Farming Chit Chat

dar31

we've just progressed to heavy rain

whelan1

dar31 wrote: »

we've just progressed to heavy rain

we got a few drops - about 5 to be exact - around half 7 and that was it.... hope there is more on the way...

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

we got a few drops - about 5 to be exact - around half 7 and that was it.... hope there is more on the way...

its lashing in east meath-silage pit just covered- oh happy days:D:D

whelan1

went to discussion group meeting this evening , got very cold around 9pm.... was still dry though

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

went to discussion group meeting this evening , got very cold around 9pm.... was still dry though

did you get paid

whelan1

he said it will be in our bank accounts in the next few days €975

whelan1

ITS RAINING :eek:

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

he said it will be in our bank accounts in the next few days €975

better late than never

theroad

stanflt wrote: »

better late than never

The rain too .

Username John

whelan1 wrote: »

ITS RAINING :eek:

Its fceking lashing in Cork, and doesnt look like its moving anytime soon...

whelan1

went for cows they are about 1 and a half miles away in total , walked it got drowned , not a great start to the day

Tipp Man

Can't believe the amount of people that wanted rain

although it looks like the entire country is going to be soaked today so everybody should be happy. Temps set to be good again from weekend so the exceptional growth should continue right through may

Min

We didn't get much rain in North Kilkenny, on the radar it seemed to be the soujrtn half and maybe western parts that got the most but it seems to die a bit before it gets here.

I think Munster must have gotten a good drop by now though.

Tipp Man - a wet and windy May...you know the saying, good to have rain in May after a very dry period.

The ground here is still like a rock.

Tipp Man

Min wrote: »

We didn't get much rain in North Kilkenny, on the radar it seemed to be the soujrtn half and maybe western parts that got the most but it seems to die a bit before it gets here.

I think Munster must have gotten a good drop by now though.

Tipp Man - a wet and windy May...you know the saying, good to have rain in May after a very dry period.

The ground here is still like a rock.

Have had between an inch and inch and a half of rain here in last 24 hours. Pure thunder downpours

Didn't need it as we had rain Monday and two weeks before that. Hopefully it'll stop up fairly soon

5live

Tipp Man wrote: »

Have had between an inch and inch and a half of rain here in last 24 hours. Pure thunder downpours

Didn't need it as we had rain Monday and two weeks before that. Hopefully it'll stop up fairly soon

Very little here in north kerry but the bit last week srarted the grass growing again. If you are getting an inch and you arent useing it will you send it over here please. All my grass now at 1100 except the next 2 paddocks at 1600 and last 2 at 0:D

whelan1

at our group meeting the other night i asked about straw in the diet feeder remember we had a discussion here about it, apparently oaten straw is the best straw for scratch factor in the rumen:) we had a good debate about it... one lad said if your silage is good enough you don't need straw, i didnt agree:cool:

jeff greene

whelan1 wrote: »

at our group meeting the other night i asked about straw in the diet feeder remember we had a discussion here about it, apparently oaten straw is the best straw for scratch factor in the rumen:) we had a good debate about it... one lad said if your silage is good enough you don't need straw, i didnt agree:cool:

If the silage is good, ie very leafy, straw might be needed, depends on the rest of the diet and the animals fed. Older stemmy silage, I think has enough fibre. Keenans make out straw is free the way they promote it, its defiantly not free this year:eek: I always taught wheaten straw was recommended by Keenan

johngalway

Decided to throw out 125kg of old fert today, by hand, out of a bucket... in a gale :pac:

Pure dust :eek: mostly 18.6.12, some 0.7.30. I'd say some of it has been sitting in the shed 2 years.

Was covered, rotten job!

Finished off my fence then, well, mostly. Three out of the four wire gates are finished, just need to do the fourth and lock the sheep and lambs down tomorrow, let them mow the bottom place. Still got to bore into some rock for wavin covered rebar stakes, and concrete around one stake that's leaned out from the wall after the wire was stretched. Otherwise, all good, fingers crossed. Got soaked doing that :pac:

blue5000

did everybody get enough rain yet?

bob charles

whelan1 wrote: »

at our group meeting the other night i asked about straw in the diet feeder remember we had a discussion here about it, apparently oaten straw is the best straw for scratch factor in the rumen:) we had a good debate about it... one lad said if your silage is good enough you don't need straw, i didnt agree:cool:

OSR straw is the best for scratch factor

johngalway

blue5000 wrote: »

did everybody get enough rain yet?

yeah, it's getting a bit too normal for my liking at the moment.

Min

blue5000 wrote: »

did everybody get enough rain yet?

Land can still take a lot more rain here.

Rained a nice bit last night but I think Munster and parts of Connacht have gotten a lot more than here.

nilhg

johngalway wrote: »

yeah, it's getting a bit too normal for my liking at the moment.

Min wrote: »

Land can still take a lot more rain here.

Rained a nice bit last night but I think Munster and parts of Connacht have gotten a lot more than here.

Less then 10mm here yet, hardly enough to keep the dust down.......

whelan1

we got serious rain last night , needed every drop , could do with more

whelan1

had a cow calved down the fields , went down before milking to bring them up. As soon as i got near the calf he legged it:eek: in to the river:mad: i got in after him , got water over my wellies and i didnt have a jumper on so got the arms ripped off myself with briars. Also got thorns in places i never got thorns before.... took 45 minutes but i got him

what happen

stanfit how is your heifer doing now did the magnet work.

stanflt

what happen wrote: »

stanfit how is your heifer doing now did the magnet work.

went to load her to send her to the UCD vets for operation but she wouldnt get up-so we said wed leave her- went back down to move her before milking and she was running around shed. she wouldnt stop grunting so we decided to put her down and do a post mortem-
results said she"d be dead in a week cause her stomach was punchered from fighting weve no stock bull or horns on any animals

thats farming at least we didnt have to pay for an op

stanflt

finished testing today before lunch and was a bit late for dinner-decided to jump the gate-dislocated my knee cap for the third time this year. really need to get the operation on my cruciate ligament-:eek::eek:

whelan1

stanflt wrote: »

finished testing today before lunch and was a bit late for dinner-decided to jump the gate-dislocated my knee cap for the third time this year. really need to get the operation on my cruciate ligament-:eek::eek:

did that before... the most painful experience of my life

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

did that before... the most painful experience of my life

stayed on the ground for about 10minutes- the bloody heifers wouldnt stop licking me

whelan1

the ambulance came to get me i was covered in cow ****:rolleyes: by the time we got to hospital it had gone back in... they wanted to straighten my leg , take my wellie off and put me on the stretcher in one go:eek:

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

the ambulance came to get me i was covered in cow ****:rolleyes: by the time we got to hospital it had gone back in... they wanted to straighten my leg , take my wellie off and put me on the stretcher in one go:eek:

only got the ambulance the first time when i was playing soccer- its very weak since and can come out and go back in any time- bloody sore this evening

ihatetractors

whelan1 wrote: »

the ambulance came to get me i was covered in cow ****:rolleyes: by the time we got to hospital it had gone back in... they wanted to straighten my leg , take my wellie off and put me on the stretcher in one go:eek:

Tore pretty much everything in my knee 3 years ago, cartollage ligament the works!, was out feeding calves turned awkwardly foot stuck in the ground simple thing.. had to make do with back of the uncles jeep, most uncomfortable journey of my life! :rolleyes:

bogman_bass

whelan1 wrote: »

did that before... the most painful experience of my life

worse than child birth? Knew you woman were making it up when ye said it was bad!:D

bogman_bass

Managed to vaccinate everything for lepto in 3 locations in less than an hour and a half this evening. very plesently supprised!

whelan1

bogman_bass wrote: »

worse than child birth? Knew you woman were making it up when ye said it was bad!:D

i had 3 sections , so yes this was worse:D

bogman_bass

Did you tel your husband that it was dow n to bad sire selection?

vanderbadger

looks like Kenn ring is talking thru his hat,
wrong for april and may so far, have a week or so of bad weather down my way, bloody windy and cold every day, fire still burning every night
Subject: Weather for the year
Don’t say I don’t give you free gifts! Plan you holidays based on Ken’s advice below. He was bang on last year!
2011
January
Mostly dry and cold for the first half of the month, then light precipitation arrives about every few days. It may not be all that cold in that second half of January in Roscommon, but it could be in the east. The overnight temperatures may drop in the last couple of days of the month.
February
The odd snowfall in the first week, it'll be wet and cold up till about the 11th, then the sun should break out around 11th, but then from the 11th to the end of Feb perhaps only one rain day, around the 25th, but it'll be cloudy and not too cold during that period, 11-28 Feb except in central counties.
March
March should be quite dry and with some sunshine between the 10-17, but it goes cloudy after that. But a fairly dry month - 2 or 3 significant rain days, mainly around 7th-8th. The moon will be closest to earth for the whole year on the 20th, so some very cold temperatures in the second week and some heavy frosts. Kerry could get enough rain to cause flooding in the last week.
April
April sees the last of the cold temperatures. Some sun in the first week, also odd showers mixed in with that, and that should be the end of the cold mornings for a while, then a fair bit of rain in the second and third weeks, but from Apr 21st-27th quite a good run of nice weather. However Dublin should only get rain around the middle of the month, between 9th-18th, but only 3 days heavy. Once again Kerry and Cork might get some flooding in the third week, also some of the other W and some central counties. Parts of the N may keep getting bits of snow until midway through April but not beyond that. All counties should be out of the frost range of overnight lows by the end of April.
May
May brings the sun from the second week on. There are 3 good times to take a holiday break this summer. May is the first month to consider doing this. From about the 7th-23rd should be nice weather, dry and sunny, not too warm though - maximums won't get up past 14C or 15C, but it will feel summery. Dublin may only get rain in any decent sized amounts after 21st. The last week in May sees rain again for most counties, so that would be the time to turn the campervan around and head for home. Don't unpack it though because in about 4 weeks you'll want to go away again.
June
June won't be the dryish month it was last year. As for sunny days, you'll be able to count them on the fingers of only one hand. June's best days will be 14th-20th in most places, so that's the third week, but otherwise there's quite a bit of rain in the first week especially for Dublin, and also after the 20th, so it won't be a good summery month.
July
The first half of July is the best time of all this season to take a holiday, and this is your second chance for a vacation, plenty of sun, hardly any rain days until the 24th, in fact only about 6 good rain days in the whole month and they should nearly all be in the last week. July should also be the warmest month.
August
The driest and sunniest part may be the last week, about 5 or 6 good rain days peppered through the month for each county.
September
The third really nice time to get away will be almost anytime this month except 18th-20th and 29th, only about 4 or 5 rain days to avoid in the whole month. So lovely weather, dry and sunny, for the first two weeks, even till about 17th in some places like Dublin, then rain about 18th-20th, pretty heavy in places and then dry but a bit cloudy for another 9 days, until more rain on the 29th, and this should be heavy enough to cause widespread flooding. So the 1st-17th will be the last good period to take a good safe holiday around the countryside without the fear of being washed out or flooded somewhere.
October
Best weather is after the 19th where it will be quite dry everywhere, but fairly cold and it will be the beginning of the subzero overnight lows that give you frosts, in that last week.
For more detailed forecasts for your county, day by day, go to FORECASTS http://www.predictweather.com/Forecasts.aspx?ID=2
The 450-page Ireland Predict Weather Almanac for 2011 is available here: http://www.predictweather.co.nz/Details.aspx?id=183

whelan1

bogman_bass wrote: »

Did you tel your husband that it was dow n to bad sire selection?

:D:D yup first one was 13 days over due!

whelan1

am rambling a bit here:rolleyes: anyways after being stung buying in cows afew years ago , i have facilities for 150+ milkers... i have 130 atm... i have said i wouldnt buy in anymore but if i was to buy in 10 3rd calvers would it make sense....just wondering what do people think ... i have 70 replacements to come in over the next 2 years

bogman_bass

how are you for quota? I'd bet my house that there will be a superlevy next year

whelan1

not a problem was 35000 gallons under .... so i have loads:D

Tipp Man

whelan1 wrote: »

am rambling a bit here:rolleyes: anyways after being stung buying in cows afew years ago , i have facilities for 150+ milkers... i have 130 atm... i have said i wouldnt buy in anymore but if i was to buy in 10 3rd calvers would it make sense....just wondering what do people think ... i have 70 replacements to come in over the next 2 years

Why buy 3rd calvers? Surely heifers would be the way to go as from what i can see there is little difference in price. And in my opinion you are more likely to buy in problems when buying in a 3rd calver

I suppose the question to ask yourself is do you have a spare 12-13k to buy the 10 cows without messing up your cashflow?

Another question to ask yourself is how good your herd is at the moment and how many cows would you cull - 3 teats, slow milkers, other pains in the ass? If not many then you may be better keeping your money and waiting for your heifers. If you have loads that you would like to cull then maybe buying the cows isn't a bad idea (especially while milk is a decent price and cows have become cheaper)

whelan1

Tipp Man wrote: »

Why buy 3rd calvers? Surely heifers would be the way to go as from what i can see there is little difference in price. And in my opinion you are more likely to buy in problems when buying in a 3rd calver

I suppose the question to ask yourself is do you have a spare 12-13k to buy the 10 cows without messing up your cashflow?

Another question to ask yourself is how good your herd is at the moment and how many cows would you cull - 3 teats, slow milkers, other pains in the ass? If not many then you may be better keeping your money and waiting for your heifers. If you have loads that you would like to cull then maybe buying the cows isn't a bad idea (especially while milk is a decent price and cows have become cheaper)

i culled off 12 cows - high scc etc after i bought in 10 heifers2 years ago and lost 8 of the 10 i bought as long as the number i had culled off... i am just very wary of heifers after that , i have also culled a few since then but i am left hanging on to ones that i otherwise would have gotten rid of... the idea of third calvers was cheaper and more milk straight in to the tank... looking in the journal today there are none for sale close to me at all

stanflt

had a clear herd test today-thank god and also had my lowest scc in the lorry ever 110- not bad at all:D

whelan1

i put pour on on cattle this morning in the sunshine around 11 am... its just after hail stoning will it be ok?

moll3

whelan1 wrote: »

i put pour on on cattle this morning in the sunshine around 11 am... its just after hail stoning will it be ok?

if cattles backs are dry it takes two hours to soak in

stanflt

stanflt wrote: »

finished testing today before lunch and was a bit late for dinner-decided to jump the gate-dislocated my knee cap for the third time this year. really need to get the operation on my cruciate ligament-:eek::eek:

got 90ml of fluid taken out of my knee today-doc wanted to give me a sick note for 3weeks- i laughed and asked him who should i give that to, 208 or 975 he wasnt amused and couldnt understand how i wouldnt stop working

whelan1

does your knee click when you are walking ?

5live

LOL:D. Go with 208 id say. She has seniority.

I'm due an op next month but wont go till i get the sheep shorn and cant confirm till i get a definate date on shearing. Which isnt really possible. May postpone till sept.

Take it easy stan though. If it goes there will be no putting the op on ice.
But im still laughing at the note:D