Author Topic: The old girl has calved - Photo now added! (Read 9104 times)

Dan · « **Reply #15 on:** September 10, 2011, 07:27:19 am »

Miss Piggy · « **Reply #16 on:** September 11, 2011, 10:33:36 am »

Love the pic, congratulations to all concerned....Anne.

suziequeue · « **Reply #17 on:** September 11, 2011, 10:48:47 am »

Gosh!!! WELL DONE!!!! For a twenty year old who's just calved she looks in really good nick so - double well done

Rosemary · « **Reply #18 on:** September 11, 2011, 01:53:53 pm »

Wow - she looks in incredibly good nick. Look at her udder too - looks like a youngster.

The Hereford x Friesian was the backbone of the suckler cow herd before dairy got so intensive and the Friesian morphed into the coatrack known as the Holstein.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #19 on:** September 11, 2011, 02:23:24 pm »

Quote from: Rosemary on September 11, 2011, 01:53:53 pm

Wow - she looks in incredibly good nick. Look at her udder too - looks like a youngster.

The Hereford x Friesian was the backbone of the suckler cow herd before dairy got so intensive and the Friesian morphed into the coatrack known as the Holstein.

Agree totally. The Hereford x Friesian still makes up a significant proportion of our suckler herd; you can usually tell the Holsteiny ones (narrow backends) and avoid them.

robert waddell · « **Reply #20 on:** September 11, 2011, 03:55:29 pm »

the hereford x friesian was instigated by the sac and other college
s to boost the income of the dairy farmer at that time there were pure friesian beef fattening units the use of the heifer calves supported by the colleges as the future suckler cow was over rated they claimed the milk production of these crosses was better than all other crosses (latter refuted by experiments done on milking all types of suckler cow)
with the dairy farmers ever increasing aim of maximum production the Holstein was introduced (longer legs to allow for a bigger vessel with the production of milk instead of flesh)
the only reason the hereford x friesian gained the popularity it had was the massive push the colleges exerted on the farming comunity
i was never a fan of this suckler cow preferring hereford Angus simmental and Charolais latterly running 7/8 and 15/16 simmentals with better returns than anything with friesian in it

Rosemary · « **Reply #21 on:** September 11, 2011, 04:32:27 pm »

It may not have been the BEST suckler cow, but it seemed to do OK and it allowed an integration of the different sectors of cattle farming that is now sadly lacking.

robert waddell · « **Reply #22 on:** September 11, 2011, 05:17:29 pm »

there never has been any integration of the farming sectors the only time that this occurred was when the old farmers had mixed units the government interfeared and was the start of specialized farming that has buggered the whole thing up
i have seen the transformation from mixed family farms to the ever increasing clamour for bigger units with the economy of scale trotted out as the driving force behind it
the old system of dairying you have to have a calf to produce milk these calves were either reared to be replacements or slaughtered or sold for beef production the hereford x friesian introduction saw the herefords reach the dizzy heights that they can only dream of now on the back of some other sector of farming that will support the poor dairy farmer to give them the huge returns that they had become accustomed to
where do you think the huge sums of money came from to build cubicle houses slurry stores and grain towers that dominated the dairy farms and not forgetting huge EU grants that was thrown at them the same greeting faces were not long in shutting up when quotas came in (they claimed restrictive practise ) until they realized there quota was worth money and so the money generator keeps on going
a lot of the dairy farmers that have given up now have cattle fattening enterprizes same with a throughput of 2000 cattle a year yes they have to buy the beast from a farmer have any of you seen the latest prices for finished cattle and that is with the suppermarkets buying the bulk of it

Sandy · « **Reply #23 on:** September 13, 2011, 09:37:03 pm »

The old girl has had a beautiful calf bless her!!

Roxy · « **Reply #24 on:** September 13, 2011, 10:47:20 pm »

The old girl has outlived some of her daughters and granddaughters, bless her!! We cannot understand why she did not catch the TB .....she had been on the land a lot longer than some of those that caught it.

I don't think she has got many teeth left to be honest. She does go a bit poor in winter, but picks up again come Spring and the new grass. Every year I take a pic of her and her latest calf, and think that will be the last one!! Last calf and last pic I mean ....she cannot go on forever.