teagasc

boredmeeting

how does teagasc work do ya have to be a member or can you just walk in for advice

tabby aspreme

you pay them an annual fee which gets you help on form filling , newsletters, advice etc, and i think they will also give once off advice for a fee. they must be tight on money at the moment , i got a bill on feb 15 with 30 days to pay , got a reminder on 1st mar with red marker on it , will pay on 16 mar and ask what red marker was about and ask was it 30 working days:D

johngalway

tabby aspreme wrote: »

will pay on 16 mar and ask what red marker was about and ask was it 30 working days:D

LOL'd at that, proper order too

whelan1

if you are not a member you have to pay at each visit etc and it is dearer for soil samples etc

Username John

Hello,

Whats the general opinion of em? I am debating joining - am trying to find our exactly what I get in terms of support from em.

Once you join, I think you get the following, but am not 100% on it...
- One farm visit a year
- Consultations in their offices (not sure if there is a number of these)
- Newsletters

Whelan1 - you mention cheaper soil samples, I didnt know this now. Altho, to be honest, the amount of times I get the soil tested, twould hardly be a deal clincher

Now - I assume a lot of how good they are, is based on the individual adviser in your area.

But overall - whats peoples opinions on them? Good, bad, waste of money...?

Thanks.

leg wax

i was joined this so called advisers teag and the only thing that i did that they said to do was cut costs, so they were gone with the ifa, in my case i find the farmers journal a lot better with info.

whelan1

i found then invaluable when we where doing our farm transfer from my da to me , spent many a day and evening in their office , i am also in a discussion group which is a real eye opener

johngalway

Questionable advice, never return calls, or if they do, they do so a month too late, news letters don't apply to me really. That's just my experience, am not tarring all of them with the same brush.

irishh_bob

leg wax wrote: »

i was joined this so called advisers teag and the only thing that i did that they said to do was cut costs, so they were gone with the ifa, in my case i find the farmers journal a lot better with info.

the farmers journal is fine for advice providing you live in a country called cork , seriously though , i believe the journal is very much written from a southern perspective , particulary as regards jack kennedys collumns

its the luck of the draw with teagasc , if your adviser is good , the service is money well spent , if not then no , teagasc while semi state is not cut from the same cloth as the civil sevice but thier are useless slackers in it aswell

browned

all depends on the quality of your local advisor. wouldn't bother at all with teagasc but for the discussion groups. whenever i used to ring up for advice they were never in the office or it'd take a few days to the answer of my questions. i find if i need advice on a particular subject then i'd give the relivant resercher up in moorepark an email. i've done it a couple of times and found them really helpful.

Username John

irishh_bob wrote: »

the farmers journal is fine for advice providing you live in a country called cork , seriously though , i believe the journal is very much written from a southern perspective , particulary as regards jack kennedys collumns

I'm in the country called Cork Irish_bob - but isn't everyone? Is there places outside Cork - surely not?
Tis only a few sheep I have, and while I find the journal good for general stuff, their sheep related bits are not great, and are often re-hashes of articles from the same time last year.... But that's neither here nor there...

irishh_bob wrote: »

its the luck of the draw with teagasc , if your adviser is good , the service is money well spent , if not then no , teagasc while semi state is not cut from the same cloth as the civil sevice but thier are useless slackers in it aswell

Yeah - that's what I'm thinking then.

While I dont want to discuss individual Teagasc employees in an open thread, if anyone had any dealings with Teagasc in Bandon - I'd be very interested in a PM from them.

Thanks everyone for yer replies.

Username John

leg wax wrote: »

cut costs, so they were gone with the ifa,

That's a topic for another thread I'd say

Altho I could do with cutting that expense too, not sure what it brings me other than the insurance. But am sure I could get that for less somewhere else too... I dont find myself wanting to switch telephone, gas, electricity that often like

boredmeeting

whelan1 wrote: »

i found then invaluable when we where doing our farm transfer from my da to me , spent many a day and evening in their office , i am also in a discussion group which is a real eye opener

that`s what i need the advice for, i want to transfer the da`s herd no. into my name, do i have to transfer the whole farm. what`s the anunal fee?

whelan1

we had the mess of transferring the entitlements etc , maybe ring them and ask or look at their website , they also had contacts for when we where doing the transfer couldnt have done it with out them , but maybe we are lucky with the advisors we have

boredmeeting

i rang them once years ago they asked me more questions than i asked them

dar31

wouldn't be with out them
find our dairy lad excellent, what he dosent know he will find out asap
if we were to pay a Ag consultant for the equivalent we get it would cost a fortune
as said earlier, it depends on the man/woman

agcons

boredmeeting wrote: »

that`s what i need the advice for, i want to transfer the da`s herd no. into my name, do i have to transfer the whole farm. what`s the anunal fee?

Best talk to your local livestock office about transferring the herd number. Its attached to the farmer rather than the farm. If he gives up his number and gives you only part of the farm who is going to farm the rest of the land?

barryoc1

Be warned, i wouldnt listen to everything these pencil pushers (teagasc advisors) have to say. Fair enough there may be some good ones there but i have yet to meet one. All they want is your money in my opinion and dont give much in return. Apart from spam in the post. Oh sorry i meant informative newsletters. I think they come nearly every month. This weeks very informative newsletter clearly states something like you should have 66% of your grazing area grazed by march 17th. Not sure what kind of farms they come from but would love to have their growth in April and May to bring the grass back. Ok, thats my giving out over and done with for today.

whelan1

i dont pay much heed to the news letters as they are mainly for as some one put it the country of cork , but i find it great to be able to ring them with a question and get an answer and the discussion group really opens your eyes

boredmeeting

agcons wrote: »

Best talk to your local livestock office about transferring the herd number. Its attached to the farmer rather than the farm. If he gives up his number and gives you only part of the farm who is going to farm the rest of the land?

the will is made its going to be all mine all 40 acres i bought most of the cows over the last few years and have a few pb chars. i would like to have them in my own name

Ford4000

Time to give my 2 cents i suppose seing as i am a reps planner with Teagasc
All i can say is its like any business you will get some good and some not so good people.
All car mechanics are not good, some advisors are not either
Some private ag consultants are good some are bad
From my own end, i was contracted as a reps planner but deal with so much more, i do my best to answer calls and return them asap and what i dont know off hand i will make every effort to find out the relevant information, i do fodder budgetting, fertiliser accounts, derogation accounts, land issues ie transfers claims etc, sps applications online, to name but a small few
Public servants have been tarred as pencil pushers and the like by some which is a crude derogatary remark as it tars all with the same brush, most working in the sector work very hard and beyond the call of duty

Just my take on whats being said, for your contract fee you will get a farm visit, your sps filled out, office consultations(not really limited within reason) any advice i can give, and someone to help you if something goes wrong, someone in the know with contacts to try to resolve problems often serious!

boredmeeting

as ray darcy would say ye`re gone off on a different tangent here lads

Username John

boredmeeting wrote: »

as ray darcy would say ye`re gone off on a different tangent here lads

Hello Boredmeeting,

Apologies - I hi-jacked your thread asking what people thought of Teagasc.

Thanks for replies all.

boredmeeting

Username John wrote: »

Hello Boredmeeting,

Apologies - I hi-jecked your thread asking what people thought of Teagasc.

Thanks for replies all.

ah no bother, i got alot of info here i`ll have to call in and see what the crack is soon

agcons

boredmeeting wrote: »

the will is made its going to be all mine all 40 acres i bought most of the cows over the last few years and have a few pb chars. i would like to have them in my own name

The will isnt worth the paper its written on until he passes away. The two of you should go into the local Dept office and explain what you want to do, assuming your father is agreeable their shouldnt be any problem. Make sure you fill in a transfer of entitlements form as well. Best to do all this now before this years SPS is sent in.

boredmeeting

agcons wrote: »

The will isnt worth the paper its written on until he passes away. The two of you should go into the local Dept office and explain what you want to do, assuming your father is agreeable their shouldnt be any problem. Make sure you fill in a transfer of entitlements form as well. Best to do all this now before this years SPS is sent in.

thanks agcons, so i don`t have to go to teagasc at all then

whelan1

boredmeeting wrote: »

thanks agcons, so i don`t have to go to teagasc at all then

in our case it took that long for the changeover i cant see how it would be done for this years sfp and i think you would need the teagasc man imo

agcons

Judging by some of the comments on this post you would be better off going to your local Agricultural Consultant www.aca.ie if you run into difficulties.(but then after 17 years surviving and growing a business in the face of huge state subsidised and protected opposition I'm probably a bit biased!!!)
The whole process for this transaction has become more streamlined over the years. Depending on your local DVO you should be able to get the number changed over within 3 to 4 weeks from the time of application. As I said best method is for you both to go in and explain the situation over the counter.

Min

barryoc1 wrote: »

Be warned, i wouldnt listen to everything these pencil pushers (teagasc advisors) have to say. Fair enough there may be some good ones there but i have yet to meet one. All they want is your money in my opinion and dont give much in return. Apart from spam in the post. Oh sorry i meant informative newsletters. I think they come nearly every month. This weeks very informative newsletter clearly states something like you should have 66% of your grazing area grazed by march 17th. Not sure what kind of farms they come from but would love to have their growth in April and May to bring the grass back. Ok, thats my giving out over and done with for today.

Yes, the thing about grass is just crazy, I think they are living in the wrong country or migrated with the swallows and missed our freezing winter and never bothered to look at soil temperatures.
They mustn't rely on science for grass growth.....

John_F

Min wrote: »

Yes, the thing about grass is just crazy, I think they are living in the wrong country or migrated with the swallows and missed our freezing winter and never bothered to look at soil temperatures.
They mustn't rely on science for grass growth.....

Agree with you here, i see you have your location at north Kilkenny, how is the weater up there, like would the lads in the greenfield site still be thawing out the milking machine now and again? They are meant to have alot of grass but this is because nothing was grazed before christmas as no stock there, but if it had been grazed before christmas I really wouldnt like to be there listening to the mooing of hungry cows, we cant rely on grass growth here its either too wet or as this year was too cold, we must supplement grass especially in spring, Curtins empty rate in 09 was the realisation of this!

Sorry for hijacking the thread, we are not with teagasc, In my opinion they chop and change too much i.e. a few years ago it was feed the cow, get a diet feeder etc etc, also the advisors have no choice and are limited in what they can say, the research is based on an all grass system and more or less copying NZ and so the researchers more or less must go with this theory.

tabby aspreme

John_F wrote: »

Agree with you here, i see you have your location at north Kilkenny, how is the weater up there, like would the lads in the greenfield site still be thawing out the milking machine now and again?

with that open sided new zealand style parlour they definitly will, milked cows near kilkenny years ago in shed like greenfields, water used to freeze on milking apron very cold part of the country, whoever designed it is not going to milk in it