Farming Chit Chat

JohnBoy

irishh_bob wrote: »

how much do you hope to get for crop of silage

With the price of fertilizer going onto it I really need to get 165 an acre.

14 acres, of varying age/quality, from fresh reseed, some a few years older but very good. down to a few acres older sward but still good ground.

No idea of what it's going to be making this year. I wouldnt be surprised if it's down on last year. Super Levy could knock the wind out of a lot of sails, and there's a lot of silage left over from the winter. but then again costs are up and tillage is taking over a lot of land, so who knows.

Anyway since when has farming been about making a fair return?

irishh_bob

JohnBoy wrote: »

With the price of fertilizer going onto it I really need to get 165 an acre.

14 acres, of varying age/quality, from fresh reseed, some a few years older but very good. down to a few acres older sward but still good ground.

No idea of what it's going to be making this year. I wouldnt be surprised if it's down on last year. Super Levy could knock the wind out of a lot of sails, and there's a lot of silage left over from the winter. but then again costs are up and tillage is taking over a lot of land, so who knows.

Anyway since when has farming been about making a fair return?

no superlevy , cordinated efforts to avoid it were successfull

165 euro for one crop of silage :eek:

JohnBoy

Just saw that they reckon it'll just be avoided. everyone will plough on regardless so!

going rate seemingly around 150 last year, and fertiliser costs are way up this year.

Muckit

vanderbadger wrote: »

what age would you say they were, they must have been pushing 2 ?

Hardly ever 24mths when being sold at a sale for breeding, more likely 20mths tops I reckon. Yes exceptional cattle

Madness with that steep ramp alright and open yard. You'd swear they were amateurs! (they were far from it!)

Bodacious

Muckit wrote: »

Hardly ever 24mths when being sold at a sale for breeding, more likely 20mths tops I reckon. Yes exceptional cattle

Madness with that steep ramp alright and open yard. You'd swear they were amateurs! (they were far from it!)

Sounds like a good show!What was the name of that programme?channel i might try and get it online?

vanderbadger

Bodacious wrote: »

Sounds like a good show!What was the name of that programme?channel i might try and get it online?

i think its just called lambing live but the bbc player wont work in ireland so you might have to download it from somewhere

pakalasa

There are small clips of it here on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4KCU06WM5E&feature=BF&list=SP1FB8601C07FBDEEB&index=1

If anyone knows where the full programme can be downloaded, could they post it here? Thanks.

vanderbadger

whelan1 wrote: »

is that sunet acres bang ,we used alot of him, all our cows have a lot of canadian breeding , we had 2 bulls in ai , priestown jupiter and priestown tornado... great bulls...tbh we havent really been working as hard with them as we should have been over the last few years as with the kids i wouldnt have the time to keep everything right , we have a atock bull with them but i hope to get back to ai'ing them again next year. M ust take some pics and post them on here some day , they are massive cows

would love to see a few pics whelan some time if you get a chance, just wondering would you get a good calf from crossing big angus cow with blue bull?
I suppose yours are all purebred so you probably arent crossing them anyway

whelan1

will wait til they go out and get cleaned up a bit and will post some then:)

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

is that sunet acres bang ,we used alot of him, all our cows have a lot of canadian breeding , we had 2 bulls in ai , priestown jupiter and priestown tornado... great bulls...tbh we havent really been working as hard with them as we should have been over the last few years as with the kids i wouldnt have the time to keep everything right , we have a atock bull with them but i hope to get back to ai'ing them again next year. M ust take some pics and post them on here some day , they are massive cows

yes that him great bull no wonder they have loads of milk and are big cows.i worked for a man that had a bull with that breeding he had great lenght.he sucker and finishs all to slaugher.he kept heifers off him for breeding and he sold him to the brother.his brother kept him a number of years and then needed money and sold him.he asked the brother did he want to buy him back and he said no.he told me later he regreted not buying him back. he said he couldnt get the same bull at the carrickonshannon sales and he went every year to buy a bull.the mans brother used him on bb he had great heifers out of him which he kept for breeding.

whelan1

ye ptj , was a fantastic animal , he bet charlaois , limousin etc in tully for dlwg

johngalway

I'm blessed by ram lambs this year. 16 ewes have lambed so far, that's 22 lambs. 15 of which are ram lambs! 2 of the 7 ewe lambs are Cheviot which I doubt I'll keep so that leaves 5 prospect replacements thus far :pac: I'll need to sprinkle Holy Water over them

Breeding the flock out of existence at this rate :pac:

whelan1

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

What's in the bullets Whelan1? Copper / magnesium?? Does it help get them back in calf? Never used them myself

whelan1

magnessium for tetany

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

And there is always 1 or 2 that will spit one of them back up no matter how many times you put it in there.

whelan1

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

I catch them in the nose with my thumb and first finger :eek: We have no tongs around here!!
Usually get the old man to put the bullet down. There's always 1 that will try to roll ya.

Username John

johngalway wrote: »

I'm blessed by ram lambs this year. 16 ewes have lambed so far, that's 22 lambs. 15 of which are ram lambs! 2 of the 7 ewe lambs are Cheviot which I doubt I'll keep so that leaves 5 prospect replacements thus far :pac: I'll need to sprinkle Holy Water over them

Breeding the flock out of existence at this rate :pac:

I had mostly ram lambs at the start as well - I think the first 10 lambs we had were all rams... (10 I know is a small number, but as % of what I have, tisnt too small)
But we had more rams than ewe lambs overall...
And the ones that had rams acourse, were the nice ones you'd like to breed off... I dont have many replacement ewe lambs this year either.

Last year, I breed a few ewes I should have sold as lambs to be honest, but I wanted to up my numbers a bit. They were a bit small, and had problems lambing... So being a bit more cautious with what I keep now...

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

the canadian angus dont like their heads touched.the man i worked for told me that as i found out myself.

whelan1

lovely day:D

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

lovely day:D

Ya grand day for the race...

jeff greene

whelan1 wrote: »

lovely day:D

Not really, stuck in the garden all day picking up cordylines:mad: and digging out a hedge that the frost killed :mad:

Grass is growing tho and cows are stretched out:cool:

theroad

Great day. Nothing beats the sight of a field of cows just lyin' around, looking very pleased with themselves .

johngalway

Day like today, you'd forget bad weather existed T shirt weather here, and was too warm at that when working! Great weather for lambs, long may it continue (don't anyone read the weather forum...).

C0N0R

I'm suitably jealous, it's getting colder over here, still a nice sun but not warm. Growth is slowing down, will soon be closing paddocks up. Have about 45 cows calved now and it's a fairly even bull vs heifer split.

Cousin has said he will take the farm so just waiting on the whole thing to be confirmed now. Looking forward to the challenge of that, also will be nice not to have to supply winter milk!

Have the first rugby match of the season today, local derby us at home and I'm dosed with the cold. Off tomorrow morning so few beers to be had tonight.

johngalway

Got the lend of a quad today for bringing stakes up the land for the new fence.

Best. Craic. Ever.

Lunch now, then off on it again dropping off feed for the ould fella

what happen

johngalway wrote: »

Got the lend of a quad today for bringing stakes up the land for the new fence.

Best. Craic. Ever.

Lunch now, then off on it again dropping off feed for the ould fella

the quad are great you will not want to give it back you will sleep on it tonight.:D

johngalway

what happen wrote: »

the quad are great you will not want to give it back you will sleep on it tonight.:D

Ah had to give it back yesterday evening

Had 20 fresh 5 foot split stakes on it and went anywhere I pleased in my own place which is very rough, bumpy and hilly. She only failed in one spot and that's cos I nearly sank the rear left wheel in an old drain, couple of rocks soon sorted that mind.

Dad was killed telling me I wouldn't get back the old path as creeping furze had overgrown it. Hah! drove over them with five bags of ration and a barrel on board the first time, two barrels and 3.5 bags the second time.

Vroom, vroom :pac: Great yokes altogether, don't think I'd ever be off it if I had one.

jeff greene

johngalway wrote: »

Ah had to give it back yesterday evening

Had 20 fresh 5 foot split stakes on it and went anywhere I pleased in my own place which is very rough, bumpy and hilly. She only failed in one spot and that's cos I nearly sank the rear left wheel in an old drain, couple of rocks soon sorted that mind.

Dad was killed telling me I wouldn't get back the old path as creeping furze had overgrown it. Hah! drove over them with five bags of ration and a barrel on board the first time, two barrels and 3.5 bags the second time.

Vroom, vroom :pac: Great yokes altogether, don't think I'd ever be off it if I had one.

Now thats what Quads are for! Not lazy dairy farmers going for the cows:rolleyes:

whelan1

another glorious day

Muckit

Ya this great to see it. Absolutely melting here in East Galway.

Off out now to stomach tube a calf.... the joys:rolleyes: Catching the fecker wiill be the biggest job!

whelan1

Muckit wrote: »

Ya this great to see it. Absolutely melting here in East Galway.

Off out now to stomach tube a calf.... the joys:rolleyes: Catching the fecker wiill be the biggest job!

hate that and then the little fecker will let a bawl out of it to upset the mammy :rolleyes:

whelan1

ballcock was stuck up in cows drinker today, they where fierce thirsty by the time i briught them in:cool:

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

hate that and then the little fecker will let a bawl out of it to upset the mammy :rolleyes:

Actually not a sound out of him. Had blocked off the majority of access to the creep and had it well bedded. Once he was lying down inside, pulled across a board to block off it's escape;) 2min job done.

Same thing for the next 3 evenings though, tis true what they say, prevention better than cure :rolleyes:

Herd test now 2mor evening aswell

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

ballcock was stuck up in cows drinker today, they where fierce thirsty by the time i briught them in:cool:

thats easy fixed worse ballcock stuck down in drinker in slatted house and fill tank with water and big water bill.

MAndrew

Hello.
I have a quick question. My father is considering getting into farming, his father is a farmer, so they can work together. He needs to buy a tractor, but we don't know what make is the best for its money. We found on another forum this link to used tractors category (and here it is), but there are several models to choose from And they're pretty expensive (except the "vintage" ones). Our budget is about 15,000. What would be the best choice?

vincenzolorenzo

MAndrew wrote: »

Hello.
I have a quick question. My father is considering getting into farming, his father is a farmer, so they can work together. He needs to buy a tractor, but we don't know what make is the best for its money. We found on another forum this link to used tractors category (and here it is), but there are several models to choose from And they're pretty expensive (except the "vintage" ones). Our budget is about 15,000. What would be the best choice?

You're going to have to give us a bit more information about what you actually want the tractor to do? What kind of farming are you going to do? Typically what jobs will you require the tractor for, etc. For €15,000 budget you have loads of options

whelan1

just read a brilliant quote " if your presence cant add value to my life, then YOUR absence will make no difference ":)

whelan1

did areally stupid thing this morning... milk tank neede a good wash , so i put on a descale wash in it.. then i deided to throw a jug of hypochlorite in on top of it:eek: then i turned off wash and opened lid of tank and all the fumes came straight up in my face:mad: i got sick... lesson learned

JohnBoy

yikes, be verrry careful mixing things like that

Bodacious

whelan1 wrote: »

did areally stupid thing this morning... milk tank neede a good wash , so i put on a descale wash in it.. then i deided to throw a jug of hypochlorite in on top of it:eek: then i turned off wash and opened lid of tank and all the fumes came straight up in my face:mad: i got sick... lesson learned

I learned a lesson myself yesterday rolled quad and trailer back on myself ... it landed crash bang beside me a foot to the left of me full flip 4 wheels in the air!! Totally totally my own stupidity and rushing :mad::mad: Got away with bruised rib and minor damage to light/steering rack.

Lucky boy to be alive today, I was nearly another statistic, farm is a dangerous place to be at the best of times:mad::mad:

vanderbadger

Bodacious wrote: »

I learned a lesson myself yesterday rolled quad and trailer back on myself ... it landed crash bang beside me a foot to the left of me full flip 4 wheels in the air!! Totally totally my own stupidity and rushing :mad::mad: Got away with bruised rib and minor damage to light/steering rack.

Lucky boy to be alive today, I was nearly another statistic, farm is a dangerous place to be at the best of times:mad::mad:

jeez very lucky indeed so, sounds like something you couldnt repeat if you tried though, how did it flip back especially with trailer, were you going up a hill

Bodacious

vanderbadger wrote: »

jeez very lucky indeed so, sounds like something you couldnt repeat if you tried though, how did it flip back especially with trailer, were you going up a hill

Yeah pure moment of madness going up a steep hill, rented land didnt know it was that steep til i was on top of it and got speed up to keep going and she lifted at front and reared backwards like a horse and i couldnt get off of her quick enough... trailer saved me as it pulled her to one side and i fell the other way luckily enough. I dont mind calling myself a total gobsh**e what i was thinking i dont know, i suppose everyone has one of those days!:)

vanderbadger

Bodacious wrote: »

Yeah pure moment of madness going up a steep hill, rented land didnt know it was that steep til i was on top of it and got speed up to keep going and she lifted at front and reared backwards like a horse and i couldnt get off of her quick enough... trailer saved me as it pulled her to one side and i fell the other way luckily enough. I dont mind calling myself a total gobsh**e what i was thinking i dont know, i suppose everyone has one of those days!:)

ah sure it can happen so quick, i remember one time going across a hill on the quad, i was half way across it when i lost my nerve and thought i was going to flip over, I was jsut stuck there for a few mins wondering what i would do kinda afraid to move but eventually i got her turned back down hill :rolleyes:

5live

Bodacious wrote: »

Yeah pure moment of madness going up a steep hill, rented land didnt know it was that steep til i was on top of it and got speed up to keep going and she lifted at front and reared backwards like a horse and i couldnt get off of her quick enough... trailer saved me as it pulled her to one side and i fell the other way luckily enough. I dont mind calling myself a total gobsh**e what i was thinking i dont know, i suppose everyone has one of those days!:)

Once you can walk away its a cheap lesson learned. A couple of weeks ago i was feeding ration in the evening and running late. I loaded the bags into the grab and went feeding. Second bag slipped and i moved to catch it and my boots lost grip in the yard. I fell onto the spikes. 4 holes in my jacket jumper shirt and tee shirt and only 1 bad scratch and 4 bruises on my ribs. Too much rushing isnt good but no damage done:o

dar31

Bodacious wrote: »

Yeah pure moment of madness going up a steep hill, rented land didnt know it was that steep til i was on top of it and got speed up to keep going and she lifted at front and reared backwards like a horse and i couldnt get off of her quick enough... trailer saved me as it pulled her to one side and i fell the other way luckily enough. I dont mind calling myself a total gobsh**e what i was thinking i dont know, i suppose everyone has one of those days!:)

nothing like a lucky escape to make you respect them.

the one that open my eyes to the dangers was when the quad had just came back from service. went booting down the cow lane, never seen wire across lane, slamed on all three brakes, of course the front ones had been tightened well, sent me over handle bars to the ground, and in one of them slow motion moments, heard fence stakes falling to the ground, turned around to see quad standing on its nose about to land on the middle of me back, managed to roll to one side.
any time i see some one in a wheel chair, i think of that moment, it could have been me.

all fence gates are now replaced with white and blue rope wire, and a piece o plastic tied in the centre.

Bodacious

vanderbadger wrote: »

ah sure it can happen so quick, i remember one time going across a hill on the quad, i was half way across it when i lost my nerve and thought i was going to flip over, I was jsut stuck there for a few mins wondering what i would do kinda afraid to move but eventually i got her turned back down hill :rolleyes:

Ah yeah and you think they light to throw around but the position i was in beneath it and the height she flew in the air before she even thought about coming down it would have been ..curtains!!:mad:

Bodacious

5live wrote: »

Once you can walk away its a cheap lesson learned. A couple of weeks ago i was feeding ration in the evening and running late. I loaded the bags into the grab and went feeding. Second bag slipped and i moved to catch it and my boots lost grip in the yard. I fell onto the spikes. 4 holes in my jacket jumper shirt and tee shirt and only 1 bad scratch and 4 bruises on my ribs. Too much rushing isnt good but no damage done:o

exactly couple of bruised ribs too and a bruised ego:D but lucky lucky boy overall. machinery can be replaced i could have been mangled beneath it:mad:

Bodacious

dar31 wrote: »

nothing like a lucky escape to make you respect them.

the one that open my eyes to the dangers was when the quad had just came back from service. went booting down the cow lane, never seen wire across lane, slamed on all three brakes, of course the front ones had been tightened well, sent me over handle bars to the ground, and in one of them slow motion moments, heard fence stakes falling to the ground, turned around to see quad standing on its nose about to land on the middle of me back, managed to roll to one side.
any time i see some one in a wheel chair, i think of that moment, it could have been me.

all fence gates are now replaced with white and blue rope wire, and a piece o plastic tied in the centre.

Hi Dar 31,

Sounds very simliar to my escapade it seemed like it was happening in slow motion but all over in 2 seconds. Very handy machine but unlike the tractor i think at times we take chances we shouldnt and be it over confidence or looking over into field or what but we all make mistakes and i suppose like you they are quicker than tractor over short distances so more speed chances are you going to have a knock/rattle at some stage!:mad: