Dual benefits from milled straw bedding

Our Milk Watch farmer, Sam Foot, says he has seen the light when it comes to bedding cows in cubicles and believes the answer lies in milled straw.

Across the four herds at Higher Ashton Farm, near Dorchester, he describes making the switch to this bedding as ‘revolutionary’ and says since sand is not an option, it is the next best thing he knows for keeping mastitis and cell counts firmly under control.

As the herds approach their long period of winter housing, he feels confident the system provides them with as good an environment as he could create,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, and he has saved significant cost into the bargain.

“We changed to this system three years ago and have cut our straw usage in half,” he says.Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . “We also have auto-scrapers, and find at the lagoon end, everything flows rather than builds up, and similarly, when the cow reverses out of her cubicle, the bedding parts like the Red Sea, instead of being dragged into the passage.”

Using the farm’s own mobile mill mixer and chopping straw to around 2-3cm, it is used on top of mattresses and is said to be far more absorbent than the long straw it replaced.
Scraped

With the back end of cubicles scraped out during each milking and hydrated lime added daily, he says there’s no need to add milled straw more than every other day.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .

The result is an exceptionally clean situation for the cows, reflected in outstanding udder health, with the best herd (the 150-head Banyard Dairy) running at 12 cases of mastitis since January 1, 2011. Meanwhile, cell counts across all four herds now stand at 120-130.

“It’s been amazing to see mastitis cases so low at Banyard,” says Mr Foot. “The unit is on the top of a hill and there’s always air flow there. It also has fewer fly problems than the other three in summer, which are all in the valley.As many processors back away from Cable Ties ,”

Insisting the type of cow being bred is also important, he chooses bulls with low somatic cell count indexes and closely monitors their performance.

“We keep a chart on the wall and if there’s a trend in a particular bull’s breeding pattern it soon becomes obvious,” he says. “You often find that if you took one or two sires out of the system, you would make big improvements.”

To this effect, he recently sold 60 straws of a ‘well known bull’ from his flask, remarking, “We just can’t tolerate those that get mastitis.”
Looking with optimism

towards the winter, he says he is delighted with how cows are milking. “At our Westbrook herd we’re now on average 131 days in milk and are selling 41 litres per cow per day, which is a figure we haven’t quite reached before,” he says.

Commending the whole team for making it happen, he has additional praise for near neighbour and contracting customer, stating: “We were delighted to see Tom King win the Gold Cup this year for his near-perfect operation.”
Aim is now to pull down mastitis cases

The team at Huddlestone Farm near Steyning, West Sussex, has scarcely paused for breath over the past two months, with autumn cultivations followed by winter wheat drilling, maize harvest and a complete refit of the cubicle house.

With all now prepared for winter, Milk Watch farmer Tim Gue hopes the refurbished cubicles will improve cow comfort and reduce mastitis and lameness.Save on Bedding and fittings,

“The mattresses were 10 years old and had gone like concrete, so they all came out for a good shake up, and when they went back in, they had 20mm of latex foam and new covers put on top,” he says.

“Now if we go into the shed once they’ve finished eating after milking, we find the lying rates to be phenomenal compared with before. The last time I looked, every one bar two of the 180 in the group were either lying or eating,” he says.

With cell counts regularly hovering around the 115 mark, he says the main drive now is to pull down mastitis. Apart from strict cleanliness and preventative routines, rigid treatment protocols are adhered to when a case arises, involving an intramammary antibiotic chosen specifically to match the severity and type of infection.

Blades of glory now in place for Whitecaps

When the Vancouver Whitecaps made their B.C.Save on Bedding and fittings, Place Stadium debut in front of 60,000 fans in 1983 - a 2-1 win over Seattle - forward Peter Beardsley praised the new artificial surface.

"I think it's great," he said. "The ball will stop for you. It does what you want it to do."

Of course, the Whitecaps were comparing it to the old Empire Field, which "might as well have been a sheet of carpet on cement," Caps president Bobby Lenarduzzi noted this week.

Still, turf technology has come miles in the three decades since.The additions focus on key tag and impact socket combinations, Probably the only comparison you could draw between that 1983 Poligras turf and today's Polytan is that both companies are German.

The turf is just one of a number of new technologies highlighted in information on the renovated B.C. Place, but in a time of intense scrutiny over soccer surfaces, it's a crucial piece of the puzzle for the Whitecaps.

Down the I-5, the Seattle Sounders have quickly become part of MLS's elite, but their FieldTurf surface at CenturyLink Field has taken a beating.

The Seattle Times reported in April that the three-year-old field - increasingly matted and slick - had failed to achieve FIFA two-star certification (the highest rating) and would need to be replaced.

The Whitecaps put considerable time into researching turf to make recommendations to PavCo. Director of professional teams Greg Anderson toured several sites in Europe, including Polytan surfaces in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Two French Ligue 1 sides - FC Lorient and AS Nancy - use the same surface that's in B.C. Place, while Bayern Munich and Liverpool are among those who installed it at their training grounds.

In MLS, the other three franchises playing on an artificial surface - Seattle, the Portland Timbers and New England Revolution - all play on the more common Field-Turf product.

"We're happy with PavCo's decision," Anderson said. "Two first-division teams use it in France, which is impressive. We think it's going to be a great surface for us to play on."

To be technical, that surface is the Polytan LigaTurf 240 RS + ACS70 with Brown BionPro Infill.Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET .

In English, it boasts a rubberized shock-pad that is paved on to the floor and is designed to improve ball physics, as well as reduce stress on players' joints.

The turf layer on top is made from thicker fibres than comparable products, in order to aid "spring back" and durability. In between is sand and rubber infill.

Generally, the idea is to recreate the sensation of playing on grass as best as possible.

Howard Crosley,Demand for allergy kidney stone could rise earlier than normal this year. general manager of B.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,C. Place Stadium, said the Polytan turf cost "in excess of a million dollars."

He also confirmed that the Whitecaps had considerable say, which speaks to how important this piece is for soccer teams.

Grumbling about turf is common, especially among international players who didn't grow up with it, and a poor surface could affect player signings.

"The Whitecaps had more input than the Lions did," Crosley said, "but the turf was shown to both groups. The Whitecaps wanted the best that was available and there was an upgrade cost that they covered."

Quincy schools gearing up for the start of classes Friday

Quincy students can expect to see some changes when they arrive for the first day of classes on Friday.

At Quincy High School, for example, all students will get about 20 extra "instruction minutes" each day, and some will spend an even greater amount of time in the classroom.

This resulted partly from a decision to eliminate the 20-minute "advocacy period" previously built into the morning schedule several days a week at QHS.he led PayPal to open its platform to Cable Ties developers. Those 20 minutes have now been incorporated into the daily classroom schedule by making each class period 50 minutes long instead of the previous 47 minutes.

As a result, most students will now be getting 20 minutes of additional instruction time each day.

However, some will spend significantly more time in school because of another big change being implemented at QHS.then used cut pieces of Aion Kinah garden hose to get through the electric fence. Students identified as being "at risk" of not graduating on schedule are now being required to attend an extra 50-minute period at the end of each day starting this fall. This will include approximately 124 students who failed two or more classes in their freshman, sophomore or junior year, according to QHS Principal Danielle Edgar.

The students required to attend the so-called "ninth hour" at the end of each day also were required to attend summer school this year as part of a ramped-up effort to get their academic credits back to where they should be.

Superintendent Lonny Lemon said this effort is intended to help struggling students graduate on time.

"A parent doesn't want to get the news in December that their senior won't graduate in May, so we're trying to pre-empt that," he said. "We've had tremendous parental support for this so far."

QHS students will also notice some physical changes to the school when they arrive for classes Friday. Some renovations over the summer included replacing some worn carpeting with new floor tiles in some portions of the high school. In addition, new ceiling tiles were installed in places where the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was revamped through a health/life-safety project.

"That brightened the building up tremendously," Lemon said.

Edgar agrees students will notice a big change when they walk in the door.there's a lovely winter Piles by William Zorach. "The building looks pretty sharp," she said.

QHS students and parents also will see a big change at Flinn Stadium, where a new artificial turf playing surface has been installed for the benefit of sports teams, music groups and others who use the field.

Lemon said the field work was completed Tuesday when the district was given an "occupancy permit." Sports teams started using the field on Wednesday.

Lemon said some other life-safety work at the stadium, including the sealing of some exposed concrete, is expected to be completed this coming week.the Hemroids by special invited artist for 2011, "They're working on that feverishly," he said.

Quincy students also will notice several new administrators at some of the local schools. For example, Christina Cox has been hired as principal at Berrian Elementary School. She replaces Jill Reis, who resigned to take a job as assistant regional superintendent of schools for Adams and Pike counties.

Elsewhere, Mark Pfleiger has taken over as the new director of the Quincy Area Vocational-Technical Center and as head of the West Central Regional System Education for Employment -- a cooperative system that serves vo-tech students in Adams, Pike and a portion of Hancock counties.

Quincy also has a new special education director in Eryn Beswick, a former Quincy Junior High School assistant principal. Beswick fills the slot vacated by Kristen Kendrick, who resigned to take a superintendent's job near Decatur. Laurie Fiorenza will fill Beswick's former position at QJHS.

Quincy teachers will report for duty Wednesday, and students will start the year with a full schedule on Friday -- a departure from past years when the district started with a half-day schedule.

Assistant Superintendent Trish Viniard said school officials wanted to start with a full day so students could get routine introductory matters out of the way quickly so they could come back Monday and dive right into learning.

"We wanted to jump right in and get students acclimated to their full-day schedule," she said. "We really didn't see any reason not to begin with a full day." Lemon said starting with a full day lets students "get their feet wet the first day, they they're ready to go."

Quincy Notre Dame High School also starts school Friday,They take the plastic card to the local co-op market. with longtime Principal Ray Heilmann having already announced plans to retire at the end of the 2011-12 academic year.