Farming Chit Chat

rancher

Odelay wrote: »

Well worth trying once, even just for the crack.

However what one lad can do in 100hrs an experienced operator who knows how to plan his work will do it in 30-40hrs. Diesel is expensive! we have one machine munching through 35lts per hr and that is on economy setting. Moves mountains though.

I winter sheep in a cattle shed, straw bedded on cattle slats, hire a micro digger to clean it out, really enjoy that few days, wouldn't like to chance anything heavier on 35 yr old slats and its the only thing that fits in the 6 ft high doors.
Surprised to hear about the diesel, a ten ton has been on self drive hire with a few neighbours and the one thing they noted was its economy.

Kovu

Was anyone at that SIM sale in Mohill yesterday. I really wanted two of them but totally out of my league money wise!!

Richk2012

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Was anyone at that SIM sale in Mohill yesterday. I really wanted two of them but totally out of my league money wise!!

What sort of money were they making???

just do it

just do it wrote: »

Track machine left the farm yesterday after nearly 7 full days:eek:. About 5 days of that was for me. He's a great lad so I'm happy to see him pick up a few other bits for neighbours just because they saw him in my place.

The downside - a load of fencing to put back up:rolleyes:. I'll post a few photos in due course....

Some photos over on the photo thread. I forgot to say he tested a spot close to the shed that I reckoned had potential for well. He reckons it will do the trick but before ploughing on he wants to wait for the water table to drop and try again. He did one for himself recently so knows what he's at. So the plan is open it again after a dry spell when the water table has dropped and let it fill. Empty it with the slurry tanker and time how long it takes to fill again. That gives you the daily flow rate and then decide if it's worth it. Now all we need is a prolonged dry spell;).

just do it

kevthegaff wrote: »

i think its around 35-40 euros an hour for a 13 tonnes, i have to get a lad meself in for a couple of days. Often thought about buying one myself

whelan1 wrote: »

€600 per day:eek:

€300 per day was the charge and worth every penny of it. It's great to have a trustworthy fella. I was away most the time he was there. He hit water pipes twice and fixed them up with philmac fittings - he always keeps a few in the digger.

I'm glad I was able to kick-start a bit of work for him as he'd a very quiet summer. Does a good bit of work for farmers but has had plenty lads say to him they'd planned to get him but didn't because of the weather.

As for hiring a self-drive, I think it's a fools economy. Diesel is now dear and the 13t working on my place drank just shy of €100/day. My main trench is 700m long with only a slight gradient. You want a skilled man to get that right!

whelan1

what a crappy morning.... lashing rain and cold and dark:mad:

snowman707

whelan1 wrote: »

what a crappy morning.... lashing rain and cold and dark:mad:

looking at the radar images on line you are getting the brunt of it

slightly misty here and dark

looks like to morro will be a wash out FFS :mad:

FarmerWatch

whelan1 wrote: »

what a crappy morning.... lashing rain and cold and dark:mad:

We had a touch of frost over the weekend! :eek:

snowman707 wrote: »

looking at the radar images on line you are getting the brunt of it

slightly misty here and dark

looks like to morro will be a wash out FFS :mad:

Ah great :rolleyes:, but then the ploughing is usually swimming in a field, sure we wouldn't know it without a bit of muck!

Black Smoke

whelan1 wrote: »

what a crappy morning.... lashing rain and cold and dark:mad:

East coast getting the worst of the rain this time. Here in the west, rain not too bad yet, but darkness was really noticable this morning. Did the herding at 6.30am, with the flash lamp:( Then off to the day job. It will be 6.30pm when I get home, and wont have too much daylight to get a few bits done.

dasheriff

Misty and dirty here too just after opening the pit,Iv half the cattle in hoping to keep the other half out for a while yet but the place is boating..:(

bbam

Black Smoke wrote: »

East coast getting the worst of the rain this time. Here in the west, rain not too bad yet, but darkness was really noticable this morning. Did the herding at 6.30am, with the flash lamp:( Then off to the day job. It will be 6.30pm when I get home, and wont have too much daylight to get a few bits done.

Definitely getting more use of the winter clothes and flashlamp these days..
Was out this morning at seven and it was near dark and lashing rain.. Two calves the wrong side of the ditch :mad:
Its our own field so there they stay until I get back thisevening..
The bawls of them watching the others eat at the trough !! :rolleyes:

JohnBoy

Ruts...

what should I do to deal with post silage rutting?

it's not terrible given the year we had, but I dont want this year's damage ending up in next year's silage.

will rolling in the spring be enough or should I be doing something more now?

Black Smoke

JohnBoy wrote: »

Ruts...

what should I do to deal with post silage rutting?

it's not terrible given the year we had, but I dont want this year's damage ending up in next year's silage.

will rolling in the spring be enough or should I be doing something more now?

Get the whole family out, and gove them one each:cool: http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=shovel&start=279&num=10&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=933&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=pSbL1sSCdcTetM:&imgrefurl=http://nointinjunkies.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/one-handle-on-a-shovel/&docid=eSO8QBXO1GAFzM&imgurl=http://nointinjunkies.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/shovels.jpg&w=1800&h=1350&ei=fUBgULflMI6ZhQfkmIB4&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1378&vpy=485&dur=848&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=196&ty=112&sig=118245169698702385738&page=6&tbnh=136&tbnw=183&ndsp=56&ved=1t:429,r:45,s:279,i:146

Juniorhurler

Jaysus, some morning here. Had to be in work for 9. I had a cow in under the calving camera last night and was waking every so often to look at her on the telly. At 5.30 the blister was appearing so I got up and had the breakfast, giving her a bit of time.

Down at the shed at 6ish and did a few jobs as she wasn't a lot further along. About 6.45 got a bit concerned and burst the blister myself and put the hand in, two big back feet coming first. Turned out she was savage tight. Good pull before she sat down, knocking the head off the jack on the way and sat on it with calfs two legs hanging out. To get the jack head out we rolled her over on her back and pulled again. Out pops the calf. BB bull calf that she would have calved alone only for being backwards.

Went to wash the jack, came back and the cow had tried to get up, was obviously staggery and bloody fell on the calf totally covering it. We rolled her off again, thankfully the calf was alright.

Just goes to show that you need to be around when they are calving. I mean this calf should have been born no problem only he was backwards.

Anyway made work at 9.05. You'd need to love farming to put up with these mornings.:D

bogman_bass

JohnBoy wrote: »

Ruts...

what should I do to deal with post silage rutting?

it's not terrible given the year we had, but I dont want this year's damage ending up in next year's silage.

will rolling in the spring be enough or should I be doing something more now?

a run of a land leveler is probably the best job

Kovu

Richk2012 wrote: »

What sort of money were they making???

Anything from €1270 to €2200:eek:
The two I fancied were €1710 and €1650.

pgodkin

Hi all

pgodkin here, i have been lurking here for the last couple of months, trying to get back into the swing of things, i was reared on a small farm in wexford where we had everything at one stage but mainly settled on pigs.... when i went off to college all that quietened down and now am based on the outskirts of dublin (Dublin 15) as i work in dublin (transport based). Im looking to get back into farming latter on as both me and the wife really want to get out of the city and move back to the countryside and all we both still work have something small on the side!

Only problem is i have seemed to forgot a lot of stuff, so have been spending the last couple of weeks here trawling through the internets getting back up to speed with things! I am also looking for some on the farm training, in the form of work, my job at the moment is based around a four on four off shift.

I have a degree in Transport, Logistic's & business based mainly in transport but am slowly speclising in Six Sigma

If anyone here is looking for help pm me, as said above im based around dublin 15 but will travel out thanks

just do it

pgodkin wrote: »

Hi all

pgodkin here, i have been lurking here for the last couple of months, trying to get back into the swing of things, i was reared on a small farm in wexford where we had everything at one stage but mainly settled on pigs.... when i went off to college all that quietened down and now am based on the outskirts of dublin (Dublin 15) as i work in dublin (transport based). Im looking to get back into farming latter on as both me and the wife really want to get out of the city and move back to the countryside and all we both still work have something small on the side!

Only problem is i have seemed to forgot a lot of stuff, so have been spending the last couple of weeks here trawling through the internets getting back up to speed with things! I am also looking for some on the farm training, in the form of work, my job at the moment is based around a four on four off shift.

I have a degree in Transport, Logistic's & business based mainly in transport but am slowly speclising in Six Sigma

If anyone here is looking for help pm me, as said above im based around dublin 15 but will travel out thanks

Welcome to the farming forum, you'll get plenty advice on here. I took back the family farm 4.5yrs ago and found this forum great. Ask as many questions regardless of how simple you think they are. Farmers like to talk/ type you know

Now can I just clarify this, you are offering free labour?! Watch out you don't end up spending 20hrs/week picking potatoes in North County Dublin for a jam sandwich and a cup of sugary tea:D

redzerologhlen

just do it wrote: »

Welcome to the farming forum, you'll get plenty advice on here. I took back the family farm 4.5yrs ago and found this forum great. Ask as many questions regardless of how simple you think they are. Farmers like to talk/ type you know

Now can I just clarify this, you are offering free labour?! Watch out you don't end up spending 20hrs/week picking potatoes in North County Dublin for a jam sandwich and a cup of sugary tea:D

Feck it..if he had posted a month ago he could have given me a hand bagging the turf...be a great educational experience

Bizzum

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Feck it..if he had posted a month ago he could have given me a hand bagging the turf...be a great educational experience

Jaysus Redzer, Ya make it sound dirrrrrrrty!:D

Mac Taylor

Not exactly farming related, but I got my tickets for Croke Park on Sunday
Taking my eldest lad to his first All-Ireland:D:D

bob charles

real feel to winter about today. bringing animals in pretty quickly as with the wind here today grass will be gone in a couple of days. bloody yard is starting to get full and its only mid september

redzerologhlen

Did anyone read the thread in AH about suicide, makes for some chilling reading I tell ya.

whelan1

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Did anyone read the thread in AH about suicide, makes for some chilling reading I tell ya.

unreal... also listening to the news last night the amount of stabbings, shootings etc , what is this country coming to, not a day goes by without someone being murdered

kevthegaff

whats the AH?

reilig

kevthegaff wrote: »

whats the AH?

After Hours Forum

reilig

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Did anyone read the thread in AH about suicide, makes for some chilling reading I tell ya.

I don't read it cause I have to deal with some aspects of it in work. I'm glad to get home at the end of the day and get out for fresh air - even if I am to the top of the wellies in muck. Life has changed an awful lot since the 1980's. The biggest change has been in the last 4 years. So many people were flying so high with not a care in the world and suddenly found themselves crashing back to reality with idilic financial situations and personal lives smashing like glass.

It's a scary world to be bringing up young children in!

Manoffeeling

reilig wrote: »

I don't read it cause I have to deal with some aspects of it in work. I'm glad to get home at the end of the day and get out for fresh air - even if I am to the top of the wellies in muck. Life has changed an awful lot since the 1980's. The biggest change has been in the last 4 years. So many people were flying so high with not a care in the world and suddenly found themselves crashing back to reality with idilic financial situations and personal lives smashing like glass.

It's a scary world to be bringing up young children in!

+1

bbam

My god this last period or rain is hateful. We have young stock in and out and I'm throwing as much straw under them as if they were in full time.

They are out grazing when they can but it's not pleasant going. Much more and I'd house them for my sake if not their own.

Black Smoke

bbam wrote: »

My god this last period or rain is hateful. We have young stock in and out and I'm throwing as much straw under them as if they were in full time.

They are out grazing when they can but it's not pleasant going. Much more and I'd house them for my sake if not their own.

I weaned everything over a month ago now. Calves are in good grass with nice shelter. Throwing them meals morning and evening, and they are usually waiting for me, as they hear the gate opening.
This morning I had to root them out from under the bushes and march them to the trough, in driving cold rain.
Im thinking of putting in a bale of hay or straw to them this evening
Suppose hay would be better than straw, or would it?

pakalasa

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Did anyone read the thread in AH about suicide, makes for some chilling reading I tell ya.

Really surprised to hear recently that Vets are 4 times more likely to commit suicide. I know farmers don't like to see them coming, with the cost incurred etc, but maybe we should remember the human side aswell.
http://www.independent.ie/health/health-news/suicide-rate-four-times-higher-for-vets-2243241.html

Muckit

Black Smoke wrote: »

Suppose hay would be better than straw, or would it?

They'I eat either if it's dry. They'I waste both if its wet.

wesleysniper38

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Anything from €1270 to €2200:eek:
The two I fancied were €1710 and €1650.

sorry I'm a bit late picking up on this one... were they in calves or maiden heifers?
I see another sim sale is in Ballymote on October 6th.
Given the weather I cant see the crazy prices of last year being paid. I saw one in-calf commercial heifer (lovely textbook red/white sim) springing make 3850e........now thats just plain crazy!

wesleysniper38

On another subject...
checked the dry heifers mornin last friday. One of them a red lim (550kg very fancy heifer) appeared to be springing. I bought her in april as a buller with the intention of Ai her in November.
Put her in and examined her. A slight swelling in 2 hind quarters, not hot to touch. Drew her but nothing came, she is fine and healthy but I feared Mastitis... so got antibiotic from vet and gave her 25mm for 3 days
. still no change/ no worse or no better. Getting the vet up tomorrow to check her over: whats the odds of mastitis or shes in calf..?

bbam

Black Smoke wrote: »

I weaned everything over a month ago now. Calves are in good grass with nice shelter. Throwing them meals morning and evening, and they are usually waiting for me, as they hear the gate opening.
This morning I had to root them out from under the bushes and march them to the trough, in driving cold rain.
Im thinking of putting in a bale of hay or straw to them this evening
Suppose hay would be better than straw, or would it?

Well for me I draw the line at feeding meal, once I start thinking they need more I house them. I don't have any good dry stands for hay/straw and bringing bales out to a feeder just does too much damage then they stand round the feeder ad it's very quickly torture for man and beast.
I'm thinking soon enough I'll let them in-out of the slatted shed with silage and meal at the barrier. At the moment I'm bedding a shed with straw for them to have access to, it's just another expense and a slatted shed empty!

pgodkin

just do it wrote: »

Welcome to the farming forum, you'll get plenty advice on here. I took back the family farm 4.5yrs ago and found this forum great. Ask as many questions regardless of how simple you think they are. Farmers like to talk/ type you know

Now can I just clarify this, you are offering free labour?! Watch out you don't end up spending 20hrs/week picking potatoes in North County Dublin for a jam sandwich and a cup of sugary tea:D

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Feck it..if he had posted a month ago he could have given me a hand bagging the turf...be a great educational experience

No Not free but very cheap apprentice am thinking of renting a shed or two to keep some animal's but have to float this idea past the misses first!

Anyone on the dublin/meath/kildare border that would have a shed spare let me know!! the auld monkey's are working in the head! Have to say i miss the buzz of wheeling and dealing, working out costs on animals, the shear buzz of hitting targets where farming is concerning is worse than drugs!!

Kovu

wesleysniper38 wrote: »

sorry I'm a bit late picking up on this one... were they in calves or maiden heifers?
I see another sim sale is in Ballymote on October 6th.
Given the weather I cant see the crazy prices of last year being paid. I saw one in-calf commercial heifer (lovely textbook red/white sim) springing make 3850e........now thats just plain crazy!

All first calvers that were calving from Oct-late Feb/early March to LM and SIM bulls. I dunno, some of these breed sales have nutters that fall for animals and pay way over the odds for the animals. But it will be a bit cooler with the banks restricting cash flow.

Suckler

Just back from the Ploughin, West didn't get the same rain the east coast did anyway!

saranac1

hi guys, im new to this farming thread but ive spent the last few hours reading back from january 2012 onwards and i have to say the information is brilliant. i have just 1 question, me and my father are trying to set up a suckler herd.in feb 2012 we bulled 15 heifers and so far 10 of them are in calf.with the bad weather out there we will have to house them soon, but what i need to know is what steps must i take now to have everything in place for calving in feb/march. the guy that did the scanning is great and offered to help us out if needed and im hoping to sell 300 round bales of hay in the next few weeks to make accomodation for these heifers.most of these heifers are 1 yr old Charolais and Limousin and are first time calvers with weights from 430kg to 520kg.thanks guys

saranac1

sorry 17/18 month old charolais and limousin heifers

bbam

saranac1 wrote: »

hi guys, im new to this farming thread but ive spent the last few hours reading back from january 2012 onwards and i have to say the information is brilliant. i have just 1 question, me and my father are trying to set up a suckler herd.in feb 2012 we bulled 15 heifers and so far 10 of them are in calf.with the bad weather out there we will have to house them soon, but what i need to know is what steps must i take now to have everything in place for calving in feb/march. the guy that did the scanning is great and offered to help us out if needed and im hoping to sell 300 round bales of hay in the next few weeks to make accomodation for these heifers.most of these heifers are 1 yr old Charolais and Limousin and are first time calvers with weights from 430kg to 520kg.thanks guys

hi and welcome..
what are they in calf to?

saranac1

they were bulled by a ch/lm bull (DOB 24/3/2010)

wesleysniper38

Kovu Murr wrote: »

All first calvers that were calving from Oct-late Feb/early March to LM and SIM bulls. I dunno, some of these breed sales have nutters that fall for animals and pay way over the odds for the animals. But it will be a bit cooler with the banks restricting cash flow.

Aye indeed and not a bit of harm. with normality comes predictability and from predictability grows security. All we need is a floor and a ceiling with a bit of headroom to keep the margins for us all..

Birdnuts

Suckler wrote: »

Just back from the Ploughin, West didn't get the same rain the east coast did anyway!

My father in law is down from Mayo tomorrow - what are the car parks like??

reilig

Suckler wrote: »

Just back from the Ploughin, West didn't get the same rain the east coast did anyway!

We had no rain in 24 hours in the NW. God knows we didn't need it. The midlands got enough yesterday though.

whelan1

reilig wrote: »

We had no rain in 24 hours in the NW. God knows we didn't need it. The midlands got enough yesterday though.

we got rain all day monday and most of the day yesterday.... i am only powerwashing cubicle sheds now as cows where in during the summer...they wont be finished til the end of the week, so the cows will be out til then

snowman707

we had torrential rain yesterday evening (mid west region)

now giving the cows access to silage after milking for an hour or so & while they arn't really eating that much they seem much more contented

Kovu

Just after sliding and landing on my a*se in the shed after a good dunt of a puck from a heifer:mad:

just do it

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Just after sliding and landing on my a*se in the shed after a good dunt of a puck from a heifer:mad:

The joys of farming :rolleyes:

Conmaicne Mara

100,000 out of 130,000 farmers farm in disadvantaged areas according to Coveney on Pat Kenny's radio programme. I would not have thought the number that high.