A Few Happy Snaps

Help Support CattleToday:

Loch Valley Fold

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
542
Reaction score
2
Location
NSW Australia
The 2 fullblood black heifers that I brought just before Christmas '08 both are now 16mths old Charlotte & Crystal
FarmPhotos23.jpg

FarmPhotos13.jpg


Flora & Floriane I like this cow, she has reared 2 cracker calves
FarmPhotos11.jpg


802 She is a Jersey x Friesian 1998 model still going strong though I don't know for how long, each year she goes down with milk fever
FarmPhotos17.jpg

802's crossbred steer destined for the freezer
FarmPhotos14.jpg


Daphne & Princess
FarmPhotos10.jpg

FarmPhotos7.jpg


Murray She was in the milking herd up until 6 weeks ago she will now come back into my beef herd this will be her 4th calf
FarmPhotos16.jpg


Angus x Heifer due June/July '09 with her first calf - not the best angle for the photo
FarmPhotos26.jpg


Barney & Lady 2 best friends
FarmPhotos31.jpg

Barney's mother Lucy
FarmPhotos32.jpg


Growing Barley sprouts
FarmPhotos_resize.jpg

This is the easy part, getting the cows to eat it is the hardest :lol:
 
man we tried a fodder factory and the only animal that would eat it was my poddy steer who ate anything. even then he only ate the shoots, not the roots. :roll:
 
Thanks I like the first black heifer too, she has somehow knocked just the tip off her horn it's still growing but won't look as good she is also the more laid back of the 2

No we don't have a fodder factory I converted a small shed (it's actually our old,old,old dairy) I wanted to see if the cattle will eat the sprouts & I wasn't going to go & spend $$$$ on something that they may not eat & I've heard a few stories about mould or fungus spores in them. The calves have a good go at the barley but leave it once the calf pellets come out. At the moment I'm growing oats as this is what they are currently eating in the paddock. My 3 mini horses are eating it took the little stallion 3 or 4 days to start but he's a fussy little sod.

If it not raining this afternoon I will take some of my Angus cows that are currently being milked at the dairy
 
we were thinking about a fodder factory at work ... saw it at Canberra Royal one year, they gave us a heap of sprouted barley to take up to the goat shed, the goats wouldnt eat it, neither would our cattle. the camels they had there loved it. I know of one dairy stud that is using it (goats) apparently with great success. I like the theory behind it, but we didnt want to shell out the money if they werent going to eat it
 
Great pics, your Jersey/Holstein doesn't even look like she has jersey in her. How do your wooly mammoths handle your heat ,the hair must work as an insulter against the heat ?


What's a fodder factory ?
 
Thanks Keren ...

We have a lot of those around here as well, but usually you hear about them on the news and they are used to grow things for human consumption not cattle.. :lol:
 
Thanks Hillsdown :D
They handle it well they do loose their long hair or degrees of their long hair during spring & summer & I also make sure they & the others have plenty of shade & water during summer. Both Flora & Hewie(my bull) both slick right off & apart from the horns look like any other beef animal. 802 looks pure holstein doesn't she ? she is an old girl & only has milk in 2 back teats, she nipped the tip of 1 back teat several years ago & as a result when her milk lets down the milk will pour out of that teat.
Fodder Factories
http://www.cropking.com/forage.shtml (usa)
http://www.foddersolutions.org/ (aust.)
http://www.jandenrene.com I have been keeping a record of my progress though it hasn't been updated for a couple of days.
A fodder factory is basically an insulated shed with a automatic watering system, some lighting & heat to grow barley, wheat or oats in trays & have it ready to feed out in 6 - 8 days. I have converted an old shed & as an experiment have been trialing which grain would grow best. Barley has been the best fo far, however the problem I'm having is getting the cows to eat the stuff. I'm thinking that once winter really starts & green feed is getting hard to find than they should start eating the barley. I have also just started on oats as this is what they are used to - maybe this will help the dairy cows to start eating the sprouts.
For my setup I spent $600.00 this was to buy trays, 20x20x1.5mm tube steel for the shelving & a micro irrigation system off ebay for $25.00. Each shelf is designed to hold 20 x 29.5 x 35cm trays
 
You beat me to it Keren :lol: :lol:
Thanks Colin I had the camera with me yesterday & thought why not would have prefered them down on the flats where it looks nicer but I am feeding off grass oats at present so they don't move too far now
 
i dont know how you can tell anything about those hairy things. do they shed off at any point?
 
"i dont know how you can tell anything about those hairy things. do they shed off at any point?
Yes each animal will to varying degrees, my bull sheds his coat right back so in summer looks just like any other beef breed the 2 x3yr olds looked like they had a real bad case of mange with only long hair basically along their backbone
I have heard that some bloodlines are noted for "more hair" than other lines
Photo of Laird Hewie of Arrandoon during summer '07 (11.18.07) these are not the best pictures but should show you what I mean. In these photos he weighed 950kg almost 2100lbs

Hewie3.jpg

Hewie2.jpg

Highlanders18-11-074.jpg
 
He's a big boy, even without the coat. Yours loose a lot more hair than ours do. What are your summer and winter temperatures? I wonder if there is a relationship to climate in the short term, or is it mostly through bloodlines?
These are ours during the height of summer in late August, (North of the equator of course)
P10100251.JPG
 
Thanks Colin

Lakeport
Nice looking cattle 2 of my girls Daphne & Princess looked pretty much like that over summer
Our summers here this year averaged about 34-35 degrees c we had a few days were the tops were in the low 40's. Our winters are mild compared with elsewhere, with night temps getting down to -7 or -8 thankfully though we don't get too many nights like that our days can range anywhere from 10 -19 degrees c.
Hewie has completely different bloodlines to any of my cows with the exception of 1 cow I'm also wondering if age has anything to do with the amount of shedding, as Hewie & Flora are the 2 oldest the others are between 16mths & 4yrs.
 
hillsdown said:
Great pics, your Jersey/Holstein doesn't even look like she has jersey in her. How do your wooly mammoths handle your heat ,the hair must work as an insulter against the heat ?

I was thinking the same thing....I think she's full blood holstein.
 

Latest posts

Top