What do you like/dislike about these cows?

[regolith]

apart from "too much milk"

5 year old, no. 825

6 year old, no. 216

9 year old, no. 280

You can see that 280 is blind on her FL teat, was like that when I bought her. It doesn't hold back her production any.

 

[bigbull338]

you got some nice looking heavy milking cows.280s blind fl teat sure isnt hurting her any thats for sure.

 

[regolith]

I'm milking a daughter of 280 who isn't as good as her mother. Will happily accept any more daughters she gives me... or from any of these three cows. 825 has a full sister and had a mother milking in this herd, both very good cows.

216 is probably the one I'm most dubious about breeding on from. Haven't known any of her relatives (I don't think she's ever had a heifer calf) and I'm not sure her udder is going to last much longer. She was the top producer of her birth year as a heifer, but they do need the udder to hold up as well and hers drops significantly lower every year.

 

[bigbull338]

216 has a few more years before she gets tobe a swing bagg if it ever happens.

 

[regolith]

Two more cows. 137 eleven years old, calved yesterday, took this photo yesterday. Very excited to see a beautiful heifer calf until I fed her a couple hours later and noticed she only had one developed eye.

I'm convinced she slipped a calf last year that would have been born at the start of the calving season, because she didn't cycle again till January.

And I dunno what I'll do with this one next year. Her mother was a nice dairy cow.

Sire was a straw with 'Simmental' written on it.

 

[Curtis36]

137 looks pretty good for being 11 years old, but i have a soft spot for jerseys...

 

[bigbull338]

both of those cows look like they will milk pretty good.

 

[regolith]

I've got another herd test coming up in a few days, so can let you know how they do.
396 was a heifer last year and she wasn't the worst heifer I had, but she might have been the second lowest producer. Behaves well in the shed though, lovely quiet cow.

 

[TexasBred]

I would cull all of them. sorry.

 

[regolith]

I would cull all of them. sorry.

Why? Pick on 825 please, I know of at least one 'cull level' fault in each of the others.
What about yon one-eyed calf, would you destroy her or rear her? (that decision has been made but doesn't stop me second-guessing it every moment of the day)

 

[bigbull338]

a cull cow is based on what the owner of the cow thinks is a cull.those cows are grazed on pasture.an im betting they get very little if any grain in the milking shed.so if i was rego id base my culling on mastitis cows bad feet an legs an hard keepers an breeders.an severly low production cows/heifers.

 

[TexasBred]

I would cull all of them. sorry.

Why? Pick on 825 please, I know of at least one 'cull level' fault in each of the others.
What about yon one-eyed calf, would you destroy her or rear her? (that decision has been made but doesn't stop me second-guessing it every moment of the day)

Nothing specific. Just don't like the look of her in general. Rego I culled very heavily. Always had a standing little saying around the barn....find a cow you don't like and I'll give her to you. Never had to give one away. :lol2: May just be the pic but what's the deal with the huge hip? She also looks like front two quarters are jerked up and probably not producing like they should.825 udder looks just like 216's. As I said, may just be the angle of the photo.

 

[TexasBred]

I would cull all of them. sorry.

Why? Pick on 825 please, I know of at least one 'cull level' fault in each of the others.
What about yon one-eyed calf, would you destroy her or rear her? (that decision has been made but doesn't stop me second-guessing it every moment of the day)

Nothing specific. Just don't like the look of her in general. Rego I culled very heavily. Always had a standing little saying around the barn....find a cow you don't like and I'll give her to you. Never had to give one away. :lol2: May just be the pic but what's the deal with the huge hip? She also looks like front two quarters are jerked up and probably not producing like they should.825 udder looks just like 216's. As I said, may just be the angle of the photo.

 

[regolith]

Ah...
Well see, I was lying in the grass admiring my cows (checking the herd for signs of bloat, it's called) and 280 happened along, then 216 turned up and tried to eat my overalls off. I'm thinking hmm, that's interesting, something going on there 216? 825 happened along, ignored 216 but stood while 280 sniffed her over and attempted a mount but 825 decided she wasn't standing no more...
I got one side-on photo of 825 in a very fast breeze-through that included an attempted mount. I'm lying on the ground for all three photos which probably does put the angle out a bit.
216 was on the next morning, which explained the bit about trying to get me out of my overalls (way tmi, but you did ask what 825 was doing with her hip and that's the answer, she's flirting)

You're absolutely right about 825's udder. The teats are not aesthetically placed (no light quarters though) and while it is maybe a bit low, I think the support is good. Standing straight up, she does carry her udder a bit higher than 216 - only just above hock level though.
I've found that any cross to an overseas bull improves teat placement, but so far those overseas bulls aren't improving production, temperament or about anything else except top-lines.

They are all three doing the job on all grass which matters a bit more than general dairyness here - I always reckon, you can cull hard and improve your herd till you get to the top cow, but then you don't have a herd. I've culled heavily on production and health, but I could still pick major faults on most of the cows.
I think 825 is in the top 5% of the herd, hoping to breed on from her and her sister and definitely improve that udder in the progeny.
137 is doing about 25 litres a day right now (milking her separately for calves) against a herd average of about 19 - 20 litres. Whether she stays another year will depend on whether she can get back in calf within a month of calving, with no mobility or health issues during the year and maintaining above average production. Her udder now looks better than in the photo and she's got about another two inches she can drop before she becomes an automatic cull for 'cups sitting on floor and can't milk out properly.' So yes, that's a risk if by some miracle she does qualify to calve again in this herd.

 

[regolith]

Cull order is more or less: fertility, production, temperament, udder, mastitis, and then major feet or health issues become a no-choice cull. Usually third case of mastitis in one quarter and the cow is out, that hardly ever happens.
I need to keep the open rate low enough and the replacement rate high enough to do selective culling - so far that hasn't been an issue but a lot of herds on tougher country or poorer management are struggling to cull on anything other than open cows.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

cull order for us would be mastitis (continuous high cell counts), temperament, potential calving problems (if the neighbours limmo bull has gotten in again) fertility, we've had cows that we've the eye taken out due to cancer or injury & they've been fine.

 

[TexasBred]

They are all three doing the job on all grass which matters a bit more than general dairyness here - I always reckon, you can cull hard and improve your herd till you get to the top cow, but then you don't have a herd. I've culled heavily on production and health, but I could still pick major faults on most of the cows.
I think 825 is in the top 5% of the herd, hoping to breed on from her and her sister and definitely improve that udder in the progeny.

As long as they are paying their way, breeding back on time and no health problems they will work for you. Might want to consider flushing the best ones.I culled heavy but we also raised ever calf that was born so we had replacements on the way that in theory and most often in reality were even better than the dam. We began breeding strictly for milk production , then began trying to improve feet and legs then on to more fancy udders. Wife did all the matings, breedings and calf raising. (You ladies are head and shoulders above men in those areas especialy ). ;-)

 

[regolith]

137's calf, about four hours old. It was really hard to get a good pic, but in this one you can see how the skull is flat on the left side, there's no room in the bone for the eye that isn't present. Without looking closely, if you saw her from the left side you'd only think she was holding her eye closed as they do if it gets irritated.
She's gone now and the voices in my head are still telling me I should have saved her from the truck that collected her.

137's calf with 177, another out-of-season calf that shouldn't have been kept - she was two weeks short of a year old when I started AI, waited for her second cycle & I think she's in-calf now.

Herd test results. The milk was down that day and unsurprisingly a late calver was the top producer this time (usually happens in November, the earlier calvers have peaked in production 3 - 4 weeks before the herd test)

In order of production for that day, 825 was third out of the herd, 216 fourth, 280 twelfth, 137 39th or 40th (I lost count) and 396 4th from the bottom, above 177's mother (who hasn't calved for thirteen months) and two heifers who I suspect were having a bad day because they did much better on the last test.

You really wouldn't like the udders of either of the two cows above 825, TB. 316 (the second cow) has been astonishing me for years because I know what cow she was out of, her mum was never up to much and as ugly as they come. 316 is another big solid crossbred, huge wide udder consistent high production. Almost the opposite to her mother.

 

[regolith]

Whole herd average production: 19 litres 5.13% Fat 4.02% Protein 1.73 kg MS (Milksolids) SCC 76

825: 28.4 litre 5.3% fat 3.93% protein 2.63 kg MS SCC 29
216: 37.1 litre 3.56% fat 3.31% protein 2.56 kg MS SCC 39
280: 25.3 litre 4.99% fat 4.07% protein 2.29 kg MS SCC 13
137: 19.9 litre 5.68% fat 4.17% protein 1.96 kg MS SCC 120
396: 10.5 litre 5.1% fat 4.07% protein 0.97 kg MS SCC 48

at 40th cow 137 is just under 1/3 of the way down the herd - so 1/3 of the herd produced that much or more at herd test, 2/3 of the herd did less. About 10 per cent of the herd did less than 1.3 kg MS. What they eat is what they were standing on in the photos, plus water and some magnesium/selenium/rumensin as a daily drench.

 

[TexasBred]

Whole herd average production: 19 litres 5.13% Fat 4.02% Protein 1.73 kg MS (Milksolids) SCC 76

825: 28.4 litre 5.3% fat 3.93% protein 2.63 kg MS SCC 29
216: 37.1 litre 3.56% fat 3.31% protein 2.56 kg MS SCC 39
280: 25.3 litre 4.99% fat 4.07% protein 2.29 kg MS SCC 13
137: 19.9 litre 5.68% fat 4.17% protein 1.96 kg MS SCC 120
396: 10.5 litre 5.1% fat 4.07% protein 0.97 kg MS SCC 48

at 40th cow 137 is just under 1/3 of the way down the herd - so 1/3 of the herd produced that much or more at herd test, 2/3 of the herd did less. About 10 per cent of the herd did less than 1.3 kg MS. What they eat is what they were standing on in the photos, plus water and some magnesium/selenium/rumensin as a daily drench.

Thanks for the numbers. I couldn't read the printout. Not bad at all especially for cattle on grass only. Somewhat surprising that the milk protein is that high but the jersey and jersey/cross probably help that number a bit. Exceptional SSC numbers. Don't think I've ever seen any that low. Almost "too low". Good job.