Farming Chit Chat

C0N0R

funny man wrote: »

No just wondering whats the story on yield over in NZ

Ah ok! At the moment were getting about 1.5 kg a cow, that's just from grass and silage when needed. Was up around 1.6 but when we lengthened the grazing round it went down. Putting about 17500 litres in the vat so say 17.5 litres a cow. Don't feed in the shed at all

funny man

Any idea whats the pay-out /kg MS

C0N0R

funny man wrote: »

Any idea whats the pay-out /kg MS

I think there talking $7.00 and that will probably rise to, do you know the way the payout works here? It's not straight forward

funny man

C0N0R wrote: »

I think there talking $7.00 and that will probably rise to, do you know the way the payout works here? It's not straight forward

Whats grass quality like, what cover do ye graze and what residual do ye leave behind or maybe your not in on this yet.

whelan1

reilig wrote: »

Glad to see that you're taking time out from your holidays to keep up with us on boards

Hope you're having a nice break!!!

i'm back

C0N0R

funny man wrote: »

Whats grass quality like, what cover do ye graze and what residual do ye leave behind or maybe your not in on this yet.

Grass quality for the most is fairly good, we tried to top the paddocks all be it with a mower and that helped tidy up alot of the ****. There is done stemmy stuff about, it varies from paddock to paddock. Were trying to graze at 3200 and down to about 18/1900 but there is normally more cover than that when entering paddocks. Figures are rough but I'm starting to plate the farm on a regular basis so will have more accurate figures and growth rates after a while.

funny man

C0N0R wrote: »

Grass quality for the most is fairly good, we tried to top the paddocks all be it with a mower and that helped tidy up alot of the ****. There is done stemmy stuff about, it varies from paddock to paddock. Were trying to graze at 3200 and down to about 18/1900 but there is normally more cover than that when entering paddocks. Figures are rough but I'm starting to plate the farm on a regular basis so will have more accurate figures and growth rates after a while.

as they say keep me posted!

have to go 8 cows in for calving tonight.

funny man

funny man wrote: »

as they say keep me posted!

have to go 8 cows in for calving tonight.

Back in 5 calved and 5 fr bull calves, one with a leg down, ah well the next 3 will be heifers:rolleyes:.

dar31

funny man wrote: »

Back in 5 calved and 5 fr bull calves, one with a leg down, ah well the next 3 will be heifers:rolleyes:.

if only..

had a b*t*h of a one last week, big old cow breech and the legs down as well, just a little tail sticking out, up to me shoulder in her and still couldnt reach legs, took half hour to get it out,

on a go slow tonight one not long dropped and one for later on, old lady should manage on her own.

whelan1

funny man wrote: »

Back in 5 calved and 5 fr bull calves, one with a leg down, ah well the next 3 will be heifers:rolleyes:.

hope they wheren't advantaged semen;)

Tipp Man

funny man wrote: »

Back in 5 calved and 5 fr bull calves, one with a leg down, ah well the next 3 will be heifers:rolleyes:.

Until recently we were doing ok about a 50-50 mix of bulls and heifers - then the last 12 cows calved were all bulls - what a pain. could be lucky to reach our heifer numbers now

funny man

whelan1 wrote: »

hope they wheren't advantaged semen;)

yea female advantage ??? So far 50:50 :mad:

whelan1

we are getting alot of bulls too... br fr stock bull calves starting next week so hopefully it will change

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

i'm back

Jesus the peace was great there for a while :P :pac:

Hope ya had a good time

keep going

today i found a brace from the socket set that i lost in a field last spring getting ready for beet,its the small things that make me happy

whelan1

last year we found a pair of cattle tongs out in the field that had been spread through the dung spreader

whelan1

what a lovely spring day:D

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

what a lovely spring day:D

Looks like the New Zealand weather predictor was wrong. Just after Christmas he predicted on the Farmers Journal that we would see the cold spell coming back over Ireland from feb 20th with snow on 24th, 25th and 26th. Its 15 degrees outside today

He is predicting a good summer too - hope he's right.

whelan1

you can feel the growth today , its great

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Looks like the New Zealand weather predictor was wrong. Just after Christmas he predicted on the Farmers Journal that we would see the cold spell coming back over Ireland from feb 20th with snow on 24th, 25th and 26th. Its 15 degrees outside today

He is predicting a good summer too - hope he's right.

did you make any move on a quad yet reilig?

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

did you make any move on a quad yet reilig?

Not yet. I'm waiting on the money from the sale of the bull. He's going tomorrow. Have the mart tomorrow night with dry cows and on saturday with weinlings so it will be some time next week. Looking like a Honda 420 with manual gear change. They can be bought with between 50 and 150 hours on them at around the €4k mark for a 08 or 09. They are €6200 new. Spoke to a guy across the border with one which has 60 hours on it and 750km and he's looking for €4200 for it with a 6 month warranty. Looks like the best deal available at the moment.

ihatetractors

reilig wrote: »

He is predicting a good summer too - hope he's right.

Better be, all going well might be on a farm in Leicster for harvest :cool:

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Not yet. I'm waiting on the money from the sale of the bull. He's going tomorrow. Have the mart tomorrow night with dry cows and on saturday with weinlings so it will be some time next week. Looking like a Honda 420 with manual gear change. They can be bought with between 50 and 150 hours on them at around the €4k mark for a 08 or 09. They are €6200 new. Spoke to a guy across the border with one which has 60 hours on it and 750km and he's looking for €4200 for it with a 6 month warranty. Looks like the best deal available at the moment.

just looked them up, nice tidy looking bike, pricey but sure at least if you buy one that new you should have peace of mind

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

just looked them up, nice tidy looking bike, pricey but sure at least if you buy one that new you should have peace of mind

The way that i look at it, I will gain by making a small investment. It will save putting hours on the tractor for giving meal out to cattle and sheep or just going to count cattle or sheep. It will allow me to access forestry and eztract timber that I can't get to with a tractor. It'll be useful for bringing home the turf. I have a weed licker so I might get more use out of it with the quad too.

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

The way that i look at it, I will gain by making a small investment. It will save putting hours on the tractor for giving meal out to cattle and sheep or just going to count cattle or sheep. It will allow me to access forestry and eztract timber that I can't get to with a tractor. It'll be useful for bringing home the turf. I have a weed licker so I might get more use out of it with the quad too.

ya they work well with the licker, usually where the licker is needed is wet ground anyway so its handy keep tractor off that ground, i have a little trailer for mine with floatation wheels, great little tool for loads of jobs, fencing or as you say carrying timber, i know lads like to keep it simple and stick with the manual gear ones but my one is automatic, touch wood no trouble so far, you just sit up on bike and select forward or reverse and off you go, very easy drive it

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

ya they work well with the licker, usually where the licker is needed is wet ground anyway so its handy keep tractor off that ground, i have a little trailer for mine with floatation wheels, great little tool for loads of jobs, fencing or as you say carrying timber, i know lads like to keep it simple and stick with the manual gear ones but my one is automatic, touch wood no trouble so far, you just sit up on bike and select forward or reverse and off you go, very easy drive it

if I get an automatic at the right price I'll take it too.

ihatetractors

reilig wrote: »

if I get an automatic at the right price I'll take it too.

I wouldnt go auto, when the going inevitably gets tough they cant put the power down like a manual machine imo. You'll wonder what you ever did before in 6 months time with the quad:)

johngalway

Quad is on my shopping list also (it's a long, long list). I'd go with manual, purely going on what I've read on various forums and searches. Less to go wrong the better.

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

you can feel the growth today , its great

cant beat the smell of grass when your walking the cows in on a day like today:)

Bodacious

ihatetractors wrote: »

I wouldnt go auto, when the going inevitably gets tough they cant put the power down like a manual machine imo. You'll wonder what you ever did before in 6 months time with the quad:)

\
mine away for couple of days to get bearings replaced in the front and im like a lost pup!!!!:mad: + 1 on the manual gear change

C0N0R

After using quads out here I would seriously consider buying one when I get home. I used to think they were a waste of money but not anymore, so much handier than the 135 we use at home for the same kind of jobs. Love the fact you don't have to open/shut gates if you want to go into a paddock, as long as you have the correct gates of course.

It absolutely pissed rain here today, all day long to. Cows made a mess of the break they were on. Worst thing was I had to put up about ten break fences for the weekend in the rain, on the quad. Thank god for decent wet weather gear is all I can say!

funny man

C0N0R wrote: »

After using quads out here I would seriously consider buying one when I get home. I used to think they were a waste of money but not anymore, so much handier than the 135 we use at home for the same kind of jobs. Love the fact you don't have to open/shut gates if you want to go into a paddock, as long as you have the correct gates of course.

It absolutely pissed rain here today, all day long to. Cows made a mess of the break they were on. Worst thing was I had to put up about ten break fences for the weekend in the rain, on the quad. Thank god for decent wet weather gear is all I can say!

Must of drawn the short straw!

when you say made a mess what would you put it at on a scale of 1-5,

1. light marking.
2. surface cut up but no holes.
3. holes in ground but plant still intact.
4. rutts and holes with sod broken up with some plant shown.
5. deep holes with no plant shown.

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

It'll be useful for bringing home the turf.

Don't do what a lad at work did. Brought turf home with a 16' dropside flat bed IW behind a transit. Quad and small trailer for bringing it out to the road side. When he'd thrown in the last sod, he got the brain wave to save himself coming back for the quad and drive it up on the load of turf.

Had to pick up a bit of speed to load it, then couldn't stop and rammed in the two back doors of the transit!:rolleyes: You couldn't make it up. He got such a slagging as you can imagine. Dear bank of turf, should have just got in the oil:D:D

whelan1

got my first calf from my bf stock bull , a heifer , lovely calf , nice beefy look to it

funny man

whelan1 wrote: »

got my first calf from my bf stock bull , a heifer , lovely calf , nice beefy look to it

very good, whats the bulls back breeding?

whelan1

he's out of tih. nice square bull.... had only used ho fr for years its nice to have a change and hopefully it will get rid of some of the extremeness of the hol/fr

C0N0R

funny man wrote: »

Must of drawn the short straw!

when you say made a mess what would you put it at on a scale of 1-5,

1. light marking.
2. surface cut up but no holes.
3. holes in ground but plant still intact.
4. rutts and holes with sod broken up with some plant shown.
5. deep holes with no plant shown.

I would say it's a mixture of 1,2 and three to be honest. It's very hard to get deep holes as the soil depth is so thin here, went out and had a look at it again today and most of it's not to bad. The worst bit is where they spent most of the day standing but there is still some plant there, just mightn't be the greenest.

Ran the plate meter over the farm and the paddocks were going into on my side next is sitting about 3400 and the last one that was grazed is coming in at 1600 or thereabouts.

Lovely weather here at the moment, such a contrast to the last few days. Getting a lie in tomorro morning and then have to tag 90 cows. Heading down to queenstown on Friday for the weekend. Creedance Clearwater revival concert I'm going to then on the beer. Should be good.

jeff greene

Cows out today, phew, close one, I can say I had cows out in February now;). Great day today and the week is good too, thank God

reilig

jeff greene wrote: »

Cows out today, phew, close one, I can say I had cows out in February now;). Great day today and the week is good too, thank God

Hopefully the week will stay good. If I get 2 or 3 good days I'll get out with slurry - the tanks got very full very fast!!

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

Hopefully the week will stay good. If I get 2 or 3 good days I'll get out with slurry - the tanks got very full very fast!!

Was going to ask if you'd tried out the new wheels yet? Should make a big difference. Do you pull it with the 178?

Have a neighbour with a TS90, reckons his old 595 had more torque to pull a tanker of slurry. Takes the NH a while to 'wind up' with a load on the back

whelan1

let the cows out today... happy days

dar31

cows out for the night.
had been letting them out after milking in the eve and letting back in about 9 to eat, that last 4 nights before getting fed up with it.

whelan1

is it not a bit cold to be letting them out at night?

reilig

Fabulous morning. Been out since 6am spreading slurry - the neighbours woke up to a lovely smell.

Ground has dried an awful lot in the past few days. By monday I'll be able to get to my wettest ground.

Have a couple of lorry loads of pig slurry coming next week so I need to make space for it.

Babysitting now till early afternoon as the OH is on a course.

Might get some shut-eye

whelan1

ye we where at slurry for the last few days too... ground in great order.... had an angus cow had twins this motning and she is rejecting 1 of them:mad::mad: i hate twins

reilig

Twins can be a hassle allright.
But my vet says that they are a sign of a well kept, healthy and fertile herd.

I normally find that twins come in sets. Over the last few years, any time there's been 1 set of twins, there has always been a second set.

Have a cousin who used to have a cow and she had twins 7 years out of 8.

whelan1 wrote: »

ye we where at slurry for the last few days too... ground in great order.... had an angus cow had twins this motning and she is rejecting 1 of them:mad::mad: i hate twins

whelan1

a cow kicked my finger this morning and bent the nail right back , its black already , i dont have long nails but its fierce painful

johngalway

All the fertilizer is out. All the ewes are in from the hill, vaccinated, and given some Grovite. Now I've got a heavy cold, typical :pac: Noticed ticks in a lot of them while vaccinating, so I guess that's going to be my next big job.

Got the "lend" of a long heavy wooden trough from the ould fella. He was constantly complaining about it's weight, yet warned me not to cut it in half :mad:

Oops then ........ Friends with battery saws are great. Not killing myself over some bloody wood.

vanderbadger

that postie in Donegal is promising snow for paddys day :eek:
its quiet cold down here today anyway, was tempted to put out a bit of fertilizer there at weekend but will sit tight another while

mikemac

Ha, saw a reference to a MF135
We have one of those, it was bought in 1978!

And runs great, only used around the farm and never realy sees the road

However, the more I read and research I reckon we'll get a quad over the next few months.
Probably at the end of summer when cashflow from silage contracting is coming in.

Had a go of a quad, great little things. And I can think of so many uses around the place it can be used for