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Farming in June 2008

We have been bedding our cows on sand for about 2 years, prior to that they were on a more traditional straw bed. Mastitis, an infection in the udder, can be a problem in dairy cows. The condition is most uncomfortable for the cow, can render the milk unsaleable and the treatment (antibiotics) is expensive. The bugs responsible for many cases of mastitis love living in straw but they hate sand and since changing our bedding the incidence of mastitis is down by 75%. The main drawback with sand bedding is the muck is quite difficult to handle as it separates into semi-solid mucky sand at the bottom and a liquid top layer. Happily enough this gives me an excuse to buy yet more kit to move it around the farm. A slurry stirrer which is like a Magimix on steroids and a new tanker. The stirrer homogenizes the slurry enabling it to be sucked up and spread using the tanker. I was having difficulty deciding which tanker to buy so thought I would enlist the help of Lucy (age 4). Without a moments hesitation Lucy decided on the orange one, intrigued as to how she came to a decision so quickly I questioned her reasoning. "Because we have a blue one already Daddy", fair enough, so we now have a new orange tanker

On to matters other than slurry. Hopesash Stella, one of our pedigree Simmentals, has had a calf. Stella is somewhat of a free spirit, father has a few other names for her, and we’ve had little more than a fleeting glance of the new arrival. Pedigree Society rules state that this is a W year, a bit like old car registrations, so we’re going through the baby name books for inspiration even if he is only a silhouette on the horizon. We’ve managed to grab a weather window and get some silaging done. Its always quite a difficult call as the grass needs to be cut before going head but all fertilizer previously applied must have been used up. The grass also needs some sunshine prior to cutting to raise the sugar content and then you need a few days dry weather to get the job done. Actually, I’m not sure why I find it such a dilemma next time I’ll just get Lucy to give us the nod.

Robert Davies
Partner – Hopes Ash Farms

In 1966 it would have taken Mr Average 25 minutes to earn the price of a loaf of bread, today it takes just under 5 minutes.