Thursday, March 28, 2024
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HomeFarming News‘Even during lockdown, farmers keep working daily’
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‘Even during lockdown, farmers keep working daily’

Christy McCarthy and family milk 55 cows (35 pedigree Holsteins and 25 pedigree Jerseys) on 60-acres in Balineen, Co. Cork.

Performance: Fat: 4.43; Protein: 3.63; Lactose: 4.77; SCC: 245; TBC: 23

How is everyone doing during lockdown? Even during lockdown, farmers keep working daily to ensure you have fresh food.

In terms of our farm, as you can see, SCC has gone up again, but I milk recorded so I will identify the problematic cow quickly.

Calving is finished the moment with a Jersey heifer calf last week – sired by our Jersey stock bull, Thunder.

We will be drying off our July-calving cows next week when we get the milk recording results back to see which cows will get a tube and sealer and which ones will get a sealer only.

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AI

Any cow under 100 SCC will get a sealer only – we have been doing this now a few years and we are happy with the results.

We are AI’ing a few cows and heifers every week as they come into heat. We don’t really stop AI’ing from December to the middle of June for the winter and spring herds.

We don’t do any AI’ing during the last ten days of March, as subsequent calving dates will fall around Christmas time or the end-of-year.

Silage

On another note, preparation for silage is finished now, with a view to taking our first-cut around the end of May or the start of June. This year’s crop looks to be heavy and we are hoping that quality will be just as good.

We will be using the pit for the first-cut, while the second-cut will be all bales. With rain in recent days and night, I hope growth will drive on again. 

Until next week, stay safe and stay apart folks.

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