Farming Chit Chat

whelan1

went out to milk early this afternoon, pushed button for mliking machine- nothing:eek: , only on christmas day, checked fuseboard all ok, spent 8k on an electrical overhaul of everything in the yard during the summer, rang electrician, he came 5 minutes later- great service on xmas day, apparently faulty overload switch... got us going anyways and got milking done.... :rolleyes:

topgeas

another calf today, in the middle of dinner. fine sim bull. them cameras worth every cent.

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

went out to milk early this afternoon, pushed button for mliking machine- nothing:eek: , only on christmas day, checked fuseboard all ok, spent 8k on an electrical overhaul of everything in the yard during the summer, rang electrician, he came 5 minutes later- great service on xmas day, apparently faulty overload switch... got us going anyways and got milking done.... :rolleyes:

You'd be supprised how many calls come in.
I went out late one Christmas eve to a guy who couldn't quite figure out which way the three way valve worked, even though the machine was near twenty years old
Twat just had a few too many in town and then demanded I came out when he couldn't milk
Then moaned at being charged £50, never went back- ever!

whelan1

bbam wrote: »

You'd be supprised how many calls come in.
I went out late one Christmas eve to a guy who couldn't quite figure out which way the three way valve worked, even though the machine was near twenty years old
Twat just had a few too many in town and then demanded I came out when he couldn't milk
Then moaned at being charged £50, never went back- ever!

also had a puncture on back wheel of digger yeaterday! , lad came out at half 7 this morning to fix it....

The_Conductor

bbam wrote: »

You'd be supprised how many calls come in.
I went out late one Christmas eve to a guy who couldn't quite figure out which way the three way valve worked, even though the machine was near twenty years old
Twat just had a few too many in town and then demanded I came out when he couldn't milk
Then moaned at being charged £50, never went back- ever!

Lol- I had to bypass a switch altogether to the fusebox myself yesterday. Have to replace the lot today

whelan1

smccarrick wrote: »

Lol- I had to bypass a switch altogether to the fusebox myself yesterday. Have to replace the lot today

only on christmas day!

The_Conductor

whelan1 wrote: »

only on christmas day!

Tell me about it.
Now to figure where to get a 2KW switch on Stephen's Day......

whelan1

fooking milking machine wouldnt start this evening either! electrician by passed overload switch as he is getting drunk tonight

bbam

Holy crap what a day!
Were having 50kph winds and driving rain. A real misery to be out in. We have large steel frame galvanise sheeted swinging doors and they are lethal in this weather.

Muckit

bbam wrote: »

Holy crap what a day!
Were having 50kph winds and driving rain. A real misery to be out in. We have large steel frame galvanise sheeted swinging doors and they are lethal in this weather.

Ya deadly I'd say. There's alot of force behind a small pedestrian door, could only imagine a big shed door. I think all doors over 4' had to be sliding to get the grant for slatted sheds. You could see the rationale behind it

pakalasa

Had to laugh at this;

1chippy

ive spent the last few months reading through loads of the old posts (anything ive found relevant or even slightly relevant to what im at) have to say this bloody forum is addictive. notice a slow down on users on thursdays must be something with the journal coming out.
still cant make my mind up what bull or bulls to put on the cows so going to chance a bit of pick and mix when the ai mans out.
generally just wanna say thanks for all the help and good work mods.:)

Bizzum

1chippy wrote: »

still cant make my mind up what bull or bulls to put on the cows so going to chance a bit of pick and mix when the ai mans out.

And there's one big advantage of AI. You can pick and mix to your hearts content!
Your next crop of calves will be like a tinkers sh1te..........A mixture of everything:D

Kovu

Bizzum wrote: »

Your next crop of calves will be like a tinkers sh1te..........A mixture of everything:D

We do this, t'is called eating:D

snowman707

was watching a ewe very heavy in lamb for the last few days, no lambs were due here before the 20th january

This morning she had 3 vendeen lambs at foot

there are 3 or more that will lamb within the next couple of days

records show that service date would coincide with the date the ewes were dosed and bolused

as usual no body will own up but one or more of the rams must have been with the ewes for a spell and obviously taken away with a smile on their faces

whelan1

had a cow calved this morning, she didnt waste any time as she had calved already in2011 at the end of february, she is a total mentaller, sat on her calf in february and would go through you for a shortcut... she had a heifer calf this morning, i took the calf straight off her and let her in with the milkers, she will improve my calving interval:D

5live

snowman707 wrote: »

was watching a ewe very heavy in lamb for the last few days, no lambs were due here before the 20th january

This morning she had 3 vendeen lambs at foot

there are 3 or more that will lamb within the next couple of days

records show that service date would coincide with the date the ewes were dosed and bolused

as usual no body will own up but one or more of the rams must have been with the ewes for a spell and obviously taken away with a smile on their faces

Had to laugh. A couple of ewe lambs due to be sold in Jan were mixed in with the ewes ,and a couple of ewes scanned with singles lambed yesterday with twins, one big one small. I couldnt figure why a ewe lamb was getting very agitated around the single pens till i turned her and she had a bag and bloody tail. She is only 10 months old as she was off the last of last years ewe lambs.

How young can ewe lambs go in lamb at anyway

case 5150

must be a week for surprise newborns. all cows dried off here since 21st december, so parlour shut down till 1st february or so i thought, 1st calver just popped this evening with twin heifers from my fathers limousin stock bull, i not back calving till 25th or 26th of jan, she going to be a nuisance round the place for the next month

Bodacious

case 5150 wrote: »

must be a week for surprise newborns. all cows dried off here since 21st december, so parlour shut down till 1st february or so i thought, 1st calver just popped this evening with twin heifers from my fathers limousin stock bull, i not back calving till 25th or 26th of jan, she going to be a nuisance round the place for the next month

I know very little about dairy just wondering to myself there ... could you let the 2 calves suck away until you start milking or what will you do with her

whelan1

have the cows in 2 groups ( milkers) was only milking the stale group once a day over xmas and scc went up to 400,000 :rolleyes: still have stale group on once a day til monday and last test was 215,00o really dont understand that, but i am not complaining

porter shark

i'm used to dealing with scour in almost every calf born in january, this time it seems to have started at christmas. anyone with same complaint?
i don't know whether to blame the mild weather or the fact that we have had more autumn calvers in shed this year.

Bizzum

porter shark wrote: »

i'm used to dealing with scour in almost every calf born in january, this time it seems to have started at christmas. anyone with same complaint?
i don't know whether to blame the mild weather or the fact that we have had more autumn calvers in shed this year.

Do you vaccinate?

whelan1

how often do you clean out the shed?

PMU

case 5150 wrote: »

must be a week for surprise newborns. all cows dried off here since 21st december, so parlour shut down till 1st february or so i thought, 1st calver just popped this evening with twin heifers from my fathers limousin stock bull, i not back calving till 25th or 26th of jan, she going to be a nuisance round the place for the next month

same here ,the bull broke into the heifers last march and did one .she got estrumate and came again, this one must have been done too. i am off on holidays on thursday for a week!

1chippy

porter shark wrote: »

i'm used to dealing with scour in almost every calf born in january, this time it seems to have started at christmas. anyone with same complaint?
i don't know whether to blame the mild weather or the fact that we have had more autumn calvers in shed this year.

Have a few , dont seem weak or anything but gave them tablets anyway. All in cubicles and slats, Passage scraped daily, creep cleaned every two days and new bed of shavings put down. (copied a design of i think reiligs that i seen here)

Muckit

1chippy wrote: »

(copied a design of i think reiligs that i seen here)

Is your creep on a cubicle bed?

redzerologhlen

Just after having to get the neighbour to shoot a cow, what a great start to 2012:(

Bizzum

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Just after having to get the neighbour to shoot a cow, what a great start to 2012:(

:eek: What happened her?

redzerologhlen

Bizzum wrote: »

:eek: What happened her?

She was pining with about 2 weeks, she must have shed well over 200kg, no scour or anything either and she wouldnt eat. I would say it was something in the stomach but I could be wrong on that. Had a sim bull do the same thing 3 years ago and another sim bull do the same thing about 10 years ago. The vet was out to the two bulls countless times by to no avail. They reckoned it was something to do with the stomach that time anyway. It looked to be the same thing that happened the cow. Didnt even bother calling the vet for her seen as our vets are the grim reaper, Over the last 6-7 years I have brought 10+ calves to them with different ailments, some more serious than others albeit and they have been out to the bull, a cow with milk fever, a cow with tetany and a section. Not one of them survived!!! Even by chance you would have thought a few would live but no. Anyway I knew the cow was dying there all day, thrown on her side with very laboured breathing so twas the one thing to put her out of her misery rather than to leave her suffering.

whelan1

will ya get a pm done on her? our knackery lads take a look for anything different in an animal like that, just good to know what caused it- me being a nosey rosie:)

dar31

redzerologhlen wrote: »

She was pining with about 2 weeks, she must have shed well over 200kg, no scour or anything either and she wouldnt eat. I would say it was something in the stomach but I could be wrong on that. Had a sim bull do the same thing 3 years ago and another sim bull do the same thing about 10 years ago. The vet was out to the two bulls countless times by to no avail. They reckoned it was something to do with the stomach that time anyway. It looked to be the same thing that happened the cow. Didnt even bother calling the vet for her seen as our vets are the grim reaper, Over the last 6-7 years I have brought 10+ calves to them with different ailments, some more serious than others albeit and they have been out to the bull, a cow with milk fever, a cow with tetany and a section. Not one of them survived!!! Even by chance you would have thought a few would live but no. Anyway I knew the cow was dying there all day, thrown on her side with very laboured breathing so twas the one thing to put her out of her misery rather than to leave her suffering.

magnet boluses, every one should have a few of them around for such cases. mightnt have cured her, but sure as hell wouldnt have make her worse, and only about €3 a pop

Bizzum

dar31 wrote: »

magnet boluses, every one should have a few of them around for such cases. mightnt have cured her, but sure as hell wouldnt have make her worse, and only about €3 a pop

I've never used them but the seem a good idea. When would you administer? Routinely? or is it pointless to administer first signs of ill thrive? or what?

dar31

Bizzum wrote: »

I've never used them but the seem a good idea. When would you administer? Routinely? or is it pointless to administer first signs of ill thrive? or what?

first sign of anything out of the normal.

1chippy

Muckit wrote: »

Is your creep on a cubicle bed?

Yeh took a few cubicles out, welded a 45mm steel tube from about four cubicles down, then fixed it to the gable wall. works a treat.

to redzer, have you any yew trees hangin into your ground, sounds like a similar descrip someone had about yew poisoning.

Bodacious

dar31 wrote: »

redzerologhlen wrote: »

She was pining with about 2 weeks, she must have shed well over 200kg, no scour or anything either and she wouldnt eat. I would say it was something in the stomach but I could be wrong on that. Had a sim bull do the same thing 3 years ago and another sim bull do the same thing about 10 years ago. The vet was out to the two bulls countless times by to no avail. They reckoned it was something to do with the stomach that time anyway. It looked to be the same thing that happened the cow. Didnt even bother calling the vet for her seen as our vets are the grim reaper, Over the last 6-7 years I have brought 10+ calves to them with different ailments, some more serious than others albeit and they have been out to the bull, a cow with milk fever, a cow with tetany and a section. Not one of them survived!!! Even by chance you would have thought a few would live but no. Anyway I knew the cow was dying there all day, thrown on her side with very laboured breathing so twas the one thing to put her out of her misery rather than to leave her suffering.

magnet boluses, every one should have a few of them around for such cases. mightnt have cured her, but sure as hell wouldnt have make her worse, and only about €3 a pop

I'm sorry about your cow Red, as they say around here " may all the bad luck go with her!"

I've never used magnets but they do seem like a good idea. Would they be more likely to ingest metal objects in pit silage, mixed feeders, sheds etc than outdoor systems Have seen more blockages and deaths from hill cattle eating polythene either feed bags or wrap, and in one case poisoning from licking discarded car batteries on a commonage

vanderbadger

redzerologhlen wrote: »

She was pining with about 2 weeks, she must have shed well over 200kg, no scour or anything either and she wouldnt eat. I would say it was something in the stomach but I could be wrong on that. Had a sim bull do the same thing 3 years ago and another sim bull do the same thing about 10 years ago. The vet was out to the two bulls countless times by to no avail. They reckoned it was something to do with the stomach that time anyway. It looked to be the same thing that happened the cow. Didnt even bother calling the vet for her seen as our vets are the grim reaper, Over the last 6-7 years I have brought 10+ calves to them with different ailments, some more serious than others albeit and they have been out to the bull, a cow with milk fever, a cow with tetany and a section. Not one of them survived!!! Even by chance you would have thought a few would live but no. Anyway I knew the cow was dying there all day, thrown on her side with very laboured breathing so twas the one thing to put her out of her misery rather than to leave her suffering.

hmm bummer, sorry to hear that, had the same thing with a cow outside a few years back, weight fell off her, had to out her down as well, just figured it might be cancer, never heard of the magnetic bolus, good idea

Big_Evil

Just after reading MT's forecast there on the weather forum:eek:

I think I spend today tying things down.....looks very bad for the next few days....

pakalasa

Redz,
It would be no harm to get that cow PM'd. You might learn something.

whelan1

was doing my stock nembers today for the accountant, absolutely hate doing it, anyways all was going too well , when i discovered i had skipped february and had to start over:cool:

vanderbadger

whelan1 wrote: »

was doing my stock nembers today for the accountant, absolutely hate doing it, anyways all was going too well , when i discovered i had skipped february and had to start over:cool:

would you not just give him a spreadsheet from you herdprofile online? for my accounts I download the herd profile in xls format from my online profile for the start of the yr and again at the end of the financial year and thats seems to do him
also when still in reps the stock number thing for the record sheets was a pain but the icbf site does a very handy breakdown of your stock and the ages so it took the pain out of it

whelan1

vanderbadger wrote: »

would you not just give him a spreadsheet from you herdprofile online? for my accounts I download the herd profile in xls format from my online profile for the start of the yr and again at the end of the financial year and thats seems to do him
also when still in reps the stock number thing for the record sheets was a pain but the icbf site does a very handy breakdown of your stock and the ages so it took the pain out of it

that would be too handy, must do that next year:) hate doing the figures

whelan1

ear to the ground on now!

moy83

Milking sheep , anyone here willing to give it a go ?

johngalway

moy83 wrote: »

Milking sheep , anyone here willing to give it a go ?

Looked into dairy goats last year but it didn't suit where I am, they don't like rain apparently...

bbam

moy83 wrote: »

Milking sheep , anyone here willing to give it a go ?

Hey... guys bought Lama so anything is possible in Ireland

hiscan

whelan1 wrote: »

ear to the ground on now!

Very interesting tonight.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1129362

1chippy

moy83 wrote: »

Milking sheep , anyone here willing to give it a go ?

worked for a farmer years back who got two of us to milk ewes which lambs were taken off.
Definately one of the worst days at work i ever had. it rained down all day on top of two ejits milking the fowlest smelling sheep ever. Part of the reason i cant eat lamb or stand the sight of sheep.

moy83

johngalway wrote: »

Looked into dairy goats last year but it didn't suit where I am, they don't like rain apparently...

I was looking into the goats too but would probably have had to start processing it and selling myself because none of the processors were buying it then

johngalway

moy83 wrote: »

I was looking into the goats too but would probably have had to start processing it and selling myself because none of the processors were buying it then

Yeah, and there's a considerable investment, and some risk, in getting into that end of it. Still though............

moy83

johngalway wrote: »

Yeah, and there's a considerable investment, and some risk, in getting into that end of it. Still though............

Its the "considerable investment "that gets me every time