Dairy Chitchat 3

jaymla627

Timmaay wrote: »

We all end up down the Bobby calf road, regardless of if its a jex or pure ho then. And unfortunately to say that might wash under some sort of "carbon efficiency" parameter, its better to Bobby calf them rather than rear them.

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

Buford T. Justice XIX

Panch18 wrote: »

It's also worth bearing in mind that the total number of cows in the country hasn't changed too much in the last 3 years. It is floating around 2.3m for the last 3 years - the increase in dairy numbers was offset by the fall in suckler cows

Once the BDGP scheme ends, there's going to be a big cull of suckler cows as they have to keep a minimum of their reference number for the duration of the scheme.

Mooooo

jaymla627 wrote: »

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

Have 3 milking here, first calvers solids ok but volume there particularly with one. Size may be the thing tho weighed last month from 538 to 568 kgs. Will have to see how they do going forward, all seem to have held to first service tho

jaymla627

Mooooo wrote: »

Have 3 milking here, first calvers solids ok but volume there particularly with one. Size may be the thing tho weighed last month from 538 to 568 kgs. Will have to see how they do going forward, all seem to have held to first service tho

I’d reckon the biggest maidens here are touching 480kgs their going to be monsters of cows , wouldn’t be a issue here once they can do 650kgs ms plus /9000 liters, stock bull i used was a Austrian import with a serious volume for milk, he was 990kgs weight when sold at mart last year....

older by the day

jaymla627 wrote: »

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

People have dabbled. I have a lot of montbeliarde crosses here. The marts in spring don't want to pay much extra as calves and some can need help calving. Hard to beat the middle of the road hol-fresian. And clean up with the Angus. Cow will be up and back in calf soon again. (Hopefully). That's my 2p worth

Panch18

older by the day wrote: »

People have dabbled. I have a lot of montbeliarde crosses here. The marts in spring don't want to pay much extra as calves and some can need help calving. Hard to beat the middle of the road hol-fresian. And clean up with the Angus. Cow will be up and back in calf soon again. (Hopefully). That's my 2p worth

If I never see another Montbelairde again it will be too soon. The greatest ba####d things ever to come into the place. And the few we have must be 5th generation at this stage and are still bitches

Hard to beat the hol-Fr cross with Angus bull as you say

mahoney_j

Panch18 wrote: »

The problem here is that the journal and Teagasc are pushing beef down the low margin high cost as many numbers as you can route. It's amazing they want fellas to pump 2 or 3 times as much nuts into a bull for low margin than into a dairy cow who has the capacity to make much more money than any bull.

The logic of that doesn't make sense. Beef should be about low cost as possible - that's the only hope you have of making any bit of money from it

Your first paragraph sums up my feelings on tegasc and a few others ,no sense

Farney Farmer

jaymla627 wrote: »

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

What did ya serve the fleck heifers to?

mahoney_j

jaymla627 wrote: »

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

Sure that’s just too complicated grass to milk and all that !!

jaymla627

Farney Farmer wrote: »

What did ya serve the fleck heifers to?

Holstein, they’ll be getting Belgian blue as second calvers, they should be a cracking calf

jaymla627

mahoney_j wrote: »

Sure that’s just too complicated grass to milk and all that !!

Village gossip is I’m pulling the pin on the cows and going back at the sucklers, heifers beside main road lads don’t know what to be making of them haha

freedominacup

jaymla627 wrote: »

Have 20 fleck cross maidens and 20 heifer calves coming through as a experiment here, brilliant dual purpose animal just hoping they have enough milk to stack up in my system, bit of a joke the wider industry hasn’t played around with something similar, it would be a game changer calf value wise once the performance cow wise was their ,

Been there done that, have the tshirt. Won't be going back to it. Bell bottom jeans must be due a comeback too. Won't be doing that either.

visatorro

Clear tb test thanks be ta feck.

Reggie.

visatorro wrote: »

Clear tb test thanks be ta feck.

Nice

whelan2

visatorro wrote: »

Clear tb test thanks be ta feck.

Good job. How are you for feed now?

visatorro

whelan2 wrote: »

Good job. How are you for feed now?

Alright. I didn't have to feed cows silage.. Yet

If I got another month I'll get winter cows dried off. Did you source autumn calvers?

whelan2

visatorro wrote: »

Alright. I didn't have to feed cows silage.. Yet

If I got another month I'll get winter cows dried off. Did you source autumn calvers?

Didnt look for any yet tbh. Busy here with other stuff off farm. New shed going up too. Going to dry off first autumn calves in the morning hopefully

Say my name

Just had a 3 year old hol/fr bull loaded up on a lorry with charolais bullocks for the factory.
Only for the colour he matched them up perfectly.
No meal fed to this fella either only as a calf. I'll post up the results of this lad when I get them.
*charolais weren't mine.

GrasstoMilk

Say my name wrote: »

Just had a 3 year old hol/fr bull loaded up on a lorry with charolais bullocks for the factory.
Only for the colour he matched them up perfectly.

Finished breeding?.I was passing and I seen the lorry pulling into the yard

Say my name

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Finished breeding?.I was passing and I seen the lorry pulling into the yard

Yea this lad was with the cows at the start to get my replacements and then I swapped over the Angus to the cows and this lad to the heifers. He broke out a few days ago and bet up the Angus so his time was up. He was the type in the end that'd leave the cows and come up to you and wouldn't back down.

Ah I'm finished roughly altogether now. Cows seem very quite now too bar an odd one.

whelan2

Had milk tank man out again today. Disaster of a tank.

dar31

whelan2 wrote: »

Had milk tank man out again today. Disaster of a tank.

What make tank is it.
New one ?

whelan2

dar31 wrote: »

What make tank is it.
New one ?

Packo.Have it 4 years now. When I'm building my new parlour I'm just going to get a new one. Service man is out every couple of months to it.

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

Had milk tank man out again today. Disaster of a tank.

Having a few issues with ours too. Second set of temp probes gone in in the last year. New set went in at the start of the week and shes still not right, some milkings shes over cooling and freezing the milk other times shes fine. Ours in 4 years now.
Dad was talking to a friend of his during the week and packo had to replace a tank up near him.because it was giving so much bother

Mooooo

Service lads here when I was putting in mine weren't fond of packo, altho with them there was issues in terms of covering the cost of some of the repairs. Went with dairymaster here. Fine so far anyway bar having to turn it on and off again at the main switch to get the control display going, only every so often but annoying given the cost of em, isn't exactly a 200 euro laptop

Mortelaro

Kilkenny tank here
Temp probe went in it for the first time last weekend on a Saturday
Went to do evening milking and had to wait for it to be replaced and for the milk to cool properly before milking
Long Evening
No Pub

whelan2

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Having a few issues with ours too. Second set of temp probes gone in in the last year. New set went in at the start of the week and shes still not right, some milkings shes over cooling and freezing the milk other times shes fine. Ours in 4 years now.
Dad was talking to a friend of his during the week and packo had to replace a tank up near him.because it was giving so much bother

I'll be looking for a good deal on a new one tbh.

Ubbquittious

Was Packo not threatening to close down not so awful long ago? Anyon know what happened they seem to be taking people on again now

GrasstoMilk

Mortelaro wrote: »

Kilkenny tank here
Temp probe went in it for the first time last weekend on a Saturday
Went to do evening milking and had to wait for it to be replaced and for the milk to cool properly before milking
Long Evening
No Pub

Would yours not cool at all? Ours would just had to turn it off so the milk wouldn't freeze

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

I'll be looking for a good deal on a new one tbh.

Will you gone with them again even though you arent happy with the current tank?

Mortelaro

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Would yours not cool at all? Ours would just had to turn it off so the milk wouldn't freeze

It showed a temp of - 46c ie a false reading so the compressors wouldn't kick in,hence no cooling
The repair man is to come back in the coming weeks to install a bypass so the thermostat can be bypassed for manual cooling if it ever happens again

Timmaay

Mine was very slow to cool 2days ago, my service man told me to turn of the power going into it for 20sec and see if it helped, and it was back working fully then lol. He said something about the refrigerant pressure becomes equal across the system when it's turned off, I assume that's a problem specifically to darakool tanks.

whelan2

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Will you gone with them again even though you arent happy with the current tank?

Will see when the time comes but I was asking the tank man today and he said there's an odd one like mine out there

kevthegaff

When do ye pull the bull lads, starting aiing 24th of April. Considering takin them out next week, normally 1st of May. Is it too early

mahoney_j

kevthegaff wrote: »

When do ye pull the bull lads, starting aiing 24th of April. Considering takin them out next week, normally 1st of May. Is it too early

Gone from cows today started 29/4 .

GrasstoMilk

kevthegaff wrote: »

When do ye pull the bull lads, starting aiing 24th of April. Considering takin them out next week, normally 1st of May. Is it too early

I had planned to stop today but had 1 every day this week. I want to cull out a few so want a few extra

Panch18

Will leave him to the end of next week - although there is very little activity for the last week or so

The fecker is starting to chase the cows around the holding yard once a few lots have been milked, it's fair annoying and a bit dangerous trying to let him off when he's like that. Anyone else ever have a bull chase the cows around the yard? He seems to pick on 1 specific cow who is always in the last line but once he gets started theres no stopping him

Say my name

I had a bull used to pick on a red montbeliarde cow. Still bulled her though.
When they start that fashion I don't think you'll ever stop them.

Bull gone from heifers since a few days ago.
I'll leave the Angus bull with the cows for another few days yet.

whelan2

Say my name wrote: »

Just had a 3 year old hol/fr bull loaded up on a lorry with charolais bullocks for the factory.
Only for the colour he matched them up perfectly.
No meal fed to this fella either only as a calf. I'll post up the results of this lad when I get them.
*charolais weren't mine.

What is the over age bull price atm?

Say my name

whelan2 wrote: »

What is the over age bull price atm?

Don't know.

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

What is the over age bull price atm?

2.50 for a 32 month old teaser I sent 2 weeks ago. Sending the other 2 were finished

dar31

whelan2 wrote: »

What is the over age bull price atm?

Got €250 -€320 with the weight in carnew mart last week for 2 1/2 yr old fr vactomised bulls

Say my name

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

2.50 for a 32 month old teaser I sent 2 weeks ago. Sending the other 2 were finished

Seems very low.
Cull cows were making 2.95 a few weeks ago.

whelan2

Say my name wrote: »

Seems very low.
Cull cows were making 2.95 a few weeks ago.

Bull price on the floor atm

Ubbquittious

Mortelaro wrote: »

It showed a temp of - 46c ie a false reading so the compressors wouldn't kick in,hence no cooling
The repair man is to come back in the coming weeks to install a bypass so the thermostat can be bypassed for manual cooling if it ever happens again

That is probably the lowest reading it can show. Could be a loose wire where temperature sensor plugs into the board

whelan2

kevthegaff wrote: »

When do ye pull the bull lads, starting aiing 24th of April. Considering takin them out next week, normally 1st of May. Is it too early

Had to get the vet to the fr bull that I have with my heifers the other day. Think he over exerted himself so no bull with them now. I'd say they are all in calf hopefully.

Keep Sluicing

kevthegaff wrote: »

When do ye pull the bull lads, starting aiing 24th of April. Considering takin them out next week, normally 1st of May. Is it too early

A farmer i did a bit of work for in Co. Down said to he gives his bull his marching orders "the day before those orange fcckers start marching"

Mooooo

20 July, was gonna pull this weekend but had to get a new bull in 10 days and has been busy since, rebuilding numbers so can't afford to many empties

farisfat

Panch18 wrote: »

Will leave him to the end of next week - although there is very little activity for the last week or so

The fecker is starting to chase the cows around the holding yard once a few lots have been milked, it's fair annoying and a bit dangerous trying to let him off when he's like that. Anyone else ever have a bull chase the cows around the yard? He seems to pick on 1 specific cow who is always in the last line but once he gets started theres no stopping him

Its the first year hear with no stock bulls....I bought 4 yearling hex bulls in Feb and used them when I finished ai.
And I don't miss the stock bulls....rounding up cows,fighting cows back from drinkers,trying to stop cows on the road,going mental in the collecting yard,going lame,broken penis,feeding them all winter the list goes on.

JeffKenna

farisfat wrote: »

Panch18 wrote: »

Will leave him to the end of next week - although there is very little activity for the last week or so

The fecker is starting to chase the cows around the holding yard once a few lots have been milked, it's fair annoying and a bit dangerous trying to let him off when he's like that. Anyone else ever have a bull chase the cows around the yard? He seems to pick on 1 specific cow who is always in the last line but once he gets started theres no stopping him

Its the first year hear with no stock bulls....I bought 4 yearling hex bulls in Feb and used them when I finished ai.
And I don't miss the stock bulls....rounding up cows,fighting cows back from drinkers,trying to stop cows on the road,going mental in the collecting yard,going lame,broken penis,feeding them all winter the list goes on.

I never had a bull with a broken penis.. Poor guy!