THIS YEAR DIDN’T GO SO WELL! CALVES 2022

[@paullynch277]

Phil the sheds need attention. You know what needs to be done - now its simply time to actually address the same issues you have talked about for the last few years. Unless you act now while its fresh in your mind, nothing will change and before you know it you will be restocking the sheds with new calves next season in the same environment the current ones have come through. You cannot change what has already happened, so no point letting it get to you - but you can influence what will happen in the future by what you do from now on. Looking forward to seeing you having better success next year. (The definition of insanity is - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time).

[@michaelhanley8425]

2 issues, time and money

[@tommurphy6062]

Less pumpkin patch more time on calf’s

[@johnnyflat2138]

He needs more sheds. Not just improving the ones he has. Running batches of 100+ calves in the same air space is poor practice

[@d-c86]

Fair play on the honesty Phil as dealing with livestock is tough...hopefully what you have will keep going now

[@patrickmurphy6847]

Great honesty milk industry v beef finisher big debate smaller beef unit can’t finish cattle on home products maize beet cost prohibitive

[@nsgkuaov]

Lad anyone who has ever tried to rear a calf has had dead ones that's just part of the game! I had a couple of horrible years rearing calves one year back in the oo's I lost 42 out of 60 and started to rotavac the next year we raised every calf born alive the we lost almost half the calves the next year after the first five or six that died we discovered we had bvd and vaced for that as well but we were to late for that year! We then started to build up cow numbers and had issues due to overcrowding , to cut a long story short we build a new calf rearing unit we now rear 120 odd calves , she whom must be obeyed has taken over the calf rearing job and we vac like our lives depend on it and we still have losses but at about 5 percent , we don't buy in calves and that is a major help as we are not dealing with poor little blighters who have been overwhelmed with assorted new bugs , my brother bought in 100 calves in January I feed them their meal over the weekend as he had gone off for a few days there was 42 calves to be feed , no wonder he was in bad form in Feb and March , he has decided he is never buying a calf that has not come from a cow that has not been rotavaced again , he bought 18 real nice fr bull calves off one man about 3 weeks old and all bar two died and truth be told the two that's left might have been better off if they had died day one because the bellies have been cut out of them by the scour and they are little raw potbellied lads that look very woebegone still, the last calves he got were 8 little heifers calves from a cousin of ours who vaccinated for everything and they are grand little lads who never looked back since the day he got them. Take my advice stick up a four or five bay shed with a good fall on the floor and sheeted gates between each bay put no more than twenty calves in each pen and after 2 or 3 weeks move them into the big sheds you have , only buy the calves off guys that you know have vaccinated and leave the management up to lib , I suspect that you will drop your mortality back to well under 10 percent and have a lot better calves , oh and don't buy anymore jersey crosses because they don't have the body condition to carry them through a bout of illness , my brother got 15 jersey crosses off one girl and they broke his heart basically an ordinary milk scour was fit to kill them they just had no capacity to absorb a few days off milk , he got them cheap but none of them survived. Great videos keep up the good work and the truth of the matter is you are almost there you have most of the ingredients you just need somewhere to isolate your calves for a few weeks until their immune systems get to grips with the new environment but I think you know this , a five bay thirty foot shed sheeted on three sides with 11 gates and the open side facing south , it won't cost a fortune .

[@vilhelmgrasbonde]

Takes a lot of courage Phil to be open and honest about things you feel you’ve failed at. Failure can only be recycled into growth! Good luck sorting out the lessons learned, finding a different way forward & keep aiming high!! 👍👍👍

He's not failed he just hasn't succeeded as much as he could have. Fail would be more like burning the shed down and killing all of them.

[@DianeD862]

It just shows your a caring farmer who cares for his stock.And welfare of his cow’s.We love that .best regards GodBless and peace ☮️

[@magsprettejohn2160]

Hi, not commented for a while, but I have been watching. I am so sorry you've had a bad year with the calves, I can see it has really broke your heart. Sad to see you so despondent. Regroup and move forward don't dwell on what can't be changed.

[@thatsme218]

I’m a joiner and don’t come from a framing back ground so I don’t have a clue what it takes to rare cattle from start to finish. But what I do know is that you are probably one of the most honest and down to earth farmers on KZbin and from what I can see yous try your up must hardest year in year out to rare very best you can but some times life kicks you in the nuts and try’s to make things very very hard for you. Keep your chin up lad 👍🏼

[@steven907]

Totally agree with you mate Stewart family give those calfs a better life than they would ever get elsewhere

[@willifarms9655]

Fair play to ya Phil for your honesty your only saying on camera what nearly everyone else that has reared calves have been through themselves at some point in time. Ino you mentioned it in the video about the colostrum but having came thro a winter from hell when it comes till calf rearing in 19/20 when we were treating nearly 100% of the calves for scour within the first 2 weeks of life losing close on 20% we knew something major needed addressed. After plenty of tests we too had a big issue with rota scour. The following year all cows got Rotovec (bloody expensive we thought), that completly transformed our calves, our mood and bottom line. We went from losing 25 calves till 4 that year. We sell calves mostly at home till multiple buyers all them coming back saying the same the calves that year had never done has well for them. Im not on here trying to blow my own trumpet iv been thro the hardship and know what it can do till your mental health but from what iv seen on my own farm it makes me think it always starts with the cow wether its the vaccine, the feeding, mineral packs or whatever else to aid till top quality colostrum what that calf gets in the first 2 weeks sets out the rest of it life imo. Probaly been of no help at all but keep up the good work you've 1 of the best farming youtube channels going and should be a 2 or 3 in front of your 62.1k subcribers.

[@jimr9762]

It's a tough job rearing bought in lower end calves from different sources. Everything has to be absolutely spot on and nobody gets it right all the time.

[@williamdonohoe6842]

Phil that tough balls to be that honest on video, keep what changes ye are going to make to yourself and hopefully they will work for ye, ye are hard working honest family, always light at the end of the tunnel and calves don’t get near as well looked after in other farms, Keep the head up an bate on 🍀👍

[@raybrophy1297]

fair play Phil...that's why people follow you... honesty and straight-talking...Drive on lad no better man...

[@michaelconway81]

Hard vid to make but well done for being so honest on the ups and downs of livestock rearing. Keep it up.

[@ulstermen]

I know exactly how your feeling, started sheep when I was 13, bought 4 ewe & 5 lambs, over 14 years I rented bits of land here, there & everywhere didn't own any & wasn't entitled to sfp at that time , worked my way to 140 breeding ewes, then I had to sell them & as most of the time it wasn't the sheep that were the problem it was the people that knew nothing about them, 14 years hard work & less than 14 minutes they were thrown the ring, broke my heart but what I learnt over those years no college could teach you, but looking back selling them was 1 of the best things I ever did. As a man told me onetime, when you get the right sickiner you'll know. don't let get you down to far cause its harder to get back up, keep the videos coming 👍

[@oconnellsfarm811]

Understand your pain we got rotaviris 2 year ago and it breaks ya mentally seeing all your work going down hill I seat down in calf shed crying one night said never again but got going again it just happens get bad runs your doing your best can do no more

[@michaelnorton3656]

Have a good understanding of your pain, Thanks for putting this video up it’s very important that other farmer see that there not alone,

[@gerryryan2142]

I lost a lot of calves when I took over the farm 20 years ago. Head wrecking it was. What helped me was I done up a shed with high roof and then built on. Low roofs on calf sheds is a disaster. Only my opinion, and as I say what ever works

[@dajayway]

Fair play phil for telling what works for ye, not easy raring calfs iv onky rared them off dairy cows we would keep the heifers for replacements and sold all the bulls at 4 to 5 weeks old, i know this mite not be possible but maybe if you try a quarantined system were you keep calfs from different farms away from each other for a few days just incase one batch has anything like scour that it doesnt run its course through them all. Love the videos keep up the great work

[@mikemac7221]

Hi Phil and Liv i can see how emotional and sad you are about losing the calves and by the sounds of it ye have had a very hard time of it this year. I had the same experience a few years back with a batch of calves i bought from 1 particular neighbor. And i did'nt loose any thanks to a very good older vet. But it taught me a very dear lesson as i was like you in despair my head was wrecked from them. I for personal reasons had to change my system the year after. And bought runners and had three great years but last year then was a crazy year with various issues. I suppose try to learn from it and move on as best you can. I hope you dont loose the passion you and Liv have for cattle. I love your honesty. Hope all goes well from now on with them. Best wishes Mike

[@welshcake2859]

So Pleased To Hear You Tell Bro To STOP HIS CURSING xx

[@user-ix2ec9py5g]

In my experience it’s really difficult to rear outsourced baby calves successfully in big batches on an automatic feeder . The best results I’ve seen achieved are by keeping calves in small groups ( max 8) on a milk bar type feeder with a teat per calf , the feeder is cleaned and disinfected after each feed and milk is dispensed via a portable milk cart . With only 1 teat per 25/30 calves on the automatic feeder infection is easily spread between calves as the test is never cleaned between calves

[@Jp-eo7jl]

Very straight and honest video ..mortality sickness rates have a lot of affect on the mind When your tryin your best and it's fighting you all the way Smaller numbers in smaller groups the way to go i think Easier managed when yous are so busy at other work

[@thomaslyons7393]

I found it a Hard year to mind calves this year as well. And I have never heard so many people say it as well . Stick with it. Good year’s will come

[@brendankavanagh6717]

I have to say the same it was a night mare year to mind calves this year and a lot of the farmers around here would tell ya the same

[@walt9234]

Honestly Phil fair play opening up. In my opinion and experience wouldn't you be better reducing the amount of calves you rear by 20% over stocking has a huge huge effect on animals. If you reduce numbers they will do a lot better themselves and you can do a better job of them because things won't be missed as much ect. Just my opinion keep it up lad 👍

[@willmoore3790]

Rotavirus is a real bugger and it knocks calves for a long time hopefully next year will be better we had bvd one year calves were dying for a past time very disheartening but things did get better stick with it you and the missus do a great job

[@earlepriest2544]

Deep breath and keep going it’s like everything you can do everything but when calves are young they catch bugs just as kids do when they first go to school it’s life but we keep going. You have a passion for farming keep it going.

[@SD43]

I don’t believe anyone tries harder than you and Liv. Keep your chin up pal, onwards and upwards. Good luck😍👍

[@keithmckenna7447]

Admire your honesty Phil, must be soul destroying to lose calves. Wishing you best of luck with the ones you have left and for next year.

[@seanlenehan7574]

Great video again Phil and liv. Calfs can nearly shelter under the docks 😀👍

[@George_Ren]

The stockmen & women understand exactly where you are coming from. It feels like you are dying bit by bit with each loss. You do the best that you can, keep learning new methods & learning what you can alter and what you can't. All the best to you both. And thanks for sharing what you do.

[@cdemo1186]

Fair play to you Phil, your honesty is brilliant. I can hear the stress in your voice and it's not nice. Please God the worst is over now. It's not good being stressed like that. If you have a plan for next year start now implementing it so you'll it the ground running next year when the calves arrive. Don't take the negative comments to heart as there will always be the few who will criticise rather than help. Keep the good side out Phil 👍🏼

[@richardpearce1065]

Hi Phil Liv and family sorry to hear you have had a bad year with the calves you can only do so much and the rest is nature dont blame you for being down at the moment but you still have all your work to do and you all work so hard that something good will come out this

[@jeffjefferson3364]

Fair play to you for being honest. I unfortunately will do the arsehole thing and say what we do with the calves Firstly taking in calves from different herds and not knowing for sure what has went on with them, I don't envy you. We rear our own heifers obviously and typically sell the bull calves reared. The calves get 2-3 litres of colostrum within an hour or 2 of birth. We keep a frozen supply that we can thaw if its late at night or midday. 2 litres doesn't seem like alot but our cows don't typically give an awful lot of colostrum in the first milking anyway. 5 or 6 litres max. I think that's important to realise that if you have a herd of cows typically giving 10 or litres of colostrum it may be quite diluted, and colostrum quality is often overlooked, they'll just bang 3-4 litres in them with a tube(another mistake imo as that first hour the calf has a strong natural urge to suck to feed and that's the best time to get it started on feeding) We had calf feeders like yours before, total disaster. Couple things, batches are far too large, problem are multiplied and spread far faster, you don't get to watch every calf feed, you wouldn't believe how many times you'll find a calf sick early because it was 30 seconds or a minute slower to finish than usual. We keep our calves in homemade pens of 2, and use double feeders to feed them. They get a light bedding every day and straw just keeps getting added until they leave we don't remove the bed until they are out of there which could be 6 weeks. Another thing is the milk powder. Milk powder is made up per bag instructions to be only half the strength in fat and protein as whole milk. That could be the cause of the majority of your issue. What you experienced is the purpose of the new zealand designed system. They figured out the least amount of milk possible to feed calves that would result in a much reduced feed bill that they could incurr the resulting losses of calves. This is the system they designed and if you follow bag instructions you are following that system. It's just enough milk for maintenance of 40kgs at 14°C, in a deep dry bed, with no disease pressure, all growth comes from the meal. Calves are also most susceptible to disease at 4 weeks old, this is when immunity from colostrum starts to wane and their own immunity hasn't quite caught up, moving calves at that age into larger groups and combining different groups would be a big risk. Cow Signals do a great book on calf rearing.

[@johnnyflat2138]

It seems Phil is too busy to implement a calf to beef system like you described. You can't be everywhere

[@jeffjefferson3364]

@@johnnyflat2138 I'm not trying to tell him what to do. That's what we do and I'm just offering info to think on. The biggest part is the milk powder, everyone wonders why calves do so much better on whole milk than powder, I never knew why either until I researched it, and let me tell you they didn't make the purpose of the feeding system easy to find!

[@hillbillycat65]

This is one of the reasons we all follow you, honesty, life is a lottery, farming even more so, you will get that perfect formula. Takes time but you will win.....

[@masseymansvideos9653]

sometimes phil you just got to think of the miracle calves and that if it wasn't for you they would be dead and the bulls that went to the factory last winter and how they have come because of you. and sometimes it is good to say everything that you want to get done Evan do it won't be done for a while but you are getting things done for example the 6290 that was in the shed I remember when you where saying that you need to get it out of the shed and eventually you got it done. Great video phil keep up the excellent work on KZbin and the farm

[@wulliewhyte544]

Well done for doing this very heart felt video just shows how much farmers love their animals keep at it Phil im sure you lads will get it all sorted.

[@user-rw2um8ro2p]

Great video Phil FairPlay to you telling it as it is farming can be cruel sometimes I hope you have a great year next year

[@haraldoudevoshaar7894]

hey phil and liv i run dairy sheep, and lambs can have high mortality rates, we shifted to feeding whole milk from a couple cows we milk on the side for the lambs instead of milk replacer and it's made a monster of a difference. we use to have trouble with many different illnesses and most of that went away when we used whole milk. nothing worse then the dreaded walk to the barn when your always walking into a problem, been there knowhow it feels hope this helps

[@44birdie44]

I'd say keep doing what you're doing. Just tweak a few things. Try take the top 5 improvement points that are raised in the comments on this video, even if you only address two of the five then that will make a bug improvement. Only thing you can't do is to do nothing different from this year. Best of luck

[@jix177]

Fair play for sharing the bad as well as the good. Very beneficial to anyone else in the same job. Don't be too hard on yourselves.

[@DN-ij4pk]

Well done for ur honesty. Thats what sets ur channell apart from every 1 else. You no the changes u need to make. Their expensive and will take time. Maybe you should buy in less calfs until the facilities are better. Less calfs to you is still a lot of calfs. I heard ur agisnst buying older cattle but you phrased it as 1 or the other. You could keep rearing calfs just less. And buy some other cattle threw out the year depending on what u think is cheap. Iv often thought seeing them on done deal that freisin weanlings can be reall good value. When u factor in uv not got to rear them. Its done. Id also stick to the older calf uv proved that. And the older people wud never have bought a 2 week old calf. And they wer not wrong. Their must be some way of training them onto the feeder. Or just dont use the feeder. Feed them twice a day. They shud be able to be turned out by day anyways in march. Thats the main thing. You need to build facilities to keep the batches of calfs seperate. And easily let them out by day from early march on any suitable weather day.

[@johngilbert5430]

Very honest vid Phil, I don't think your the only one who's had a bad year, ours haven't performed like I'd have hoped.

[@farmernige]

Totally get how you feel, had a tough 15 months losing sucklers and calves despite trying to do everything right. Sometimes it's out of your control. Colostrum, who knows could be quality or underlying health issues in that herd. One thing I noticed was you have big groups and tho I like the chicanes they are too big and air flow at the back can't be as good. Yes everyone is an expert but take a trip to someone lime Joanne Pile that rear calves. Take an open mind and try and bring back some ideas. Try air tubes for ventilation. Pneumonia is a bastard, I had lots of trouble because I had too many bales because I thought they were cold. Lie down you should be dry and no draught but head height should be air movement, had to achieve. I'm losing calves at grass because of warm days and cold nights over the last 2 years in May, cant win! But don't lose heart Phil.

[@philipkimber6302]

i feel for you with losing calves. i have cried more than once losing calves etc. But that's what makes you good farmers - you care!

[@stephenmeehan9961]

Great to see your honesty in farming on how things go and not hidden to make things look so perfect as many farmers sadly try their best and do whatever they can to keep things going and looking good but are covering up their anxiety as not every day the sun shines on you. Your words will let people see that they are not alone with farming issues and hopefully you will get around these problems and continue to get a good batch of animals reared. As the old people used to say once the problems are outside of the house it ain't too bad. Great video and it couldn't have been easy to sum up things at the end....

[@madboutcars1]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I lost 12 out of 32 calves most were strong simmental and whiteheads. Rant away lad, ti's the year for it

[@tomwhelan4607]

Thanks for a brilliant and honest video. Farming can be very difficult but never forget that you and Liv abd all are doing your very best and that is all anyone can do. Our best is enough and we should try to be happy with that no matter how things go, knowing that it will not always go our way. It is obvious you folk are doing all that can be done. Well done to you.

Liv's only phoning it in half the time. (It's a joke, I'm joking. Ah Liv there's no need to be reacting like that. Right so, I apologise and it won't happen again.)

[@Hillfarmlamb]

Great vid Phil and Liv loosing livestock takes it toll on ya been there had a bad year a few years ago with sheep lambing and said that it no more sheep just cattle still have them year after cattle went against me fair play for the honest review on calf rearing hate loosing animals myself but live by my 2 granny's advice from when I started farming.. WHEN YOU HAVE LIVESTOCK YOU'LL HAVE DEAD STOCK ... ONCE IT'S OUTSIDE THE DOOR 👍👍👍👍Keep the head up and in your own words bate on👍👍

[@cormacbyrne9341]

Chin up lad we have all been there

[@DCFelix67]

Thanks for this video, as hard for you as it was. Really appreciate all the cattle videos and good luck for the rest of the year. You know the saying, if the Irish didn't have bad luck, they would have no luck at all.

[@timizod8966]

Phil we all understand, you do the best you can. It must be so hard when your rearing them from such a young age, you get attached, no matter what you do. You do a brilliant job please don't feel down about it, you have nothing to feel down about. You and Liv do a fantastic job, sometimes against the odds 🐄🐂🐮

[@irvenrathburn9421]

THE little bull's are looking good . I was waiting to see how they were doing I am glad you put up this video we like to see how they are doing. And they all look grate vary happy for you things are going better now !!

[@tractorchannel8939]

Phil, keep the head up, a lot more of the calfs would have die ,if they went to another farm I think . you give it 100% what more can you do

[@chrismccann9837]

The joys of livestock farming Phil, keep it up lad! Our Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday s won’t be the same without it 👍💪💨

[@jameszy88]

Thanks for this video phil, I take loosing calfs hard aswel. And the more you have the more you loose! Doesn’t get any easier always feels like a fail. I do find the smaller batch sizes helps a lot. Keep your head up you and the family are doing a great job 👍👍

[@pjdoyle5105]

Well done Phil. Can’t be easy. But keep the head up and it will come good. Love the videos every week. Ye are a hard working family.

[@rayireland232]

know just how you feel Phil we never put big money in anything ether nothing fancy here an old lad said to me once there is no profit in pride . next year will be better.

[@douggilroy1188]

Thanks for sharing the reality, that's what we non farmers bneed to heart about.

[@garymadden2656]

Great video Phil it’s not easy your very honest about the whole thing keep the chin up the good times will come 👌

[@patbrennan244]

Fair play Phil and Liv, as long as you learn from mistakes and make changes to improve what you can control your doing the best you can, you have to allow for a few losses. My father always said that while you've got livestock, you have to allow for some dead stock. Nobody or no system is perfect. You're on the right track with getting them a bit older and the airflow and getting a vet involved. It will add another cost, but if it pays off, it will be well worth it. How far down the wishlist is the purpose built calf shed? That would be some job.

[@jamiemcgurl4002]

Very well made video and very honest, I think every farmer has felt the way you are feeling now sometimes these things just happen.

[@joepowdely]

fair play to you Phil i think that you and Liv do your best for the calves and sometimes mother nature goes against you there's not a lot you can do about it best of luck with rest of them 👍

[@ballyhoulihanagrivideos397]

Very good video. Calves are tricky at best of times. We have a similar if much smaller calf to beef operation.You never like loosing some but probably have to get used to it. Maybe try to get calves as close as possible to 3 weeks on purchase. We find that can make a massive difference.

[@himself2]

Phil everybody is an expert, calves are a persnickety bugger to get right, has to be disheartening but next year could be a belter, hang in there, the man who hasn’t tried hasn’t lived

[@darraghdoyle3097]

Don’t worry about it I’ve felt the same one year to you just lose hope with such a death rate u lose interest with them just want it to be over and done with. But trust me next year is going to be a smashing year with calves for ya

[@alpyne21]

👍 fair play for the honesty of these videos-good baseline to improve going forward - only a mistake if u don’t learn from it

[@jamesok86]

Keep the head up Phil tough work with Calves alone not to mind trying to keep everything else going as well.

[@markmcg7728]

Well done for being so open and honest 👏

[@colmcoakley3916]

all the best to you both, look after yourselves and hopefully things get better

[@billabong9215]

There is nothing you can do about it Phil. Never had rotavirus on this farm or at least I can never remember it. Spoke to few people and they had issues with it too which they couldn't get over. I lost 8 calves out of 60. Literally went down over night, I leave the calves drink the cow for 2 days, Ask the farmers to vaccinate the cows maybe. Its the mild weather too over the winter and like you said.... the difference in herds as well. Keep the head up Phil. It's been a tough year. Another option is to downsize. Maybe keep a 100 less or even 50. There's a lot of work in 50 calves.

[@colmturtle]

Don't give up on them phil . When you're dealing with big numbers it's going to happen. Chin up and keep up the good work.

[@joeclancy868]

You're doing the best you can life can be hard and live stock in spring is not easy keep going

[@TadhgIrish]

Fair play Phil. You can see it in you the affect the loss of the calves had on you. Chin up and as you said. Make some changes. And track the progress. We all know that tractors might make an appearance aka the Zettor. But when everyone is time poor. It’s not always possible to get to all the jobs. If the tractors make to a video it will be awesome. If not so what. All the best Phil.

[@philipkimber6302]

good to see your software working. Government over here in the uk has decided to change software provider. that has messed up the software we use with the sheep! probably trying to save a few pounds!

[@eoinmckeon2810]

I always like watching the calf videos ,I think it's great what your doing, best of luck with the calves

[@2013viewchannel]

Yeah it's tough when they dont pull through. I think a lot of people and include farmers in that dont realise how much goes into rearing cattle mentally. It's always tough to see them struggling and I can completely understand why Liv didn't want to talk about the lad that came round. Often been the case with cows calving and we have had a calf (or cow) that's in trouble. It's a real high when you get it right and they recover but can be fairly soul destroying when it doesn't. Chin up Phil every day is a school day and as you said you learn from this and try the things that worked

[@martinoneill1644]

I haven’t been overly impressed with calves I have reared this year. Have heard reports of farmers questioning the quality of milk replacer this year.

[@ciaranomalley9274]

Thanks fpr your honesty Phil great run tru on the calves warts an all !

[@Eoghanhayes1a]

Fair dues coming forward about it Phil ye put a good effort down and be hard done without liv, best of luck going forward

[@stevepalmer8285]

Morning Phil, good on you for your honesty 👍, I understand about not wanting to pick the camera up.you do next year what works for you.its been a tough year for you regarding the calf's, you and your Mrs are doing a grand job.take care and see you on the next video .

[@paulodowd1172]

Keep head up Phil you and liv did all ye could for those calfs and it's very hard to lose them I've gone through it and know what it's like too lose cattle. Great video keep it up👍

[@cormacpower104]

Fair play lad keep her lit ,we all have bad years .Take the learnings from it .

[@pacollopy2049]

It’s a hard thing to see Phil after your hard work. We reared a lot of calves this year and they broke my heart. Every day there was something with them. We too got rota virus and we started using milkshake c guard and it help an awful lot. It’s hard to beat the early calves. We had January calves and little of no problems. The later March ones got everything going. Keep your head up. Next year be a better year. Credit to you for talking about it.

[@johnmm8522]

Drive on Phil, all us dairy to beef boy's have the same problems your doing nothing wrong, just keep tipping away and it will soon come right for you

[@peterdooley2393]

Good man Phil, you tell it as it is. Keep the head up. Would you try keeping the in smaller batches for the first few weeks, I know it takes more space but visual to see which ones are thriving and which ones need a bit of help.

[@tiakitahunafarmadventurepa5694]

Fair play to ya Phil and the team it's hard on but your right on only spending little bit compared to the mart it'll pay off in long run good on ya keep up the great videos

[@agoodbluewilldo8359]

Really hope things turn around for yous with the calves. We all here love your honesty and the real life farming, the good bits and bad bits. Would you maybe get a extra trough with each batch? They just seem to be a bit crowded at meal time. Just a thought...

[@declanf9184]

Good video good luck with the calf’s Good quality grass is the best for the calf’s and not costing too much money

[@tommawle8896]

Alpha ‘Bravo’ Charlie Delta

[@jamesholland7473]

Fair play to opening up about the calves losses, it not easy when things go wrong.. Probably best to buy calves little older because less chance of get unwell when you rear larger volumes is hard going but your done great jobs and keep up..

[@francisg9656]

Phil the calves can be tough to rear especially when you're busy doing other jobs. Would you consider buying in yearling steers/heifers and taking them through to beef don't have to buy fancy ones dairy crosses will do good value to be had too and less time spent on them. A change is as good as a rest 👍

[@markredmond987]

I rear 60 dairy beef and replacement s calves for my dairy herd and even with my own stock its hard to get calves flying at grass. Don't know how u cope with different herds and such large numbers.id cut back to 100 to 150calves and buy fro herds u don't get trouble with and with high prices for tillage crops I'd till more.less is more.less work..we dairy farmers need people like u to take dairy beef calves.

[@Thesimonwales]

It would be interesting to hear Liv's thoughts on the calves

[@aidanelliott6228]

Guys your all doing a great job, Theirs not a farmer in the country regardless what type of farming they do ,no two years are the same You get two bad one good so unpredictable. Nothing to do with the way your farming keep your chin up we farmers understand how you feel . It’s a tough game stick with it all will be good 👍

[@mertonflynn6227]

Phil Fair play to your honesty Keep the head up- dont loose your self-belief, hard lesson! No business/job is without its negative side, the difficulty is sustaining the hit and keeping going- Keep her lit! Better to talk it out than Bottle it up

[@smalldairyfarmer]

Well done for showing I gave my calves apple cider vinegar this year in milk found it good less sick calves it might help you

[@JACK11168]

Great video phil hope the calfs go better for you next year

[@agoodbluewilldo8359]

Just had some of your burgers I got of ya in Nobber Phil. Very very tasty guys...Peolpe need to go on the Steward Family Farm page and buy a few...

[@adriancollins1347]

Things will turn around again Phil I think everybody gets a year like that now and again

[@marianshalloe7569]

All will be well Phil. Ye doing a great job 👏

[@loughowel]

Just wondering if you have any simple biosecurity measures in place? To reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, especially between sheds of two different batches.

[@dannyjones7181]

Very honest sad about the losses but that the way it goes! Keep at what ye are doing things will improve ye will learn a few things from the advice given in the comments far play to everyone for giving there honest opinions that’s the most important thing everyone trying to help each other out! Maybe it is an idea not to take the calves off a farm until at least 3/4 weeks old ! Keep up the good work 👍it will all be mastered in the end at least look on the bright side your subscribers numbers are rising good luck to ye all 👍