The start of a new season – Brian Frost

Mr. and Mrs. Frostie have returned from their wanderings around Hawaii, Alaska and Canada and the children are all still alive and the house is standing, so we are on a win:win!!! We had a wonderful time with great friends, amazing sights and fabulous weather, and came back to use our thermals here! We once […]

Looking back on calving – John van der Goes

Seems like just yesterday that I wrote my last blog, I guess that comes with age as I remember my parents saying the same thing. What’s been happening here? We had our first herd test last Thursday and got the results on Friday. I was very pleased that there were no cows in the millionaires’ club. In […]

Trying out fodder beet – John van der Goes

It’s past time I updated you on what’s happening here. Calving has been probably the easiest one we have done for a long time. Not many metabolic issues, very few mastitis cows, and the heifers were the best to break in ever. Hardly any kicked, and if they did it was half-hearted and only for […]

The end of calving is near – Brian Frost

Since our last blog the grass has at last started growing. We are still behind what we would like, but at least we are moving in the right direction. All of the cows are back from the run-off and we have 93% of the herd calved. Mostly this has gone without too many problems; we […]

Decisions, decisions – Noldy Rust

I don’t know about all you others out there, it may just be me, but I sense that this has been a reasonably kind calving season?? Please rebuff me if need be, I am always open to criticism and ridicule, what with having 3 daughters ….and a wife!!! At our place at least, things have gone […]

Tweaking the system – Brian Frost

Well the grass is not growing as much as Frostie would like and the payout is adding stress to everything. Some things we can control, and others we can’t, so we are trying to manage as best we can and tweak what we can in the system to make the impact of the low payout […]

Maximising our returns – Noldy Rust

Time just seems to march on relentlessly; once again we are closer to the start of daylight saving than the end! That means longer days, time for more outdoorsy stuff in the evenings, and of course the long summer days to look forward to. However, right here and now it is still late winter with […]

Calving time – Trent Guy

Well calving is in full swing now and I can look back and contemplate if winter milking was/is worth it. The conclusion I have come to is yes, it is, as on a cash flow basis it’s great to have a milk cheque coming in still. But if I was to look at it from […]