Farming Chit Chat

Seaba

Indubitable wrote: »

Quick question, What would be the highest calving difficulty you would put on a heifer?

Personally, we never take a chance with a heifer. AA or easy calving LM. 4% max for us, ensuring that the reliability figures for calving etc is over 90%.

I see a lot of lads around here giving "easy calving" BB at 7 and 8% calving. Heifer then has trouble calving, down for a week, doesn't clean properly which usually means she is even later coming back in heat, and you are thrown back a month or two. Managing what the heifer eats before she calves can reduce this but I don't think its worth it.

pakalasa

5% with a high reliability (>80%) is what I try to go with. (We won't argue over 1% ).
It's very comforting when a heifer comes near calving, that she's carrying to an easy calver.

johngalway

Have to round up my ginormous flock today and put lamb jackets on everything. Fox is paying me regular visits, three nabbed so far, and when yer only lambing 40 ewes...... Got some Stockholm tar as well I might dab on them, not convinced it works but... Bit concerned with all the messing I'll have problems with ewes rejecting them after.

Friend saw him come in last night but couldn't get a shot so I might get to nobble the scut tonight.

Ah, the joys.

Still, small potatoes when put alongside that awful photo of 48 lambs that ended up at the bottom of a well on BFF.

Birdnuts

johngalway wrote: »

Still, small potatoes when put alongside that awful photo of 48 lambs that ended up at the bottom of a well on BFF.

Saw that - many reckon the removing of the cover from the well was an act of vandelism:(

johngalway

Birdnuts wrote: »

Saw that - many reckon the removing of the cover from the well was an act of vandelism:(

Agree with the person said they needed shoving down the well and close the cap, too good for them infact.

PatQfarmer

Discing the field this morning.
Sprayed off 2 weeks ago, slow to die off.
Grazed with cattle for 1 week, then harrowed with Einbock to remove "wig". Had to rank up harrowings with Haybob and baled it up. 3 bales off 6 acres.
Soil too wet to power-harrow yet.
Thinking of using mastercrop "Extend" grass-seed. Anyone else use it?
Quoted €73 per bag in Glanbia.

vanderbadger

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Discing the field this morning.
Sprayed off 2 weeks ago, slow to die off.
Grazed with cattle for 1 week, then harrowed with Einbock to remove "wig". Had to rank up harrowings with Haybob and baled it up. 3 bales off 6 acres.
Soil to wet to power-harrow yet.
Thinking of using mastercrop "Extend" grass-seed. Anyone else use it?
Quoted €73 per bag in Glanbia.

have a bit to do as well patq but have not even started yet, was looking up that seed you mentioned
http://www.glanbiaagribusiness.ie/docs/default-document-library/1071-glan-mastercrop-bro-lr.pdf
i asked in kerryagri the other day, their stuff will be €75 a bag and they couldnt say if buy 5 bags get one free offer would still be on, some people here before said the kerry seed wasnt the best so not sure whether to deal with them or not

reilig

Anyone planning on paying €300 to have their water meter installed??????????

Username John

reilig wrote: »

Anyone planning on paying €300 to have their water meter installed??????????

I assume this only applies to people on water schemes, not people with their own private wells?
But - given the position we're in, I find myself thinking how are they going to "catch" the guy with the private well... :mad:

vanderbadger

Username John wrote: »

I assume this only applies to people on water schemes, not people with their own private wells?
But - given the position we're in, I find myself thinking how are they going to "catch" the guy with the private well... :mad:

dont forget the well doesnt come cheap by the time drilling and lining and filters etc if needed are all added in, drilled myself there a year or two back and it has cost me alot of money all said. im still glad to be off the water scheme though

just do it

Indubitable wrote: »

Quick question, What would be the highest calving difficulty you would put on a heifer?

I used FL22 last year but I'm not happy with the calves and they are wild! My heifers for the bull this year are all AI lim so in the end I've gone with an easy calving docile shorthorn bull with a short gestation period.

As well as easy calving check the bulls gestation length. I've had a medium calving bull go 3 weeks over creating a difficult calving. Then on the other side of the coin I've had a harder calving bull produce a handier sized calf at 283 days.

Indubitable

I might chance using AZL. Heifers I plan to use him on are nice and big framed. They would be calving at 30 months and be on straw for a few weeks before calving.

johngalway

Username John wrote: »

I assume this only applies to people on water schemes, not people with their own private wells?
But - given the position we're in, I find myself thinking how are they going to "catch" the guy with the private well... :mad:

Any one with their own private well done art their own cost needs slapping if they start paying for their water. I'm usually very law abiding but if it were the case of paying for private wells I'd be dead set against it. Not that I have one :pac:

dar31

go another 11 ac of grass seed in today.
finished rolling 15 min before the rain arrived
cutting it a bit close, could have been a right mess

1chippy

280 fence posts and 40 strainers driven, had a lad whitewashing.a premature calf finally started sucking, sold the bull and got rid of the cow that nailed the old man. Have the machine driver finished and the plough man in. signed off on two new jobs (my proper job).
Its days like these that makes up for all the sh*t days.

bbam

Was flicking through DD earlier and saw this photo...



How on earth does someone think it's OK to have a small child, with a meal bucket at a trough in a field with two bulls ??
How did they know the flash of the camera wouldn't freak the bulls ??

FFS, some people are totally careless with children & animals

5live

1chippy wrote: »

280 fence posts and 40 strainers driven, had a lad whitewashing.a premature calf finally started sucking, sold the bull and got rid of the cow that nailed the old man. Have the machine driver finished and the plough man in. signed off on two new jobs (my proper job).
Its days like these that makes up for all the sh*t days.

And still time to do a marathon before midnight;). Go on, you know you want to

1chippy

just about fit to move. if they start giving out cigs instead of water at a marathon i might try it.
Trying to guilt trip herself into a cuppa. its not working.

Bodacious

What's that site that you can trace the outline of a field and it calculates the acres?!

Ive forgotten

johngalway

Bodacious wrote: »

What's that site that you can trace the outline of a field and it calculates the acres?!

Ive forgotten

Ask and you shall receive.

http://spatial.dcenr.gov.ie/imf/imf.jsp?site=GSI_Simple

wesleysniper38

What an evening!
Its blowin wind, rain and cold out there.
I put out 16 autumn calvers on saturday and felt sorry for them this evening when they were humped along the hedge. Went up , got the tractor , two troughs and 2 bags of meal. Drove down, opened the gate and was taking off the troughs when 6 of them took off out the gate and down the road. The others were cute enough to eat the meal.
2 hours later I'm home from a job that was supposed to take 10 minutes!!:mad::mad:
Oh yeah theyre nearly all bulled with HCA . Any reports on that bull?

just do it

vanderbadger wrote: »

dont forget the well doesnt come cheap by the time drilling and lining and filters etc if needed are all added in, drilled myself there a year or two back and it has cost me alot of money all said. im still glad to be off the water scheme though

Do you mind me asking how deep you had to go and how much it cost? Looking at starting a new build in a few months and the CoCo contribution for a new connection isn't to be sneezed at. I'm considering putting it towards a new well which can also supply the farm and possibly the 2 other family houses on the farm. Whilst my annual water bill for the farm at ~€400 isn't too bad paying for water in a few years may well be a different story!

just do it

1chippy wrote: »

Trying to guilt trip herself into a cuppa. its not working.

It used to work for me ....
....
....

....


....


before we got married:rolleyes:

Bodacious

johngalway wrote: »

Ask and you shall receive.

http://spatial.dcenr.gov.ie/imf/imf.jsp?site=GSI_Simple[/QUOTE]

Hi John,

Thanks but there is another one, you just trace red line on the field boundary and it gives you immediate answer, ill scoot back through my ld posts

bogman_bass

This the one?
http://www.acme.com/planimeter/

Bodacious

bogman_bass wrote: »

This the one?
http://www.acme.com/planimeter/

That's the one BB, many thanks

5live

just do it wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how deep you had to go and how much it cost? Looking at starting a new build in a few months and the CoCo contribution for a new connection isn't to be sneezed at. I'm considering putting it towards a new well which can also supply the farm and possibly the 2 other family houses on the farm. Whilst my annual water bill for the farm at ~€400 isn't too bad paying for water in a few years may well be a different story!

Your best bet would be to contact a few of the drilling companies and get them to come and divine a site for drilling. Could be 100' or 600' but the diviner i got was right to within 50 foot. Even then they might not find any water or not enough for what you want or poor water. The only way is to suck it and see:(. Iirc 8.5k for 450 foot well lined to the bottom through limestone with pump included(and rockbreaker to bury elec cable and water pipe)

Username John

just do it wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how deep you had to go and how much it cost? Looking at starting a new build in a few months and the CoCo contribution for a new connection isn't to be sneezed at. I'm considering putting it towards a new well which can also supply the farm and possibly the 2 other family houses on the farm. Whilst my annual water bill for the farm at ~€400 isn't too bad paying for water in a few years may well be a different story!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71873489&postcount=8

The info is a bit old now - but it might help.

vanderbadger

just do it wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how deep you had to go and how much it cost? Looking at starting a new build in a few months and the CoCo contribution for a new connection isn't to be sneezed at. I'm considering putting it towards a new well which can also supply the farm and possibly the 2 other family houses on the farm. Whilst my annual water bill for the farm at ~€400 isn't too bad paying for water in a few years may well be a different story!

well i had to go pretty deep, im up high so had to go to 400 ft, they were literally on their last drilling rod when the water started coming..its didnt stop coming for several months after and will continue to flow artesian during wet weather, hard to believe it will push itself up over 400 ft
anyway i think it cost nearly 5k to drill that time, then the water had sulphur in it so had to get carbon filter which was a grand approx, then pumps and all the crack,then dig up yard to drain away all the frigging water before it flooded the place..it all adds up but by the way things are going its good to have it..as for a diviner, the crowd that drilled for me told me not to bother, waste of time according to them

tanko

wesleysniper38 wrote: »

yeah I,m curious 2 know what your HCA calves are like too. I AI'd a good few heifers with him. They are due in August. The AI man recommended him. At 34e a pop plus 12euor for repeats he'd wanta be good.
I did another 8 with sligo AI HCF at 30 a pop plus repeats free of charge.

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this. Well, i have 5 HCA calves out of 3 year old ionesco and highlander heifers. He is very easy calved, calves are small narrow and leggy. They have decent shape to them. He is supposed to bring a lot of milk in his daughters but their calving ability mightn't be the best. Im not overly impressed so far with them,but i wanted easy calving and i got it. They were up and sucking within minutes.

whelan1

some fecker robbed my portable electric fencer:mad: was in a field along the road

pakalasa

whelan1 wrote: »

some fecker robbed my portable electric fencer:mad: was in a field along the road

When I got my portable one fixed last year. The guy that dropped it in for me told me that a farmer came in while he was there and it was the third time they stole his fencer. The shop owner was trying to get him to buy a spy camera to catch them. Maddening alright! I had one stolen a while back too.

pakalasa

vanderbadger wrote: »

..as for a diviner, the crowd that drilled for me told me not to bother, waste of time according to them....

You'd be surprised how many people can divine for water. My brother can do it. He uses 2 welding rods, bent at 90 deg. A guy was in one day doing some track work and he showed him how. I've seen him locate water pipes under ground in the neighbours houses.

vanderbadger

god what an evening, only had 8 cows and calves out but brought them back in this evening they were so miserable

5live

vanderbadger wrote: »

god what an evening, only had 8 cows and calves out but brought them back in this evening they were so miserable

Sooo.....no need to divine for water so:D

vanderbadger

5live wrote: »

Sooo.....no need to divine for water so:D

no its generally in abundance here...unless of course you drill for it in which case you have to go 400 ft :mad:

snowman707

2c./ltr price cut for March , ffs

5live

snowman707 wrote: »

2c./ltr price cut for March , ffs

And thats the good news. Kerry newsletter warned of 10% cut minimum. I went to the Kerry info meeting earlier in the month and Stan was talking about a potential 6-8c drop. No huge north african demand like last spring. 4% increase in global supply, chinese demand down and brazil up slightly. Whey stable, skim and butter and WMP down cheese doing ok. Buyers have stocks but in no rush to replace used stocks. Not a good outlook but 2 weeks old so much could have changed

snowman707

5live wrote: »

And thats the good news. Kerry newsletter warned of 10% cut minimum. I went to the Kerry info meeting earlier in the month and Stan was talking about a potential 6-8c drop. No huge north african demand like last spring. 4% increase in global supply, chinese demand down and brazil up slightly. Whey stable, skim and butter and WMP down cheese doing ok. Buyers have stocks but in no rush to replace used stocks. Not a good outlook but 2 weeks old so much could have changed

yep I was talking to chap who's on the board of dairygold and also fairly active in icmsa and he reckoned 8c was on the cards also

wesleysniper38

tanko wrote: »

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this. Well, i have 5 HCA calves out of 3 year old ionesco and highlander heifers. He is very easy calved, calves are small narrow and leggy. They have decent shape to them. He is supposed to bring a lot of milk in his daughters but their calving ability mightn't be the best. Im not overly impressed so far with them,but i wanted easy calving and i got it. They were up and sucking within minutes.

Thanks for that. I hadn't a great vibe when I saw he was a 1992 born bull still in the pots. He'll be grand on the young calvers sure.
wicked evenin again out there, more calves coughing and shivering...back in on the straw.:(

Bodacious

whelan1 wrote: »

some z pfecker robbed my portable electric fencer:mad: was in a field along the road

That's rough Whelan ... I often wonder about mine too as we have many places near the road, my dad always turns the green flashing light away from the viewing angle of the road ... But we have an old Koltec green mushroom type fencer and there is such a bang off of it you could hear it in the next parish!

Guy near us there got mechanic in to check why tractor wasn't starting...

His answer was "how can she start sure there is no alternator n her!"

Some one hopped the hedge and lifted the alternator out of the 135

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

some fecker robbed my portable electric fencer:mad: was in a field along the road

I saw a suggestion about burying the fencer units before, in something like an old ammunition box, something waterproof anyway, it'd be damn hard to spot.

Tipp Man

5live wrote: »

And thats the good news. Kerry newsletter warned of 10% cut minimum. I went to the Kerry info meeting earlier in the month and Stan was talking about a potential 6-8c drop. No huge north african demand like last spring. 4% increase in global supply, chinese demand down and brazil up slightly. Whey stable, skim and butter and WMP down cheese doing ok. Buyers have stocks but in no rush to replace used stocks. Not a good outlook but 2 weeks old so much could have changed

Is that a 6-8 cent drop in the next couple of months???:eek::eek:

Richk2012

whelan1 wrote: »

some fecker robbed my portable electric fencer:mad: was in a field along the road

Thats very frustrating :mad: . A neighbour of mine made a concrete casing with a steel door bolted on , for his fencer that he keeps at the road side . He has to move it with the bale spike on the loader .
I thought he was mad at the time

whelan1

bringing in thecows in the lashings of rain,i couldnt believe how slow they are, you'd swear they where never going to see grass again the way they where eating... i got drowned

5live

Tipp Man wrote: »

Is that a 6-8 cent drop in the next couple of months???:eek::eek:

That was what he was saying. Now markets seem to have firmed up a bit lately but enough....?

Then again they do seem to put a worst case scenario forward so when the cuts arent as bad we will feel good:mad:

pakalasa

My 2 year old Seepa Tee Jay heifer calved a fine FL22 bull this morning. He had her drank aswell. Boy, can those FL22 calves move.

Muckit

dar31 wrote: »

go another 11 ac of grass seed in today.
finished rolling 15 min before the rain arrived
cutting it a bit close, could have been a right mess

I got caught like that before:mad:. Had to give it the back of the chain harrow instead. Worked out fine. I rolled it a few months later once it was established.

PatQfarmer

Muckit wrote: »

I got caught like that before:mad:. Had to give it the back of the chain harrow instead. Worked out fine. I rolled it a few months later once it was established.

I disced 6 acres on Monday, nowhere near dry enough for the power-harrow yet. If it stays dry (:rolleyes:) may get to it Friday. Here's hoping.

blue5000

Tipp Man wrote: »

Is that a 6-8 cent drop in the next couple of months???:eek::eek:

I see arrabawn are one of the first off the mark with a cut for March.