Farming Chit Chat

5live

whelan1 wrote: »

quick question for a friend, do you need to be in reps- or similar- to get the sheep premium thingy? thanks

No, i think its automatic once they send off the census in december and have an application in for SFP

snowman707

whelan1 wrote: »

quick question for a friend, do you need to be in reps- or similar- to get the sheep premium thingy? thanks

don't think you have to be in reps, but you must have returned the census

on second thoughts better get a second opinion, I seem to be getting a lot of things wrong 2 day :o

bbam

http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm

Got e-mailed this earlier
Handy enough, seems accurate enough..

Probably posted before but thought i'd post anyway..

Cran

snowman707 wrote: »

don't think you have to be in reps, but you must have returned the census

on second thoughts better get a second opinion, I seem to be getting a lot of things wrong 2 day :o

SFP and census thats all required. a note on the census, its a lot more important than people believe. The census marks you down with the department as an active sheep farmer, if they don't have it on record you can't order dispatch dockets or get the sheep premium. Had a problem last year with one of the flock numbers I manage for the auld lads, lucky had taken a copy before sending it back...

whelan1

this person doesnt get a sfp but has over 200 ewes

reilig

First calf off the new Charolais Stock Bull last night. Cow threw him out herself, yet he was a good size. Bit€h went mad, could only go into the field on the quad, even then she tried to gore me. She's the only mad cow I have. (Note to self - mark her for culling).

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

First calf off the new Charolais Stock Bull last night. Cow threw him out herself, yet he was a good size. Bit€h went mad, could only go into the field on the quad, even then she tried to gore me. She's the only mad cow I have. (Note to self - mark her for culling).

How do you like the new bull? What his breeding Reilig?

Birdnuts

Spent this morning untangling sheep from some old barbed wire some to**er dumped on my bit of road frontage. A rotten sore job it was too:mad:

bbam

We're toying with the idea of moving the drinkers in the slatted shed..
It's 3 bays and we're looking at mounting the drinkers onto the outside of the rsj that divides each bay.. 2 Drinkers between 3 bays is the idea..

Has anyone seen this done??
Apart from the danger of catching with the tractor it seems like a good place..

I feel bad to be looking at winter prep jobs but they have to be done, put up a new sensor light in the yard for the fast approaching dark mornings/evenings

stanflt

i blanket spread the whole farm with a bag of can today-hard to believe another year is past us

caseman

bbam wrote: »

We're toying with the idea of moving the drinkers in the slatted shed..
It's 3 bays and we're looking at mounting the drinkers onto the outside of the rsj that divides each bay.. 2 Drinkers between 3 bays is the idea..

Has anyone seen this done??
Apart from the danger of catching with the tractor it seems like a good place..

I feel bad to be looking at winter prep jobs but they have to be done, put up a new sensor light in the yard for the fast approaching dark mornings/evenings

We have them an the outside on some pens. Thinking of moving them in.
Problems with over spill when cattle drinking.

5live

Fcuk it anyway. Scanned yesterday. 35% of cows empty. Some bulled in may twice and no heat since. All perfectly clean and no cysts. And yesterday and this morning about 8 or 9 bulling (due to handling?). A fair few late calvers there too so skewing the figures a bit but cows in great condition and 3 sets of twins so dont think lack of feed an issue.
But nearly 30 heifers in calf, only 3 ones not. The 3 not were the biggest, go figure, and the smallest ones calving earliest.(Better not tell jack-in the-journal:))

jeff greene

5live wrote: »

Fcuk it anyway. Scanned yesterday. 35% of cows empty. Some bulled in may twice and no heat since. All perfectly clean and no cysts. And yesterday and this morning about 8 or 9 bulling (due to handling?). A fair few late calvers there too so skewing the figures a bit but cows in great condition and 3 sets of twins so dont think lack of feed an issue.
But nearly 30 heifers in calf, only 3 ones not. The 3 not were the biggest, go figure, and the smallest ones calving earliest.(Better not tell jack-in the-journal:))

Feck it anyway, is right! Are you vaccinating for lepto, bvd, ibr etc? I suppose get tests done. Sorry to hear that, very disappointing especially as you didn't expect it. I scanned last week, 9 out of 72. 2 were late calvers and 2 I didn't bull as they're for the road. Never had a breakdown after scanning either. Similar here for the last two years, my biggest heifer was empty but got her for the following autumn.

Something must be up. How are soilds, yields, dungs? Whats your plan now with the empty ones?

whelan1

5live wrote: »

Fcuk it anyway. Scanned yesterday. 35% of cows empty. Some bulled in may twice and no heat since. All perfectly clean and no cysts. And yesterday and this morning about 8 or 9 bulling (due to handling?). A fair few late calvers there too so skewing the figures a bit but cows in great condition and 3 sets of twins so dont think lack of feed an issue.
But nearly 30 heifers in calf, only 3 ones not. The 3 not were the biggest, go figure, and the smallest ones calving earliest.(Better not tell jack-in the-journal:))

what are you going to do ? milk them on?

5live

whelan1 wrote: »

what are you going to do ? milk them on?

No:eek:. No no no. I will dry off just before christmas. Wouldnt be able to milk through the winter, tbh. Anyway, kids are little so want to spend some time at home over the holidays. There are a few i will want to keep, younger and high ebi ones:o but there are about 15 going to the mart. Dont know if i should dry them off first but i am under quota so i will hang in as long as possible with the best of them. The rest i will keep and rum with the bull next year. If they hold, great, if not then in good condition around now to move on.

Assuming the DVO give me my cards back:(

As for vaccines, they just get lepto, Jeff. I used do BVD but stopped buying in and reckoned the risk was small in a closed herd. Really really looking forward to joining the eradication programme next spring though. I have never had a problem with IBR that i know of but i suppose a blood test of 7 or 8 will help show something up i hope.

The annoying thing is most of the pregnancies are in the first 10 weeks, then practically nothing. I may be looking at a sub-fertile bull too but the fact that absolutely no heats showed for a lot of them (and up to 12 showing heat now since yesterday:mad:) is leaving me puzzled. Once 7 weeks post bulling is gone, i assume most are pregnant. Crap:(

whelan1

what about minerals?

blue5000

5live wrote: »

Fcuk it anyway. Scanned yesterday. 35% of cows empty. Some bulled in may twice and no heat since. All perfectly clean and no cysts. And yesterday and this morning about 8 or 9 bulling (due to handling?). A fair few late calvers there too so skewing the figures a bit but cows in great condition and 3 sets of twins so dont think lack of feed an issue.
But nearly 30 heifers in calf, only 3 ones not. The 3 not were the biggest, go figure, and the smallest ones calving earliest.(Better not tell jack-in the-journal:))

Sorry to hear that, Thats rough, bvd would be my suspect, the bull could be only part of the problem. Did the early ones hold to ai? You are lucky to have the heifers coming on.

5live

whelan1 wrote: »

what about minerals?

Did all the cows in april with a multi trace bolus and copper bolus but if it was enough, i just dont know. But it was a multi trace more than last year:rolleyes:

NedTheBull

Havnt been on this is so long i forgot the password to my account:(
Just came on to ask if the one i saw in ballina mart is the new manager? Seen her down the yard on monday at the show sale. Anyone know? Or was she drafted in for help on the big day?

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that, Thats rough, bvd would be my suspect, the bull could be only part of the problem. Did the early ones hold to ai? You are lucky to have the heifers coming on.

Earlies held well. The first 10 weeks were super. But only a handful from 10 weeks to 4 weeks in calf, 5 i think. I dont have much scour problems or pneumonia problems like the last time i had a BVD outbreak so i'm not too worried about that. Now IBR is something i have been suspicious about for a while though.

I was talking to my vet while ago and he said to drop a milk sample in on monday morning and they will send it off and see the results. The sample will definately have a high BVD reading as a lot of the girls there for that outbreak are still around so that will rise the levels iirc.

I will drop it off on the way to the ploughing and not worry for a few days seeing as there is nothing more i can do for now. Except see if i can sell a few cows:mad:

Tipp Man

That is rough luck 5Live

If you are underquota personally I would milk the crap out of them and if silage is plentiful dry them off and fatten them. Cow prices are high in the factory and i believe they will hold well into next year.

If you have good sized cows they should make a thousand Euro which should go a long way towards a replacement heifer cost

Make sure the one's you are keeping for the bull next year get very little to eat once dried off. You don't want them fat as pigs

5live

Tipp Man wrote: »

That is rough luck 5Live

If you are underquota personally I would milk the crap out of them and if silage is plentiful dry them off and fatten them. Cow prices are high in the factory and i believe they will hold well into next year.

If you have good sized cows they should make a thousand Euro which should go a long way towards a replacement heifer cost

Make sure the one's you are keeping for the bull next year get very little to eat once dried off. You don't want them fat as pigs

Thanks tipp man. My cows come from a suckler base so a few will go as fat as pigs just by talking about grass.:D

I have loads of silage for once so they wont be short of feed but i'm not inclined to buy in. The threat of bringing something in with new animals just scares the bejaysus out of me but if they were going for a reasonable price it would be an option to look at.

Hard to call it bad luck though if there was something i should have been doing but wasnt.

When the results come back i will let you all know what showed up:o

5live

YES. I can get my cards back once the bloods are ok and in fairness they will be. So looks like a few days in the mart coming:)

whelan1

we have 2 farms , the dairy farm (mine) the suckler farm (my dads) now i have more or less eliminated ragworth on my farm by spraying, topping and pulling them ..His farm is a different story, we where thinking of buying 30 cull ewes to go over his farm , we have sparayed but tbh i dont have the time to pull all that are there... i used to have sheep about 15 years ago , do i need to get a flock number and would this sort out the problem?

polod

Buckets of rain here today grass getting tramped ....might have to house some cows yet

snowman707

whelan1 wrote: »

we have 2 farms , the dairy farm (mine) the suckler farm (my dads) now i have more or less eliminated ragworth on my farm by spraying, topping and pulling them ..His farm is a different story, we where thinking of buying 30 cull ewes to go over his farm , we have sparayed but tbh i dont have the time to pull all that are there... i used to have sheep about 15 years ago , do i need to get a flock number and would this sort out the problem?

ask your dvo, they will assign you a flock designator number ( or wtf it's called now, gave up trying to keep in touch) should be no problem as you (or your dad) have a herd no.

the sheep wont make too of an impression this year and i presume you would be selling in the spring

Ideally I think you need sheep all year round and rotate, ( I'm not the best qualified to answer this as we have never been without sheep during my life time)

If you didn't wish to get into breeding ewes the only alternative I could think of, would be to buying youngish ewe lambs and sell as breeding hoggets next year.

whelan1

snowman707 wrote: »

ask your dvo, they will assign you a flock designator number ( or wtf it's called now, gave up trying to keep in touch) should be no problem as you (or your dad) have a herd no.

the sheep wont make too of an impression this year and i presume you would be selling in the spring

Ideally I think you need sheep all year round and rotate, ( I'm not the best qualified to answer this as we have never been without sheep during my life time)

If you didn't wish to get into breeding ewes the only alternative I could think of, would be to buying youngish ewe lambs and sell as breeding hoggets next year.

the reason we where saying cull ewes is that sheep are mad prices this year...what would be best... tbh i had lambing ewes a few years ago and it was a disaster i didnt have the time for the sheep, cows and kids , store lambs are probably quite dear this year

5live

whelan1 wrote: »

the reason we where saying cull ewes is that sheep are mad prices this year...what would be best... tbh i had lambing ewes a few years ago and it was a disaster i didnt have the time for the sheep, cows and kids , store lambs are probably quite dear this year

Tbh, the best job for ragworth is ewes and lambs. Iirc the ewes eat the flowers and the lambs the leaves. 2 or 3 days would get rid of ragworth in about 5 acres with about 20 ewes, depending on how bad they were. If it was well fenced, it might be easier to let a bit of grazing for a few weeks if you could find someone interested in carrying a few ewes like that for a week every month.

One year, though, and it will be much easier to control after

weefarmer

Was at the first weanling sale on saturday, complete utter madness!! Small 5-6 month old heifersmaking €640. 9 month old bulls getting €960 upwards, how could anyone ever turn a profit when buying at that price! I have never seen such a crowd before either.

Username John

5live wrote: »

Tbh, the best job for ragworth is ewes and lambs. Iirc the ewes eat the flowers and the lambs the leaves. 2 or 3 days would get rid of ragworth in about 5 acres with about 20 ewes, depending on how bad they were. If it was well fenced, it might be easier to let a bit of grazing for a few weeks if you could find someone interested in carrying a few ewes like that for a week every month.

One year, though, and it will be much easier to control after

We'd be in a kinda similar situation to snowman, sheep were always here. So no ragworth...

But I heard it was over the winter / in the springtime when they eat the ragworth down that it kills it for the next years regrowth...

whelan1 wrote: »

the reason we where saying cull ewes is that sheep are mad prices this year...what would be best... tbh i had lambing ewes a few years ago and it was a disaster i didnt have the time for the sheep, cows and kids , store lambs are probably quite dear this year

snowman707 wrote: »

If you didn't wish to get into breeding ewes the only alternative I could think of, would be to buying youngish ewe lambs and sell as breeding hoggets next year.

Store lambs are dear enough this year - I would get a few lambs in a few weeks time. See what the 1st Oct brings, wouldnt be in a rush to get em yet.
Ewe vs weathers - when do you want to sell em? If you want to sell em early, then weathers prob be cheaper, but you'd need to feed em to sell come March time, when they would be good money.
Ewes - you could leave em run over the winter, shouldnt need to feed em, and it would be better that they eat everything down... But you wouldnt be selling em as hoggets til August-ish. So you'd have em all summer... not sure if that'd suit...

Thats my two cents...

reilig

weefarmer wrote: »

Was at the first weanling sale on saturday, complete utter madness!! Small 5-6 month old heifersmaking €640. 9 month old bulls getting €960 upwards, how could anyone ever turn a profit when buying at that price! I have never seen such a crowd before either.

€950 for a 9 month old is barely returning a profit to the breeder when you consider the cost of keeping the cow and the cost of bringing the calf to the size that will make €950.

Many suckler farmers are going to have tax problems this year - ie. they will have to pay tax because for the first time in a long time, they are actually going to make a profit!!

IMO suckler farmers deserve to make a profit as much as finishers do.

redzerologhlen

reilig wrote: »

€950 for a 9 month old is barely returning a profit to the breeder when you consider the cost of keeping the cow and the cost of bringing the calf to the size that will make €950.

Many suckler farmers are going to have tax problems this year - ie. they will have to pay tax because for the first time in a long time, they are actually going to make a profit!!

IMO suckler farmers deserve to make a profit as much as finishers do.

Your dead right reilig. Everyone deserves their cut....just some people are taking a bigger cut than others!! I heard in ennis last tuesday nice 300kg charolais bulls making 750 and 450kg charolais bulls making 850 to 900, Doesnt make any sense to me.

reilig

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Your dead right reilig. Everyone deserves their cut....just some people are taking a bigger cut than others!! I heard in ennis last tuesday nice 300kg charolais bulls making 750 and 450kg charolais bulls making 850 to 900, Doesnt make any sense to me.

In Loughrea 2 weeks ago, plain charolais bulls of 250kg had no problem making €750 (€3 per kg). There were several of them, not over fed, all bought by farmers for feeding.

pakalasa

I think farmers work to a budget and they buy whatever they can afford, regardless of weight. They know prices are mad, but they'd rather be stocked some bit.

kenny d

weefarmer wrote: »

Was at the first weanling sale on saturday, complete utter madness!! Small 5-6 month old heifersmaking €640. 9 month old bulls getting €960 upwards, how could anyone ever turn a profit when buying at that price! I have never seen such a crowd before eit

I am old enough to remember back in the 70s when bull weanlings were making 800 - 900 punts and your punt would buy you something !

weefarmer

Dont get me wrong im glad to see it from a farmers piint of view, but when these animals are killed and the price holds out will the beef not be a lot more expensive!

If the prices drop again I wouldnt want to have a shed full of animals that might only be worth the price I paid for them 6 months ago.

There was a man telling me today that there was 300kg blue weanlings in the mart beside him in galway getting upto €1000 with their weight!

leg wax

just back from the ploughing ,cow and calf in pen so hope she stays quiet.

bogman_bass

my pedigree parthenaise is starting to calve. Taking her sweet time as heifers do. Hope she is fit to do it herself because she told me in no uncertain terms that she doesn't want my help!

leg wax

i hope shes not too posh to push:eek:.

vanderbadger

bogman_bass wrote: »

my pedigree parthenaise is starting to calve. Taking her sweet time as heifers do. Hope she is fit to do it herself because she told me in no uncertain terms that she doesn't want my help!

hope that goes well, they calf easy anyway, i had a weanling that went in calf and threw out pt calf practically by herself and she wasnt much over a year old...
looking forward to seeing pics

bogman_bass

the thought had crossed my mind! There is a foot showing and doesn't look huge so if she puts her mind to it she should be well fit. She is wider at the pins than our cows so everything going right she should be well able

blue5000

leg wax wrote: »

just back from the ploughing ,cow and calf in pen so hope she stays quiet.

Does this mean that there is a free burger, carton of chips, a cup a tae and free ai straws for anyone that goes into the belgian blue tent and shouts:

"HEY IS THERE ANYONE HERE BE THE NAME OF LEGWAX"??:o:o:o

pakalasa

blue5000 wrote: »

"HEY IS THERE ANYONE HERE BE THE NAME OF LEGWAX"??:o:o:o

Ya, and you'll see one cow and calf turn their heads around.

bogman_bass

dead Heifer calf. sickened! She wanted to kill us anytime we went near her. In the end had to drive her to the crush in the tractor. Couldn't risk walking behind her. Not my favourate day farming. farming! Had the day off

bogman_bass

stupid phone! Had the day off work to go to the ploughing. That's gone now too.

blue5000

hard luck there bogman, sh1t happens

vanderbadger

bogman_bass wrote: »

stupid phone! Had the day off work to go to the ploughing. That's gone now too.

ah balls, these things happen unfortunately, lost one of twin belgian blue calves there on friday thru my own stupidy rushing to working.. was in fair bad humor over it also

bbam

damn annoying...
Will you keep her if she's that hard handled at calving??

whelan1

feck it hate that,

mjcom4d

Good day at ploughin limousin beef was nice disappointed no Piedmontese there though