Anna
That's fascinating that small dairy herds are starting again built on quality. In many ways Sweden is ahead of us in the UK in terms of health and quality issues (sorry UK folks), so that could be where we're heading. Hope so. And that it doesn't take too long.
Newcomers - Welcome
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Broomcroft
- Posts: 3005
- Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:42 am
- Location: Shropshire, England
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I am obviously out of touch Clive; I had not come across either Windbreaker or Netlon. When I put my building up, I used Yorkshire boarding, a slatted boarding with narrow gaps of daylight in between, which was supposed to do the same sort of thing, in the side of the building.
My cattle always make a beeline for any nylon string, and trying to tie a gate with it is fatal. I would be very nervous of leaving anything made of nylon where they could attack it; they will always find a plastic cake bag, if one is careless enough to leave it lying around. I looked up your reference Anna; it was most helpful.
We do use electricity to warm up piping; in America they also have cleverly designed water troughs to do the same thing.
Your dairy industry appears to be going in the opposite direction to ours. Dairy farming here is in decline, with about three farmers retiring every day, since what they receive for the milk from the big dairies, does not cover the cost of production.
Cubicles were invented by a Welsh farmer around fifty years ago, and are in common use here. They consist of a narrow bed, too narrow for the cow to turn round in, and with a step up which prevents them going in backwards. The design means the bed keeps clean, requires very little straw, and the muck is dropped into the concrete passage behind. The cows have free access, and have food offered elsewhere. I actually built in a manger and hayrack into the front of mine, which facilitates everyone getting fair shares.
There are a few cheese making farms over here, but they are not multiplying. What are the common cattle breeds over there?
My cattle always make a beeline for any nylon string, and trying to tie a gate with it is fatal. I would be very nervous of leaving anything made of nylon where they could attack it; they will always find a plastic cake bag, if one is careless enough to leave it lying around. I looked up your reference Anna; it was most helpful.
We do use electricity to warm up piping; in America they also have cleverly designed water troughs to do the same thing.
Your dairy industry appears to be going in the opposite direction to ours. Dairy farming here is in decline, with about three farmers retiring every day, since what they receive for the milk from the big dairies, does not cover the cost of production.
Cubicles were invented by a Welsh farmer around fifty years ago, and are in common use here. They consist of a narrow bed, too narrow for the cow to turn round in, and with a step up which prevents them going in backwards. The design means the bed keeps clean, requires very little straw, and the muck is dropped into the concrete passage behind. The cows have free access, and have food offered elsewhere. I actually built in a manger and hayrack into the front of mine, which facilitates everyone getting fair shares.
There are a few cheese making farms over here, but they are not multiplying. What are the common cattle breeds over there?
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Broomcroft
- Posts: 3005
- Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:42 am
- Location: Shropshire, England
- Contact:
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natmadaboutdexters
- Posts: 220
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:49 pm
- Location: Brackley
HOORAY, I have finally managed to find out my user name by looking at the members list ( never thought of that before!) and now have a new password to boot. I can finally add a comment to some of the postings instead of just wishing i could find my username and password to reply.
Anyhow, I have been a member since September 2005 or just before of the offiicial Dexter Society when my husband and I purchased our first two Dexters from Melton Mowbray.
They were bought for our ten year old daughter to look after and show but I have ended up being very involved in their daily care, so now my daughter and I are in competition at the shows. She beat me at Herts show so roll on Blakesley!
Natasha Lewis :D
Anyhow, I have been a member since September 2005 or just before of the offiicial Dexter Society when my husband and I purchased our first two Dexters from Melton Mowbray.
They were bought for our ten year old daughter to look after and show but I have ended up being very involved in their daily care, so now my daughter and I are in competition at the shows. She beat me at Herts show so roll on Blakesley!
Natasha Lewis :D
I think that milk production (and also the meat production) in Sweden is moving both ways, towards bigger and even more specialized herds AND towards smaller aiming for high quality and locally produced products. After so many years of only moving towards bigger and bigger units I feel it is so great that there are people that dare go the other way, and that the market for that kind of products are growing.
The talk about meat from grass fed animals is spreading here too now, that is also great. The big firm Swedish Meats, that is supposed to be a cooperative but mostly seems to work on keeping the payment to the farmers down, has over the last five or ten years forced the lamb procucers to breed lambs all year. Before lambs were always breed in spring and grass fed over the summer, but now that is not the picture any more. The consumers do still think that mutton is meat from free and grazing animals, but for how long? At the same time, the awareness of Omega-3 in grass fed meat is spreading and some farmers form own cooperatives and they sell the meat, marketed as grass fed, by themselves. For prices far better than they get from the abattoir. And I have learned from the discussions here that you do the same in Brittain.
Meat labeled with the name of a breed is not common at all here. I think that the awareness of different breeds producing different quality and taste is very low. Maybe because people haven´t tried dexter meat?? I haven´t tried it myself yet, but your talk about how good it is makes me hungry. Since I only eat meat from my own farm I have not eaten beef for years, I hardly remember what it is like. But soon enough...
The talk about meat from grass fed animals is spreading here too now, that is also great. The big firm Swedish Meats, that is supposed to be a cooperative but mostly seems to work on keeping the payment to the farmers down, has over the last five or ten years forced the lamb procucers to breed lambs all year. Before lambs were always breed in spring and grass fed over the summer, but now that is not the picture any more. The consumers do still think that mutton is meat from free and grazing animals, but for how long? At the same time, the awareness of Omega-3 in grass fed meat is spreading and some farmers form own cooperatives and they sell the meat, marketed as grass fed, by themselves. For prices far better than they get from the abattoir. And I have learned from the discussions here that you do the same in Brittain.
Meat labeled with the name of a breed is not common at all here. I think that the awareness of different breeds producing different quality and taste is very low. Maybe because people haven´t tried dexter meat?? I haven´t tried it myself yet, but your talk about how good it is makes me hungry. Since I only eat meat from my own farm I have not eaten beef for years, I hardly remember what it is like. But soon enough...
Anna Bergstrom
Sweden
Sweden