Dairy Farming General

kevthegaff

How much would ye pay? Reseeded land but quite wet, decent in a dry year. Fenced also but with no maps and entitlements. Only 1 1/2 miles away.

just do it

kowtow wrote: »

It's interesting (sinister?) the effort and money being funnelled by Europe into persuading children in our schools that there is such a thing as a "European citizen"

When my 11yo old daughter arrived in Ireland she hit trouble on almost the first day - in a CSPE class, whatever that might be... the conversation (related to me later) went something like

Child: "I'll check with my Father if you like, but I think you'll find I'm not a b***dy European citizen"

Teacher: "We are all European Citizens now T*******, and you of all people, you speak German & French as well as English"

Child: "Swiss German!, Swiss French!"

That explains it. With your knowledge of economics I wondered where you did your green cert :D

kowtow

just do it wrote: »

That explains it. With your knowledge of economics I wondered where you did your green cert :D

Hmm yes.. well that, and the obsession with cheese

mf240

kevthegaff wrote: »

How much would ye pay? Reseeded land but quite wet, decent in a dry year. Fenced also but with no maps and entitlements. Only 1 1/2 miles away.

I wouldnt take it without maps.

whelan2

are glanbia doing the herd health screening scheme again this year? Thought it was started by this time last year

freedominacup

whelan2 wrote: »

are glanbia doing the herd health screening scheme again this year? Thought it was started by this time last year

Milk manager was at last dg meeting. I got the impression that they were keen for more to sign up. It's a good tool imo gives a reasonable indication of any problems.

whelan2

freedominacup wrote: »

Milk manager was at last dg meeting. I got the impression that they were keen for more to sign up. It's a good tool imo gives a reasonable indication of any problems.

will ring them on monday and ask

sandydan

freedominacup wrote: »

Used to be a very sore point around here. Esp on top of the initial cut imposed as soon as quotas came in. Basically the same type of cut imposed on the same farmers now on sfp with the same areas benefiting.

the initial cut made when quota came in was due to a politician running to Europe without the entire quota required for manufacture of Baileys Irish Cream Liquor at the time, i think it represented about 4.9% of the Irish Quota. i also know that a substantial amount of milk supplied to "towns people" as they were referred to, were not included in the calculations as i personally know 2 suppliers who at that time were subject to bord Bia or Health Board Inspection of premises and milk who recon they lost about 40-60 gallons daily each when ban on raw milk sales came in. the penalty for this error was a penalty in different percentage according to quota as far i can remember, but may be wrong.
Fine Gael party were in power at time and i think the minister involved was Deasy and he got lions share of blame even though the experts since recon its was Garret's or Dukes insistence in rushing in the figures to Brussels to show we were Good Europeans, in same way Dame Edna now cushioned the banksters among others,instead of introducing by way of referendum or Dail, legislation that the bailout cash was provided subject to consequently proving good banking practices were followed by them, with serious consequences otherwise. and insists that Greece do similar dance to Angela ~Mercels merry tune.
imo 2 separate lots of quota were supplied by the Coop involved no one checked until too late to see if they were total coop quota or not.cant remember coop involved but certainly remember the result .big portion of additional quota i had purchased was confiscated as result .Italy was one country that said it had no figures and stuck to their guns until they had plenty cushion .

Greengrass1

Purposely left this week's calves to dehorn till today.
Got the gf to come help me.
must say was great Craic having her try catch the lively heifers

Greengrass1

Just after locking in cows after I finally finished.
Good half of them lying down nice to see there full any way.
would love a few pints

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Purposely left this week's calves to dehorn till today.
Got the gf to come help me.
must say was great Craic having her try catch the lively heifers

Did she manage to catch and ahemm dehorn you!!!!!

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Did she manage to catch and ahemm dehorn you!!!!!

She didn't have to catch me

Dawggone

kowtow wrote: »

It's interesting (sinister?) the effort and money being funnelled by Europe into persuading children in our schools that there is such a thing as a "European citizen"

When my 11yo old daughter arrived in Ireland she hit trouble on almost the first day - in a CSPE class, whatever that might be... the conversation (related to me later) went something like

Child: "I'll check with my Father if you like, but I think you'll find I'm not a b***dy European citizen"

Teacher: "We are all European Citizens now T*******, and you of all people, you speak German & French as well as English"

Child: "Swiss German!, Swiss French!"

Agree. The Aussies are very up front about it. They call it programming.

The honeymoon period is over... Marine le Pin has sorted that out...

Mehaffey1

Milk up 1500 litres over two days just got to let cows onto fresh grass and top up Palm Kernel feeders then off for two days, couldn't wish for more!

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

She didn't have to catch me

Did she take out the bud!!

keep going

In now for the breakfast and today is the first day since before christmas due to building work that bar checking the bulling heifers and giving a look at the near calvers I can relax until milking.ahhhhhh..........

delaney001

Anyone know what would the vacuum requirements be on ONE milking unit. Or alternatively what size vacuum pump would you need to milk one cow?

Dawggone

Another cow slipped a calf.

mahoney_j

Dawggone wrote: »

Another cow slipped a calf.

Balls sbv???.had to get vet to put a really good third calver down after milking this evening.twisted gut and cow in discomfort.an operation was mentioned but its success was a bit of a lottery so we decided to do the most human thing and put her down .the joys of dairy farming .......

Dawggone

mahoney_j wrote: »

Balls sbv???.had to get vet to put a really good third calver down after milking this evening.twisted gut and cow in discomfort.an operation was mentioned but its success was a bit of a lottery so we decided to do the most human thing and put her down .the joys of dairy farming .......

Bad luck there Mahoney.
I presume it's SBV but the lab will confirm. Damn fine cow too.
Seven months incalf.

Blackgrass

Dawggone wrote: »

Bad luck there Mahoney.
I presume it's SBV but the lab will confirm. Damn fine cow too.
Seven months incalf.

What's course of action there? Get rid or would come to milk after?

Dawggone

Blackgrass wrote: »

What's course of action there? Get rid or would come to milk after?

Wait and see...
She may not come to milk as only 7 months gone.
Factory I reckon.

jack o shea

Lads whats the best action to take for teats with a scab on the end of them? Quarter is slow to milk out,pick scap off when drawing before milking,have 2 like this,putting cream/jel on them but no improvement so far.

Deepsouthwest

jack o shea wrote: »

Lads whats the best action to take for teats with a scab on the end of them? Quarter is slow to milk out,pick scap off when drawing before milking,have 2 like this,putting cream/jel on them but no improvement so far.

Sounds like Blackspot, be careful v contagious and a whore to cure. Fucidin H is supposed to work well, but has to be applied after every milking for well over a wk.

Deepsouthwest

mahoney_j wrote: »

Balls sbv???.had to get vet to put a really good third calver down after milking this evening.twisted gut and cow in discomfort.an operation was mentioned but its success was a bit of a lottery so we decided to do the most human thing and put her down .the joys of dairy farming .......

Stuff like that and Dawgs abortion issue put my weather rant on grass measuring into perspective. Stuff like that would really piss me off. I read, and liked recently about farming "Don't take it so seriously,it's only a game, just play it the best way u can".

jaymla627

Lovely third lactation cow on the way out here aswell, took a upside calf from her sat nite must of got damaged in the process...got a lovely aap heifer calf out alive so all wasn't lost...

whelan2

jaymla627 wrote: »

Lovely third lactation cow on the way out here aswell, took a upside calf from her sat nite must of got damaged in the process...got a lovely aap heifer calf out alive so all wasn't lost...

cow that had a section here a few weeks ago not greagt either no milk at all, vet said to wait until drugs withdrawal is up and factory her, hope she lives that long

Timmaay

Heifer here with ecoli almost over it, thankfully didn't spread past her udder but two shot quarters so she is for the road.

mahoney_j

Dairy farming general thread is cursed ,all sick cows,dying cows and dead cows.anyway it's Monday new week new beginning and all that .last cow in calf to fr calved when I arrived out this am lovely ksk heifer twins.no intervention whatsoever and both calves now up suckling .

whelan2

scrapers did my head in this morning, long scraper which brings all the crap down was upside down ,off rail with cross wing off it there was also a cubicle mat in the crap in the passage where the long scraper goes, not a great morning for my back, mat was very heavy when covered in muck

freedominacup

Cow that calved yesterday evening down with milk fever this morning. Two bottles into the vein and thankfully she was up in five minutes. I need a kick in the hole though. She's a good cow but inclined to be troublesome around calving.

Mornings like this the wholecrop comes into it's own. I threw a strong buffer feed into the feeder before milking. The buffer is just finished now as the rain is stopping. They'll mosy off now and won't miss a beat performance wise or plough any paddock. If there was only grass silage available they'd be blowing for road straightaway or if they were made stay in and eat it performance would suffer big time. It's a good feed when fully housed but on the shoulders of the season it's very valuable.

Cow Porter

freedominacup wrote: »

Cow that calved yesterday evening down with milk fever this morning. Two bottles into the vein and thankfully she was up in five minutes. I need a kick in the hole though. She's a good cow but inclined to be troublesome around calving.

Mornings like this the wholecrop comes into it's own. I threw a strong buffer feed into the feeder before milking. The buffer is just finished now as the rain is stopping. They'll mosy off now and won't miss a beat performance wise or plough any paddock. If there was only grass silage available they'd be blowing for road straightaway or if they were made stay in and eat it performance would suffer big time. It's a good feed when fully housed but on the shoulders of the season it's very valuable.

Have you used maize as a buffer? How do they compare, giving up on maize this year as stocking rate dropping for a bit due to extra land so have plenty forage and more so cos it's working out well over 55 a tone and waste on top of that, doing diets this year and it was same cost to include maize or just add barley, wheat, maize meal blend to mix, extra soya in maize mix was killing it to even bring it to 14% crude protein , way I see it now is your just paying for the feed before the winter vs paying through the winter by adding barley wheat and maize meal. (where are prices for these heading though)

Opened maize when they went to grass to buffer but wonder if I didn't have it would dry silage and something like soya hulls and barley do the trick?? Maize just costing too much at this stage and doing extremely well to get 18-20 ton crop

Crows are the real nuisance in a yard tho, **** made of grass silage pit here cos they think it's maize underneath after netting the maize pit

Greengrass1

Cow Porter wrote: »

Have you used maize as a buffer? How do they compare, giving up on maize this year as stocking rate dropping for a bit due to extra land so have plenty forage and more so cos it's working out well over 55 a tone and waste on top of that, doing diets this year and it was same cost to include maize or just add barley, wheat, maize meal blend to mix, extra soya in maize mix was killing it to even bring it to 14% crude protein , way I see it now is your just paying for the feed before the winter vs paying through the winter by adding barley wheat and maize meal. (where are prices for these heading though)

Opened maize when they went to grass to buffer but wonder if I didn't have it would dry silage and something like soya hulls and barley do the trick?? Maize just costing too much at this stage and doing extremely well to get 18-20 ton crop

Crows are the real nuisance in a yard tho, **** made of grass silage pit here cos they think it's maize underneath after netting the maize pit

Cows usually go out here fairly quick full time most yrs.
will have to change tack next yr more cows.
will more than likely have to stay in at night for a good while.
I'll hopefully have a good bank of quality silage and just feed that.
can't afford to buy or grow maize :D

mahoney_j

freedominacup wrote: »

Cow that calved yesterday evening down with milk fever this morning. Two bottles into the vein and thankfully she was up in five minutes. I need a kick in the hole though. She's a good cow but inclined to be troublesome around calving.

Mornings like this the wholecrop comes into it's own. I threw a strong buffer feed into the feeder before milking. The buffer is just finished now as the rain is stopping. They'll mosy off now and won't miss a beat performance wise or plough any paddock. If there was only grass silage available they'd be blowing for road straightaway or if they were made stay in and eat it performance would suffer big time. It's a good feed when fully housed but on the shoulders of the season it's very valuable.

Agree with u on wholecrop ,perfect foil for grass I think maby maize might be better but more expensive .mixing mine with hi quality wraps and cows fully content with neglible drop off in production during stages of poor weather and on/off grazing

freedominacup

Cow Porter wrote: »

Have you used maize as a buffer? How do they compare, giving up on maize this year as stocking rate dropping for a bit due to extra land so have plenty forage and more so cos it's working out well over 55 a tone and waste on top of that, doing diets this year and it was same cost to include maize or just add barley, wheat, maize meal blend to mix, extra soya in maize mix was killing it to even bring it to 14% crude protein , way I see it now is your just paying for the feed before the winter vs paying through the winter by adding barley wheat and maize meal. (where are prices for these heading though)

Opened maize when they went to grass to buffer but wonder if I didn't have it would dry silage and something like soya hulls and barley do the trick?? Maize just costing too much at this stage and doing extremely well to get 18-20 ton crop
G
Crows are the real nuisance in a yard tho, **** made of grass silage pit here cos they think it's maize underneath after netting the maize pit

We can't grow maize, soil too light, too high and coastal wind too harsh on it. Wholecrop works much better for us. Decent crop even in a wet year and therefore much cheaper to grow. Feed a lot of rapeseed rather than soya. I think soya inclusion was no higher than .5kg this winter. Took it out of the blend as soon as there was a decent amount of grass in the diet.

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Cows usually go out here fairly quick full time most yrs.
will have to change tack next yr more cows.
will more than likely have to stay in at night for a good while.
I'll hopefully have a good bank of quality silage and just feed that.
can't afford to buy or grow maize :D

Look at wholecrop gg considering where u are and one cruical bit of advice don't go loading on a heap of cows just to say your carrying extra nos.from what we can gather u need more slurry storage,cubicles milk tank etc.chasing nos is a dangerous game a bit more dangerous than chasing production if u ask me.with ur sr moving up you'll need space to buffer cows and space for drys to accommodate poor spells of weather early and late in year.slow steady growth is my advice and sort above issues along way.if you've lots of stock u could offload some to part finance it

Cow Porter

How much a ton is wholecrop worth and how much a ton would you grow it for given all work contract out.

http://www.teagasc.ie/calc/FeedStuffs.asp

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Look at wholecrop gg considering where u are and one cruical bit of advice don't go loading on a heap of cows just to say your carrying extra nos.from what we can gather u need more slurry storage,cubicles milk tank etc.chasing nos is a dangerous game a bit more dangerous than chasing production if u ask me.with ur sr moving up you'll need space to buffer cows and space for drys to accommodate poor spells of weather early and late in year.slow steady growth is my advice and sort above issues along way.if you've lots of stock u could offload some to part finance it

No your right but tbh I'm not chasing numbers things are just free wheeling 110 to serve this yr between spring and autumn I could go and not serve a few cows that are getting old or that are getting wrecked looking that would cut a few out of it alright
Myself dad and advisor were chatting this morning and a big lagoon sounds like best option.
60 cubicles in shed across from it- we can do them ourselves easy enough. And put rest in when ever. Loads of shed space here for dry cows.

Tbh I'd prefer sort that first than a parlour.

freedominacup

Cow Porter wrote: »

How much a ton is wholecrop worth and how much a ton would you grow it for given all work contract out.

http://www.teagasc.ie/calc/FeedStuffs.asp

According to the link you posted it's the same value as maize. I think good maize is a better feed but we can't get it consistently. Wholecrop works better for us year in and year out. Fully contract grown a four tonne crop will cost you around 130 per tonne of grain combined. You can make your own adjustments for forager. We find you can push a wholecrop field harder as lodging and getting it ripe are not as critical. Tonnes go up for little extra cost.

keep going

No manure out here due to weather and busy and starting to panic. Lads that have it out are ye getting a response

Brown Podzol

Greengrass1 wrote: »

No your right but tbh I'm not chasing numbers things are just free wheeling 110 to serve this yr between spring and autumn I could go and not serve a few cows that are getting old or that are getting wrecked looking that would cut a few out of it alright
Myself dad and advisor were chatting this morning and a big lagoon sounds like best option.
60 cubicles in shed across from it- we can do them ourselves easy enough. And put rest in when ever. Loads of shed space here for dry cows.

Tbh I'd prefer sort that first than a parlour.

Did it that way myself, and when I had the parlour sorted I said I should have done the parlour first. Seemed a bit like why a lunatic keeps banging his head against the wall, for the intense relief he gets when he stops.:D

Greengrass1

keep going wrote: »

No manure out here due to weather and busy and starting to panic. Lads that have it out are ye getting a response

Grass only starting now I reckon. Have much ed grazed?
500 on first 3 paddocks I grazed

Greengrass1

Brown Podzol wrote: »

Did it that way myself, and when I had the parlour sorted I said I should have done the parlour first. Seemed a bit like why a lunatic keeps banging his head against the wall, for the intense relief he gets when he stops.:D

Parlour here is only 10 yr old ready for 12 but only 6 in its grand to milk in it'd Be a different storey if it was a 30 yr old dark damp old 6 unit in a little shed
uncle tells me I should be putting in 18 while I'm at it

KCTK

keep going wrote: »

No manure out here due to weather and busy and starting to panic. Lads that have it out are ye getting a response

Can definitely see a response now from urea spread about a month ago, all field have a good green colour and growth definitely coming along, of course paddocks that got slurry after grazing before the weather went to sh!t down here are really motoring

Timmaay

When will ya hit the 110? That's 19 rows in a 6 unit, doable with hired milkers but if you do all the milking yourself you'll have no life.

Greengrass1

Timmaay wrote: »

When will ya hit the 110? That's 19 rows in a 6 unit, doable with hired milkers but if you do all the milking yourself you'll have no life.

Doubt I'll milk 110 next yr if I milk 90-95 ill be doing well.
Id stick it for a yr
it'll be a decision between slurry storage and some cubicles or the parlour.
I want slurry storage and some cubicles dad is more inclined to go for parlour

whelan2

water is all leaking out of the bottom of the water heater i have in dairy, its not that old and only put a new element in it before christmas:mad: what water heater do ye use?

freedominacup

whelan2 wrote: »

water is all leaking out of the bottom of the water heater i have in dairy, its not that old and only put a new element in it before christmas:mad: what water heater do ye use?

We got a stainless last year. Can take a pressurised feed. Pricey enough but should last. Bil goes for cheap and nasty and hopes to get two years out of them. I'll check make later.

keep going

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Grass only starting now I reckon. Have much ed grazed?
500 on first 3 paddocks I grazed

Currently at 24%grazed , would be in alot of trouble only for fodder beet to graze which is doingv2 jobs its streching the grass and its keeping great condition on the girls.
Was thinking of going at bag tomorr but with forcast im thinking of going out with the tank instead might cover less ground but less risky I think

Timmaay

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Doubt I'll milk 110 next yr if I milk 90-95 ill be doing well.
Id stick it for a yr
it'll be a decision between slurry storage and some cubicles or the parlour.
I want slurry storage and some cubicles dad is more inclined to go for parlour

15/16 rows so, if it was say you the am your dad at night perfectly fine but if your always in the pit like me, give the parlour a 2nd thought ha. Barebones frazz style will do fine ha.