HDRider
Well-known member
I wonder where this is? You think it is in Germany, or Europe? It is a major investment in machinery, labor and buildings. Try to ignore the intro.
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farmerjan
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The larger herds around here have basically all the things in this video except the large equipment for the field work. Many places here do not have the field sizes to allow such large areas to be cut and harvested by the size depicted. Many barns here have auto floor cleaners, and I have 2 farms that run down the alleys and push feed to the cows like shown. They may not do it with the speed that was shown here. I imagine the bigger dairies of 2-5-10,000 cows all have somewhat similar types. I do know that many of the bigger dairies have rotary parlors and that the cows like to get on and ride while being milked.
Some of the farms in the south even have a grain roasitng set up to roast grains to make it more palatable and digestable for the cows.
OP
OP
HDRider
Well-known member
Could beef ever be raised this way?
I doubt it. The muscles in the animals would not develope the way they should to create beef. Jan can comment about it more than I can, but the sole purpose of the Dairy cows is to produce milk.
Something that I found interesting is that many daries use parisites for fly control as opposed to IGR ect.
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Nesikep
Well-known member
I didn't see anything that was of exceptional scale... Look up IowaDairyFarmer on facebook, or TDF Honest farming (They're just building a new facility)
farmerjan
Well-known member
Parasites for fly control is popular because they can be "planted" around the barns where they don't get disturbed. Many use IGR in calf milk and feed. I don't think it is allowed for milking cattle. I have never read the label closely.
I don't know about beef being raised in such confinement in the young stages. There are more problems with breeding cows that are on concrete.... the cows are not as active, and they are more inclined to slip.... you could not keep a bull in there and expect him to be able to mount cows consistently. Many dairy cows will slip and "split" or just injure themselves when coming in heat and getting ridden by other cows. The muscles will not get developed as well when they are not getting the kind of exercise that cattle get out on pastures. I don't know how well they would do in confinement like that. Yes, dairy cows are fed for production of milk as the primary reason. There is a different temperament in many dairy cows than most beef cattle too. They are raised in a more "confinement" type attitude
I don't know about beef being raised in such confinement in the young stages. There are more problems with breeding cows that are on concrete.... the cows are not as active, and they are more inclined to slip.... you could not keep a bull in there and expect him to be able to mount cows consistently. Many dairy cows will slip and "split" or just injure themselves when coming in heat and getting ridden by other cows. The muscles will not get developed as well when they are not getting the kind of exercise that cattle get out on pastures. I don't know how well they would do in confinement like that. Yes, dairy cows are fed for production of milk as the primary reason. There is a different temperament in many dairy cows than most beef cattle too. They are raised in a more "confinement" type attitude
farmerjan
Well-known member
One of my 125 cow dairies has a "roaster" and does soybeans for several farmers in the area.
OP
OP
HDRider
Well-known member
Appears there's two systems as it stands.
Concentrated rations and concentrated spacing play a roll at some point in about every harvested animals life that isn't finished on grass, some sooner than others.
But as long as there is land that isn't conducive to tillage or some form of crop production, I suspect there will be mama cows grazing it.
Buck Randall
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Agree. If anything, I thought many parts of the video looked more like a "small" dairy - less than 500 cows. Most farms bigger than that aren't going to be pouring milk out to calves by hand.
Buck Randall
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Yes. There are beef cows kept entirely in confinement, though that's still an extremely small portion of the industry.
More beef semen is being used on Holstein cows than Holstein semen. On many of the larger and more progressive dairies, more than half of the calves are beef cross. I've talked to people in the industry who think they will reach a point where these animals will surpass the value of "real" beef cattle. Stud companies are still working on figuring out which genetics work best, but the dairy industry will have a significant advantage in uniformity, consistent supply, and production efficiency over the traditional beef industry.
Where did you come from and why would I want to ignore the intro?
wbvs58
Well-known member
Yeah that blonde in the intro got my attention.
Ken
Ken
branxchar&charx
Well-known member
Riiiiiight. At first, i thought everyone had ignored it until i read the most recent comments
And I'd guess this to be in Polska, which is technically Europe
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