For more on the Harpur farm, follow this link www.farmersjournal.ie/feeding-... Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Editor Jack Kennedy visits the Harpur family's dairy farm in Bessbrook as part of the Ulster Grassland Society's Spring Visit.
Would it make sense to throw some salt on the ground after the cleaning or prior or add a hose that moves with the tractor that cleans...what do I know...
I think it might cost more to do this but then again maybe not after you think of the cost of manufactured feed and transport, and you can't argue with a natural diet. They all seem happy and clean. I'm sure the milk is awesome.
Well, we appreciate all Farmers who taking good care of their animals, treat them like their own children, their diet, etc, etc. So May God bless all Farmers, their animals or crops of the whole world. Amen
Overgrazing is actually a problem and causes desertification. This is a lot better system because the cows can't pull out the root system of the grass, keeping it intact.
Beats feeding them corn and soy, but still would be better to have the cattle on the land manuring to add fertility to replace the material taken; otherwise they will likely resort to/require petrochemical fertilizer inputs to keep this system productive.
Fair point, although that's also diesel powered so from an energy perspective still dependent on off farm resources, still much better than corn and soy, and using animal fertility much better than using fertiliser.
I feel the same as you... I thought its a better way to feed them devoid of soy and corn. But what about relieving the stress hormones that accumulate in their systems. That's a part of their hormone balancing that is ultimately a part of the milk they give. Well... Baby steps I guess (:-/
The fertilizing benefit of manure is over rated. It is not a closed system where all the nutrients are returned. Most nutrients leave the farm as meat protein.
lindentr33 tell that to our ancestors who used compost, manure, resting land and green manure exclusively. Chemical fertilisers are a recent invention which have simply ushered in an unsustainable and unhealthy mono cultural industrial farming model which requires constant inputs from off site, basically a form of strip mining farming land. The use of modern conventional industrial farming destroys soil and is worse for the animals, worse for the consumers and worse for the land. Plenty of good information about Manure as fertiliser is available on Wiki, which includes a reference to is successful usage by humans for centuries. To the best of my knowledge, plants use NPK and trace elements to synthesise amino acids which are then combined to form protein; therefore low protein levels in a herbavoires manure is not surprising or concerning, but the removal of the trace elements and reduction in NPK are important factors. Application of manure and use of farming systems which leverage nitrogen fixing green manure plants appear key to maintaining high levels of productivity on land without compromising on sustainability or food quality. Polyface farm is a good example of a highly productive animal system which is not only sustainable, it is restorative, it heals the land and builds soil; they use no imported fertiliser products to achieve this.
Looks easier but in time you gonna need fertilizer for the fields, plus espensive machinery. The natural way the cows cut their own grass and fertelize the land.
To all those people saying this is cruelty you have obviously never been on a dairy farm it is hard graft and even of the cows are inside they still get a great life sometimes it is even better as the farmer can keep a close eye on them so can stop a disease spreading through the herd!
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In the normal farm the dining room is also the toilet. Cows spend most of their time walking over their food sniffing to find clean feed. Contary to perceptions, this is hard work,especially in winter How would you like to pick up your cornflakes from the floor, when you could have them clean from a packet? There's lots i dont like about the dairy industry, but this isn't one.
Really sad, especially if you've ever seen how happy cows are to get out to pasture in the spring. Then again, seeing how people treat their own pets, it's not hard to believe.
Hi, our cows are out on pasture year round but this isn't possible everywhere especially not with dairy cattle. At least these cows don't have to live in a tie- stall, some cows are chained up all there lives.... Just google "tie-stall, dairy cattle"
So let me get this straight, the farmer provides the inputs needed to collect the feed, and collect the waste, and fertilize the crops? The cattle may get fatter, but they don't appear to get much exercise and probably need more medication to remedy the ensuing illnesses. Are the cattle healthier? Are the fields reliant on human intervention? It seems as though the farmers are missing something. Wouldn't it be more efficient for the cattle to mob graze, fertilize the fields, and get their exercise through a more natural means? How can it be more profitable to do all the things for this system with human and energy resource investments than to let the cattle graze? Doesn't make sense in any manner!
Everything the farmer does is worked out to make a more efficient system, so you can afford to buy the product. "Doesn't make sense"? This is a business system that is as finely tuned as Formula 1 racing. But I'm sure the Ag. Science people will be looking at your comments and implementing your "new" suggestions in their next field research programmes.
We've already done this type of system. It's called a feedlot. It's great at getting the most production out of each unit. Problem is the waste collection and disposal, more drugs needed to combat illnesses that result from the sedentary nature of the cattle. Why pump drugs into the cattle and then through to human consumers? The cost vs. benefits are good only short term. For this system to be sustainable it really needs to be more natural. What are the fertilizer loads on the fields? Add up the infrastructure costs and tell me this is more efficient.
Mars Rover You are half right and half wrong. It is more expensive in many ways to keep the cows indoors, and cows will fertilise the fields themselves when outdoors, rather than storing slurry and then using machines to spread it on the fields. However, cows kept indoors will generally achieve higher milk yields, and this dilutes some of the costs of keeping them inside. Cows kept indoors, also, do not actually need a lot more drugs than those kept outdoors, but they do tend to have more lameness problems. Nevertheless, there are plenty of farms that keep cows outdoors and also achieve high milk yields.
why are you people hating cattle farming?! this is my future! I don't care weather the moo moos are outside or inside, you guys are saying it's bad to feed. cows grass and silage, WHAT ELSE WILL THEY EAT?! ITS NOT A PRISON, ITS A CATTLE FARM!!!!!!! good vid
Please reply to my inquiry, calf died during childbirth The question is:Can we do the milking process in this case??? If yes, how many liters of colostrum is Pulled from the cow daily, and how long does cow production become milk instead of colostrum? Thanks in advance my teacher
I love farming and am so happy for this. However we still lack this in Africa. Is there a way we can also connect introduce this technology, forexample in Uganda where i am a native? We can do that and increase the quality and quantity of our produce. Thank you.
+Debbieanne Marsden research has shown that cows been treated like this are less stress full an produce better milk and meat people complain all the time yet there probably eating or drinking some thing that comes from dairy milk or eating a chunk a meet
If all you critics care so much about the animals welfare why didn't you start your own farms with the methods that you espouse. You may find that you have no idea what you are talking about.
Its Funny how everyone complaining about the cows not going out to pasture are not farmers, have no idea about modern agriculture, and are just keyboard warriors.... I live/work on a 480 milking cow farm where they run a zero grazing system, all the cattle never see a field apart from calving time in the summer. This brings more benefits than hindrances... Haven't had mastitus in 8 weeks, No foot problems, Less disease, Healthier cows, more content cows, Tighter calving index and overall its cheaper for the farmer! now all the keyboard warriors who say the cows are not happy or that they deserve to go outside, you might be shocked at this but most of the cows given the choice would prefer to stay inside, on a dry clean bed, eating tasty nutritious food, rather than out in the rain, in the mud eating the little grass they have to fight there friend over... Now learn something about agriculture before going on about enjoying life and there well-being, they are enjoying life and are being looked after...
robert bridger Heffier calfs are reared to go back in to the milking heard and bull calves are reared until 4 weeks when they get shipped to another farm on a BLADE calf program, i can assure you all you are doing is making an argument out of nothing as you are clutching at straws trying to abolish factory farming..
***** But how many cows do you have? its respective if you have less cattle you have more time for each cow.. we have 5 staff to about 1000 total animals on the farm, thats a ratio of 200 cattle to each member of staff, im guessing your ratio isnt out of the twenties...
You say that keyboard warriors would be shocked to know that cows would prefer to stay inside. Are you really telling me that you have NOT noticed the reaction of cattle when they are turned out for the first time in spring? What is all this nonsense about cows having to fight over a small amount of grass in the mud? It is laughable that you cannot grow enough grass to be grazed when you have no problem growing enough when you want to make it into silage. Ever heard of grazing management? You also say its cheaper for the farmer. So then you do not have to cover the extra costs of making more silage, storing and feeding more silage, storing and spreading more slurry, and additional labour?
***** Yes i agree cows go dappy when first let out to pasture, but we have found they soon get over that... Our cattle are giving approximately from 10-12 thousand litres each per lactation, and if you can get a cow to do that from grass and just grass i would love to know how! We have worked this out with our advisor plenty of times, to put our 480 cattle out to grass and keep them up to that amount of milk we would 4x the amount of grass in the ground and close to the farm, which is not paticually practical as we already have all the walk-able fields close to the farm in grass... We also worked out the cost of production inside vs outside, The outcome was that it is more labour efficient to keep the callte inside all year using the staff more efficiently to keep up together with the yard and field work, it costs us 0.9 of a penny less to keep the cattle inside than if they were out, that is including the price of feed and labour!
Is this supposed to sound good? Zero grazing? All year inside system? I am confused trying to figure out if this is a whistleblowing video about bad animal welfare management or a bad taste commercial.
So now they can sell this and call it grass-fed and people will think of pastured cows. So sad how we twist everything around. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19620671
This video makes me very sad... it's not about quality anymore, just about quantity. I love farming and machinary. However I think cows should be out grazing instead of standing in their own shit all day. How much milk do the supermarkets throw away nowadays ? look up the stats.
