunately , the title of this post is not the "White Stuff" that dairy farmers like to talk about . the snow is still here , and it's now packed hard on all the yards , in scenes that are just identical to the one's earlier in the year . I do however think we have coped better this time round (despite the obvious shed incidents). The forecast for the coming week is not that encouraging either , with more snow forecast . Still all our girls are inside , and apart from a few frozen pipes , it's business as usual. We have a neighbours sheep on our land at the moment , and I can't remember when they would last have actually grazed some grass. they have been living off hay and silage now , and generally raking the hedge backs for shelter and food.

The cows have been milking amazingly well considering all the upset and the cold , obvioulsy got the ration about right. We will be drying cows off next month ready for calving in March/April , so hopefully the workload in the parlour should get less for a few weeks anyway.

Today we are going to take down the remaining section of the feed passage roof , as it is basically unsafe now. This will either go smoothly or take us forever and a day. I have visions of it being like a Fred Dibnah type event and when it's ready to fall , I will sound a horn , run like hell , look up and say "Did you like that ? "

Bad Start to the Week !

2010-12-04T15:38:00.003Z

The above picture is the damage done with the sheer weight of snow on our feed passage roof this week . It's fair to say it wasn't the newest roof on the farm ,but to have it come down has just been the biggest hassle we have experienced for a long time . It took ALL day to clear up the mess , and the remainder of the shed roof is now being supported by props along the length . Today there has been a fairly hefty thaw , so long may that continue. The wintery weather of the last week has played havoc on the work load of the farm , with even the simplest task taking twice as long, not to mention the fact that there has been little or no staff around , as none live on the farm.
Hopefully we can get on better in the week to come,
On a brighter note , Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious calved this week , and she had a heifer calf , Chloanne Jeeves Gracious . It's an absolute cracker of a calf and I'll hopefully put some photo's of her on here soon.

Mud, Glorious Mud !

2010-11-24T12:42:00.002Z

The general consensus seems to be that, according to records, this is the wettest Oct/Nov we have experienced for many , many years. Most farmers will tell you that without the aid of records and data, it's just one of those facts that you know if you happen to have to work in it day in and day out. I have never known us be so far behind at this time of year . The electric fence wire and posts are still outside , waiting to be dismantled but the ground is just so wet that it certainly wouldn't allow a Manitou forklift onto it !All the cattle are finally inside now . Again ,I have never seen them out in such muddy conditions for years . All that now remains outside are the neighbours sheep , which strangely enough , don't seem to mind the rain in the same way that Holstein cattle do. They do however make a mess on extremely wet ground , so we will need to be mindful of moving them on as soon as they start to do damage.
So, now that all the girls are inside , it is now a case of bedding and feeding for the next 4-5 months . They can all certainly eat some grub , and we have never seen the silage pit go back so fast. Hopefully things will ease off once I start to dry more cows off in the coming weeks. Milk yields have picked up a bit since the cows came in , they are now fairly well settled into their winter routine. Strangely too, the butterfat figures have been sky high, most likely down to the ration they are on . We are in the middle of a feed trial for our nutrition company at the moment , so I am constantly downloading facts and figures and taking milk samples to monitor our performances.
On the cow front , the high yielders are going from strength to strength , while the lower, staler cows are really drying themselves off. The challenge is trying to prevent the low yielders from putting on too much condition which would then be detrimental to calving. Cow numbers are due to go right down over the next couple of weeks as I dry a lot off .
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is due to calve 1/12/10 , and she is looking great , and just starting to "bag up" now. Fingers crossed for her, however a young heifer , Chloanne SJ Gracious "slipped" her calf at just 7 months . I have her running with the herd at the moment and hopefully the milk will eventually come onto her . It really does knock the a bit if something like that happens .However , that's the realities of this job,just when you think you have things sussed and under control , there's always something lurking round the corner to kick you into touch !

CHLOANNE ROSEMAN ETHEL

2010-11-02T17:25:00.001Z

Above is the first pic of Chloanne Roseman Ethel, born 1/11/10. There is just a slight tinge of red in her hair , as her sire is Sterndale Roseman Red. I used sexed semen for this pregnancy as I really want to develop the Ethel family to be on a similar par to other branches of this amazing family that are all over the UK

7 days off ! !

2010-10-15T10:00:00.003+01:00

Today is my last day at work before an extremely well earned break of 7 days . Prior to this I was last off in February , and prior to that , God knows when . I am scheduled to take 28 days holiday a year , last year I ended up carrying 5 days over and got paid for 14 , so in reality I only took 9 days . So I started this year with 33 , and ended up carrying over 24 . I'd like to think that in the weeks and months to come , this shortfall in time off can be reversed . It's certainly not good for anyone to work these types of shifts , especially when a working week can easily be in excess of 75 - 80 hours !
Anyhow , hopefully when I come back I will find the herd in a content and happy mood . They are now in at nights , whilst still grazing what grass is left through the day ! This is just an exercise project rather that anything else . Most of their feed is now getting fed through the Keenan mixer wagon . The milk has really dropped sharply this autumn , I think they really were out for too long at nights , and this lost milk is proving really hard to get back on them . Hopefully , by the time I come back , they might even be in through the day and then they will be on a totally balanced diet for the rest of the winter !
The new cubicles got finished on time , and I am so pleased with them . the cows have been exploring them , and so far most seem to be prepared to try them without much fuss. The main things I am noticing about them is that the cows are lying far better than they did in the old style cubicles that we had , and this in turn is helping to keep the beds so much cleaner . Hopefully this will continue through the winter too .It would have been nice to have posted a few pictures of them on this site , but , alas , my digital camera is broken , and my phone is away getting repaired too , so I can't even post anything on Twitter . As soon as one of them is fixed I will post some pic's of the cubicles and other projects that we have being doing through the summer !

The Girls Need In

2010-10-06T05:23:00.002+01:00

We are now at that time of year when the weather is trying to do it's best to make things as tough as possible . Don't get me wrong , we have had it much worse at this time before , but it always creeps up on you non the less. roadways start to get mucky , gateways have puddles in them and in general , the land starts to get wet . Grass quality is also rapidly decreasing and now would be the time to be thinking of bringing the cows inside for the winter .
This is always a tricky topic here . On the one hand there is ME that is saying " Bring them in" and on the other is the BOSS saying "NO , they're fine outside" . Of course , both camps are correct , up to a point . It just depends what you want from your herd of cows and how you want them to perform , particularly later on in the year. The argument for keeping them out revolves around the fact that there is still grass outside. this is fine , the cows will eat the grass and it is now a really cheap feed , trouble being there won't be as much feed value in the grass as is thought . Now , again , that in itself is okay if you are not pushing for yield and you just want the cows to produce milk at a leisurely pace. If high yields are to be maintained then the "girls" must be kept on an optimum plain of nutrition for as much time as possible. We are feeding around 3.5 tons of expensive buffer feed at the moment and they are just cleaning it up in a matter of hours just after milking. Then , they get shoved outside and some of the good is undone by them foraging around in the wet fields , especially at night , where temperatures are starting to dip. Basically , at the moment we are nearly getting a roller coaster effect in their nutrition .
Most other herds in the area are now inside , but we always go through this annual ritual of keeping them out , until the milk falls sufficiently to become a worry, and then they are hurriedly brought in and expected to pick up where they left off , before the fall in production.
If thee cows were brought in sooner , before the dip in yield , then they would have a steadier output , a more balanced ration , and ultimately , adapt to their winter housing way quicker , with no ground to make up in the short term .
(There, got that off my chest ! )

Change In The Weather

2010-09-25T04:35:00.002+01:00

Well it's now the 25th of September and the weather has taken on a more seasonal role . lately it it has been so mild , dry and really quite pleasurable to work in .i knew this wouldn't last for ever and boy, has it changed . Yesterday saw fierce winds whipping in off the coast and the rain just lashing horizontally. Through the night it has been drier but bitterly cold . All this will not help our milk recording that I am hoping to do later today.
Overall the cows have milked fairly well through the summer and they (and I) have made good use of the grass available to them and also the buffer getting fed through the Keenan feed wagon. However all good things come to an end , and the season for cheap(ish) milk production is one of those things !From quite soon , the cow will be kept inside in the all new, all singing, all dancing cubicles that we have installed through the summer . Also a select few will get to stay in the 5 star straw accommodation , expanded from other years to now house slightly more . This however means that all the food that they eat will have to be fed to them , rather than then grazing it themselves . This is time consuming , labour intensive and above all , VERY expensive.Hopefully the end result will be more milk which should offset some of the extra costs.
We have the classifier coming in on Tuesday . he will look at some of the animals and score them according to how he feels they measure up to the "ideal" cow. All the points for the various traits (feet, body, mammary, etc) are then collated and a final score is given . So fingers crossed for then .
It has occurred to me that I haven't rambled on about any Chloanne births recently. that's because there hasn't been any , but that should be about to change over the coming months . below is a list of My cows that are due in the future.

Chloanne Dolman Ethel due 30/10/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( Sexed)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 due 01/12/10 to Ked Outside Jeeves
Chloanne SJ Gracious due 22/12/10 to Sterndale Roseman Red ( sexed)
Chloanne Hanno Gracious due 23/12/10 to Ralma Oman crest
Frankham Sept storm Ethel due 29/01/11 to Cogent starsky
Chloanne Tulip Gracious due 21/02/11 to Ked Outside jeeves
Chloanne Goldwyn gracious 3 due 31/03/11 to Golden Oaks alexander
Chloanne Spooky Gracious due 08/05/11 to Ladys Manor Autumn

So it should be a fairly productive winter for the girls .

Staffing continues to be one of our major headaches on the farm . Trying to get anyone who readily wants to commit to giving up every second weekend to milk cows is proving to be difficult . We have a "bank" of 3 people who I can call upon , but they really only want to do it in a "helping out" capacity , not in a real commitment style , so the hunt goes on , but I am also acutely aware that the responsibility is now landing on my doorstep all the time to find people to milk and that's not always easy . I would like to think that fairly soon i will be able to get a few days off , it so seldom happens that sometimes you have to wonder if it is all worth while . all work and no play etc . . . . . . !

Premier Herd Comp & Premier Feed

2010-08-23T17:22:00.003+01:00

Today we had a judge round the herd of cattle , judging for this years Holstien Uk Premier Herds Competition . We found ourselves in this competition this year due to the successes of last years Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club competition.
I am not getting myself overly excited about our chances in this event , as to be honest , the calibre of the other herds in the region will be quite something else . However , in the true spirit of the phrase "It's not the winning but the taking part", I must admit I do like to enter things like this , if only just to meet other people, namely the judges and any stewards that come round with them . It is at things like this that much conversation is had , a bit of banter , a lot of gossip , oh, and if there's any time left , perhaps a look at the cows as well ! ! ! Today was such a day , a great walk round the herd , a look at the dry cows , a brief chat about the breeding etc and that was that ! It's always nice to have other people come and walk through your cows from time to time , a fresh pair of eye's looking at your stock can quite often highlight areas of breeding that you take for granted , rightly or wrongly. So fingers crossed , but I'm not holding my breath .
Today also saw us take delivery of 160 tons of draff , or Malt Distillers Draff , to be precise. This came from The Glenlivet and The Glenfiddich distilleries up in Scotland , and will be a part of our winter ration for the cows. the cows milk very well off this by-product and we have always found it extremely good value for money . This years loads were ordered some months ago , so we have got it all at a very good rate. Hopefully we will soon have ouyr winter rations formulated so that we can start to order in our protien blends for the winter too.

Hi's & Lo's of The Last Month

2010-08-15T14:08:00.002+01:00

It's been a busy old time here since the last post . I knew it was going to be , what with putting in the new cubicles and cows calving and the start of leading in bales of straw etc .
The new cubicles are taking shape fast and they do look great (even if i do say so myself !). We are now about half way through the project and it's amazing how little all the building work and disruption has affected the cows , they just walk past it , raise an eye brow , flick an ear and start to eat the buffer feed. Hopefully we should be on track to complete the shed by late August .
So the first of this years straw has now been brought in. Just about 250 barley bales . We buy them off our neighbour , who rents the fields from us . We buy the straw by the acre , which i think has been a good idea rather than paying stupid prices , and already , the first field had a hell of an amount of straw on it, so now it's just a case of waiting till the wheat and spring barley is ready .

This blogs "cover girl" , Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious calved early in July , a bull calf , which i have named Chloanne Lowick . As mentioned in the last post , he is sired by Morningview Legend and has been contracted to Cogent Breeding Ltd. He really looks fantastic despite only being a few weeks old .
sadly , the calving , which was stress free and easy , took it's toll on the dam . She went on to take a displaced abomasum. This was operated on and we hoped she would rally round from that . Unfortunately she still seemed "seedy" so after further examinations , we decided to operate again, on the other side , for suspected peritonitis. Sure enough , she was a bit of a mess in side , and after a further 9 days , the decision was made to put her to sleep . this is never an easy choice to make , and , with this cow in particular , probably the hardest decision I've had to make on the farm. A truly great cow , with a great "personality", a great loss to the herd.
However , her first calf that she had , Chloanne Gallagher, now has 42 daughters on the ground in over 21 herds so fingers crossed that her genetics will go on to do as much good on other farms as they did here .

On the staffing front , after all the advertising and "interviewing" , the boss is still not really any further on with finding a suitable candidate for the post of relief milker . This is proving very frustrating for everyone else , as it leaves us short staffed on weekends and just in general during this busy summer . So here's hoping that something/someone turns up soon , and here's hoping for some better luck in the coming weeks and months

Steps in the Right Direction

2010-07-02T05:15:00.003+01:00

Well, that's it for another year , the 2nd cut silage is safely in the pit . Yields for both the 1st and 2nd cuts have been poor , but I feel we should still have plenty to see us through the coming winter , due to us having quite a surplus the previous few years . Rain has finally remembered where we live and has now decided to be a regular visitor , but probably a welcomed visitor as we were desperately needing some . The grazing of the cows starts to get a bit more challenging from about now , due to the variable quality of the grass. It is starting to get a bit tricky trying to guesstimate how much they need to fill themselves up , and more importantly , how much they actually need to produce the milk AND keep maintenance of themselves . However , I am still extremely happy with the way the cows are performing this year , and they are looking better than they ever have done .
Fertility seems to be on the up too , which is always a good thing , as the main goal of farming has to be to get your animals back in calve , thereby keeping them and your business profitable. As mentioned in previous posts , heat detection is extremely important and you can't afford to take any shortcuts on this . Therefore it really has been my No 1 priority this summer , to see as many cows in heat as possible , and any that I fail to see get presented to the vet during our fortnightly fertility visits.

At the end of this month is the judging for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition , so as usual , it is now all eyes on to the girls to see just who to put forward for the various classes. As of just yet , i haven't a clue, but I'm sure all will come clearer over the next week or so !

It's just 10 days now until Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is due to calve . She is in calve to Morningview Legend , and has a contract on the pregnancy for a bull calf to be sold to Cogent Breeding Ltd. Normally I would give my right arm for a heifer calf from one of my cows , but I would really love to see another one of my bulls get tested by a company . Fingers crossed !

Changes !

2010-06-10T04:43:00.002+01:00

Well since my last post , I feel that many things have changed or are about to , on the farm. The silage was got in , all in reasonable condition , we could certainly have done with a bulkier crop , but by the way the silage fields have come away already , I think we will more than make up any short fall with the second cut.
With silage out of the way , I can now turn my attention to other jobs and projects , mainly the complete refit of the cow cubicles , ie, the beds that they lie in through the winter . I have no idea how old the ones that i am taking out are , but they are well past they're "sell-by date" and are basically just falling to bits . So bit by bit I am cutting out the old and making way for the new .We have nearly decided which company to pick , after viewing different manufacturers products on various farms .it's so interesting to see just how much min/max dimensions have changed over the years with regard to cattle housing , so much so that we are able to put an extra cubicle in every row , as by today's standards our old cubicles are too wide !
In the last couple of weeks we have been advertising for a new relief milker to cover alternate weekends for me and also holiday cover (I must look up the dictionary definition of holiday 'cos I don't come across THAT word too often here !)
With the advert put in the Farmers Guardian and Scottish Farmer, we have had a good response , with applicants from all over .It's always interesting interviewing people and reading CV's . I suppose if I had any comment to make on this subject it is that I wish people would read the advert properly , we had a lot of calls about the job and people were asking about hours/pay etc , when it clearly stated PART TIME. Clearly the job market is still a mine field out there . Hopefully by this time next week we will have the post filled .
To help with the day-to-day management of the herd I use a computer system called Uniform, I doubt i could run the herd as effectively without it . We have just upgraded to "Pro" package , sounds very grand , but basically it gives me way more information than i had in the past and enables me to keep tighter grips on output , fertility, feeding etc . It's fun at the moment , still working out everything it can do that the last one can't . I'll soon get the hang of it soon .
Cow wise the herd have had a very good summer out at grass , with the weather being unkind really only in the last few days . They are going to be spoiled soon as they will eventually find themselves grazing lovely new grass that is surplus to silage requirements , so hopefully that will boost the milk . At present they are averaging 28.6 litres /day, with only a token gesture of buffer ration in the trough , and on the whole i feel they are a much "happier" , more content herd than last year .
Later in the summer we are about to extend our straw bedded cattle court , which will give us nearly double the room , however i don't want to put double the cows in , as i want it to be comfy and clean , so double the space , a few more cows and all should be good. All in all , if we do the cubicles, the straw court and keep the "girls" as happy as they are just now , then this coming winter we should really start to see the results , both in the cows themselves and , more importantly, in the milk tank

Heat Detection !

2010-05-25T07:10:00.003+01:00

I had a conversation with a farmer the other day .basically it started off with him asking if I enjoyed my weekends off , oh yes i replied, telling him that although i was off , i was always around for AI's etc and to keep an eye on our activity collars on the cows for any signs of heat (bulling, ).At this point his ears picked up and he started to tell me that he too has collars on his cows , to pick up cows in heat , although he is far from happy with the results and effectiveness of them.
I explained that it is , indeed, all in the interpretation of the results of the activity graphs , that will determine the optimum results , but it soon became apparent that he has been sold this kit as a HEAT DETECTOR , this is just so wrong. The collar system we have here was sold to us , and bought by us as an ACTIVITY DETECTOR, ie, it monitors the levels of activity in the individual animals and will conjure up graphs which i can interpret and perhaps make correlations with the animal coming into season.
Too many of these systems have been mis-sold as the answer to all of the dairy industries fertility issues, and that all you have to do is look at the computer screen and it will tell you exactly what is happening out in the field with regard to fertility. Quite simply , they will give you some sort of indication that the individual animal is more/less active than her 7 day average activity level. Then , by other means , visual, dates, heat detectors etc , you may be able to determine if indeed the animal is in season.
Another aid in heat detection that we use is the Kamar heat detector. This is a plastic "bubble" filled with a red dye that is glued onto the tail head of the cow and quite simply is burst and turns red when another animal mounts her ! Now this type of aid DOES demonstrate that there has indeed been some SIGN of heat , but again , this should only be used as a guide an d possible further investigation my be needed.
There is no getting away from the fact that one of the most reliable means of heat detection is purely with the human eye , basically you can never spend enough time watching the cows for any signs of heat .It's amazing the signs are there if you can just spend that 20 mins standing , studying them .
I mentioned this to the farmer , and i advised him to perhaps try the Kamar type of heat detection. Unbelievably , he had never heard of them , and even worse was that he went on to tell me just how many thousands his collar system was to install.
I just felt it was a tale of getting back to basics , getting out in the field , seeing the signs for yourself. . . . . .far cheaper and way more rewarding too .

Green Green Grass

2010-05-21T04:28:00.004+01:00

Normally at this time of year i am practically wasting grass , as the cows simply can't keep up as the grass gets away on them .This year ? Well, it's safe to say a little more growth would be very welcome , especially in the silage fields .This is the crop that is going to feed the cows right throughout the winter and into next summer , so the more we can possibly ensile , the better. All we need is a LITTLE rain a LOTS of heat , but i think it will be too little , too late , as we plan to cut on Sunday or Monday with a view to lifting the grass 2 days later ! This is all done by contractor , purely for speed and ease ! Hopefully 2 crops will be enough , we do have plenty left from last year to fall back on .
With the grazing grass, we are just starting the second time round of the "circuit" of the grazing fields .Obviously every time the girls graze it and it grows again , the quality is just that bit less next time round.
However , that said , the milk yields are holding up , and even if the grass is not growing fast enough , the weather is suiting the cows down to the ground.Even the colder nights hasn't really affected them like I thought it would.

Once the silage has been lifted from the fields , there will be the small matter of spreading approx 300 000 gallon of slurry onto the bare fields . This will be done by contractor too , it's amazing the speed and quantity that they can put out In a day .This year they are trying to convince us to use an Aerator type system. I know very little of this , except that it would place the slurry a few inches into the soil, it would let the soil use more of the nutrient , there would be less smell , and it will cost us £10/acre MORE than usual. The jury is still out on that decision at the moment

Feeding the Girls

2010-05-11T05:16:00.003+01:00

With the cows now out on extremely rich , high in protein, spring grass , it's now time to produce as much milk as possible at the cheapest time of the year . Grazed grass should always be your cheapest input in milk production in the summer months .Despite the cold weather , it has been fairly dry and grass growth has been happening , all be it a little slow in some of the fields.
However we do like to give the cows alittle of what they like , so they are fed a "buffer" ration , this is a little token feed of a formulated ration containing slightly better but most importantly , consistant, ingredients that should complement the grass outside . Ingredients that are in our buffer feed at the moment are :
2kg protein blend
10kg grass silage
0.5kg straw
0.1kg minerals
2.5kg rolled barley

These ingredients are mixed in our Keenan feeder and are fed in the feed passage for the cows to pick away at just after milking .The ration itself is formulated for us by Keenan nutrition. The above diet is per head/day.
As the grazing season goes on , the quality of the grass will start to decrease and that will be the time to tweak the buffer feed ration accordingly , all in the aim of maintaining milk production , but most importantly of all , maintaining margins and efficiency

Spring Is Here ? ! ?

2010-05-10T07:21:00.004+01:00

Well here we are , May 10th , the cows are out both day and night , yet the temperatures of late have been terrible to say the least . Grass growth has been fairly good despite the cold , although I can't see us starting the silage cut as early as last year .
The cows are still getting a token gesture of TMR , pretty much just as much as they can eat after both milkings, at least it takes the edge off their appetites when they go out !
So it's been more than a while since the last update and we have been busier than ever .
The cows all got their annual Tb test in Feb, thankfully all passing again .At the same time they are all tested for johnnes and also tested for our health scheme , so to date we are Johnnes, Bvd and Lepto accredited, a status that we are keen to hang on to .
As mentioned in the last post , the classifier was in , in early feb , it was a good visit .The Chloanne girls did very well .
They are now ;
Chloanne Webster Gracious EX92(3)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 GP83
Chloanne Spooky Gracious G75
Chloanne Tulip Gracious GP83
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 VG88
Chloanne Hanno Gracious VG85
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious VG89
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel VG85

So all in all , i am getting there .
Notable in her abscence from the above list is Chloanne Magna Gracious, who calved on the 8th March. Sadly after a day of looking a bit under the weather , she became a classic "downer" cow and never really recovered . She was put down , not an easy deciscion to make , but one which was the right thing to do for the cow .
In mid feb , i also lost a 3 month old heifer , Chloanne Planet Gracious , reason unknown, that was totally unexpected and all the more gaulling as i was away for the week in question , so have no real answers as to what happened .
Replacements for the Chloanne 'herd' are very thin on the ground at present , with 301, 202 and 302 all having bull calves .Hopefully this heifer drought will ease soon .
On a better note the first Chloanne Gallagher calves are now on the ground , i think at the time of posting there is 19 daughters in 10 herds.
It is quite a bizarre feeling to see offspring from one of your bulls , being born on someone elses farm .

This year we are thinking of replacing some of the cubicles in the cow sheds. This is long overdue and hopefully for next winter , the girls will be lying in the lap of luxury, in better sized beds for the modern Holstein cow.

As you can see from the main page of the blog , i can see when and where people have visited this site . It is amazing to think that people from Usa, Canada , Moscow , India and all over the Uk have clicked from Twitter, YouTube, or even just Googled "Chloanne" . I really must make more of an effort to keep this blog up to date , so here's hoping !

2009 NHBC Herd Competition Results

2010-01-22T04:45:00.002Z

Last night , at the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club AGM , the club also held their prize giving for the annual herds competition , which was judged way back in August 2009 . As ever ,i tried my best to put forward a strong team of cows and i was very pleasantly surprised with the results .
Our successes were as follows ;

1st place in the Large herds class (BOCM trophy)
2nd place in the Cow on Inspection class with Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious
1st place in the Super Cow class with Chloanne Webster Gracious (Barclays Bank trophy)
1st place in the Heifer in Milk class with Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 (Alan Jackson trophy)
3rd place in the Heifer on Inspection class with Ellenneff Crest Becula 11
1st place in the Cow Family class with the Gracious family (Hunday trophy)
Top Herd on Production (Chas Halliday trophy)

The above results were fantastic .

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 has once again held up very well in the Top 1000 cows in the UK on PLI , holding a VERY respectable 74th place with a PLI of £228.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is also still in the Top 1000 , with a PLI of £206 , which places her in 211th .

With figures like that , i am very much looking forward to hearing from Cogent Breeding Ltd in the next week or so about if they would be interested in perhaps contract mating Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2.

The classifier is due here on the 2nd Feb , so fingers crossed that some of the girls move up , it would be great to get Chloanne Hanno Gracious done again, but also to see how Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious does , she is really looking well just now , and always raises a smile every time she comes into the parlour for milking.

I will post the full set of results for the herd competition in the next few days !

Uncovering the Cars

2010-01-07T13:42:00.002Z

The cars finally emerge from their snowy tombs !

Snowy Scene's of Northfield !

2010-01-07T13:38:00.002Z

Some wintery scenes of the weather we are experiencing at the moment !

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRR ! ! !

2010-01-06T12:03:00.004Z

Well it's the 5th of January , and the Met office are telling us that this is the most prolonged cold spell for over 30 years , and God , is it cold .
Snow has fallen daily since before Christmas and if it wasn't for the fact that i have to work in the stuff, it would be fair to say it was impressive . But now , a joke is a joke , and the novelty is wearing off rapidly.
I had entered the Chloanne embryo's for a sale on Thursday , but that has been postponed until later in the month. The catalogue was online and hopefully this should supply a link

http://www.wrightmanley.co.uk/agricultural-livestock/sale-catalogues/files/January(1)%20Club%202010.pdf

The waiting game has started for Frankham Sept Storm Ethel , as her due date approaches, fingers crossed and all that !
The main herd themselves are doing away reasonably well , could do better i suppose but until the weather improves , there's little more i can ask them to do . They are actually averaging just under 29 ltr/hd/day , so all things considered , not bad .
We have just finished calving our latest batch of young heifers , which were in calf to the Aberdeen Angus bull. Whilst the last 2 batches have calved down fairly easily to this bull , the last batch have involved more assisted calvings than i would have hoped for , and as a result of this we are looking into getting rid of the Angus bull and just continuing to use our black and white young bull , Chloanne Hannover !
The snow is playing havoc with trying to get staff here to work , and it's just anybodies guess as to when this cold snap will ease.I suppose it is healthier for the livestock than the usual wet , damp conditions , and hopefully it will thaw GRADUALLY so as to spare me the job of dealing with burst pipes next week. We have around 300,000 gallons of slurry waiting to be spread on the grass , but as it's not the best practice to spread in the snow , we are waiting for a break in the weather.

The Stuff of Legend

2009-12-26T05:12:00.003Z

Following on from the last post on this site , I have signed a contract with Cogent Breeding Ltd for a Morningview Legend pregnancy with Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious. She is safely in calf now for this contract and if the resulting calf is a bull , then hopefully he will go on to be tested by Cogent in the same way that Chloanne Gallagher was.
Chloanne Hanno Gracious has calved , she had a heifer calf on the 27/11/09 and the sire was Ensenda Taboo Planet , the calf therefore being called Chloanne Planet Gracious. Also , on the 09/12/09 , Chloanne Tulip Gracious calved , this time resulting in a heifer calf by Robthom moscow , so the calf has been named Chloanne Moscow Gracious.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel is nearly at the stage to breed again , and at the moment I am trying to choose a suitable sire , most probably sexed too , as I really do need more members of the amazing Ethel family .
Talking of the Ethel family , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel is the next Chloanne cow to calve and she is due 16/01/10 and the sire is Golden Oaks Alexander , a heifer calf would be the best possible start to the new year !
Chloanne Magna Gracious has been dried off , in readiness for calving down in early March , i know this is a bit early to be drying her off , but really she has worked so hard through her last lactation , that she has earned a good rest .
In 2 weeks time I am going to try to sell the embryo's that we flushed earlier in the year .
There is a sale at Wright Manley's down at Beeston Auction Mart , Cheshire on the 7th Jan , and it will be an interesting experience and really the first time that i have offered Chloanne genetics for sale , so fingers crossed that the breeding is the type of thing that other breeders will want in their herds.
Looking further ahead , it will be the annual herds competition results again soon , and i am keeping all fingers crossed that we can even do half as well as we did last year .

Winter Starts Here !

2009-11-08T13:49:00.002Z

Well, I have just brought the cows in from the field, ready for milking , and i think that is going to be the last time they are out , until the spring.
The ground conditions are such that it is getting so sticky and muddy out there that it can't be much fun for the girls , so hopefully they will be happier inside all the time now .
The milk yields will hopefully improve too , as at the moment they have been worse than bad !Really , i think they just need that little bit extra pampering and things will improve , we shall see in the next couple of days.

I attended a meeting the other day in North Yorkshire about dry cow and late lactation cow management , and it was surprisingly interesting , and hopefully , by making just a few little changes around the place , our dry and close to calving cows will calve down and join the milking herd with little or no difficulties , last winter went very well , so a repeat of that would be ideal.

We have had some new heifers join the herd and they are just looking a million dollars, they have settled in well and are lying in their cubicles too, which is a bonus !
The youngstock remain out for the next couple of weeks hopefully, weather permitting , as there is still plenty rough grazing to be eaten off and they are just the animals to do it !

Oh the Chloanne cow front , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel has been dried off , ready to calve in mid January , Chloanne webster Gracious is safely in calf to Morningview Legend, and this month should see Chloanne Hanno Gracious calf to Ensenda Taboo Planet .

Long Overdue Update

2009-10-24T13:21:00.002+01:00

As usual , i have left it way too long since i updated the goings on and happenings with the Chloanne herd and indeed the main herd too !
Well , as mentioned in the mini-post about Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 , she calved and produced a great little heifer calf , definitely one to watch in the future .
She really is starting to milk well and i suppose pretty soon i will need to turn my attention to the thought of "Do i flush her" or not ? Still have a bit of time to decide but these things always have a habit of creeping up on you .
Also to calve was Chloanne Dolman Ethel , she had a bull calf , but she is really looking smart , having been calved a fortnight now . Once again , i am hoping for big things from her , and also the Ethel's in general.
Both Chloanne Hanno Gracious and Chloanne Tulip Gracious have been dried off and they are now due to calve 29/11/09 and 07/12/09 respectively.
The whole herd have been in at night now for nearly 3 weeks and they do seem to be responding well to the extra food and the comforts of a dry , warm bed at night.
The weather here at the moment is horrible and field conditions are starting to look a bit dodgy , so it won't be long until they are in all the time , just a matter of days i would have thought.

I have re-designed the calf unit a bit , i was never very happy with the little individual pens that they were in , they were a bit old and i do like to see little calves running round , showing off their natural ability to run riot !
Therefore , we have got hold of some multi-calf feeders that feed 5 calves at a time and they just suck their milk , all standing in a line , at the same large bucket .
Early indications are excellent , i am really happy with the quality of the calves and like i say , they are running around , stretching their legs and not in a confined space.

At the moment the herd are averaging 27.4 litres/day which is pretty good going for an all year round calving herd and for the time of year too . Hopefully , once they come in all the time ,. that figure will increase by , hopefully , another 2 or 3 litres/day !

CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 2

2009-10-21T05:52:00.003+01:00

This is a photo taken just a day before she was dried off , she has since calved down again , haveing a heifer calf by Ellenneff Storm Johnny, the calf is called Chloanne SJ Gracious 2.
Gracious herself has since joined the herd again and is steadily increasing in yield daily

Say Cheese !

2009-08-28T06:58:00.002+01:00

Well it's been the busiest week ever for the Chloanne cows as Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 were getting their photographs taken. The entire weeks activities have been to get them ready for the big day (yesterday). Having NEVER clipped a cow before , it has been the most amazing experience , and the feeling i got seeing them in all their glory was just amazing. A huge thank you must go to Richard Hodgson for being extremely patient with the cows and 'handlers'. I will get to see how they came out , sometime next week.
Hopefully they will be used in promotional/advertising features in the future .

Last week saw the top 1000 PLI cows list published , and the Chloanne girls didn't disappoint, being featured 3 times , but the star of the girls by far has to be Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 , having rocketed up the rankings to 59th in the country based on genetic merit.
She has just been dried off this morning , due to calve on the 12th October , so , fingers crossed it will go okay , and then , perhaps I can start to work on her , hopefully with the involvement of Cogent Breeding .

Forthcoming calvings !

2009-08-17T17:33:00.003+01:00

Strange but true , but I had a vet in today and i got him to Pd Chloanne Magna Gracious and I gave him my tale of woe (as described in last post). Well, it turns out she IS in calve after all , so panic over .
Also , more good news , as Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is in calf too .
So, here is the list of upcoming calvings in the next few months for the Chloanne cows.

Chloanne Dolman Ethel, due 06/10/09 to Ensenda Taboo Planet
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, due 09/10/09 to Ellenneff Storm Johnny
Chloanne Hanno Gracious, due 26/11/09 to Ensenda Taboo Planet
Chloanne Tulip Gracious, due 04/12/09 to Robthom Moscow
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel, due 13/01/10 to Golden Oaks Alexander
Chloanne Magna Gracious, due 10/03/10 to Wa Del Hayden
Chloanne Spooky Gracious, due 25/03/10 to Charolais
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3, due 15/04/10 to Golden Oaks Alexander

Breeding Frustrations

2009-08-13T06:22:00.002+01:00

Well,, just when you think things are going fine, there's always something to smack you back down to earth.
Chloanne Magna Gracious has been marginally under the weather this week , and after a quick visit from the vet , she is now on a course of Tylan 200 , to help get her 104 degree temp down. She should respond ok , but unfortunately she has been found to be NOT in calf , just days after being confirmed in calf.
To add insult to injury , Chloanne Webster Gracious is in season today , and i still don't know if Chloanne Goldwyn gracious 3 is in calf , so thats all 3 of the flushed cows , still not back in calf.
So , you would think i would learn , huh , but no !
So i have ordered some Mr. Sam semen to flush Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious, and she should be getting brought in to line for a reference heat next week.
Fingers crossed that things will improve soon !

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious

2009-08-06T13:07:00.002+01:00

Well this week has seen the judging of the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herds competition . I think it went quite well , and , true to form , it was the Chloanne cows that headed up the team .
I entered 2 cows into the Cow class, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious and Chloanne Webster Gracious , representing both youth and experience respectively.
For heifer on inspection and production , i entered Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2, she is very far on in her lactation now , and yet STILL looks amazing.
I enetered Chloanne Webster Gracious for the Supercow class too , as she has great combined fat and protien figures.
For the cow family class, naturally i chose the Gracious family as a whole , to enter .They just stood perfectly and it would be an amazing achievement to lift the Cow Family trophy for a 4th year in a row .
Results are not until Jan 2010 , so best to switch off and forget about it .

Another great piece of news this week is that Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is to be contract mated again by Cogent Breeding Ltd. This is just the best news ever and this time they would like to try and get a bull calf by Morningview Legend. All exciting stuff and hopefully before all that i will be able to flush her too , just to try and get some valuable embryos. At the moment i am still looking at suitable sires for the flush, one being Scooby Duu and the other being Regancrest Mr Durham Sam.

Chloanne Update

2009-08-01T14:00:00.002+01:00

As i type away , the herd are demolishing 1.5 tonnes of buffer feeding , they seem to be doing this on a daily basis and they are making fairly good work of the grazing paddocks too , so it is true to say that feed intakes are far greater this year than last . Yields are holding up and it was around this time last year that things tailed off , so hopefully we can keep them milking better this year.
So far the baling of straw and silage has gone reasonably well and we are up to date with it and nothing is lying in the swath to bale. We still need around another 1000 large round bales to see us through the winter and beyond.
I have been busy trying to select cows for this years Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club herds competition . As usual , the Gracious family will head up the crew and will hopefully deliver a result or two.
Chloanne Magna Gracious was PD'd in calf the other day to Wa-Del Hayden so that is a really good pregnancy, happy with that.
We have had many pregnancies to Chloanne Gallagher so with any luck, other breeders around the country have had too , fingers crossed for many heifer calves getting registered in 9 months time !
It is our Nation Dairy Farm Assurance audit on Friday , so I am busy getting things ready for it. Sadly, the farming is today , it is more about paperwork and ticking the right boxes , than how the farm looks or functions

Grass, grass and more grass . . . . . .

2009-07-01T13:37:00.002+01:00

Well , it had to happen , having gone virtually weeks with little or no growth in the grass , the heavens have opened , followed by very warm and muggy weather . This has led to a massive growing spell for the grass , and i am now spoilt for choicve as to where to graze the cows.
We run a paddock system here at Northfield , and even in the paddocks we strip graze them , so we can be fairly flexable in our approach to the grass. That is to say , that if there is a strip of grass that i feel may be surplus to requirements , then i can always cut and bale it for feeding in the winter time to the youngstock.
At the moment we are getting ready for 2nd cut silage , even although , as i am typing this it is chucking down with rain.
I have dried off a total of 10 cows in the last week and also 2 have been sold so that is fairly speeding up milking. So at the moment we are only milking 114 cows , the lowest it has been for a long time.

27/06/09

2009-06-27T11:07:00.002+01:00

Well, the visit as mentioned last time , by Cogent Breeding went very well .
The cows were just looking a million dollars , especially Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , who , true to form, was just modelling herself off as if being a supermodel.
With any luck this will all lead to her being contracted again for Cogent , in the hope of them getting a bull calf to go on and be tested in the young bull testing scheme.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is also now starting to attract some attention to herself , and once she calves again in October , i think there could be some interest from a couple of companies.
Milk yields in the main herd continue to be steady , although more milk is always welcomed.
We are waiting to here from Keenan Nutrition with regard to tweeking the ration and also from Harbro about a different mineral. Feeding a modern dairy cow is more of a science now , rather than just grass and pellets etc.
The herd finally got their Bluetongue vaccine yesterday , so that is them covered for another year.
Monday will see the foot-trimmer in to spruce up some long-toes in a few of the girls.

Ground Still Dry

2009-06-24T05:32:00.002+01:00

Well , over the last 7 days we have seen some rain , but really it is still nowhere near enough and i have been disappointed in the grass growth . However , i think we will be fine for grass all the same .
Milk yields have increased slightly and the cows appear to be happy. Mastitis levels continue to be at their lowest ever and milk quality is still higH.
We are now starting to think about 2nd cut silage , but are delaying it till next week to see if we can get that last little bit of growth.

Yesterday we all had to sit our refresher course in forklift truck driving .
I can see the point of all the training and testing , and if it cuts accidents and saves a life or two , then all to the good .
Still ,very frustrating when you are put on the spot and asked to actually think about what you do evry day , usually WITHOUT THINKING..

We will be bluetongue vaccinating the cows this week . This will be their booster as they were all done for the first time last year. This is a sensible approach to the problem of bluetongue and one which i wish MORE farmers would adopt.

Rain At Last

2009-06-16T11:33:00.002+01:00

Well last night it rained , we had 10mm, which is still way short of what we need.
Grass growth has been minimal and the buffer ration seems to be getting increased on a daily basis.
The last thing we want to do is run out of grass totally.
The cows are managing to maintain production , but until they are on better grazing , i can't quite see an increase happening too soon.
Cogent Breeding Ltd are popping in to see me (or more importantly, the cows) on Friday , so I will begin to clip the Gracious cows later on in the week.
All youngstock are now out at grass , and enjoying their "freedom".
Nothing nicer than to see calves and young heifers running amock in the fields.

The DFB troubles are still mounting up , with most of their ex-producers now on a "contract" with the recievers , which is just paying 10ppl.
I heard from an Arla rep today that he turned down 32 producers last week , most DFB producers are also smaller than many Arla producers , this creating another headache, with Arla looking for producers to supply in excess of 1,000 000 litres.

This may prove just too difficult for some and sadly they may end up leaving the industry.

Going to Carlisle tomorrow for a day out and to see the June Border and Lakeland sale of cows, heifers in milk and embryo's.

Silage Pit Filled . . . . . .

2009-05-26T07:01:00.005+01:00

Last week saw us get our first cut of silage , cut last wednesday and lifted on the Friday , pit sheeted on Saturday. It got a bit wet on the Thursday , but , fingers crossed , it should still be a decent crop of grass.
With machinery like this , it takes no time at all.

The cows are milking reasonably well , and are still adjusting to the buffer feeding .I have tweeked the ration slightly to reduce the amount of big bale silage available to them , and intakes have increased.

Thoughts are now turning to getting Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious ready for photographing.She will need to be clipped and she will also need to get used to being haultered again .
If i start early , then hopefully it won't be too much of a chore .

CHLOANNE GALLAGHER

2009-05-13T11:46:00.003+01:00

As predicted in my last posting , semen from Chloanne Gallagher is NOW AVAILABLE from Cogent Breeding Ltd. Contact them on 0800 783 7258 or email: info@cogentuk.com.
As i sit writing this , the weather is being especially kind to us at the moment,and in actual fact a few small showers of rain wouldn't go a miss. Yields are still on the low side at the moment and we have been advised that it is more dry matter that the cows need . This is easier said than done and despite my best efforts, they are starting to turn their noses up at the prospect of eating big bale silage and straw.
We are now fully onto the PACE / MECH FIBRE way of feeding using our new KEENAN diet feeder. It's amazing and frightening just how much information is available at your fingertips to help monitor just how the cows are performing.
On the cow side of things , Frankham Sept Storm Ethel is finally in calf . it has taken a while but with the end result an Alexander pregnancy , all is good !
The three cows who were flushed have all settled down and are in fact in season today , I plan to AI them tonight.
Silage time is fast approaching and with any luck we should be starting to cut next week.

Update At Chloanne

2009-05-04T05:20:00.002+01:00

Time for another update on what has been happening,the cows have been milking amazingly well through out the winter as they have been on a great diet as formulated by Keenan nutrition. However it has to be said that yields have dropped since they went outside . They went out early this year, around the 31st March for days only. Hopefully things should get back to normal.
On the individual cow side of things, the star of the show still has to be Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious, she has just calved down again the other day and gave us a fantastic heifer calf , sired by Dalbytop Phil. The cow herself is looking great and now has a PLI of £231 and is now placed 141st on the UK genetic merit list.
Classifying went well the other day, Chloanne Magna Gracious is now EX90 , making her complete 3 gens straight EX.
Chloanne Tulip Gracious has now gone GP83
Chloanne Hanno Gracious is now GP84
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is now GP83
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is now VG86
Chloanne Webster Gracious is now EX92 (3E), making her still the highest classified daughter of Webster in the country!

Last week saw three Gracious cows getting flushed for the first time.
AS a result, the following embryo's are now available.

2 X (Hayden X Webster X Formation X Aerostar)
2 X (Planet X Air Magna X Webster X Formation)
8 X (Hayden X Goldwyn X Formation X Aerostar)

Chloanne Gallagher is soon to be available from Cogent Breeding Ltd

Job Vacancy

2009-02-27T04:52:00.002Z

We are currently looking to employ a part time relief milker.

The position would be to milk 120 pedigree Holstein cattle on alternate weekends and to milk when needed to cover holidays etc.

The farm is situated in North Northumberland, close to Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Possibility of 3 bedroomed house available.

Feel free to e-mail for further details

chloanne@moocow.com

Chloanne Update

2009-02-17T05:03:00.002Z

Having just completed a monthly milk recording, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is STILL milking hard at 33.0 litres a day , which is amazing considering she has been in milk now for 386 days.
She is due to be dried off on the 6th of March.

Our "cover girl", the calf on the main picture is now in calve , just shows how time moves on .
She was AI'd and put to the bull , so it will either be to Ellenneff Storm Johnny or to the elite holstein sire Ensenda Taboo Planet.

I have had no word back yet on the sire of the last Gracious calf to be born.

I have just taken delivery of some semen by a bull call Alexander, he is meant to be the next big thing and he is being used heavily around the world as a sire of sons , so it would be nice to get a couple of Alexander Gracious' running around the place.

Farmers Guardian - Hunday herd triumph in breeders’ competition

2009-02-11T06:08:00.000Z

Farmers Guardian - Hunday herd triumph in breeders’ competition

Health Status

2009-02-10T06:03:00.002Z

In keeping with the Elite Herd Health Status , which we hold, today we are TB testing and blood testing animals over 9 months for BVD, LEPTO and JOHNE's.
This is an annual test that ensures we keep the high health levels we have come to expect.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 was confirmed in calf the other day, which is a relief as she was starting to prove impossible to get .
Chloanne Webster Gracious calved last week, another bull calf.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 calved 3 weeks ago , a heifer calf, i am awaiting DNA results to determine the sire.

Sadly, Chloanne Inkwell died, reason unknown.

Herd Competition Results

2009-01-24T15:14:00.002Z

As mentioned in the last posting, here are the results for the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herd competition .

Large herds,
1st E Moffit&Son Hunday
2nd D W & J M Barber Pont
3rd New Heaton Holsteins Newheaton

Small herds
1st D M Sutherland Ellenneff
2nd J P Hall Ashpetal
3rd G & D W J Clark Fleetshot

Progeny group
1st J P Hall Roylane Jordan
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Etazon Lord Lily
3rd G & H Bradley Roylane Jordan

Cow on inspection
1st E Moffitt & Son Hunday Aaron Victoria 22
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Newheaton Lord Lily Cleo
3rd S Ball Chloanne Webster Gracious

Supercow
1st S & A Oliver Aldingham S M Ghost

Heifer in milk
1st S Ball Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious
2nd J P Hall Ashpetal Shottle Sadie
3rd E Moffitt & Son Hunday Shottle Dianna 21

Heifer on inspection
1st S & A Oliver Ansa Talent Ghost
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Newheaton Cello Cleo
3rd J P Hall Ashpetal Shottle Deb

Cow family
1st S Ball Gracious
2nd Newheaton Holsteins Cleo
3rd G & D W J Clark Flower

Mature cow
1st E Moffitt & Son Ansa Basar Linda

Top Herd On Production
E Moffitt Hunday

Most Improved Herd
G & H Bradley Langpark

Top Herd on Inspection
E Moffitt & Son Hunday

Herdsperson of the Year
Stephen Ball

Chloanne Update

2009-01-17T11:33:00.002Z

Well , here we are , the first posting of 2009.
The cows are off to a flying start this year, all milking well.

Chloanne Spooky Gracious has just calved and has had a bull calf, which i have called Chloanne Inkwell, and is sired by Laurin.
Chloanne Magna Gracious has also calved, again a bull calf and he has been called Chloanne Jamie.

Chloanne Gallagher finally went off to Cogent Breeding Ltd, as per the contract .
Fingers crossed for him , but he really did look amazing when he left.

Chloanne Goildwyn Gracious is continuing to go from strength to strength and has just been ranked 307th in the UK Top 1000 cows on genetic merit, she has been re-classified as VG86 and is still giving around 29 litres a day , despite being nearly a year calved.

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 is due to calve in about 3 weeks , so fingers crossed for a heifer calf.

Chloanne Hanno Gracious did calf AND produced a heifer.
The calf has been called Chloanne SJ Gracious.

The herd competiton results will once again be announced this week , so as usual, fingers crossed.

Low Milk Yields

2008-08-28T14:59:00.002+01:00

As the title says , we are experiencing very low milk yields at the moment .
We are at a loss as to the reason , but it is right across the board , from the highest yielders down to the lows and nearly dry's.
I will be returning to work in 2 days , so we will see if it has been purely down to a different milking team or is it something more worse.

The weather has been superb over the last few days, probably some of the best weather we have seen in months , combines are now going full speed and are fairly chopping down the acrages.

We will have several hundred round bales of both wheat and barley straw to bring in as and when it is baled .

So , here's hoping for more cheery news , yields etc , next post

2008-08-24T18:29:00.000+01:00

Strength to Strength

2008-08-24T17:33:00.002+01:00

Well , it's been a long time coming , but here's an update on Chloanne Holsteins.

Well , Chloanne Gallagher is still here but i now have the provisional contract for him to go to Cogent Breeding . It was provisional on his Dam's PLI figure staying the same or going higher in the August proof run that has just come out .

Well her PLI was £147 before the proof run, and it now stands at a whopping £198 after the run , so it is looking good for him .
This figure also places the dam, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , 542nd top genetic cow in the country.
Also in the top 1000 is Chloanne Spooky Gracious, who is placed 730th.
Not too bad at all.

Also , since i last posted, Frankham Sept Storm Ethel had a bull calf , which i named Chloanne Hannover, after the town in which my girlfriend, has lived for the past 17 years .
He must be an amazing bull , as she has decided to come across, see him and live here forever, ! ! ! !
Seriously, i have kept him as he is a large calf , all black and a fantastic pedigree.

The cows have had a real lousy summer , mainly due to the terrible weather. They have had to negotiate muddy roads and gateways and grass of dubious quality.

They are now sporting very fetching blue activity collars, which download info to the office computer , telling me of their activity through out the day and night.

Winter will come early for them this year , because of the weather etc .Probably next week, they will come in and start on their winter rations , in the cubicles.

We have just had the annual herd competition again, so as usual i entered the Gracious family, who were looking just amazing , as usual !
We will have to wait until January to see how they have have done.

Back To Work Tomorrow

2008-06-06T17:48:00.002+01:00

Well , that went fast , 7 days off , felt like 2, first time that i can honestly say that 2 weeks off would have been better .

Ethel still hasn't calved yet , getting nearer to her due date now , so won't be long.

I have ordered the semen that i intend to flush Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious to , he is Dalbytop Phil from Cogent, that was one of their recommendations , so , we'll see.

The milk yields have fallen dramatically this week , so if they don't increase by Monday , we will need to investigate and see just what the problem is.

will post a better update of herd later when i get back to work and see whats what !!!

2008-06-02T10:57:00.000+01:00

I'm Back ! ! ! !

2008-06-02T10:17:00.002+01:00

Been a while , i know , but been more busy than usual and also been busy on Facebook (ha ha ha)
The cows at Chloanne are doing fine and i am eagerly awaiting the next arrival.
Frankham Sept Stotm Ethel is due to calve on the 10th of June . She is in calf to Heather Holme Velvet and by the look of her , hopefully she will calf on time , or even a bit early.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 is also due , anytime from the 10th of June too , as she was running with a bull , so it is just a waiting game for her, she doesn't look like she is goig to calve this month.

I am hopefully about to embark on a flushing programme for Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious , the dam of Chloanne Gallagher.
Hopefully this would result in another bull , which would be of interest to Cogent Breeding Ltd.

I will list the next calving dates soon .

Another advert appeared in this months Holstein Journal, just to promote the fact that Chloanne Gallagher is joining the Cogent stud.

I am on holiday this week (I know it's hard to believe), so hopefully i will have time to put a few new posts on ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Red Hot Chilli Pipers - PigJigs

2008-05-29T17:10:00.001+01:00

Chloanne Update

2008-05-01T18:53:00.002+01:00

Well looking at the date of the last post, it's been a while huh, and I offer no excuses for that ( except i've been busy and have had a lot on my mind lately).

Since the last post, I have had an advert in the Holstein Journal(UK) and also a small feature in the Breeders Choice section which was fun to do.

I suppose the big news is that Chloanne Gallagher is to be sold to Cogent as a potential young sire, which is very exciting.

I will keep the site posted of the developments.

The cows are still milking very well and to date there is 6 pregnancies confirmed for this year !

Spring Is Finally Here ! ! !

2008-03-31T20:18:00.002+01:00

The clocks have gone forward and we have all "lost" an hour.
However this also means that it is still light now at 8pm and this in turn just means more hours of daylight to do more jobs.
Therefore it will be no surprise to learn that I am just in the door having been rolling fields.
We are getting behind with the land work, purely because of the weather, so this has been a great chance to get on.
The cows are still milking fine , however Chloanne Addison Gracious is really very lame at the moment and I can't see what the problem is.
Hopefully she will resond to several overdoses of TLC and will be back to her usual self soon.
Cows will be going out soon now and this sould also put a spring in their step as well as mine ! !

NO Non-Compliances

2008-03-18T18:29:00.002Z

The above are the magical words to hear after you have just had the Dairy Farm Assurance Audit.
All went very well with no points to be pulled up on. This follows on very nicely from the visit from the Dairy Inspecor. These visits are unannounced and are enough to make you very nervous. However for that visit we scored 93% so we must be doing something right.

The cows are all milking extremely well at the moment and the milk tanker is now coming in every day now.
Milk quality has been exceptional as well so we are riding on a real "high" at the moment.
Looking forward to the middle of April as that will be the time to turn the cows out to the summer fields. They will be glad to be out after the long winter.
In the Chloanne herd , Chloanne Hanno Gracious has been confirmed in calf to our stock bull Ellenneff Storm Johnnie, so that is pleasing as at least she in pregnant to a black and white bull.

Tommy Emmanuel - Classical Gas

2008-03-15T08:02:00.001Z

I stumbled across this on YouTube and just couldn't believe it. Pure Brilliant

CHLOANNE WEBSTER GRACIOUS EX92

2008-03-05T20:23:00.002Z

The Chloanne cows were classified on Monday and they exceeded all my expectations of them.

Chloanne Webster Gracious is now EX92
Chloanne Magna Gracious is now VG86
Chloanne Addison Gracious is still VG88
Chloanne Hershel Gracious is now EX90(2E)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is now VG85 (2 yr old)
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel is now GP84 (2 yr old)
Chloanne Tulip Gracious is now G79

These were just fantastic results and it now means that Chloanne Webster Gracious EX92 SP is the highest classified Webster daughter in the UK
Also, Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious VG85 now completes 11 generations of VG/EX.

Male Fact Sheet

2008-01-30T08:49:00.001Z

Male Fact Sheet

On-Line Pedigree

2008-01-30T08:49:00.000Z

On-Line Pedigree

Chloanne Gallagher

2008-01-30T08:43:00.000Z

Chloanne has a new member to it's ranks. Chloanne Gallagher was born on Monday morning. His dam is Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious. With a pedigree like his , I felt I had to register him and will keep him to either use as a stock bull or I will sell him if the right buyer comes along.
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious is just looking a million dollars and has adjusted well to the milking parlour.
Next week we are to get a visit from the classifier, so fingers crossed that the new heifers that have joined the herd in the last few months do well.

RAF Airmarshall Dancing

2008-01-20T19:39:00.001Z

Herd Competition Results

2008-01-20T19:27:00.000Z

Well at long last I can announce how we did in the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual herd competition that was judged in December.
Chloanne Webster Gracious was placed 2nd in the Cow on Inspection class
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel was placed 2nd in the Heifer on Inspection class
The Gracious family was placed 1st in the Cow Family class
And I was named Herdsperson of the Year !!!!!!!!!

So all and all, a great night for the Chloanne herd and the fact that the Gracious family won the class again is just amazing.
It is always nice to get any recognition for any achievements that the cows do, and hopefully we can go on and do more great things in the years to come.

New Arrival At Chloanne.

2008-01-16T08:37:00.000Z

Just a quick post to say that Chloanne Spooky Gracious had a little Hereford bull calf this morning.
I will try to post some pictures if them both later.

Waiting Game Again .......

2008-01-15T19:36:00.000Z

As I sit and post this , I am awaiting the next arrival from the Chloanne herd. Chloanne Spooky Gracious is due to calve soon and she will have a Hereford calf. She is looking amazing considering we thought she wasn't in calf and was going to be sold fat !!!!
Moet Formation Gracious went away as planned. I received the cheque for her today. Not enough to retire on , but substantially more than I thought I would get !
Chloanne Addison Gracious' calf has also ben sold but this time for export. So by the time you are reading this , he will be on main land Europe somewhere, having a better holiday than I could ever wish for.
The herd competition results are due in 2 days time so it will be interesting to see how we have done.
All will be revealled on Thursday night.

Happy New Year !!!!

2008-01-02T17:52:00.000Z

Well, here we all are, another year gone and , predictably, another year here to throw all sorts of problems, troubles, highs, lows, joys, laughs and anything else that lies around the next corner to bite us when we least expect it.
As with most Xmas and New Year times on a farm, the main thing we notice is that the whole of the country grinds to a halt while we battle on and then have no companies to deal with or order from. Hopefully by Monday everyone will be back at work as normal.
One of the above list which is going to bite me already is that , as mentioned in a previous post, I am saying goodbye to Moet Formation Gracious B tomorrow.This will be quite sad but I am putting a brave face on and thinking of the list of achievements she has to her name.
93000 kg of milk in lifetime
Classified VG as a heifer
Classified EX four times
Ist cow family 2006
3rd cow family 2005
Has an EX daughter and granddaughter

Her legacy will always live on in the family that will follow on from her .
Her picture is above.

Just Visiting ..........?

2007-12-30T21:04:00.000Z

Whether you have just stumbled upon this site or have searched for it, PLEASE stop by again or better still go to the bottom of the page and click SUBSCIBE.
Either way , I would welcome ANY comments.

Scrubs - The Polyphonic Spree - Light and Day.

2007-12-30T18:42:00.001Z

This combines 2 of my fav things .....scrubs and the Polyphonic Spree. So why not !!!

Colin Hay - Down Under

2007-12-30T18:32:00.001Z

I saw Colin play this in Edinburgh in October 2007. If EVER you can get a chance to see the " man at work " do so !!!!!!

Thoughts for the New Year !

2007-12-29T12:04:00.000Z

With New Year only a couple of days away it is that time of year to reflect on the past and more importantly look to the year ahead and what lies before me.
In the Chloanne herd it was a reasonable year, with the highlight being the addition of the Ethel family. Hopefully in years to come she will go on to do great things for Chloanne. Milk yields have been great and even Chloanne Magna Gracious had a better lactation this time round.
Looking ahead, the projected calvings for 2008 at Chloanne are ;

Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 5/2/08
Chloanne Magna Gracious 5/2/08
Chloanne Spooky Gracious 20/2/08
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel 10/6/08
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 17/6/08
Chloanne Hershel Gracious 11/8/08

Other animals to get in calve to hopefully calve down in 2008 are

Chloanne Webster Gracious
Chloanne Addison Gracious
Chloanne Hanno Gracious
Chloanne Tulip Gracious
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3

So as you can see , there is great potential for this coming year to be the busiest yet. A nice run of heifer calves would be nice and that is top of my New Year wish list.
Happy New Year to all !!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

2007-12-25T09:58:00.000Z

Merry Christmas to everyone and anyone who ever takes the time to read this blog.I promise to try to update it on a more regular basis.
Today is pretty much like most other days on the farm as the cows still need to be milked and fed etc.
The cows don't know any different and their day certainly doesn't change.
The herd are doing well and the Chloanne cows are all performing on track.
Sadly though, I don't think that Moet Formation Gracious will ever get in calf and so she will have to go in the new year. It will be the end of an era as she has been an amazing animal, not just for me, but in the main herd as well. However, looking ahead, there are many Gracious decendants on the groung now and genetically , they should out perform the grand old lady.
Chloanne Hershel Gracious was confirmed in calf the other day so that is good news.
Chloanne Magna Gracious, Chloanne Spooky Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious are all due to calve around the beginning of Feb so that should start to fill the tank with Chloanne milk.
I hope everyone has a great time today and have a Happy New Year !!!!

Busy week, Stressfull weekend.......

2007-12-16T19:14:00.000Z

Well last week was pretty much the wek from hell. Problems and calamitys just kept lining up to challenge me .
Chloanne Addison Gracious decided to calve on Thursday morning . Not only was she rude enough to give me a bull calf , but then she decided to lie down and get bloat. By the time I was there she was massive and I had to call for help just to get her up and have a bloody large burp ! Then on Friday it was the herd competition. This went fairly okay except I don't think the judge liked the cow family, the progeny group or the herd in general.
However he did like the cow I put forward, Chloanne Webster Gracious, who I must say was looking like perfection.
So this weekend I have been off .So why does it NEVER feel like that.
This time I get a phone call at 7.45 to tell me of a cow that is lying flat out having just had a dead calf.When I go to investigate , I find ANOTHER cow down with milk fever and she has not calved. In the process of all this happening , I just happen to ask is Chloanne Addison Gracious is okay, to be told that she is absoulutely fine .
Since the vet is now coming to the other cows later that day, I arrange for the vet to see Gracious. Wrll to cut a long story short, she had a temperature of 106 and was not really a happy bunny.
She is now on antibiotics and is looking much brighter already.
Ah, the joys of the weekend off.!!!!!!!!

BBC NEWS | Business | Supermarkets admit milk price fix

2007-12-07T08:37:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | Business | Supermarkets admit milk price fix

A Watched Cow Never Calves !

2007-12-07T08:19:00.000Z

The more I watch Chloanne Addison Gracious, the more she is hell bent on hanging on as long as possible. I am enduring many broken nights of sleep just to keep an eye on her. Chloanne Tulip Gracious has settled into the herd and is really starting to perform rather well.
Sadly I had to "say goodbye" to Frankham Romper Lizzie on Tuesday.I bought her at a sale back in April and I was hopefull of big things from her.
However there must have been a problem with her as she has never managed to get in calf and worse than that , the vet said she never would, so after stiking a deal with the auctioneers and the seller, hopefully I shouldn't be out of pocket when the final cheque arrives.

One down, One to go!

2007-12-02T18:55:00.000Z

Well at last 303 (Chloanne Tulip Gracious) has calved. She has had a little red Hereford heifer. She is looking amazing and hopefully she will go on to produce the goods in the milking parlour as well.
Chloanne Addison Gracious has been looking on with interest and she won't be far away from calving her self.
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel was diagnosed as being pregnant again so she will calve round about July next year.
So all in all it's a busy old time and hopefully all the calvings to come will be successful ones.
Next year it is our pleasure to be hosting the Northumbria Holstein Breeders Club annual barbeque as well as the final stock judging of the season. This will take place on the 11th May.
Also I am about to take up the role of vice-chairman for the next 2 years so I am really looking forward to that, and then chairman after that !!!!
It is going to be our annual herd competition in 2 weeks time . This will be a scaled down version of the one that was cancelled due to foot and mouth in the summer.
Hopefully I will be able to find something worthy of showing.Fingers crossed !!!!

Busy week @ Chloanne

2007-11-30T20:01:00.000Z

Once again I am in a waiting game for the arrival of the next Chloanne calf. This time it is Chloanne Addison Gracious who is due to calve tomorrow.She is shaping up well so fingers crossed it will be a nice little heifer calf.
Also due tomorrow is Chloanne Tulip Gracious (whose mother is Chloanne Addison Gracious).
She is carrying a Hereford pregnancy as she was running with the bull.
This week I also found out that Chloanne Spooky Gracious is about 7 months pregnant.
This is fantastic news as she was just about to be entered for gouing away fat as we all thought that she had never managed to get in calf.So hopefully she will calve down just about the same time as Chloanne Magna Gracious and Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious.
However, all is not well with the original cow @ chloanne.
I have struggled for months to get her in calve and have failed every time .
I AI'd her again today just for old times sake , but deep down I know that she will never really get in calve again so she will probably have to go in the spring.

Ooooops !!!! Sorry for the delay . . .

2007-11-15T20:25:00.000Z

Apologies for it being over a month since the last posting. I have no excuses what so ever . Work has been very hectic and when i have been logged onto the computer lately , I have been busy doing other stuff.
The cows are now inside for the winter so that in it's self makes my job slightly easier although it does bring with it , different problems.
Of course, they all need to be fed every day and their pens have to be kept clean too. This is all time consuming and it will be like this until they go out in early May.
the young stock are all still out and hopefully if the weather is kind, they can stay out another 2 weeks.
It is fair to say that the cows have milked better and we are really at a loss as to what else we can do for them to get the high yields that we know we can get.
What we really need is some fresh calved cows into the herd....that should do the trick !!!
All the media has been focusing lately on the increased milk price to be paid the the UK farmers for their milk, with stories of 26p - 30p being quoted.
Well, sadly these do seem to be just wishful thinking as , so far, even 25p hasn't been forthcoming yet.
Unfortunately, also, the media are neglecting to mention the small matters of increased production costs due to higher fuel costs, fertiliser now around £175/tonne, feed prices nearly doubling and labour costs soaring. So , in reality, whilst the milk price increase is a welcome one,the bulk of the benefit is eaten up on the increased production costs.

Twins

2007-10-03T19:47:00.000+01:00

Well, at 4pm this afternoon, Chloanne Webster Gracious had a set of twins. They are both bulls, but they are perfectly healthy and she is as bright as ever. I called the vet as when i went to investigate her, there was 2 heads and 3 feet all trying to get out at once. Anyway, she will now join the main herd again and at least she will be providing an income again.
The herd are still out through the day and the weather has just been great. The milk is holding steady.
We are still awash with little calves due to movement restrictions still being in place. We are just having to make the best of it and at least it's not the middle of winter as we just would not have the space.Hopefully the matter will be resolved fairly soon and we will get animals moving again.

Feeding The Girls

2007-09-25T18:04:00.000+01:00

As I am writing this , the rain is lashing down and the cows are pacing up and down the fields for the last few pieces of grass. Their ration in the shed has increased greatly and they are now eating in excess of 3.2 tonnes of silage inbetween milkings. In with this they are getting barley, soya, straw and minerals. Before too long the cows will be in at nights and just out for a couple of hours through the day. It is always nice to see them are snug and warm in their cubicles which will be home for the next 180 days.
The youngstock will stay out as late as possible and they will get to graze any of the cow fields that still have a bit of grass on.
On the animal front, we still have a large backlog of calves to sell. this is due to the movement ban still being in force but this is supposed to be eased tomorrow. However, any buyer will be subject to a 20 movement ban at their own steading if they take any animals on, so I don't think many calves will be going away very fast.

A Stomach and 9 Holes To Fill

2007-09-23T18:48:00.000+01:00

With the Dairy Event cancelled, I thought I would still take my 2 days off that I was going to have anyway.I was determined to not think about work too much. My "holiday" started on the Tuesday night with a Chinese buffet. All you can eat for £8.95.
Well this was a challenge waiting to be done , and I think I got WAY MORE than my £8.95's worth. Eating that much food in one sitting is not big and it's not clever.
And just to confirm that fact, the very next day I sat down in Pizza Hut in Newcastle and had an "all you can eat" buffet for £5.95. Well , the pain lasted for days and my meals for the next few days were pretty small.
This has been my weekend off , and I played my first proper 9 holes of golf today.
It's safe to say that my eating skills were far better than my golfing skills.
However , I have learned from today and I now know what to practice when I am next at the range.

2007-09-17T21:25:00.000+01:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A Week of Work, Work, Work.

2007-09-17T08:55:00.000+01:00

Since the last post with it's promise of a more regular update I have now left it well over a week. It's been the usual mega busy time with more calves being born. The re-emergence of Foot and Mouth has brought it's own problems as we are now seriously over stocked in the calf unit , with no sign of us getting any sold.
The grass is running out fast in the fields and the 111 cows being milked are now getting 2500kg of silage to supplement their ration.
With all the hectic running about of the last few weeks , a couple of days away would be just the tonic.
Sadly, my proposed trip to the Dairy Event is going to be a non starter as the event has been cancelled due to the FMD.
Chloanne Webster Gracious is now only 2 weeks off calving so she will be the topic of the next few posts.
Chloanne Dolman Ethel has been weaned and her mother, Frankham Sept Storm Ethel has been served already with the bull Heather Holme Velvet.

A Whole Weeks Gone By !!!

2007-09-06T19:19:00.000+01:00

I have just noticed that it's been a whole week since I updated this Blog. I have been just so busy at work and when not, I have been updating the old MySpace site !!!!!
We started to feed the cows on some silage last week as the grass in the fields is starting to run out. They are responding fairly well to that and we shall need to be thinking of feeding them some form of concentrate food with it fairly soon.
Calving has been fairly busy.
Last night I had 2 sets of twins and a single. It was starting to look more like a nights lambing rather than a calving. All are well though, even if I am now exhausted.
The next couple of days are to be taken up with leading in wheat straw bales (approx 700 of them !) I think I won't be getting my whole weekend off this time round.
Tomorrow ( 7th) , the foot trimmer is coming in to do some cows feet for us. this is just routine and he comes in twice a year. It is good to keep on top of this job as if their feet are not sound then they won't walk correct, go lame and then not milk !
So it's off to bed early and I'll make a note to myself not to leave this for a week again.

2007-08-30T19:44:00.000+01:00

Ginno and Nicky Should Have Known Better

2007-08-30T19:21:00.001+01:00

I thought I would just post this video of Ginno Conti (ex Radio Borders presenter) with his new "side-kick". As you can see he has settled into his new job doing the breakfast show on Moray Firth Radio. Well worth a listen.

Reminder !

2007-08-26T18:59:00.000+01:00

Remember to check out ;
www.myspace.com/chloanne
www.youtube.com/chloanne

and remember to subscibe to this blog.

Back to Work Tomorrow !!!!!

2007-08-26T18:37:00.000+01:00

Well it's now the end of my holidays and the weather has been fairly good. A couple of mornings at the driving range and plenty time with the kids. The "highlight" this week has been a visit today to East Links Country Park , near Dunbar. It really was well worth the visit , as the photo's show.

The main job on the farm for the coming week will be bringing in the barley straw bales that have just been baled today and they will be used for feeding some of the youngstock throughout the winter.

As of the 1st of October we are to be paid 25p per litre for our milk which is LONG over due.

With wheat prices having rocketed to £125-130 / tonne, dairy cake for feeding is due to go up by £35 / tonne on the 1st of September so it is very welcome news.

So it's early to bed as it will be one heck of a shock getting up at 3.30am instead of my lie-in's that I have had for the last few days.

I should mention that I am in the second photo down .

Other photo's will follow !!!

It's Holiday Time !

2007-08-20T21:45:00.000+01:00

This week I am officially on holiday. These moments don't come along that often so I fully intend to do as little as possible . My two children will be with me for the week so it will not all be lounging around etc.
Weather has been decidedly dodgey lately and that has held up the spring barley harvest. That is due to start any time now, and the wheat should just follow on.
Cow wise, we have recently had two new familys join the main herd, due to calves that have been born as a result of embryo work.
The two new members are Ellenneff Mascol Belle and Ellenneff Zenith Cadet. Another birth from the embryo programme has resulted in a bull calf being born and this calf has been ear marked to join ABS Genus in their bull selection programme.
So hopefully I can now start to enjoy my holiday !!!!!

Herd Updates

2007-08-14T20:58:00.000+01:00

We are now permitted to move cattle around the farm, over roads etc, so we have been sorting out some dry cows to come closer to the steading. Also Chloanne Webster Gracious has been dried off now. Chloanne Hershel Gracious has been comfirmed in calf .
Confirmed pregnancies to date are;
Chloanne Webster Gracious - due 28/9/07
Chloanne Tulip Gracious - due 10/11/07
Chloanne Addison Gracious - due 28/11/07
Chloanne Magna Gracious - due 30/01/08
Chloanne Hershel Gracious - due 04/04/08

CHLOANNE

golf

2007-08-13T13:22:00.001+01:00

This was me relaxing at the weekend doing s spot of practice at the driving range!!!!

Quieter Week

2007-08-09T08:54:00.000+01:00

With all the country been at a standstill untill today, it has been a fairly quiet week here. We have not been able to move any stock anywhere and the jobs to do are slowly mounting up. I have 3 cows to dry off and no where to put them. Chloanne webster Gracious is among them. She has done extremely well this year.
There are also some dry cows to come up to the steading to calve, but again, they are stuck down in another field unable to be moved. Hopefully by the weekend full movements will be allowed.

MySpace.com - www.myspace.com/chloanne

2007-08-08T19:50:00.000+01:00

MySpace.com - www.myspace.com/chloanne
To be re-directed to my MySpace site just click on the link above. Well worth a visit !!!!!!