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HERD MANAGEMENT
The herd is run on commercial lines and
showing is very much a case of something we will do if we have time. The management
programme can best be summed up in the old saying:
"FERTILITY
is 10 times more important than Carcase Traits and 5 times more important than
Performance".
The herd has been recorded since the
early 1970's. Initially with Signet but with the importation of Canadian
sires in the early 1990's, I used Breedplan as well. Now the Hereford
Cattle Society are using Breedplan only and so I have followed suite.
As the winter approaches and the
pastures get too wet the cattle are brought in to the buildings where they are housed. At
this time - usually late November - the calves are weaned and are split into bunches. The
calves are fed home mixed barley,oats, soya and minerals as well as silage with the bulls
being given more hard feed than the heifers. The cows are split into age groups and are
fed silage or straw and Rumevite blocks. Calving starts in early March and the cows with
calves are able to run out on to pastures in early April provided it is dry enough. By May
almost all the calves have arrived and the few late calving cows are kept close to the
buildings for ease of management. The policy is to sell cows that calve after mid May with
calves at foot as a tight calving period of 2 months is desired.
All cows are then split into groups and
from the first of June a bull runs with each group. The plan is to give no more than 45
cows to each senior bull and the bulls under 2 years old get only a dozen or so cows. No
AI is used and the tight calving period is proof of the fertility of the herd. All the
summer the calves run out with their dams on pasture and have access to creep feed via
calf creep feeders. As the year progresses and the grass begins to wane straw is fed to
the cows until they come into the buildings when it gets too wet.
Bulls are mainly puchased in Canada. A
visit is made every other year in November when a number of herds are visited and a calf
is purchased when veterinary rules permit. This calf has to undergo tests and a months quarantine in Canada. On arrival ( by air ) there is a further 4 months quarantine in our
own quarantine pen before the bull is released provided he has passed the necessary tests.
The farm is all grass and extends to 135
acres of owned land. All our own hay and silage is
taken off this acreage - the job of baling and wrapping silage and baling hay being
undertaken by contractors. We also purchase about 100 acres of barley,oat and wheat straw
from a neighbour and our contractor bales that for us. We haul this back to our barns to
store for winter feed and bedding. In the spring all the farmyard manure made by the
cattle during the winter is spread on the pastures together with some Nitrogen and a
mineral and trace element supplement. This helps maintain the required balance and
replaces what has been taken out of the land during the previous year.
The yearling bulls are kept in the
buildings from weaning and those not kept for sale to other Farmers
are fattened on. The heifers go out in April and run with their respective
bulls from 1st of June. As the cows come in during November so do these
heifers and they are kept in seperate pens so that they can be looked
after prior to and just after calving.
The herd enjoys a very high health
status - there being no cases of BSE or TB recorded.The farm is not organic but is very
close to that status. As we buy in grain and straw from neighbours we do not propose going
completely organic.
We also encourage non farming groups to
visit the farm as the more urban people who understand what we are doing the better. To
this end we have a close tie with Anstey Junior School in Alton and their 5th year make
frequent visits and keep in touch with what is going on at the farm. It is suprising that
although we are a rural area and Alton was a Market town only a very few of the 30 or so
children in the 5th year have ever been on a farm or had any connection with one.
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