Dairy Chitchat 3

Gawddawggonnit

Cows in by night since Monday.
If we’d time we’d irrigate the grass...

Lads planting last night had the wipers going on the tractors from the dust.
Dry here now.

Keep Sluicing

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Tiny.
Mostly cereal acres.
Doesn’t matter about stocking rates because nitrates are calculated from the soil sample analysis and total fym/litter/slurry used. Samples of which are also analyzed.
Those soil samples are taken to 90cm deep. We also do a lot of straw-for-muck swaps with a lot of chicken/turkey/duck litter being imported.
Some fellas are in real bother to get rid of litter because the hectares needed are being expanded yearly.
Time is very near when money will be paid to get rid of it. As it stands there are guys that take it for free, compost it, and then sell to farmers.
Wasn’t it last year the Dutch were paying to transport and dump slurry into France? Crazy.

The company I work for, building AD plants in the UK but mainly in Northern Ireland, are flat out in France. There was a good feed in tarrif introduced last year and they are building in excess of 200 plants throughout France in the next 2 and a half years. Did you look into it on your farm? Supposed to be very good money in them in France now.

Gawddawggonnit

Keep Sluicing wrote: »

The company I work for, building AD plants in the UK but mainly in Northern Ireland, are flat out in France. There was a good feed in tarrif introduced last year and they are building in excess of 200 plants throughout France in the next 2 and a half years. Did you look into it on your farm? Supposed to be very good money in them in France now.

Myself and another guy are doing a study on setting one up between us. Quite an investment involved, but if the figures work we’ll crack on with it.

One downside is that it’ll require two full time staff, added to the fact it needs 24/7/365 attention. May as well be a herd of dairy cows.

Water John

Will we ever (ROI), probably not sadly.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Far anyone that might be interested, there's a link to the booklet from the Dairy beef open day in Johnstown Castle earlier this week.
https://twitter.com/teagasc/status/1130953790637715457?s=19

Mooooo

Wkend away on a stag in dingle, will have hopefully set up someone for every second sunday from July on. Prob as important as any other metric on the farm. May be late to the game on this regard but hope to swing things around in this regard

alps

Mooooo wrote: »

Wkend away on a stag in dingle, will have hopefully set up someone for every second sunday from July on. Prob as important as any other metric on the farm. May be late to the game on this regard but hope to swing things around in this regard

Had a French student here some time back, but her Mother milked their cows at the weekend, while her father milked the neighbours...

Then the following weekend the neighbour came and milked theirs....

Every second weekend off.

GrasstoMilk

alps wrote: »

Had a French student here some time back, but her Mother milked their cows at the weekend, while her father milked the neighbours...

Then the following weekend the neighbour came and milked theirs....

Every second weekend off.

Could you imagine that in Ireland?
'Johnny's cows are only goat's, not even doing 20l now. Sure mine are still up at 28l'

orm0nd

alps wrote: »

Had a French student here some time back, but her Mother milked their cows at the weekend, while her father milked the neighbours...

Then the following weekend the neighbour came and milked theirs....

Every second weekend off.

heard of job sharing on similar lines. I work my day job this week and you look after my farm work along with your own. next week vica versa

seemed to be very popular a few years back

perhaps Gawdd. might have more insight

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Could you imagine that in Ireland?
'Johnny's cows are only goat's, not even doing 20l now. Sure mine are still up at 28l'

Personally wouldn’t bother me and would say more of farmers involved if anything ,generally those type wouldn’t go for that type of arangement .

Wildsurfer

Thats because your cows are probably doing 30+ litres mj

mahoney_j

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Thats because your cows are probably doing 30+ litres mj

They are but I literally couldn’t care less if someone else’s cows are milking less it’s the good working arangement and time off that would interest me more

kevthegaff

Lads reseeded a field that had fodder rape on during the winter, anyway rape is all growing back. Any suggestions?

mahoney_j

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads reseeded a field that had fodder rape on during the winter, anyway rape is all growing back. Any suggestions?

Talk to Tom Starr arrabawn kev ,I’ll dm his number if u want

Say my name

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads reseeded a field that had fodder rape on during the winter, anyway rape is all growing back. Any suggestions?

Would it really be that much of a hindrance to have a little extra bit of a fodder plant?

Won't it graze and be cut or roll out of it eventually?

Wildsurfer

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads reseeded a field that had fodder rape on during the winter, anyway rape is all growing back. Any suggestions?

Would you believe we had a talk from a seed rep lately who advised adding .5kg of rape to your standard grass seed mix, and getting a grazing off the rape earlier than grass would be ready to graze thereby shortening the time your field is out of the rotation.

whelan2

Had a tbc of 72 yesterday, was going fooking typical end of month glanbia test... Tbc of 15 today the only positive of every day collection is everyday results

Mortelaro

It could easily have been a random bit of dust into the sample bottle as it was being closed

Meanwhile 96 bales on just 9 acres in one paddock here of leafy stuff,a whopping crop

freedominacup

whelan2 wrote: »

Had a tbc of 72 yesterday, was going fooking typical end of month glanbia test... Tbc of 15 today the only positive of every day collection is everyday results

Was the weather warm? Check with other farmers on that load. Happened here a few years ago. No dry ice in the sample store. A good few fellas had a big spike. Pure luck a couple of them got talking about it. They got sorted.

Dakota Dan

whelan2 wrote: »

Had a tbc of 72 yesterday, was going fooking typical end of month glanbia test... Tbc of 15 today the only positive of every day collection is everyday results

I had scc of 480k in one test up from 110k, sampled all the cows the following day none high and next test was around 137k, whatever that was about. My tbc was around 18-20k and when I switched to chlorine free detergent it made a dramatic drop to 3-4k.

GrasstoMilk

Scratched in 14.5kg of a hybrid and .7 kg of red clover mix into silage stubble today. Roll on Monday and 3 k gallons of watery slurry on Tuesday.
Calves going to be grazing this in 3 to 4 weeks, will do the rest of that block after the second cut.
Hopefully some decent rain arrives soon

yosemitesam1

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads reseeded a field that had fodder rape on during the winter, anyway rape is all growing back. Any suggestions?

Nearly all the post emergent sprays should kill it,

awaywithyou

1 man can now look after 450 cows on his own from May to Sept.... music to Glanbia/Kerry/Dairygolds etc. ears..... do these lads that are featured in these articles have anything other than fresh air between their ears?

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/are-robots-a-better-option-for-over-300-cows/

jaymla627

awaywithyou wrote: »

1 man can now look after 450 cows on his own from May to Sept.... music to Glanbia/Kerry/Dairygolds etc. ears..... do these lads that are featured in these articles have anything other than fresh air between their ears?

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/are-robots-a-better-option-for-over-300-cows/

They would need to given the running costs, north of 120k yearly to pay down service/maintain and account for extra electric costs over a normal system, on that many robots and when they get older and go out of warranty it mighten stop at 160k plus yearly....
It’s a system that needs base price over 30 cent with no dips below this our your in trouble

Injuryprone

awaywithyou wrote: »

1 man can now look after 450 cows on his own from May to Sept.... music to Glanbia/Kerry/Dairygolds etc. ears..... do these lads that are featured in these articles have anything other than fresh air between their ears?

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/are-robots-a-better-option-for-over-300-cows/

The farm manager went on holidays in the middle of June, and didn't return until mid September.....some holiday. And this at a time when that part of the country was seriously affected by the drought. I'm sorry but I take most of whats written in that article with a serious pinch of salt.

whelan2

His son would be there a lot.

Bullocks

whelan2 wrote: »

His son would be there a lot.

Do the sons work there or have they their own jobs and just help out ?

whelan2

Bullocks wrote: »

Do the sons work there or have they their own jobs and just help out ?

One is working with lely. Other lad would be at home did the green cert in Ballyhaise. I wouldn't really know that much about them only gossip lads would be talking so wouldn't believe half of it. Think there's another son too

Buford T. Justice XIX

Knocked 12% of the grazing block today for bales tomorrow. I should have cut on Friday by rights but I was surprised the cover had jumped so much in a few days. We must have hit growths in the 80s last week and back into covers of 1350 for the next few days.

A bit of rain nearly trumps fertiliser here.

einn32

Injuryprone wrote: »

The farm manager went on holidays in the middle of June, and didn't return until mid September.....some holiday. And this at a time when that part of the country was seriously affected by the drought. I'm sorry but I take most of whats written in that article with a serious pinch of salt.

I'd love to see this place in operation. 75 cows per robot doing 2.2 milkings a day is good going on an outdoor system. Six robots to what sounds like one labour unit mostly is savage going!

GrasstoMilk

einn32 wrote: »

I'd love to see this place in operation. 75 cows per robot doing 2.2 milkings a day is good going on an outdoor system. Six robots to what sounds like one labour unit mostly is savage going!

Could be up to 10 ppl there in spring from what I've seen online - snapchat takeovers, Twitter etc.
Definitely nothing simple about it. 450 cows and 200 heifers synced and bred all the one day would be manic come calving even with only a 65% conception rate.
It's a completely different way of doing things and not my cup of tea but if it works it works.

einn32

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Could be up to 10 ppl there in spring from what I've seen online - snapchat takeovers, Twitter etc.
Definitely nothing simple about it. 450 cows and 200 heifers synced and bred all the one day would be manic come calving even with only a 65% conception rate.
It's a completely different way of doing things and not my cup of tea but if it works it works.

Sounds fun alright but I'd still like to see how they maintain 6 robots with one person during the milking season.

Gawddawggonnit

Major swing to Green Politics across Europe....like we haven’t enough shyte to be doing already.
Kiss goodbye to derogations etc, say hello to increased environmental controls etc.
Farming is in for a real battering now. The Commission will have a bunch of nodding heads to support all new legislation. Lovely.

GrasstoMilk

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Major swing to Green Politics across Europe....like we haven’t enough shyte to be doing already.
Kiss goodbye to derogations etc, say hello to increased environmental controls etc.
Farming is in for a real battering now. The Commission will have a bunch of nodding heads to support all new legislation. Lovely.

They'll have to come up with a pretty good alternative to the 900 odd million dero farms are contributing to exports in Ireland alone firstly!

jaymla627

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

They'll have to come up with a pretty good alternative to the 900 odd million dero farms are contributing to exports in Ireland alone firstly!

Irish government would be powerless to stop any measures handed down by the E.U going forward, any derogation fam at the minute would be wise to sell their entitlements and just go off the gird, submit no bps application/tams and don’t even give the pricks any idea of what area your actually farming, it’s gone to the stage now the next wave of derogation rules will leave it that farming with no sfp will be a lot easier then having to rent half the parish to keep your nitrates right

yosemitesam1

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

They'll have to come up with a pretty good alternative to the 900 odd million dero farms are contributing to exports in Ireland alone firstly!

900 million is spin. Derogation probably makes up about 100 million of that, and a portion of that could be maintained by exporting slurry.

Mooooo

The it's the lads near the 170 and not in dero that will be pulled in. That's where the new derogation limit point of 130 will come into play. Water quality is what will be used as the measure so yards etc will be the main targets

jaymla627

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

900 million is spin. Derogation probably makes up about 100 million of that, and a portion of that could be maintained by exporting slurry.

Seen it mentioned that export of slurry will be banned so where your meant to go after that is simply cut stocking rate

GrasstoMilk

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

900 million is spin. Derogation probably makes up about 100 million of that, and a portion of that could be maintained by exporting slurry.

How is it spin?
That is an actual figure generated by the IFA, average derogation farm is near 65ha I think.
6,821 dero farms in 2018, you're saying they only contributed €14,511 each in exports?
The bigger problem is going to be the guys stocked under 170, they are going to face the same regs as guys in derogation.

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How is it spin?
That is an actual figure generated by the IFA, average derogation farm is near 65ha I think.
6,821 dero farms in 2018, you're saying they only contributed €14,511 each in exports?
The bigger problem is going to be the guys stocked under 170, they are going to face the same regs as guys in derogation.

It’s the ifa in fairness .....your right re guys sub 170 they will be pulled into dero

GrasstoMilk

This is what the dept are classing as extensive and intensive.
Unfortunately for us we are an exporting nation, if dero goes it's going to hit us harder than the rest of Europe who have big car industry or tourism/holidays

mahoney_j

jaymla627 wrote: »

Seen it mentioned that export of slurry will be banned so where your meant to go after that is simply cut stocking rate

Won’t happen as long as slurry is actually exported ......lots of tillage farmers out there who would benefit from organic dung and liquid slurry ,**** for straw ????

GrasstoMilk

mahoney_j wrote: »

It’s the ifa in fairness .....your right re guys sub 170 they will be pulled into dero

Say what you will about ifa but I dont see anyone else coming to fight our corner.
I'm guessing you're in dero? We are here and alot if farmers I know are, the land wouldnt come available in the morning if we all had to stock below 170.
Itll affect tillage farmers big time with increased competition for land, never mind in between dairy and dry stock farmers.

yosemitesam1

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How is it spin?
That is an actual figure generated by the IFA, average derogation farm is near 65ha I think.
6,821 dero farms in 2018, you're saying they only contributed €14,511 each in exports?
The bigger problem is going to be the guys stocked under 170, they are going to face the same regs as guys in derogation.

Is the 900 million the total produced by all the cows on derogation farms or only by the cows that push them over the 170 mark?

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Say what you will about ifa but I dont see anyone else coming to fight our corner.
I'm guessing you're in dero? We are here and alot if farmers I know are, the land wouldnt come available in the morning if we all had to stock below 170.
Itll affect tillage farmers big time with increased competition for land, never mind in between dairy and dry stock farmers.

Talk is cheap tho climate change and increased environmental regulations are here and going to get worse ,imagine if we had a Dutch style scenario ????we should all fight for a workable agri solution but if water quality stays deteriorating atcrate it is were in trouble ,it’s not all ags fault either too .lots of dairy (and other)farmers paying over and above what land is worth to lease in praticular just to carry more cows ,and not make more money

GrasstoMilk

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

Is the 900 million the total produced by all the cows on derogation farms or only by the cows that push them over the 170 mark?

Total Produced on all dero farms be they beef or dairy from what I understood

GrasstoMilk

mahoney_j wrote: »

Talk is cheap tho climate change and increased environmental regulations are here and going to get worse ,imagine if we had a Dutch style scenario ????we should all fight for a workable agri solution but if water quality stays deteriorating atcrate it is were in trouble ,it’s not all ags fault either too .lots of dairy (and other)farmers paying over and above what land is worth to lease in praticular just to carry more cows ,and not make more money

According to Thomas Ryan of IFA who is doing all the work in the background on this nitrates review, there is 80 towns across the country pumping raw sewage into rivers.
How come we hear very little about that? Trying to push Blame onto farmers perhaps?

Buford T. Justice XIX

mahoney_j wrote: »

Talk is cheap tho climate change and increased environmental regulations are here and going to get worse ,imagine if we had a Dutch style scenario ????we should all fight for a workable agri solution but if water quality stays deteriorating atcrate it is were in trouble ,it’s not all ags fault either too .lots of dairy (and other)farmers paying over and above what land is worth to lease in praticular just to carry more cows ,and not make more money

^^^^

It makes no odds whatsoever, j, when Urban Ireland flush their toilets, anything there magically turns into sunshine and butterflys.

They don't know or care to find out that a huge percentage of it ends up being pumped straight out to sea in Dublin or released in a controlled manner in local plants where it's classified as Agri pollution because only agriculture pollutes, don't ya know:rolleyes:

alps

jaymla627 wrote: »

Seen it mentioned that export of slurry will be banned so where your meant to go after that is simply cut stocking rate

Baseless pub talk....

yosemitesam1

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Total Produced on all dero farms be they beef or dairy from what I understood

That is what I was calling spin. Derogation isn't worth 900 million, it's a much smaller number but they targeted the more impressive headline.

Fighting a potentially changing tide might not be wise here and could do more harm than good