Livestock/General Farming photo thread ***READ MOD NOTE IN POST #1***

bob charles

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Bent the bar by taking a gap too short.

women drivers:D

naughto

bob charles wrote: »

women drivers:D

double post

Dont be daft

Some Pics of the Summer so far. Grazing and silage. Both going well.....for now:rolleyes:

Odelay

Hope it's a long time before you have to see the back of that pit wall again!

Muckit

Dont be daft wrote: »

Some Pics of the Summer so far. Grazing and silage. Both going well.....for now:rolleyes:

God you are running a tidy ship there. RE strip grazing, are they stores that are grazing that, how do you get them to eat it down so bare? Quality grass I suppose

Dont be daft

Muckit wrote: »

God you are running a tidy ship there. RE strip grazing, are they stores that are grazing that, how do you get them to eat it down so bare? Quality grass I suppose

I think the topper has just been in so I'm cheating a bit there.

They do graze tight anyway. When your moving them everyday its easy to get them into the habit because you can see exactly what they ate the day before or to be more precise, what they left behind.

The stores are held tighter to get them into the habit and the finishers just sort of keep it going, even when their being supplemented with meal. New grass definitely helps and they're never going into anything heavier than 1200 kg/dm/ha so its palatable

just do it

Dont be daft wrote: »

Some Pics of the Summer so far. Grazing and silage. Both going well.....for now:rolleyes:

Tidy set-up there, fair duece to you.

royaler83

Dont be daft wrote: »

Some Pics of the Summer so far. Grazing and silage. Both going well.....for now:rolleyes:

Those yearlings in the 2nd pic look savage, look like they were well fed over the winter?! They're bulls I take it? What were you feeding them over the winter

Dont be daft

just do it wrote: »

Tidy set-up there, fair duece to you.

I can't be claiming the credit. Its between the father and the brothers. Only thing I bring to the table is a bit of grassland management and stockmanship.

royaler83 wrote: »

Those yearlings in the 2nd pic look savage, look like they were well fed over the winter?! They're bulls I take it? What were you feeding them over the winter

Yeah, all bulls. They were bought in mid December from a really good rearer and they were grazed all Winter.
Met the rearer today funnily enough, and he told me they never saw the inside of a shed while he had them either. He had them on Grennan's Calf meal up till about 3/4 months old.

They'd be the exception though, most would be bought in as stores Oct/Nov and fed a silage/concentrates/straw TMR all Winter.

naughto

Dont be daft wrote: »

I can't be claiming the credit. Its between the father and the brothers. Only thing I bring to the table is a bit of grassland management and stockmanship.



Yeah, all bulls. They were bought in mid December from a really good rearer and they were grazed all Winter.
Met the rearer today funnily enough, and he told me they never saw the inside of a shed while he had them either. He had them on Grennan's Calf meal up till about 3/4 months old.

They'd be the exception though, most would be bought in as stores Oct/Nov and fed a silage/concentrates/straw TMR all Winter.

iam sure your good to stand in a gap as well:pac::pac:

Conmaicne Mara

naughto wrote: »

iam sure your good to stand in a gap as well:pac::pac:

My cousin said about her brother, ara sure once we got a pallet put in that gap he was redundant.

High praise.

RobinBanks

Hello all. I was looking for a thread that showed pictures of this type of soil structure. Someone posted something like this before and worked with it. I am having difficulty with this land. Its getting wetter and wetter. The cattle have poached the bejasus out it and there is nowhere for the water to go. This drain was put in to prevent water from the next field coming down into it. I could repair some of this ground by creating a fall towards the drain but not with the rest of the field.

Any ideas on how to improve it? Would ripping help?

hoseman

Hoping for a dry 24 hrs,bale tomorrow

ABlur

Robin,

Its hard to tell from the pic what type of soil you have, is that a grey clay at the base with black bog at the topsoil? In any case you need to deepen the watertable with some sort of drainage. There's a good article on different types of drainage in this Teagasc Todays Farm publication Nov-Dec 12:

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/view_publication.aspx?publicationID=1594

I have the grey and brown versions of impermeable clay under topsoil. I've used gravel filled drains about 2.5 foot deep with 3 inch drainage pipe at the base feeding to a network of open drains. So far so good but there only in a month but the waterlogging on the surface has stopped.

Figerty

Robin,

Probably your best bet with land like that is to place drains across the fall on the land and bring the water to open drains at the edges of the field.

I have ground like that and it takes a long time to dry out but a short time to get wet! the reason being is that the moisture doesn't move easily through the soil it self.

The best advice I got was to try and catch the water as it flows down hill rather than try and soak it. Most drying is done by wind and sun, all you can do it try and speed up the process by preventing the water from having to flow all the way from the top of the field to the bottom during heavy rain.

This was done with pea gravel drains at an angle to the fall of the land fill to the top and not capped off with soil; its dearer, but it will be way more effective.

The other benefit last year was that the cattle tended to travel the top of the drains rather than pull their legs out of the soft ground.

just do it

Figerty wrote: »

The other benefit last year was that the cattle tended to travel the top of the drains rather than pull their legs out of the soft ground.

Do you mean they used the stone filled drain as a pathway rather than walking through the wet ground? Interesting observation

just do it

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hello all. I was looking for a thread that showed pictures of this type of soil structure. Someone posted something like this before and worked with it.

I'd say that's me your thinking of - search for previous posts of mine in this thread. Agree that tile drains leading to an open trench is the best solution. Unfortunately peat loves moisture and is reluctant to let go of it. I got the tile drains finished only 2 weeks ago so too early to comment. I'd opened the trenches around the place a few weeks before that. I'll walk the area done in the next day or two and report back.

I fear that once this type of soil gets poached it is more and more prone to retaining the moisture and further poaching, i.e. a vicious circle. Like the rest of lads in the country who have land like this, I've paddocks that need redemption. Going to reserve the worst/ wettest paddocks for young stock in the future as they're just not up to carrying the weight of the cows. They're great to grow grass but utilisation is the issue.

Figerty

just do it wrote: »

Do you mean they used the stone filled drain as a pathway rather than walking through the wet ground? Interesting observation

Yes. the land was so wet last year that the cattle chose to walk the gravel path rather than the soft ground. they aren't harming the drains at all as the pipe are way down and the gravel is very tight.

just do it

just do it wrote: »

They're great to grow grass but utilisation is the issue.

Funny that I posted this earlier. I've had a discussion group meeting in the meantime and the facilitator made the same point. West Clare land is as good as any to grow grass but utililising it is the issue.

Some interesting discussion about sprays for different weeds. Recommendation for ragworth is to spray in March, any later is too late. Generally best time to spray for everything. Also because the clover hasnt' taken off yet, spraying in early March means it doesn't affect the clover. One or two products discussed for docks but if spraying in silage ground take care to observe dates recommended before mowing.

blue5000

Bit of ploughing after kale for grass seed.

redzerologhlen

Good black lim heifer out of the plain hereford x angus cow with the white head.








Charolais x friesan cow with lim heifer calf.

Username John

blue5000 wrote: »

Bit of ploughing after kale for grass seed.

There was kale in that field you're ploughing? Its not very cut after it, I would have expected the field to be in bits? :eek:

EDIT : Lovely looking ground / soil, and nice flat field...

Username John

We're all off for a tour of the burger factory today... ooohhhh.... exciting....



Whhhheeee...

:cool: :rolleyes:

(Is it just me, or is it only when I see a pic, I notice the pallet tied up, and the bit of galvanise sticking out, even tho I walk by both of them almost every day)

just do it

Username John wrote: »

(Is it just me, or is it only when I see a pic, I notice the pallet tied up, and the bit of galvanise sticking out, even tho I walk by both of them almost every day)

I feel your pain. A neighbour was telling me about a sign that got knocked down along the road that was in his field. Been there 5-6 years seemingly and I surely pass by it a min of 10 times a week. If you asked me what was on it I couldn't say!:rolleyes:

just do it

blue5000 wrote: »

Bit of ploughing after kale for grass seed.

Drool...;)






(i.e. I'm drooling with envy at the sight of it - meaning/ humour can get lost on here)

just do it

Quality stock there Redzer. Just shows what a bit of milk &/or traditional breeding can do for you;)

just do it

I'm a bit disappointed that there is still water logging so close to the new tile drain. It was placed in the wettest spot so it was poached which is obvious from the photo. I hope it is just the poaching that is causing the water retention and that when I've this sorted the drain will perform as it should.

munkus

blue5000 wrote: »

Bit of ploughing after kale for grass seed.

Did you photoshop the stones out of it for us?

blue5000

munkus wrote: »

Did you photoshop the stones out of it for us?

The stones are all in the stone wall over on the left hand side, I did get an odd one though.

adne

blue5000 wrote: »

Bit of ploughing after kale for grass seed.

Feck off :P

Figerty

just do it wrote: »

I'm a bit disappointed that there is still water logging so close to the new tile drain. It was placed in the wettest spot so it was poached which is obvious from the photo. I hope it is just the poaching that is causing the water retention and that when I've this sorted the drain will perform as it should.

Give it time for the compaction and the water table to drop. This time next year that ground will be bone dry.

ellewood

Figerty wrote: »

Give it time for the compaction and the water table to drop. This time next year that ground will be bone dry.

Or maybe you might do as del boy said and "This time nest year we will be millionares" Jdi and then you wont give a **** whether the water drains or not..:D

just do it

just do it wrote: »

I'm a bit disappointed that there is still water logging so close to the new tile drain. It was placed in the wettest spot so it was poached which is obvious from the photo. I hope it is just the poaching that is causing the water retention and that when I've this sorted the drain will perform as it should.

A great article in the journal this week on a west clare farmer draining peat land. He put in connaught agripipes a few years ago in a separate paddock with bottomless peat and I've heard they're working well. The mole plough perpendicular to the drain above seems to be the advice. Treat this drain as a collector.

pakalasa

just do it wrote: »

A great article in the journal this week on a west clare farmer draining peat land. He put in connaught agripipes a few years ago in a separate paddock with bottomless peat and I've heard they're working well. The mole plough perpendicular to the drain above seems to be the advice. Treat this drain as a collector.

Reilig has been saying this all along, in fairness.
The connaught agri pipes are not proven over time though. New enough idea. Will they end up getting blocked?

just do it

pakalasa wrote: »

Reilig has been saying this all along, in fairness.
The connaught agri pipes are not proven over time though. New enough idea. Will they end up getting blocked?

I really shouldn't have mentioned the connaught agri-pipes in my post as that's not the drainage type featured in the journal. The article is about a shallow drainage system using collector drains 15m apart feeding into an open trench. Then mole drains perpendicular to the collectors are the key. The soil profile is 8-12" of peat on top of clay, like the photos of mine I've posted here over the last few months.

The connaught agri-pipes were installed in a seperate bog field 3 years ago.

Bizzum

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rfhtyz800vli5tb/2013-06-19%2019.41.04.jpg?m

I hope this link works with Dropbox.

Here's the current Landlord, around 2 yrs old, by Alcazar out of a Sylvain cow. Needs every bit of length he has, but is very thick and easy calved, bringing calves like himself thick, with nice quality. Happy with him, except...........We have his full brother from this spring (who I put up a Pic of a while back) who is a smasher, and it's likely we'll replace this chap next spring with the young pretender.
For the record we had talked about using a crossbred bull (Ai Lim X BA/CH cow) but he got lame and we moved him on.

reilig

2 calves off Stock Bull. It's our second year of calves off him and we are really impressed. Easy calving, but great ends and muscle appearing after 3 to 4 weeks. He's a 5 star bull off a french embryo. Star figures didn't lie in this instance! Calf on left is 8 weeks old, calf on right is 5 weeks.



February Bull calf off CH Stock Bull and a Limousin Heifer alongside a 2 week old BB bull calf off a CH cow and SFL.



18 month old pedigree heifer off Milbrook Dartangan and a Neuf Cow - just gone to the bull (THZ - Towthorpe Dubai)

moy83

Reilig you will be a happy man after selling that white bb bull he is a smasher . They are all great looking cattle fair play

reilig

moy83 wrote: »

Reilig you will be a happy man after selling that white bb bull he is a smasher . They are all great looking cattle fair play

The white calf in the first pic is actually a ch off our stock bull. He's off a LIMxCH cow. Probably more valuable than a BB the same size. Calves seem to be doing well this year - a combination of lots of grass and cows in pretty good shape despite being fairly restricted on straw over the winter.

moy83

reilig wrote: »

The white calf in the first pic is actually a ch off our stock bull. He's off a LIMxCH cow. Probably more valuable than a BB the same size. Calves seem to be doing well this year - a combination of lots of grass and cows in pretty good shape despite being fairly restricted on straw over the winter.

When you are selling the two of them will you tell us who got the best price and if there was much in the difference ?
Are you using much of Millbrook ? I reckon he is one of the best limo bulls on the go at the minute

reilig

moy83 wrote: »

When you are selling the two of them will you tell us who got the best price and if there was much in the difference ?
Are you using much of Millbrook ? I reckon he is one of the best limo bulls on the go at the minute

Not using Milbrook at all these days - they are too hard calved. People don't want pedigree bulls off them either because calving % has gone up quite a bit in the last 2 years. Can't fault Milbrook as I never had a problem with him, but you have to try to breed to what the market demands.

Dampintheattic

Well, be Jayzus Reilig, there's hope for us all. Great stock there, without doubt, and some great rushes as well:P Proves you don't need to be in the Golden Vale to produce quality stock.
Bet, Bob Charles and co, will say that grass is useless, blah, blah, blah.
But, look at the stock coming off it, and being reared on it:cool:
Well done!

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

The white calf in the first pic is actually a ch off our stock bull. He's off a LIMxCH cow. Probably more valuable than a BB the same size.

A good charolais is hard bet as you well know. Will be plenty of hands waving when he goes into the ring. Hardly a need for you to go into the box, he'I sell himself!!

My own situation is in total contrast. Have a Dec born bull that looks more like your few week old heifer! He'I be fattened for the factory, at least I won't be halter training this back end!

reilig

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Well, be Jayzus Reilig, there's hope for us all. Great stock there, without doubt, and some great rushes as well:P Proves you don't need to be in the Golden Vale to produce quality stock.
Bet, Bob Charles and co, will say that grass is useless, blah, blah, blah.
But, look at the stock coming off it, and being reared on it:cool:
Well done!

Plenty of grass on it. It's reclaimed bog that was done in October 2011. It hasn't been dry enough to go back in there with the digger to finish it up since then. I seeded it with the bucket and in March I spread a couple of bags of fertilizer with the bucket. It's only 5 acres, but 10 cows, 10 calves and 2 heifers have been on it for the last 10 days. Hope to get out on it with the licker in the next few days and keep those rushes under control.

orchardfarmer

my before and after had to pull the tractor out of it this time last year

Muckit

God the bit of drainage and the disc made a rousing job of it altogether;)

orchardfarmer

Muckit wrote: »

God the bit of drainage and the disc made a rousing job of it altogether;)

yea shes in good order, the wet weather meant it was pure hardship getting the drains backfilled, but it was well worth it now!!

Bigbird1

reilig wrote: »

The white calf in the first pic is actually a ch off our stock bull. He's off a LIMxCH cow. Probably more valuable than a BB the same size. Calves seem to be doing well this year - a combination of lots of grass and cows in pretty good shape despite being fairly restricted on straw over the winter.

what breeding is your bull Reilig,seems to be breeding super stuff,AI standard

just do it

Orchardfarmer.
No doubt great to see the improvement after all the work. What kind of soil structure was it?

Bodacious