Today you can only sell a springing heifer for $1200 to $1400, and we are routinely selling our older heavier cows for $800-$900. So the question arises that is it better to sell a heifer for $1400 or keep her and remove a cow for $900. Now in our facility if we were to grow by more than the 50 animals mentioned it would require, calf facility, heifer facility, feed storage, manure storage, freestall and parlor expansion. So what do we do? The barn is full.



The cost to raise a heifer.

I would suggest that it costs $2.00/day to raise a calf to calving. It costs more until they are 3 months, less until they are eating more at breeding and then back to $2 to finish off. If you calve your heifers on average at 23 months it cost $1400 to get them there, not including the death loss or breeding loss along the way as the live animals have to pay for the lost animals. So if it costs $1400 to get a heifer to calving and you only receive $1200 to $1400 for them at springing, we do not have a very good business model. 

Conversely if we calve that animal and put her into the barn and she produces 24000 lbs of milk she has an earning potential of $3600 at $15 milk (mail box)

We cull to make a better herd, and there are VERY few herds that do not have a poorer quality cow that cannot be replaced by a heifer.

And in hope of better times ahead we will slow culling down and make some higher priced heifer sales.

So now WHO do we cull? And what about dairy farming? 

Well take your pick. But we start with culling poor breeders, high scc cows, sore feet, then poor confirmation, working our way faster into the do not breed list and then into the Johnes positive list. After 3 years of culling like this your standard for keeping a cow rises. 

So I am confused as to the statement you refer to by the NMC recommendation of 28% cull rate. What are we to do with the other animals?

My hope was to demonstrate the cull rate has again little to do with health of the herd and in fact a high cull rate my point to a herd that has a good breeding program, good health program and calf raising program. As with all things we must turn over all of the information and learn what is going on behind the scenes. The faster you can cull, the better your herd, the better your herd, the faster you can cull. This will begin to snowball and then dairying becomes fun again.

So lets all absorb the extra 2% of reported national heifer inventory into our herds, make better milk, slow growth, sell older cows and have the price rebound.

Manure spreaders have been used by generation of farmers around the world in order to properly manage and maintain their organic fertilizer systems. Since crop rotation and the mechanized devices such as tractors invaded the family farm, growing crops has never been the same. This article will attempt to explain some of the history of manure spreaders and how this simple machine changed history.

History of Manure Spreaders

Joseph Oppenheim and Henry Synck's new farming devices were so popular that they built a successful manufacturing company around it called the New Idea Spreader Works.

Types of Muck Spreaders

Spreaders basically apply fertilizer one of two ways: either distribution by "flinging" solid wastes in a thin layer on the surface of the ground or by "spraying" liquid or moist waste, called "slurry" or "muck" along the top of the planting rows or pastures.

The pits are then pumped and slurry was then sprayed from manure spreader tankers with nozzles on back. Ironically called "honey wagons" by friends and enemies alike, these liquid manure spreaders are still being used for medium and large scale commercial farming operations.

But due to concerns about the environmental concerns of waster water runoff and the development of subdivisions closer and closer to previously rural livestock farms, the honey wagon is being rapid replaced in North America by the manure injector.

This manure spreader is a very high tech version of the old "spray and hope it stays" equipment of the past. With these newer injectors manure is applied directed below the surface of the soil which allows rapid absorption by plants and makes manure spreading less offensive for the neighbors.

Using a mechanical "shredder and spreader" device, manure is picked up from inside the holding bin, separated into smaller pieces and flung into the air to land on the surrounding ground.

How Manure Spreaders Are Powered

There are two ways to power a manure spreader: either with a PTO unit or with a ground driven mechanism. A tractor with a PTO uses a specially designed driveshaft to provide mechanical power for an attachment or separate farm machine.

Ground-driven manure spreaders use a beater-driver that rolls along the surface of the ground and uses the momentum of the ATV or tractor to distribute the dried or partially dried manure.

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