shed?

wiggy123

what to pay for rent of a shed(slatted house)
i paid 60c per animal a day last winter!
had a mixed bag--so used 4 pens...
as had cows+weanlings+calves(17 just in total)
had me own silage..he used the slurry
that fair?
hopefully get shed again tis year..as if not--b wintering outdoors...bad!

vanderbadger

wiggy123 wrote: »

what to pay for rent of a shed(slatted house)
i paid 60c per animal a day last winter!
had a mixed bag--so used 4 pens...
as had cows+weanlings+calves(17 just in total)
had me own silage..he used the slurry
that fair?
hopefully get shed again tis year..as if not--b wintering outdoors...bad!

what did it cost you in total for the winter wiggy?
Actually if it anyway reasonable and the shed is handy for you location wise I would say you are lucky to have the use of it

wiggy123

it came to about €1100,(palyed footy with him-sound fella) with cows as they calved goin out to grass..
ah it is vy handy..great job--saves me alot of time-feeding/herding wise..etc
had looked at other sheds--further away
one man wanted €22 a bale,that was it--so u paid by the amount of bales they used.he fed them also..the bales

wiggy123

had no bales last yr-except 25...so bought bales @€;15 also last winter,was 07 stuff--not great! it costed me about €1150 in total..
then meal,etc..as fed flake maize to dry cows!crunch to weanlings+dairy nutsto cows+calves!
so i'd say in all winter costed me roughly €3000+
not to bad...
have me own silage this yr...98 bales so far-some 2nd cut to do,end of this mth...if weather drys up

vanderbadger

not too bad so Id say, the silage was cheap enough, I doubt you would get it for that price this year..sounds like you will have plenty anyway, your calf willbe grand, just start him on a good tit, he wont be long getting wise and wont go near the bad one probably

wiggy123

it was that..was in next field to shed...was very handy!
was vy poor--use to leave in a bale, then take mayb 1/3 or 1/2 it back out..was tough work!
had a gd few trailer loads of sh*t..
i was doin ur man a favour!
ah no--silage be a big price this yr..say hit the €30 bracket @the backend..
i'm grand-should hav plenty! will allow me cut back on the meal bills...as i farm part time-pedigree angus!

ah hopefully--calf will find the correct teats..
cow is only 3yr old.has vy bad back feet-so unless she does her calf good--she'll b moved..
is a lovely lookin+has gd breeding..but not doin the job...typical

vanderbadger

so much for the weather clearing, last night really finished things down my way anyway, must have made a few inches rain, how are the angus working out for you, do you sell the weanlings and if so are they making good money, they are nice cattle i think myself but oftened wondered how they do at sale time. Ya bad bales are a pain in the hole, forking in and forking out again

wiggy123

weather to change 2mrrw i think..is warm 2day--but wet...land is a disaster @mo--i hav grass, but its no value..to animals..go to be a long winter!
angus doin ok..normally sell at hse..used stock bulls-until last yr-used ai! unreal the difference,better quality...
keep around 10 cows...6 spring/4 autumn!do hav about 6 weanlings most yrs,around now! sold 3 heifers last yr @7mths-got €650 each..ok! were average!
bulls kept on-sold there in July-made average €1150..weighed light i thought as were gettin a stone of meal a day..were only on average 475kg..
so doing ok,with them--a hobby!
--the angus breed doing ok--mayb an oversupply,also some angus's got to big/muscalar-so dairy men going off them, herefords mayb passin them for dairy men!

bad bales,they were!

wiggy123

i have 6 calves at mo..3 of each sex...2 of each are ai bred,others out of stock bulls..the difference is like chalk+cheese!
i have a april bull calf-that is like a black limousin, has great power/rear end...looking forward to when i sell him..nex spring!

am planning on putting the heifers indoors!
3 bulls to aftergrass-thats growing at mo,this 3 weeks,good cover--is a 2.5 acre field..wondering would ya strip graze it of let them out on it all???
as for meal-what would u give them..
debating on beef nuts(say 5lb each, start off)or mix of barley/nuts/maize/soya hulls...advice??

vanderbadger

caught a bit of some show on bbc last week about angus breeding in scotland, mostly about how they have changed over the years from "belt buckle cattle" as they called them or tiny in other words to the much bigger version we see today, interesting enough. Am trying to get a system working in my own place, my dad passed away sept of last year so still finding my feet, we have not sold weanling for years, he used to keep them on, my own interest would be to try and keep less stock, maybe try and have about 20 right good cows and ai them all and sell all weanlings. not easy though, im trying to weed out old cows etc and it seems to be taking forever, i wonder would a fella be as well just to buy 20 good in calf heifers..anyway I suppose you would need to be lucky with them, I had one cow that came bulling late last oct and I had her ai 'd as i had sold stock bull, she calved last month, bb heifer, as you say the difference is very obvious..the calf was not over big but even when I dehorned her at a week old i could not get over the bulk of her. I think I will try and ai any early calvers this year while they are indoors, once they go out dont think i could manage it as i work full time, I have 5 strong heifers weaned already and was thinking of selling them but I hear heifers going bad this year, I feed them beef nuts every day to be honest, they were well used to nuts as I feed them beef nuts when they are young indoors, not sure if thats a good thing to be giving weanlings or not though
Also I dont ever strip grase myself, for a small number of cattle i dont think its necessary but one of the other boys here might have a better idea

wiggy123

cheers for that
beef nuts to weanlings..depends on there breed..told it can stump animals-as they need to grow/develop.etc...
hard to know what to do!

If i was you..i'd look about gettin 20 incalf heifers, calving early nex spring-say feb! be a uniform herd for ya then...
or else-if hav the housing, get teh same number eitherd calved recently-or due b4 say october!
you'd have great weanlings for the sales this time nex yr..or in july!
heard that-heifer weanlings are back,i'd say a €100 ahead..bull wenalings holding there own..gd cattle still making the big bucks..the usual--yr after yr!
ah ai'ing in my opinion,only option-unless u can fork out €3-5k for a stock bull, and then it miten't suit all ur females..with ai-u can chop+change! bulls..better value!can b hard to get..

vanderbadger

well bought in a new bull last jan, nice looking charolais, 5* so will see how he works out, kept 4 of my own heifers and they should be in calf to him, will see how he works out, have a good few heifers coming thru and depending on how these 4 work out I will keep I will put in calf also, plus nearly all of this years calves were heifers so wont be short replacements, am hoping this bull does ok now

wiggy123

hope he does gd for ya!

ah well then,u'll b sorted..nice to see a uniform herd of cows! can compare them then, for calf production/calf quality/milkiness etc...

ah i..seen that prog before..unreal how both the angus/hereford breed evolved over the years..they were unreal small...but covered the ground well..
are a nice animal..

vanderbadger

ya this old farmer on that show was on about how he paid 30k for a bull and thats what started the improvement in his herd, and that was years ago!! still it did the business for him i suppose

wiggy123

seen that..mclaren! leader in angus breeding worldwide