Greenfield kilkenny

jaymla627

Was having a look at their weekly notes, kinda amused when I seen the number of cows in milk this week which was 260, they had 338 at one stage in milk at the end of may milking think over 60 cows have been culled/sold/died going from their notes.
Its fair to say that for all the stuff teagasc spout out it seems they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery.

Dont be daft

They say if you asked a committee to draw a horse it'd look like a camel.
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians down there I suspect.
By the way Jackie shytes on you'd swear he owned the place lock, stock and barrel.

That and a stocking rate target plucked out of their arses at day one.

Having said all that it is an interesting project.

whelan1

jaymla627 wrote: »

Was having a look at their weekly notes, kinda amused when I seen the number of cows in milk this week which was 260, they had 338 at one stage in milk at the end of may milking think over 60 cows have been culled/sold/died going from their notes.
Its fair to say that for all the stuff teagasc spout out it seems they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery.

where can you look at their weekly notes?

jaymla627

Dont be daft wrote: »

They say if you asked a committee to draw a horse it'd look like a camel.
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians down there I suspect.
By the way Jackie shytes on you'd swear he owned the place lock, stock and barrel.

That and a stocking rate target plucked out of their arses at day one.

Having said all that it is an interesting project.

Sure his missus is over-seeing the whole project I hear they sleep on a bed of grass at night;)
Its interesting in the sense that teagasc with all their so called expertise cant seem to run a large scale dairy herd properly, I know they keep going on about the drought down there but at current milk prices it would actually pay quiet well to buy-in feed and keep those cows in milk proberbly at least 10 cent a litre would be the margin over feed even if all feed was bought-in at current milk prices.

jaymla627

whelan1 wrote: »

where can you look at their weekly notes?

http://www.greenfielddairy.ie/

delaval

jaymla627 wrote: »

Was having a look at their weekly notes, kinda amused when I seen the number of cows in milk this week which was 260, they had 338 at one stage in milk at the end of may milking think over 60 cows have been culled/sold/died going from their notes.
Its fair to say that for all the stuff teagasc spout out it seems they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery.

17% culled is what I make it.
900 kg ms or ha to date and some time to go
10% empty with all AI in 12 wks
82% of heifers calving in 6 wks next spring

What's wrong with that performance?

jersey101

will they pick up another 300kgs of ms in 2 months. I reckon not

Milked out

Not much at all wrong with those figure, I'm sure with regard to their stocking rate they said earlier they would have to buy in more of their winter feed. Have they a fixed quota?? I ask as they do treat concentrates as something to avoid when at these prices it would def give a response, particularly if grass is tight due to drought etc. and going post 2015 the decision on whether to feed conc. will be totally dependant on the economic response or weather/ feed situations. also once culls are milking well and there is feed for them they could be kept milking while at grass at least, unless covers need to be built, etc.

jaymla627

delaval wrote: »

17% culled is what I make it.
900 kg ms or ha to date and some time to go
10% empty with all AI in 12 wks
82% of heifers calving in 6 wks next spring

What's wrong with that performance?[/QUOon

I think you forgot to add on the 38 late calving cows they decided not to breed and didn't add into their figures to make it look good the proper not in-calf rate is 20% if the 338 cows are taken into account , where you are going with your 10% not in-calf rate is laughable when you"ve said yourself the culling rate is 17% and will probably be far higher come years end.
If had 338 cows milking at the end of may and only had 260 milking in September id be giving myself the p 45 and if I was managing the place would fully expect to be shown the door, it seems x-breds cant even hack that place.

mahoney_j

Been at greenfield a number of times and its a fantastic farm,But its run by a bunch of lazy incompetent tegasc buffs who as i keep harping on about are ramming the kiwi way regardless.More lazy advice.I really feel sorry for the farm manager as he seems like a very nice guy who really knows his stuff but is treated like a relief milker.
They are afraid of their asses to feed meal until it gets too late,Have the farm too highly stocked,Big issues with soil organic matter and its unable to grow the required ammount of grass to keep grass into cows through grazing and also to feed cows through winter.They have been feeding slage for the last 10 days and are going to have a big shortgage for the winter.Yes the production figures are good but whats the point in having figures like that if you have to dry off/cull in september.I know i keep harping on about this but it is an irish farm not a kiwi farm and if that farm was stocked with 50/50 holstein/british freisan cross ainmals with all the so called expertise those existing figures would be beaten,Even at the nos that they are at now and not the 330 odd they were at.They really need to learn to walk before they run in that place.

jersey101

The way everything has happened in the Greenfield's we have gone through in the last 9 yrs. Were only starting to make an impact now on organic matter and p and k and we didnt have the money they had we just about had the money to buy and build a parlour

poor farmer

The are feeding 5kg nuts/cow at the minute ,and have been for the last three weeks.

keep going

To be fair I think the big lesson learned in kk is that if you farm within nitrates you will have nothing

Farmer Pudsey

Lads the one thing that is common between Greenfields and Derrypatrick is that Teagasc cannot run a commercial operation. They get too caught up in theory. In managing any system it is flexibility that wins.

The old saying that it is not the strongest or brightest that will survive rather those that adapt best. On one hand it is great it is really showing farmers what not to do. Some people here are blaming cow type selected when rather it is the management program that is the issue.

Look at there fixation with outwintering pads when at present concrete is cheaper. Not to mind if they got an inspection it might fail. One thing I notice in suckling and dairying cow type is not the issue that makes a farm successful it is the land and stock management that counts.

Is there not another dairy operation like this that is privately managed how is he getting on I think he was under pressure as well. The cull rate on both Derrypatrick and Greenfields is crazy as are the idoligical stands taken and the unwillingness to adapt

bob charles

keep going wrote: »

To be fair I think the big lesson learned in kk is that if you farm within nitrates you will have nothing

I dont accept this as a major problem with growing grass. maybe they need to get smarter with there applications and get better responses.

Are the cows outwintered on woodchip?

6480

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Lads the one thing that is common between Greenfields and Derrypatrick is that Teagasc cannot run a commercial operation. They get too caught up in theory. In managing any system it is flexibility that wins.

The old saying that it is not the strongest or brightest that will survive rather those that adapt best. On one hand it is great it is really showing farmers what not to do. Some people here are blaming cow type selected when rather it is the management program that is the issue.

Look at there fixation with outwintering pads when at present concrete is cheaper. Not to mind if they got an inspection it might fail. One thing I notice in suckling and dairying cow type is not the issue that makes a farm successful it is the land and stock management that counts.

Is there not another dairy operation like this that is privately managed how is he getting on I think he was under pressure as well. The cull rate on both Derrypatrick and Greenfields is crazy as are the idoligical stands taken and the unwillingness to adapt

if they done the thing half right they should have surplus stock to sell off every year

TEAT SQUEEZER

jaymla627 wrote: »

Sure his missus is over-seeing the whole project I hear they sleep on a bed of grass at night;)
Its interesting in the sense that teagasc with all their so called expertise cant seem to run a large scale dairy herd properly, I know they keep going on about the drought down there but at current milk prices it would actually pay quiet well to buy-in feed and keep those cows in milk proberbly at least 10 cent a litre would be the margin over feed even if all feed was bought-in at current milk prices.

have never met as straight talking and informative a teagasc specialist as abigail ryan.. tought this dumb sh ite how to measure grass for one thing. said 5 years ago to us at a discuss meeting that not many if any farm at 3lu/ha could cut enough silage within its own gates . could be time the head guys took heed:rolleyes:

delaval

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

have never met as straight talking and informative a teagasc specialist as abigail ryan.. tought this dumb sh ite how to measure grass for one thing. said 5 years ago to us at a discuss meeting that not many if any farm at 3lu/ha could cut enough silage within its own gates . could be time the head guys took heed:rolleyes:

Well said previous comments about her grossly unfair. She is one of the best in the country. Unfortunately has to work in the confines of a committee system.

Have to agree with Mahoney. I know the manager well and he is top class and it needs to be left to himself and Abigail, they are well capable of managing this business. Two very practical people who can if allowed adapt.

On an aside we ain't too far away from there and I notice a lot if in calf heifers being brought in for lack of grass. I'd say two more weeks and ours will follow today's rain may stretch it a bit.

Would somebody tell them to put in feeders in the parlour or else get one of the Moorepark heads to shovel it to the cows!!

TEAT SQUEEZER

delaval wrote: »

Well said previous comments about her grossly unfair. She is one of the best in the country. Unfortunately has to work in the confines of a committee system.

Have to agree with Mahoney. I know the manager well and he is top class and it needs to be left to himself and Abigail, they are well capable of managing this business. Two very practical people who can if allowed adapt.

On an aside we ain't too far away from there and I notice a lot if in calf heifers being brought in for lack of grass. I'd say two more weeks and ours will follow today's rain may stretch it a bit.

Would somebody tell them to put in feeders in the parlour or else get one of the Moorepark heads to shovel it to the cows!!

of all the things this takes the pis s ... how can any highly stocked farm expect to go through a season and not have to feed meal to smooth the bumps alongg the way.. their is no way young ,smaller cows are getting their fair share of grub under the current ahem "system"

delaval

I don't think they're learning any lessons but we are that's for sure. One things for sure you can't farm to a recipe

keep going

bob charles wrote: »

I dont accept this as a major problem with growing grass. maybe they need to get smarter with there applications and get better responses.

Are the cows outwintered on woodchip?

I there last autumn and the farm is starved.if it was mine id be loading the place with nitrogen and any kind of slurry I could get.however that is not an option for them.yes there have been errors made there some were ongoing but there is absolutly no doubt in mlnd that the land is starved and is not growing its potential and in dry weather as this year was it was disastrous

delaval

They are putting up their figures for all to see warts and all.

A good few talking heads here not displaying anything and that's fine, so very hard to read some of the posts when one has no idea how they're doing themselves. Mistakes have been made and that's what the trial is about.
This year no growth till June none in July and middling growth till now. Anyone who thinks this was a good grass year on dry land is seriously deluding themselves.
One thing for sure is that the people on the ground should be left alone by the suits to get on with it

delaval

jaymla627 wrote: »

Sure his missus is over-seeing the whole project I hear they sleep on a bed of grass at night;)
Its interesting in the sense that teagasc with all their so called expertise cant seem to run a large scale dairy herd properly, I know they keep going on about the drought down there but at current milk prices it would actually pay quiet well to buy-in feed and keep those cows in milk proberbly at least 10 cent a litre would be the margin over feed even if all feed was bought-in at current milk prices.

Could you post your figures so we can see how to do it. It's real easy to make personal jibes from a position where nobody knows how you are performing

jaymla627

delaval wrote: »

Could you post your figures so we can see how to do it. It's real easy to make personal jibes from a position where nobody knows how you are performing

six week calving rate next year 80%
90% heifers will calved by the 25 feb
current milk per cow sent in as of today 4,050 litres with an average of 3.9 bf 3.35 p with 40 out of 55 being 1st calvers with around 900 kg of meal fed to date .
current yield 16.5 litres at 4.2 bf and 3.65p on 2 kg of meal with an afc as of today of 1000kg/dm ha.
Predicted culling rate will be around 10-15%, with not incalf rate unknown as cows where scanned back in july and final scan isnt till next week.

delaval

jaymla627 wrote: »

six week calving rate next year 80%
90% heifers will calved by the 25 feb
current milk per cow sent in as of today 4,050 litres with an average of 3.9 bf 3.35 p with 40 out of 55 being 1st calvers with around 900 kg of meal fed to date .
current yield 16.5 litres at 4.2 bf and 3.65p on 2 kg of meal with an afc as of today of 1000kg/dm ha.
Predicted culling rate will be around 10-15%, with not incalf rate unknown as cows where scanned back in july and final scan isnt till next week.

Very similar to Greenfield. What's you sr? You're building good covers, struggling to get over 1000 here

jaymla627

delaval wrote: »

Very similar to Greenfield. What's you sr? You're building good covers, struggling to get over 1000 here

2.5h over the whole farm and 3.5 on the grazing block would never go over 2.5 overall as we tend to get 4-5 month winters here normally and always need to be banking plenty of wraps when surpluses occur along with two cuts of silage being took of 40% of total area farmed.

Markcheese

keep going wrote: »

I there last autumn and the farm is starved.if it was mine id be loading the place with nitrogen and any kind of slurry I could get.however that is not an option for them.yes there have been errors made there some were ongoing but there is absolutly no doubt in mlnd that the land is starved and is not growing its potential and in dry weather as this year was it was disastrous

Is this not the point of an experiment/demo farm ?? Hopefully they'll tweak the system to show what stocking level/productivity that farm type has

JohnBoy

Markcheese wrote: »

Is this not the point of an experiment/demo farm ??

EXACTLY!!!!!


This is not a real farm, it's a research project, designed to test a theory.

there's no point tweaking, changing and adjusting the system constantly, because then all you get is a test of a manager. this is a test of a cow type/milking system, not a test of a farm manager.


It's research.


Remember they started at zero. all bought in stock, all new build, new grass, new everything. It's supposed to be a test of a concept of converting from tillage to dairy in 2015. not an example of how to run an existing dairy farm.


And personally I dont think they're doing all that badly at all. with everything fully costed inc land and labour, and big debts to repay they are relatively on schedule financially are they not?

delaval

JohnBoy wrote: »

EXACTLY!!!!!


This is not a real farm, it's a research project, designed to test a theory.

there's no point tweaking, changing and adjusting the system constantly, because then all you get is a test of a manager. this is a test of a cow type/milking system, not a test of a farm manager.


It's research.


Remember they started at zero. all bought in stock, all new build, new grass, new everything. It's supposed to be a test of a concept of converting from tillage to dairy in 2015. not an example of how to run an existing dairy farm.


And personally I dont think they're doing all that badly at all. with everything fully costed inc land and labour, and big debts to repay they are relatively on schedule financially are they not?

Sorry I can't thank twice

Farmer Pudsey

JohnBoy generally if you have an experiment you also use a control section to work off. In this case it might have been practical to fit meal feeders and see the effect that this had on milk produced on part of the herd. You could also have the herd split into a standard Fresians and use hybrid crosses to test hybrid vigour.

I think that a lot of the complaints and derrypatrick could be added to this is there unwillingness to admit that two-three years into these projects that some things may not work such as very high stocking rates on a grass only system. You can push the boat so far after that you have to either start the engine or use the oars or else you are going no where.

jaymla627

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

JohnBoy generally if you have an experiment you also use a control section to work off. In this case it might have been practical to fit meal feeders and see the effect that this had on milk produced on part of the herd. You could also have the herd split into a standard Fresians and use hybrid crosses to test hybrid vigour.

I think that a lot of the complaints and derrypatrick could be added to this is there unwillingness to admit that two-three years into these projects that some things may not work such as very high stocking rates on a grass only system. You can push the boat so far after that you have to either start the engine or use the oars or else you are going no where.

Sure thats what the workers are for, if the lads working there werent on such a good wedge salary wise coupled with the fact the job market isnt to exciting in Ireland theyd proberly be on their 3 our 4 herd manager at this stage, go to the uk/new zealand/australia where their is a shortage of skilled lads and drop the set-up like kilkenny in the middle of it youd find they would get it very hard to keep staff.

stanflt

Jaysys lads cut them some slack

They started with nothing yet in a couple of years they will own 500 lu

Can't see any fault in that


They show all figures

Nothing's hidden

For all the people knocking what's been done I've a question for ya - could you see yourself having 500 extra livestock units in 10 years and if not why not
Maybe your system isn't profitable

Ps I'm.a winter milk quy who thinks they are doing a great job as I see what they are doing will only help me to expand in years to come

JohnBoy

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

JohnBoy generally if you have an experiment you also use a control section to work off. In this case it might have been practical to fit meal feeders and see the effect that this had on milk produced on part of the herd. You could also have the herd split into a standard Fresians and use hybrid crosses to test hybrid vigour.

In a small scale study that's exactly the type of thing you'd do, and that's the type of thing they do test in moorepark, subtle variations on a theme with different groups doing different things.

Greenfields is about putting the result of that type of research into practice in a whole farm situation. They think this is the way to go, so now they're trying to prove it. And to be fair to them, when things dont go their way they seem to have been fairly open about it. Did they not basically admit last year that the standoff pads were a mistake? but they dont have the money in the kitty to get away from them right now so they're stuck with them.

I think that a lot of the complaints and derrypatrick could be added to this is there unwillingness to admit that two-three years into these projects that some things may not work such as very high stocking rates on a grass only system. You can push the boat so far after that you have to either start the engine or use the oars or else you are going no where.

Something to bear in mind 2-3 years in is that this is a 15 year project. it's maybe a bit soon to be doing interim reviews.

Farmer Pudsey

Testing a theory is grand however in a fifteen year project you have to adapt. I bought land 10 years ago yes I made mistakes but I adapted fast. My point is that in a 15 year project if after 2-3 years somthing is not working you adapt to commercial realties.

If somthing will not work then it wont work you scale back or scale up, you add cost or reduce cost. I am not saying to jump from one thing to the next what I am saying is there is no harm making a mistake but it is a totally different to keep making the same mistake.

The one good thing is that now when the revenue comissioners come calling or the fella at work is slagging about all the money farmers make we can point to Greenfields and Derrypatrick.:)

Going forward...

Since when do you need to have credentials to criticize or have an opinion on them on here? They're not above criticism, they're out there to be judged but since they're transparent with their work(imagine that? a research farm) we're supposed to tip our hat to them and ignore things we feel are being done poorly?

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

Jaysys lads cut them some slack

They started with nothing yet in a couple of years they will own 500 lu

Nothing's hidden

For all the people knocking what's been done I've a question for ya - could you see yourself having 500 extra livestock units in 10 years and if not why not
Maybe your system isn't profitable

Ps I'm.a winter milk quy who thinks they are doing a great job as I see what they are doing will only help me to expand in years to come

Was this not a JV with IFJ,glanbia,_ _ _ ponying up the money? I bet there is allot hidden, like a certain research farm that used to get unrecorded loads of brewers etc for independent trailing and forgetting to account for it at demo days.
How much stuff was put into the greenfield farm at a loss for advertising purposes. I recall being told about someone that was trying to buy the same bulk tank as in KK that was price in project €16k. Got onto the company and the price was €26k:D:D.

did I not read on here that they were going breaking the law with P applications??

Remember that these lads making a balls of things are probably helping the farmers. If they showed that all costs could be covered for 20c a litre I can assure you the milk processors would be very impressed

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

This year no growth till June none in July and middling growth till now. Anyone who thinks this was a good grass year on dry land is seriously deluding themselves.

Ah come on Delaval, you were showing serious pictures of grass growth in the early grazing season. since its dried up obviously not but in drought appetite is suppressed anyway.

I was talking to a mate who is a nutritionists yesterday and his best performing herd financially have being on 8kgs of meal all year. He says a good few of his herds are moving indoors which I taught was surprising but all the guys he is dealing with would be sharp operators who I presume have there sums done.

jersey101

bob charles wrote: »

Was this not a JV with IFJ,glanbia,_ _ _ ponying up the money? I bet there is allot hidden, like a certain research farm that used to get unrecorded loads of brewers etc for independent trailing and forgetting to account for it at demo days.
How much stuff was put into the greenfield farm at a loss for advertising purposes. I recall being told about someone that was trying to buy the same bulk tank as in KK that was price in project €16k. Got onto the company and the price was €26k:D:D.

did I not read on here that they were going breaking the law with P applications??

Remember that these lads making a balls of things are probably helping the farmers. If they showed that all costs could be covered for 20c a litre I can assure you the milk processors would be very impressed

my father said the same thing about the tank. We priced a 12k tanl and it was 22k

bob charles

They are lucky they are in a dairy system where money is easier made. Imagine the disaster if it was a tillage or beef finishing farm. They would be loosing money hand over fist

delaval

bob charles wrote: »

Ah come on Delaval, you were showing serious pictures of grass growth in the early grazing season. since its dried up obviously not but in drought appetite is suppressed anyway.

I was talking to a mate who is a nutritionists yesterday and his best performing herd financially have being on 8kgs of meal all year. He says a good few of his herds are moving indoors which I taught was surprising but all the guys he is dealing with would be sharp operators who I presume have there sums done.

When grass grew it grew very well but when it didn't it really didn't. A lot was put into bales as when it grew well it couldn't all be grazed only to be fed back out. Luckily we have enough feed saved. Growth figures are good on an annual view but month lots of spikes and troughs. One good thing is that utilisation was excellent.

Regarding your mate 'what else would he say?' No notion of doing that here been there done it even milked 3 times a day and had the diet feeder and loads of toys. Never again, well never is a long time.
Really pleased to have changed farm and system.

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

Regarding your mate 'what else would he say?' No notion of doing that here been there done it even milked 3 times a day and had the diet feeder and loads of toys. Never again, well never is a long time.
Really pleased to have changed farm and system.

Guys where I talking about would be farming allot more difficult land than your beach:), have you test much grass this year? didnt do as many test as normal this year but on the whole energy figure have being disastrous for some reason. even when there was good growth and good looking covers of grass. strange one.

mf240

Going on the greenfield research it's hard to see an existing tillage farmer with no dairy experience making a go of a large scale conversion.

Interesting project none the less.

jersey101

Sowed 40acres of stubble in grass today. Let ye know how it goes lad coming with bulk spreader in the moring to spread fert on it. Have another 35 to do in the spring

stanflt

jersey101 wrote: »

Sowed 40acres of stubble in grass today. Let ye know how it goes lad coming with bulk spreader in the moring to spread fert on it. Have another 35 to do in the spring

Great what was the procedure

Sowed 8 acres on Monday - ring rolled power harrow twice and air seeder then ring rolled again

Another 30 acres to go on sat- got lime spread today

Dont be daft

Something that's said over and over again is that its a research project and its good that its making mistakes.

Its not. Teagasc have a research facility in Moorepark. The Greenfield farm is not a research facility but rather Teagasc practicing what they preach. Its a commercial farm who's sole aim is to make money using the expertise and findings of Moorepark. The fact that it has private equity partners is a clear indication of this.
Therefore if it fails to perform commercially it has failed full stop and any research or lessons learned are secondary.

Its a point worth making that the overall approach taken by the Greenfield farm is the one often being regurgitated by Teagasc advisors to Irish farmers. So if a certain aspect of the Greenfield project fails then the advise behind it is flawed.
The stocking rate is a clear example. I know of several farms which followed the Teagasc mantra of 1.2 cows per acre (or what ever it may have been). They spent thousands rearing replacements to build up to that, only to get caught out and ended up culling hard to straighten the place out afterwards. Those farms paid the price for flawed theory.


Like I said from the outset its a very interesting project and where else would you see such open discussion and disclosure about the financial and management particulars of a dairy herd.
But its only right that it be analysed and, if deserving, criticized. Because ultimately if Teagasc can't look after their own shop, what business have they telling everyone else how to look after their's.

jersey101

stanflt wrote: »

Great what was the procedure

Sowed 8 acres on Monday - ring rolled power harrow twice and air seeder then ring rolled again

Another 30 acres to go on sat- got lime spread today

got disced twice with a mounted disc harrow has a roller/crunbler at the back and then sowed with a einbock that has a seed barrow on top. Borrowed that off a friend. Will roll after it gets rain.

What grass variety did you sow?

maxxuumman

stanflt wrote: »

Great what was the procedure

Sowed 8 acres on Monday - ring rolled power harrow twice and air seeder then ring rolled again

Another 30 acres to go on sat- got lime spread today

Stan, why did you ring roll before. To slice the ground? Same as discing before power harrowing ?

Edit: engaged brain, you're putting it into stubble ground. Okay

keep going

bob charles wrote: »

Ah come on Delaval, you were showing serious pictures of grass growth in the early grazing season. since its dried up obviously not but in drought appetite is suppressed anyway.

I was talking to a mate who is a nutritionists yesterday and his best performing herd financially have being on 8kgs of meal all year. He says a good few of his herds are moving indoors which I taught was surprising but all the guys he is dealing with would be sharp operators who I presume have there sums done.

Whats a nutritionist , are they the fellas that sell diet feeders

bob charles

keep going wrote: »

Whats a nutritionist , are they the fellas that sell diet feeders

I dont think so, grass is this guys main area, and trying balancing inconsistencies during the grazing season. Its one area we are really lacking in, is dietary knowledge of the ruminant. I have only know of one probably 2 guys who know what they are talking about in Ireland. head to other EU countries and the knowledge some of them have is unreal

delaval

keep going wrote: »

Whats a nutritionist , are they the fellas that sell diet feeders

No but they cost 40k and you get a free feeder

keep going

bob charles wrote: »

I dont think so, grass is this guys main area, and trying balancing inconsistencies during the grazing season. Its one area we are really lacking in, is dietary knowledge of the ruminant. I have only know of one probably 2 guys who know what they are talking about in Ireland. head to other EU countries and the knowledge some of them have is unreal

Funnily enough I have been feeding straw with a week or so because their dung was fierce scoury on the current grass.if theday is dry I dont feed itbut give them a bale a wet day and at around 13 or 14cent a kilo its not bad.I always feed a good bit in the autumn as I feel it helps them utilize the grass better.am I one of the one or two guys that what they are talking about, didnt think so-only messing