Dairy Chitchat 3

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

Left in my profit monitor figures to teagasc there, advisor said I'm the only one so far with 0 purchased forage figure for 2018

Spent 8c/l on purchased feed and fodder here, against about 3c/l in a normal year.

Mooooo

Timmaay wrote: »

Spent 8c/l on purchased feed and fodder here, against about 3c/l in a normal year.

Including meal? Closer to 11c here. Fed just over 2tn on ration and bought maize. Sold a share of bales in the spring alright tho
Edit to add litres here took a dip due to tb. The spring hit was as bad as the summer in curtailing output i reckon, cow's didn't get motoring as well as I liked

Timmaay

Mooooo wrote: »

Including meal? Closer to 11c here. Fed just over 2tn on ration and bought maize. Sold a share of bales in the spring alright tho
Edit to add litres here took a dip due to tb. The spring hit was as bad as the summer in curtailing output i reckon, cow's didn't get motoring as well as I liked

Sorry just double checking, 8c in just feed, another 1.4c in purchased fodder so 9.4c/l. I certainly don't chase litres here tho, cows deliver around 5300l/yr. That 1.4c excludes the maize I grew myself, (another 1.1c/l), however I count that as winter fodder because I basically feed it instead of grass silage.

freedominacup

Mooooo wrote: »

Including meal? Closer to 11c here. Fed just over 2tn on ration and bought maize. Sold a share of bales in the spring alright tho
Edit to add litres here took a dip due to tb. The spring hit was as bad as the summer in curtailing output i reckon, cow's didn't get motoring as well as I liked

Around 3c/l on purchased forage here incl brewers. Stocked close to 3lu/ha over every ha. Sold 17,000l/ha over every ha. So don't think it's too high in that scenario. Sr going up by close to .5/ha this year unless we get to rent a bit of ground. Hopefully purchased feed won't increase by much per litre. Should hit 20,000l/ha this year if we don't get more ground.

Gawddawggonnit

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Iirc, 12 tonnes grown, utilised was 8.5t.


Yara still sponsoring.


And hats still free:)

How badly were you affected by drought?

How did the IGA address the drought issues, or did they treat it as a one off anomaly?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

How badly were you affected by drought?

How did the IGA address the drought issues, or did they treat it as a one off anomaly?

First cut was down 40% but we bought in 25 acres of first cut early on. Second cut was bigger than first on 20 acres less. Sold off poorer stock and should be OK for feed now. Locked up with TB as well so that complicates things a bit as regards selling bull calves, we may just let them off to a feedlot for whatever we can get, we'll decide after the next TB test



Atm, it's looking like a one off anomaly and Greenfields are treating it as such. They will be closing more ground earlier and splitting first cut and more second cut as well. And a slight reduction in SR as well, I think?

Gawddawggonnit

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

First cut was down 40% but we bought in 25 acres of first cut early on. Second cut was bigger than first on 20 acres less. Sold off poorer stock and should be OK for feed now. Locked up with TB as well so that complicates things a bit as regards selling bull calves, we may just let them off to a feedlot for whatever we can get, we'll decide after the next TB test



Atm, it's looking like a one off anomaly and Greenfields are treating it as such. They will be closing more ground earlier and splitting first cut and more second cut as well. And a slight reduction in SR as well, I think?

You took fairly decisive action Chief.
How many tDm of grass would you grow in an ‘average’ year?

Taking 2018 as a once off anomaly may not be prudent.
The best lessons I’ve learned are from those anomalies... one came in the door the day before yesterday. I consider my main job to be containing risk, but you can *never* cover all bases...

jaymla627

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

You took fairly decisive action Chief.
How many tDm of grass would you grow in an ‘average’ year?

Taking 2018 as a once off anomaly may not be prudent.
The best lessons I’ve learned are from those anomalies... one came in the door the day before yesterday. I consider my main job to be containing risk, but you can *never* cover all bases...

Always used to get my eyes opened regularly in Australia when you’d getting chatting farmers about their farming careers and they’d get taking about droughts/wild-fires etc and their effects, Irish farmers have lived a pretty sheltered existence for a good part of the past 30 years weatherwise, if these anomalies become common place it would sort the wheat from the chaff

Gawddawggonnit

jaymla627 wrote: »

Always used to get my eyes opened regularly in Australia when you’d getting chatting farmers about their farming careers and they’d get taking about droughts/wild-fires etc and their effects, Irish farmers have lived a pretty sheltered existence for a good part of the past 30 years weatherwise, if these anomalies become common place it would sort the wheat from the chaff

They do embellish a little though....:)

Yes, the whole of Europe wouldn’t understand what hardships the Antipodes often have to endure. In fairness they’re a different breed, and need to be. Then again, man is a product of his environment...

Timmaay

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Atm, it's looking like a one off anomaly and Greenfields are treating it as such. They will be closing more ground earlier and splitting first cut and more second cut as well. And a slight reduction in SR as well, I think?

The figures I've seen suggested that the areas heavily effected were back around 3 or 4 tons (so 8 instead of 12). I don't measure grass often enough here to know what we were back here, however I do need to work backwards and see how many tons extra did we buy in against other yrs.

I'd tend to agree that I don't like to be fully complacent that last yr was a freak one in 40 yr weather event, the simple fact is that we here in Ireland are on the absolute knife edge in terms of our climate, and the gulf stream is so critical to everything. I also think that in general dairying and post quotas has been very good to us here in Ireland, rather than just carry on as per usual I think it would be a cheap enough insurance to have them 2 months min buffer feed carried over every winter.

And on the greenfield, this has been the poorest year so far of the whole project I think, yes they survived the year OK, but they blew through absolutely every penny and then some of their savings from the last number of yrs, buying in very expensive silage and feed. They were actually hit particularly bad by the drought because of the low organic matter of an ex tillage farm in grassland. I think they should be doubling efforts to carry over more feed, and as for more 2nd cut??, no I'm sorry, if a year of a drought teaches you anything it's that 2nd cut is largely a waste of nitrogen and only locks up ground that could well be needed for grazing instead.

Mooooo

Tbh, it's heavy rainfall which has had the greatest effect over the last number of years in our place anyway so that's the bigger risk imo. Different types of grasses and clovers that survive drought better tend not to last when trying to manage to graze in wet conditions

Buford T. Justice XIX

Timmaay wrote: »

The figures I've seen suggested that the areas heavily effected were back around 3 or 4 tons (so 8 instead of 12). I don't measure grass often enough here to know what we were back here, however I do need to work backwards and see how many tons extra did we buy in against other yrs.

I'd tend to agree that I don't like to be fully complacent that last yr was a freak one in 40 yr weather event, the simple fact is that we here in Ireland are on the absolute knife edge in terms of our climate, and the gulf stream is so critical to everything. I also think that in general dairying and post quotas has been very good to us here in Ireland, rather than just carry on as per usual I think it would be a cheap enough insurance to have them 2 months min buffer feed carried over every winter.

And on the greenfield, this has been the poorest year so far of the whole project I think, yes they survived the year OK, but they blew through absolutely every penny and then some of their savings from the last number of yrs, buying in very expensive silage and feed. They were actually hit particularly bad by the drought because of the low organic matter of an ex tillage farm in grassland. I think they should be doubling efforts to carry over more feed, and as for more 2nd cut??, no I'm sorry, if a year of a drought teaches you anything it's that 2nd cut is largely a waste of nitrogen and only locks up ground that could well be needed for grazing instead.

David Fogerty was saying they will be looking at a bigger reserve alright.

Tbh, it's probably something we all should do or at least start moving in that direction.

Timmaay

Mooooo wrote: »

Tbh, it's heavy rainfall which has had the greatest effect over the last number of years in our place anyway so that's the bigger risk imo. Different types of grasses and clovers that survive drought better tend not to last when trying to manage to graze in wet conditions

Agreed here, I'd have no problem dealing with a year like last April until now if I knew it was definitely coming, the financial cost was the only major suffering, against unhappy stock, overcrowded sheds, slurry problems, ploughed up fields when its too wet. However we just don't know from one month to the next what's in store, hence why I plan on keeping over more fodder in times of plentiful and cheap supply.

GrasstoMilk

Timmaay wrote: »

The figures I've seen suggested that the areas heavily effected were back around 3 or 4 tons (so 8 instead of 12). I don't measure grass often enough here to know what we were back here, however I do need to work backwards and see how many tons extra did we buy in against other yrs.

I'd tend to agree that I don't like to be fully complacent that last yr was a freak one in 40 yr weather event, the simple fact is that we here in Ireland are on the absolute knife edge in terms of our climate, and the gulf stream is so critical to everything. I also think that in general dairying and post quotas has been very good to us here in Ireland, rather than just carry on as per usual I think it would be a cheap enough insurance to have them 2 months min buffer feed carried over every winter.

And on the greenfield, this has been the poorest year so far of the whole project I think, yes they survived the year OK, but they blew through absolutely every penny and then some of their savings from the last number of yrs, buying in very expensive silage and feed. They were actually hit particularly bad by the drought because of the low organic matter of an ex tillage farm in grassland. I think they should be doubling efforts to carry over more feed, and as for more 2nd cut??, no I'm sorry, if a year of a drought teaches you anything it's that 2nd cut is largely a waste of nitrogen and only locks up ground that could well be needed for grazing instead.

I know plenty who are back 1/3 in grass production.
We're one of them. From 16t to 9t. Disaster year.

As for second cut, definitely not a waste here any way. We can grow a very decent 2nd cut that wouldn't be too far behind 1st cut. We'll have to work hard to get silage supplies back to where I want them. But we'll do it.
Currently working on buying grass from 2 farmers. It's there we just need to agree on a price

Mortelaro

The lesson I've learned from 2018 is not to be afraid to pit silage in early october,it turned out super
There was after grass and regrowth from grazing the after grass
Its been a non text book year
No new news on the cold weather yet,I'll give thoughts next week but it's still a very real risk as soon as late next weekend
The buckled weakened jet stream last year also was the main culprit for our drought
So it can't be ruled out either for a repeat
Prudent to plan but lots of good experience with catch crops this year including rape gives us all options if necessary

jaymla627

Timmaay wrote: »

The figures I've seen suggested that the areas heavily effected were back around 3 or 4 tons (so 8 instead of 12). I don't measure grass often enough here to know what we were back here, however I do need to work backwards and see how many tons extra did we buy in against other yrs.

I'd tend to agree that I don't like to be fully complacent that last yr was a freak one in 40 yr weather event, the simple fact is that we here in Ireland are on the absolute knife edge in terms of our climate, and the gulf stream is so critical to everything. I also think that in general dairying and post quotas has been very good to us here in Ireland, rather than just carry on as per usual I think it would be a cheap enough insurance to have them 2 months min buffer feed carried over every winter.

And on the greenfield, this has been the poorest year so far of the whole project I think, yes they survived the year OK, but they blew through absolutely every penny and then some of their savings from the last number of yrs, buying in very expensive silage and feed. They were actually hit particularly bad by the drought because of the low organic matter of an ex tillage farm in grassland. I think they should be doubling efforts to carry over more feed, and as for more 2nd cut??, no I'm sorry, if a year of a drought teaches you anything it's that 2nd cut is largely a waste of nitrogen and only locks up ground that could well be needed for grazing instead.

If you do the maths on greenfields the cash reserve has vanished to be replaced by a 50k plus overdraft, if it was a commercial farm at the minute standalone that didn’t have “daddy” aka glanbia/teagasc to sub it till the April/may cheques start rolling in, it would probably be seen as unbackable by the bank

Mortelaro

jaymla627 wrote: »

If you do the maths on greenfields the cash reserve has vanished to be replaced by a 50k plus overdraft, if it was a commercial farm at the minute standalone that didn’t have “daddy” aka glanbia/teagasc to sub it till the April/may cheques start rolling in, it would probably be seen as umbackable by the bank

Doesnt AIB have a share in that joint venture too?

atlantic mist

didnt think aib had anything to do with it other than finance

main shareholders are Glanbia, irish farmers journal and land owner - all equal partners.

glanbia wanted to show how to run a farm to fit their costing system, the 5 freedoms for animals comes to mind ever time i think of greenfield wonder how many they failed last year, theyd be considered a bad farmer (poor facilities, in adequate feed) if it was in one of our set ups....but its ok cause they are for demonstration/training

grandfather makes out you will see weather events like last year three times in your life if you live long enough (hes over the 100 mark)

Timmaay

40 grand I sunk into that yard last yr putting in a slurry tank etc. But 3 ring feeders out in the wettest part of that paddock, better than any shed!

Reggie.

Timmaay wrote: »

40 grand I sunk into that yard last yr putting in a slurry tank etc. But 3 ring feeders out in the wettest part of that paddock, better than any shed!

Look at the dini sticking her nose out

Buford T. Justice XIX

Just got the grading terms for the coming year for Kerry.



There is a change to SCC levels, anything over 300k will be now penalised rather than 400k.


There is a subsidy for those milk recording of 2euro a cow for milk recording with a minimum of 4 tests to be completed for the payment to be paid.


And there is a 50euro subsidy towards the cost of the Herd Health programme for those participating.

jaymla627

atlantic mist wrote: »

didnt think aib had anything to do with it other than finance

main shareholders are Glanbia, irish farmers journal and land owner - all equal partners.

glanbia wanted to show how to run a farm to fit their costing system, the 5 freedoms for animals comes to mind ever time i think of greenfield wonder how many they failed last year, theyd be considered a bad farmer (poor facilities, in adequate feed) if it was in one of our set ups....but its ok cause they are for demonstration/training

grandfather makes out you will see weather events like last year three times in your life if you live long enough (hes over the 100 mark)

The 500 kgs of dm target (meal/silage) per cow and the rest grass is pretty out their been lauded by the nutty professor, but that’s what the more learned Agri heads are thinking is the way to go it’s a great benchmark if you inherit a couple of 100 acres of nice free draining land but in any other scenario it’s unworkable.....
100 hectare turn key farm in New Zealand will probably come to 5 million dollars at 3% interest capitial/interest year payments would be circa 350k yearly, our per cow 3.50kgs/ms at a stocking rate of 2.5 ha and 400kgs ms produced per cow but he reckons 3.35kgs/ms total is the cost of production in his perfect system, it’s at best questionable his views

Panch18

atlantic mist wrote: »

didnt think aib had anything to do with it other than finance

main shareholders are Glanbia, irish farmers journal and land owner - all equal partners.

glanbia wanted to show how to run a farm to fit their costing system, the 5 freedoms for animals comes to mind ever time i think of greenfield wonder how many they failed last year, theyd be considered a bad farmer (poor facilities, in adequate feed) if it was in one of our set ups....but its ok cause they are for demonstration/training

grandfather makes out you will see weather events like last year three times in your life if you live long enough (hes over the 100 mark)

He’s a great age, fair dues to him

Farney Farmer

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

I know plenty who are back 1/3 in grass production.
We're one of them. From 16t to 9t. Disaster year.

As for second cut, definitely not a waste here any way. We can grow a very decent 2nd cut that wouldn't be too far behind 1st cut. We'll have to work hard to get silage supplies back to where I want them. But we'll do it.
Currently working on buying grass from 2 farmers. It's there we just need to agree on a price

I have a neighbor offering me 15 acres of grass this year. I’ll spread slurry and sow fertilizer on it and take 1 cut of it in first week of June hopefully. Anybody got any idea what a fair price would be?

jaymla627

Farney Farmer wrote: »

I have a neighbor offering me 15 acres of grass this year. I’ll spread slurry and sow fertilizer on it and take 1 cut of it in first week of June hopefully. Anybody got any idea what a fair price would be?

100 euro a acre if ground is in good nick, would be the going rate, and fair on both sides

Farney Farmer

jaymla627 wrote: »

100 euro a acre if ground is in good nick, would be the going rate, and fair on both sides

Ground is in good nick. Was reseeded about 3 or 4 years ago. Thanks.

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

Your the talk of the parish this morning I'm sure, Who does she think she is with her cows out the start of Jan, they'll all die/plough up the place etc ha

I'm away. I got a phone call today from a dairy farmer up the road on a very dry farm and gone spring calving. He rang me to say that he saw my cows out and that's the first time ever I had my cows out before him...

MF290

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Anyone any experience of Q Fever?

Subclinical in cattle but can cause disease in humans, Did you have a case of it?

Mortelaro

Milking Cows out by night for 15 nights now
Very good covers in parts I won't get grazed at all unfortunately if the weather turns quite to very cold the week after next,Latest on that is it still looks very very likely with from what are called anomaly charts a lot of northeasterlies at times well into February where the source air is as low as -40c,now it ain't going to be the colour of that on reaching us if it does but it'll be near freezing and no growth, and anything falling out of the sky with that source air will be wintry after a few days of it,whats my confidence on this? Still Quite high unfortunately ,let's see,we'll know more in a week?

farisfat

Mortelaro wrote: »

Milking Cows out by night for 15 nights now
Very good covers in parts I won't get grazed at all unfortunately if the weather turns quite to very cold the week after next,Latest on that is it still looks very very likely with from what are called anomaly charts a lot of northeasterlies at times well into February where the source air is as low as -40c,now it ain't going to be the colour of that on reaching us if it does but it'll be near freezing and no growth, and anything falling out of the sky with that source air will be wintry after a few days of it,whats my confidence on this? Still Quite high unfortunately ,let's see,we'll know more in a week?

You'll be very disappointed if we're not snowed in next week.

straight

I was thinking of buying a rubber tyre digger for a few jobs around the farm. I'm just wondering are they troublesome and expensive to service. Thinking of a 3cx, nh95 or mf 860.

Reggie.

straight wrote: »

I was thinking of buying a rubber tyre digger for a few jobs around the farm. I'm just wondering are they troublesome and expensive to service. Thinking of a 3cx, nh95 or mf 860.

Chat to Whelan2

Mortelaro

farisfat wrote: »

You'll be very disappointed if we're not snowed in next week.

Relieved I'd say because I'm not expecting that
Its the week after ,as I said in my post and previous ones,actually,the last week of January onwards that the real risk is and it is real,but no specifics possible on things like snow as models aren't great at handling those unless inside 5 or 6 days but they are able to tell us the direction of travel and it's cold,probably very cold if you follow?
Anyhow I'm tired talking about it,just making aware
I'm not going to say anymore untill maybe this day week
Tuesday wenesday looks like the last day or night out for a while for the cows here anyway as a probable wet day wenesday and Friday and temperatures 5 to 8c by then equals not nice conditions
Plus at this time of the year a few wet days will make land greasy again,never mind what might come the following weeks
Point laboured,I'll shut up now and hope for the best

alps

Would anyone know a place in Cork/Munster that would service a diesel space heater? The place I bought it back in 2010 don't have a reccomendation. Think it might be prudent to have it in working order.

mengele

straight wrote: »

I was thinking of buying a rubber tyre digger for a few jobs around the farm. I'm just wondering are they troublesome and expensive to service. Thinking of a 3cx, nh95 or mf 860.

860 would be most suited to the farmer is say as the larger wheels for pushing.

whelan2

Reggie. wrote: »

Chat to Whelan2

Have a jcb 3cx over 10 years now. Happy out with it. It's 1998. Back arm handy to have too. Used for feeding mainly and goes to out farm to feed out 2 or 3 times a week with a bale of silage on front of it. Grand on the road.

freedominacup

alps wrote: »

Would anyone know a place in Cork/Munster that would service a diesel space heater? The place I bought it back in 2010 don't have a reccomendation. Think it might be prudent to have it in working order.

Hire shop. They'll be well used to servicing them. When you get it back put it where it will be wanted. They don't like to be started up to soon after being moved. The injectors have no tolerance for any contamination.

oxjkqg

mengele wrote: »

860 would be most suited to the farmer is say as the larger wheels for pushing.

Have an 860 here.
Helpless enough in the field at times but grand in dry weather.
Grand for feeding if ur yard space is relatively comfortable.
The back actor is handy at times for certain things and for very akward lifts at times.
Try and get something relatively fresh as it will break your heart with burst hoses otherwise.
Also the correct footwear is a must, wheel diggers are heavy and yard work is severe on rubber.
Not the same as a dedicated loader/digger but handy all the same.

Mooooo

First day I left the heater on in the loader this winter I'd say. Damp day here this evening. Signed up to a calf health thing today with the vets, three visits, Feb, April and sep/Oct. Bloods taken and weighing heifer calves. Help keep rearing on track hopefully

whelan2

Had a new lad started work for me this morning. We changed the liners and got a good bit done. Both happy I think

MickeyShtyles

whelan2 wrote: »

Had a new lad started work for me this morning. We changed the liners and got a good bit done. Both happy I think

Good stuff, tis hard get good staff!

freedominacup

MickeyShtyles wrote: »

Good stuff, tis hard get good staff!

Esp for guys offering 22k annual salary for assistant farm managers.

Mooooo

freedominacup wrote: »

Esp for guys offering 22k annual salary for assistant farm managers.

Full time work? Not a hope

MickeyShtyles

freedominacup wrote: »

Esp for guys offering 22k annual salary for assistant farm managers.

Ye’d want a fair few perks ontop of that!!

freedominacup

Mooooo wrote: »

Full time work? Not a hope

Two ads in the comic last week according to the oul boy. He was horrified and wouldn't be a great fella to value staff.

jaymla627

freedominacup wrote: »

Two ads in the comic last week according to the oul boy. He was horrified and wouldn't be a great fella to value staff.

The lads with pull are getting staff for the above rates with the professional farm managers course scheme

whelan2

I just have this lad 3 mornings a week. He gets €15 / hour. I think that's fair enough

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

I just have this lad 3 mornings a week. He gets €15 / hour. I think that's fair enough

15€ before or after tax

whelan2

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

15€ before or after tax

He has his own business and looks after his own tax. No milking involved

Keep Sluicing

freedominacup wrote: »

Esp for guys offering 22k annual salary for assistant farm managers.

I was in with a farmer 15 mins from Belfast today. He was saying that he just cant find lads to work on the farm. He cant even find tractor drivers for £12/hr. I said it getting that way down in west cork too.
He responded "we cant even find dickheads" 😂