More Calves, More Fleckvieh, More Sleepless nights!

Calves, Calves everywhere!  It has been a busy few days on the Caherconnell farm with a couple of calves arriving every day and one particular night we had four new arrivals - all of them Fleckvieh cross calves!

 We are very excited about this little lady - no. 88.  Her dam, 918, is one of our best cows and milks between 7,000 and 8,700 litres of milk a year!  This is her second ever heifer (female) calf out of 6 calves so this is an animal to be prized.  As if that wasn't enough good news, this calf, as you've probably guessed by her white head and chocolate brown body, is a Fleckvieh cross.  Her sire is Rurex:

Rurex has over 10,000 daughters milking in the Netherlands.  He produces daughters with very high components of fat and protein, he also supplies excellent feet/legs, udders and fitness.  We can already see that these calves are substantially stronger and more muscled than their Holstein Friesian (HF) counterparts.

This is no. 88 standing beside a HF heifer calf, no. 87.  They were born within minutes of each other but, as you can see, that is where their similiarities end.

This is our pen of bull calves.  These will be kept for 4-6 weeks before going to the mart to be sold.  Generally they are bought for export to the veal trade in mainland Europe.  It is a terrible thing to say but we have no value in our bull calves.  We want cows to calve so they will have milk and we want heifer calves as these will grow up to be milking cows.  A bull calf is not exactly worthless but it is close.  Our HF bull calves averaged a sale price of €44 in 2014.  Now to be fair, 2014 was a terrible year for calf prices - but the fact remains - those bull calves actually cost us money.  It is another argument for crossing with Fleckvieh.  Our Fleckvieh crosses averaged €144 in 2014. Because fleckvieh are dual-purpose i.e. they produce milk but are also more muscled and 'beefier' animals, the Fleckvieh adds value to the bull calf and the cull cow.

One of the heifer pens with two fleckvieh crosses looking out at us. The chocolate brown on the left is a Rurex calf while her companion on the right is a Waldbrand daughter.

This time one of the HF heifer calves (no. 76 on the right) came over to say hello too! We didn't AI (artificially inseminate) with any Holstein-Friesian straws in 2014.  However, we still use a HF stock bull on our maiden heifers (those females going in calf for the first time).  There are three reasons for these. First and foremost, HF calves are easier to calve which is a matter of concern as we calve down most of our heifers at 24 months.  At this stage, they are still quite young so we want to make their first calving as easy as possible for them.  The second reason is that the heifers are kept on an outfarm so is is simply easier to use a bull.  You might remember the post on winterage? Well the heifers spend their spring and summer as yearlings, running with the bull at the bottom of that mountain in the lush green fields.  The final reason is that, excited as we are about Fleckvieh, we don't actually know if this plan will work yet!  We've done the research, we've started the breeding but it will be 2016 before we have our first Fleckvieh crosses milking and probably 2019 before we know if this experiment will really work the way we hope!  So the HF stock bull is a bit of a safety net for us.

   I'll leave you with one of our newborns.  This Fleckvieh heifer calf, no. 91 is just one day old, also out of Rurex - he seems to specialise in chocolate coloured offspring!  There was another new arrival during the night - my poor husband was out of bed at 1am to assist in the delivery.  All are healthy and happy thankfully, but no photos as yet. Next time! :)

Spring has Sprung!

February has arrived and in between the showers of rain, snow, sleet and hail we can make out the first signs of spring in the air.  The days are a bit longer, the mornings are a bit brighter, the birds are a bit louder as they gather in their hundreds outside the parlour...

and of course the calves are coming thick and fast!

This is our lastest arrival, a fleckvieh heifer calf who is just 7 hours old and has already sucked her mother's milk and is jumping around the pen like a crazy thing! 

We also had twins this week:

This little lady is only just born and is trying to stand up already!  

'Nose to meet you' 

All the calves above are Fleckvieh crosses.  That is to say their mothers are Holstein-Friesian (the usual black and white milking cows you see around Ireland) and their fathers are Fleckvieh (pronounced 'fleck-vee').  Fleckvieh are a German/Austrian breed of milking cow that are part of the Simmental family.  We hope that these crosses will produce a stronger, fitter animal that lives longer while producing roughly the same amount of milk as our Holstein-Friesians.  

All the calves pictured above are out of a Fleckvieh bull called 'Waldbrand':

Waldbrand is known for producing big strong dual purpose cows with excellent udders.  He is easy calving (very important when considering a bull!) and has excellent milk production with high levels of fat and protein percentage.  

We are paid for our milk on the basis of how much fat and protein is in it i.e. the higher the quality of the milk, the higher the value of it.  So, Fleckviehs should produce an added benefit for us as their milk tends to have higher components of fat and protein.  Of course, all this is pie in the sky as yet.  Our first fleckvieh crosses were born in 2014 so it will be 2016 before we actually have any milking and can determine whether this crossbreeding experiment will work for us!

However, it is not all Fleckvieh calves.  Our first calf of 2015 was a Holstein-Friesan (HF) heifer.  All of the springers (cows having a calf for the first time) will be having HF calves as they are easier to calve down.  We are reserving our Fleckvieh use, for the time being, to the milking cows.

First calf of 2015

Nosy Parker!  The calves will suck on anything - the pocket of your jacket, your trouser leg, your fingers - whatever comes close.

Most Fleckviehs, like this bull calf here have a full white head.  However, Waldbrand doesn't always stamp his progeny with white heads so it could get interesting trying to figure out which calf belongs to who as the season progresses!

 They all lined up nicely for me here.

Thirsty work!

 The calves aren't the only ones waiting for a drop of milk!

I hope you're enjoying reading about the day-to-day activities at Caherconnell.  If there's anything you'd like to hear about or any comments you'd like to make, please feel free.  Its lovely to hear back from readers.

Until the next time