Dairy Chit Chat- Please read Mod note in post #1

dar31

mahoney_j wrote: »

Great start to day,cows broke wire and moved to next paddock last night ,then started to milk and forgot to connect milk line to tank,all this ams milk now in dirty water tank ,fook that anyway

Been looking at a lot of parlors lately.
Most of them have the waste water/milk from dairy dropping into a drain in the pit so you can see if any milk running.

C0N0R

dar31 wrote: »

Been looking at a lot of parlors lately.
Most of them have the waste water/milk from dairy dropping into a drain in the pit so you can see if any milk running.

Ours runs into the front of the pit and down the pit, you would want to be well hungover to not notice it!

visatorro

mahoney_j wrote:

Great start to day,cows broke wire and moved to next paddock last night ,then started to milk and forgot to connect milk line to tank,all this ams milk now in dirty water tank ,fook that anyway

terror when one thing goes wrong it can knock your concentration or something, that's what I find anyway. it's normally a tale of woe for the day then!!!

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

i learnt the hard way check dairy after first row goes out

I'd say we've all done it at some stage lol. Having a healthy dosh of paranoia after the 1st row here also, always check dairy for the pipe, tank value and if its switched on just after 1st row, when you have abit of spare time. The new parlour in fairness solved the pipe out of the tank, if the pipe is still connected to the wash line the machine will not switch on to milk, MJ does yours not have that?

Deepsouthwest

dar31 wrote: »

Been looking at a lot of parlors lately.
Most of them have the waste water/milk from dairy dropping into a drain in the pit so you can see if any milk running.

Have that system here, and it's embarrassing how many times it's saved me! Having said that had a lad milking for me one morning who was happy out milking away totally oblivious to the milk flowing through the wash channels in the pit!

frazzledhome

Blooded culls and stock bulls today as all sold by hand here.

Any all passed without incident till last animal a fr bull. Loaded into race with cows out he pops over wall. Load again with person each side out he pops again onto the table with the blood boxes on. Table in shyte and 5 blood bottles broken.

So out for cows again and sort ones to be re blooded. Tried my boy again and over the top. Said feck it he can become a happy meal on Monday, didn't bother testing him. Love the day the stock bulls leave.

mahoney_j

frazzledhome wrote: »

Blooded culls and stock bulls today as all sold by hand here.

Any all passed without incident till last animal a fr bull. Loaded into race with cows out he pops over wall. Load again with person each side out he pops again onto the table with the blood boxes on. Table in shyte and 5 blood bottles broken.

So out for cows again and sort ones to be re blooded. Tried my boy again and over the top. Said feck it he can become a happy meal on Monday, didn't bother testing him. Love the day the stock bulls leave.

Why blood stock Bulls ,no need

frazzledhome

mahoney_j wrote: »

Why blood stock Bulls ,no need

A few were over 2yo

Blackgrass

frazzledhome wrote: »

A few were over 2yo

Are your cows lic/kiwi cross hybrids or do you cross fr/je yourselves so to speak?

Greengrass1

The only animal we didn't serve this yr is bulling tonight
Fine cow only a 3rd calver. But couldn't get her to come bulling. Was scanned and was cycling but we cidrd her any way. Still never came bulling.
Should I serve he amd sell her incalf or start milking her oad with the other empty cow I have and factory them in November?
Nothing bred here since 16th july

blackdog1

Greengrass1 wrote: »

The only animal we didn't serve this yr is bulling tonight
Fine cow only a 3rd calver. But couldn't get her to come bulling. Was scanned and was cycling but we cidrd her any way. Still never came bulling.
Should I serve he amd sell her incalf or start milking her oad with the other empty cow I have and factory them in November?
Nothing bred here since 16th july

I know farmers who breed late calvers who their going to cull to beef. Dry them off same time as rest but they get 4-5 months dry so their nice and fat when they calve. They sell the calve and the cow 2 days later. Sometimes they pull in 1500-1600 between both of them on the really big cows.

Greengrass1

blackdog1 wrote: »

I know farmers who breed late calvers who their going to cull to beef. Dry them off same time as rest but they get 4-5 months dry so their nice and fat when they calve. They sell the calve and the cow 2 days later. Sometimes they pull in 1500-1600 between both of them on the really big cows.

If we were to get here incalf she would be milked on until Feb or so. May aswell get the last out of her instead of her sitting in a shed dry for the whole winter.
Would prob sell in jan or feb

frazzledhome

Blackgrass wrote: »

Are your cows lic/kiwi cross hybrids or do you cross fr/je yourselves so to speak?

All ai used here is kiwi cross

simx

enquiring about buying a bunch of incalf heifers at the moment, what would ye expect to pay for decent heifers calving end jan-end march?

caseman

simx wrote: »

enquiring about buying a bunch of incalf heifers at the moment, what would ye expect to pay for decent heifers calving end jan-end march?

Crosbreed with good ebi 1200

simx

caseman wrote: »

Crosbreed with good ebi 1200

only heard of one bunch at that price and no ebi values present, they'll hardly get any dearer in another couple of months?

Timmaay

simx wrote: »

only heard of one bunch at that price and no ebi values present, they'll hardly get any dearer in another couple of months?

Agreed, 1200 is the price that I'd expect to pay for them in Dec! Thats when lads realise they don't have a cubicle space for them, or need the hassle of calving them down etc! Especially with loads of grass around now, people will be incline to let them graze on till housing.

simx

Timmaay wrote: »

Agreed, 1200 is the price that I'd expect to pay for them in Dec! Thats when lads realise they don't have a cubicle space for them, or need the hassle of calving them down etc! Especially with loads of grass around now, people will be incline to let them graze on till housing.

Yeah I think I'll hold out another while, for heifers that could be bought for circa 800 in April lads are asking 1200 ish now, they gained some value quick enough, would they gain as much value by jan/feb again? Doubt it imo

Brown Podzol

simx wrote: »

Yeah I think I'll hold out another while, for heifers that could be bought for circa 800 in April lads are asking 1200 ish now, they gained some value quick enough, would they gain as much value by jan/feb again? Doubt it imo

I killed an under 30 month hol heifer two weeks ago that failed numerous times to go in calf. She made €1490. If cull cows are making good money and heifers are being sold at less than the cost of rearing them there may not be as many for sale as you'd expect.

Greengrass1

simx wrote: »

Yeah I think I'll hold out another while, for heifers that could be bought for circa 800 in April lads are asking 1200 ish now, they gained some value quick enough, would they gain as much value by jan/feb again? Doubt it imo

Down load the grasstec app simx. Theres loads of stock up on it.
heifers being put up on that daily

jaymla627

Fonterra making 430 million dollars available to shared up farmers as a loan at 50 cent/kilo ms per co-op share to be paid back when milk goes back over 6 dollars kg/ms, pretty extreme measure that hammers home how much trouble guys are in over their

keep going

Had a s##t day yesterday myself.went to finish emptying the slatted tank on the neighbours place im going renting, this was the second go at agitating it as I had to empty some and drew in 10 tanks of water .such a torture bale wrap , netting and a full bank of silage underneath the feed barrier had to shift the pump about 10 times between cleaning and tryingto get it moving.finally got it done for 3 with no lunch ate.back after a cup of tea with tank and kept going 5o try and finish it butgot stuck for two loads to finish field.finally went miljing at eight and the flaming milk pump burnt out on first row.fiddled with it for while decided to fit another one I had, found out theseal was gone in it rang milking man who came out and fitted a new seal but then the pump wouldnt turn for us fiddled with that for ages and then went to borrow a spare off another neighbour which was different so had to make all new cconnection s.o h yeah and lost phone in the middle of itjust before I went to ring milking machine man.finally finished cows at 1230 last night.feck sake

Milked out

simx wrote: »

Yeah I think I'll hold out another while, for heifers that could be bought for circa 800 in April lads are asking 1200 ish now, they gained some value quick enough, would they gain as much value by jan/feb again? Doubt it imo

I'd keep an eye open anyway as if this is going to be the start of your herd if you find the right stock the bit of a premium would be worth it. Have a look at the cows the heifers came from as well and how they are doing

whelan2

i'd say with big tax bills and low milk price there will be no bother picking up heifers cheap enough.

Deepsouthwest

whelan2 wrote: »

i'd say with big tax bills and low milk price there will be no bother picking up heifers cheap enough.

On the ball there id say whelan.

Timmaay

keep going wrote: »

Had a s##t day yesterday myself.went to finish emptying the slatted tank on the neighbours place im going renting, this was the second go at agitating it as I had to empty some and drew in 10 tanks of water .such a torture bale wrap , netting and a full bank of silage underneath the feed barrier had to shift the pump about 10 times between cleaning and tryingto get it moving.finally got it done for 3 with no lunch ate.back after a cup of tea with tank and kept going 5o try and finish it butgot stuck for two loads to finish field.finally went miljing at eight and the flaming milk pump burnt out on first row.fiddled with it for while decided to fit another one I had, found out theseal was gone in it rang milking man who came out and fitted a new seal but then the pump wouldnt turn for us fiddled with that for ages and then went to borrow a spare off another neighbour which was different so had to make all new cconnection s.o h yeah and lost phone in the middle of itjust before I went to ring milking machine man.finally finished cows at 1230 last night.feck sake

There is a quote something like "The bad days only make the good days all the better", about the only positive thing you can take from hardship days like that ha.

blackdog1

whelan2 wrote: »

i'd say with big tax bills and low milk price there will be no bother picking up heifers cheap enough.

I disagree. You'll only get ****e heifers. I'm not selling any heifers this year I'm just going to cull any problem cows and fatten them and I'd say most ppl will do the same unless they're reducing numbers . If you want quality you'll have to pay for it. Can't see Stan or mahoney selling incalf heifers for 1200 euro.

whelan2

Everyone's situation is different. I agree most people won't sell their best animals but when under financial pressure anything is possible

mahoney_j

blackdog1 wrote: »

I disagree. You'll only get ****e heifers. I'm not selling any heifers this year I'm just going to cull any problem cows and fatten them and I'd say most ppl will do the same unless they're reducing numbers . If you want quality you'll have to pay for it. Can't see Stan or mahoney selling incalf heifers for 1200 euro.

Costs circa 1500 to get heifer to parlour so it'd take 17/1800 plus for me to even consider selling any.i ain't selling any anyway and will do as you outlined above cull under performing ,bad feet,low ebi low milk potential cows instead .quality stock will always command a premium .im going to stay milking my culls till dry off in mid December ,feed them well and sell in mart mid January .

Greengrass1

jaymla627 wrote: »

Fonterra making 430 million dollars available to shared up farmers as a loan at 50 cent/kilo ms per co-op share to be paid back when milk goes back over 6 dollars kg/ms, pretty extreme measure that hammers home how much trouble guys are in over their

Tbf the milk price that has been forcasted over there is equivalent to 20c/l here. That's tough on lads starting out or ij there first yrs of milking

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Costs circa 1500 to get heifer to parlour so it'd take 17/1800 plus for me to even consider selling any.i ain't selling any anyway and will do as you outlined above cull under performing ,bad feet,low ebi low milk potential cows instead .quality stock will always command a premium .im going to stay milking my culls till dry off in mid December ,feed them well and sell in mart mid January .

I was even saying that to dad last night when bringing in the cows. Even if we had to sell milking stock which I hope we won't have too we wouldn't get the price of what there worth.

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Tbf the milk price that has been forcasted over there is equivalent to 20c/l here. That's tough on lads starting out or ij there first yrs of milking

Actually 16.5/17 cent per litre go at projected 3.85$ per kg Ms .new entrant or established makes no odds its costing them money to produce milk.theyd all be better off oad for the season .

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Actually 16.5/17 cent per litre go at projected 3.85$ per kg Ms .new entrant or established makes no odds its costing them money to produce milk.theyd all be better off oad for the season .

Would we be any different? No one could survive any where at that price

stanflt

blackdog1 wrote: »

I disagree. You'll only get ****e heifers. I'm not selling any heifers this year I'm just going to cull any problem cows and fatten them and I'd say most ppl will do the same unless they're reducing numbers . If you want quality you'll have to pay for it. Can't see Stan or mahoney selling incalf heifers for 1200 euro.

Wouldn't dream of selling in calf stock for less than 2k

There the future of any herd

RightTurnClyde

mahoney_j wrote: »

Costs circa 1500 to get heifer to parlour so it'd take 17/1800 plus for me to even consider selling any.i ain't selling any anyway and will do as you outlined above cull under performing ,bad feet,low ebi low milk potential cows instead .quality stock will always command a premium .im going to stay milking my culls till dry off in mid December ,feed them well and sell in mart mid January .

Wondering about the cull cow plan here aswell. Other years empties were dried of with rest wintered cheaply and sold in Jan. worked well. This year planning to do the same as you
But with no quota this year there could be more just than us planning that. Wonder will there be a glut of cows in the marts in Jan

stanflt

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

Wondering about the cull cow plan here aswell. Other years empties were dried of with rest wintered cheaply and sold in Jan. worked well. This year planning to do the same as you
But with no quota this year there could be more just than us planning that. Wonder will there be a glut of cows in the marts in Jan

Empties will be served again to calve next August and sold as fresh calvers

Empties 800euro vs 2000 for a fresh calver

frazzledhome

blackdog1 wrote: »

I disagree. You'll only get ****e heifers. I'm not selling any heifers this year I'm just going to cull any problem cows and fatten them and I'd say most ppl will do the same unless they're reducing numbers . If you want quality you'll have to pay for it. Can't see Stan or mahoney selling incalf heifers for 1200 euro.

+1 loads of heifers pregnant here. Will only sell culls. 50 blooded yesterday expect to be sold by 6 this evening.

mahoney_j

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

Wondering about the cull cow plan here aswell. Other years empties were dried of with rest wintered cheaply and sold in Jan. worked well. This year planning to do the same as you
But with no quota this year there could be more just than us planning that. Wonder will there be a glut of cows in the marts in Jan

Been working this way for few years now,worst time to hit mart with culls is November and up to Xmas as nos are big .by milking them on and feeding you get a load of high solids milk as well as putting condition on cows .also for me up to last year there was 100% stock relief .even if you get slightly less for culls in January you've an extra 2 months of high solid milk in the bank .key is to have weight on them and make sure there well dried up before mart

Greengrass1

1000 bales done so far this yr still 15 ac of silage to and have no clue where to put it.
Better than the yrs we could only make 500.

kevthegaff

Id sell the house before id sell replacements, the work and attachment to bring them to calving, scan september, want to keep increasing nums/quality, milk till dec and cull prob cows

frazzledhome

Any one attend this event?

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/watch-robotic-parlour-in-action-at-ni-farm-walk-186951/

Milked out

Any one have the fill pipe to the meal bin going horizontal for 50t or so before going up and into the bin, would lorry be able to blow in ration thru it?

kevthegaff

Milked out wrote: »

Any one have the fill pipe to the meal bin going horizontal for 50t or so before going up and into the bin, would lorry be able to blow in ration thru it?

Only nuts i use, prob 25ft along ground then upto top of 14t meal bin, shes a high bin too. Never a problem

whelan2

Greengrass1 wrote: »

The only animal we didn't serve this yr is bulling tonight
Fine cow only a 3rd calver. But couldn't get her to come bulling. Was scanned and was cycling but we cidrd her any way. Still never came bulling.
Should I serve he amd sell her incalf or start milking her oad with the other empty cow I have and factory them in November?
Nothing bred here since 16th july

what did ya do with her, did ya serve her? I served 2 on wednesday one with kya and the other with hereford, they where the last ones calved here in may, bull gone since last week

Deepsouthwest

keep going wrote: »

Had a s##t day yesterday myself.went to finish emptying the slatted tank on the neighbours place im going renting, this was the second go at agitating it as I had to empty some and drew in 10 tanks of water .such a torture bale wrap , netting and a full bank of silage underneath the feed barrier had to shift the pump about 10 times between cleaning and tryingto get it moving.finally got it done for 3 with no lunch ate.back after a cup of tea with tank and kept going 5o try and finish it butgot stuck for two loads to finish field.finally went miljing at eight and the flaming milk pump burnt out on first row.fiddled with it for while decided to fit another one I had, found out theseal was gone in it rang milking man who came out and fitted a new seal but then the pump wouldnt turn for us fiddled with that for ages and then went to borrow a spare off another neighbour which was different so had to make all new cconnection s.o h yeah and lost phone in the middle of itjust before I went to ring milking machine man.finally finished cows at 1230 last night.feck sake

The joys of being self employed! At least everything worked out, and this morning was a new day. That's the beauty of farming, a fine day of sunshine and heat like today and a lot of yesterday's problems are forgotten.

Greengrass1

whelan2 wrote: »

what did ya do with her, did ya serve her? I served 2 on wednesday one with kya and the other with hereford, they where the last ones calved here in may, bull gone since last week

Didn't bother with her. If I did she'd be kept. If I everything holds as well as its looking now ill have had a brilliant yr breeding. Be calving a month after everything else too.

Start Milk her and the other empty cow oad soon enough

whelan2

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Didn't bother with her. If I did she'd be kept. If I everything holds as well as its looking now ill have had a brilliant yr breeding. Be calving a month after everything else too.

Start Milk her and the other empty cow oad soon enough

goes to show sometimes they are better left to their own devices to get them to come in heat

Greengrass1

whelan2 wrote: »

goes to show sometimes they are better left to their own devices to get them to come in heat

I told dad all yr not to bother with the trace elements in the water because the blocks were were giving was doing a good job.
He bought a few packets on monday and put it in the system.

He's adamant that's what brought here around
Maybe it is

just do it

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I told dad all yr not to bother with the trace elements in the water because the blocks were were giving was doing a good job.
He bought a few packets on monday and put it in the system.

He's adamant that's what brought here around
Maybe it is

Your overall fertility is good though? It's a numbers game after that. There just isn't enough room for everyone on the bell curve

just do it

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I told dad all yr not to bother with the trace elements in the water because the blocks were were giving was doing a good job.
He bought a few packets on monday and put it in the system.

He's adamant that's what brought here around
Maybe it is

Your overall fertility is good though? It's a numbers game after that. There just isn't enough room for everyone on the bell curve