Dairy Chitchat 3

Timmaay

I've hired a digger here for the week to get several small jobs done. The 19yr chap I have doing relief milking was around yday and jumped up on the digger for afew mins yday, he was tidy enough on it (has a small bit of experience on them), said he'd come back today if I wanted him to do more on it, sure enough he rocked up at 6.45am and has done a 12hr shift on it now and still going! Can't beat youth and enthusiasm!

Buford T. Justice XIX

wrangler wrote: »

Yes, conventional straw is allowed

For bedding only, only organic straw to be used for feeding unless a derogation is granted, iirc.

Though how you stop cattle eating the normal straw has yet to be explained to me?

kevthegaff

I have reseeded ground bad with docks, I sprayed eagle on it but they don't seem to be dying?

visatorro

Timmaay wrote: »

I've hired a digger here for the week to get several small jobs done. The 19yr chap I have doing relief milking was around yday and jumped up on the digger for afew mins yday, he was tidy enough on it (has a small bit of experience on them), said he'd come back today if I wanted him to do more on it, sure enough he rocked up at 6.45am and has done a 12hr shift on it now and still going! Can't beat youth and enthusiasm!

He'll learn!

GrasstoMilk

kevthegaff wrote: »

I have reseeded ground bad with docks, I sprayed eagle on it but they don't seem to be dying?

How long is it reseeded? If the clover isn't showing yet you can use the likes of pastor on it I think

Mooooo

kevthegaff wrote: »

I have reseeded ground bad with docks, I sprayed eagle on it but they don't seem to be dying?

The clover safe sprays aren't much good I'm afraid

kevthegaff

Mooooo wrote: »

kevthegaff wrote: »

I have reseeded ground bad with docks, I sprayed eagle on it but they don't seem to be dying?

The clover safe sprays aren't much good I'm afraid

Waste of money

kevthegaff

Anyone try that bolus treatment form mayo health care for high scc. Was gona try a few

Timmaay

Mooooo wrote: »

The clover safe sprays aren't much good I'm afraid

Had 2cans of Eagle in the shed here afew yrs, so used it for docks here on 2 paddocks with clover, both very very slow to work on, one of them with bigger docks it didn't do nearly a good enough job, the other I was actually happy enough with the kill. The only way with docks though is to mow them and then spray the regrow when they are still small.

ted_182

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Any issue rolling emerging grass (newly seeded) with a ring roller. A lot of ground to cover so a 9m ring roller would be preferable to a 3m flat one?

Zero issue with flat roller anyway have done it myself, cant comment on ring roller as iv never used one

kevthegaff

Timmaay wrote: »

Mooooo wrote: »

The clover safe sprays aren't much good I'm afraid

Had 2cans of Eagle in the shed here afew yrs, so used it for docks here on 2 paddocks with clover, both very very slow to work on, one of them with bigger docks it didn't do nearly a good enough job, the other I was actually happy enough with the kill. The only way with docks though is to mow them and then spray the regrow when they are still small.

Ya ill give it the week and hit it with forefront if they don't die

ted_182

Ya ill give it the week and hit it with forefront if they don't die[/quote]

Cant used forefront on reseeds kev, something like pastor trio or undersown would be the trick

Castlekeeper

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Are the livestock figures correct in that article?

12 1-2yo animals for 94 cows seems a good bit on the low side, especially as there were 36 0-1yos?

64 cows, averaging 5+ lactations
Ps plus he keeps some beef calves

Castlekeeper

Timmaay wrote: »

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/dairy-focus-farming-outside-of-the-norm-in-co-limerick/

Interesting read! Trying not to focus on the negatives (because clearly he has made it work for his given situation), but I'm working out that that farm output is something like 276kgms/ha across the whole farm (taking them solids and 3kl/cow in his normal Yr). What's the average on a conventional dairyfarm? I'm at something like 850kg/ha on the whole farm here (with say 0.6ton/cow bought in nuts), and I certainly don't push it to its limit. Moving forward with possible increased nitrates/artificial N constraints we do all need to take lessons from the likes of those farms, but with them sums full blown organic will absolutely decimate your farm output, at 42c/l for the organic milk I definitely wouldnt consider it a good enough premium over conventional production.

10 c/l above conventional doubles profits for most, that's the same money for half the cows plus organic subsidy. Add in a fraction of the feed, fertility, animal health and labour costs plus life bakance and I can see how it works for him.

Castlekeeper

Mortelaro wrote: »

500 gallons of milk last year per cow
I know there was a drought and a snow storm but that's 18th century levels hand milked into a bucket
But even 650 being normal,st 42cpl,lifestyle would be spartan in my opinion

63.2c/l

There are organic dary farms doing 9000l in this country on 1.5t meal, and doing 6000 on 0.7t, so not too much different from conventional/industrial.

They can change from organic anytime they want.

orm0nd

kevthegaff wrote: »

Anyone try that bolus treatment form mayo health care for high scc. Was gona try a few

have you priced them Kev? had some scc issues last couple of weeks but i think it's settling down

kevthegaff

orm0nd wrote: »

kevthegaff wrote: »

Anyone try that bolus treatment form mayo health care for high scc. Was gona try a few

have you priced them Kev? had some scc issues last couple of weeks but i think it's settling down

30 euro a cow, I bolus ed a bunch yesterday and will sample later in week I'll post results

freedominacup

Timmaay wrote: »

I've hired a digger here for the week to get several small jobs done. The 19yr chap I have doing relief milking was around yday and jumped up on the digger for afew mins yday, he was tidy enough on it (has a small bit of experience on them), said he'd come back today if I wanted him to do more on it, sure enough he rocked up at 6.45am and has done a 12hr shift on it now and still going! Can't beat youth and enthusiasm!

A week is 40 hours. After that you could well be paying extra. Just keep that in mind.

whelan2

kevthegaff wrote: »

30 euro a cow, I bolus ed a bunch yesterday and will sample later in week I'll post results

Did you do a sensitivity test. I never used the bolus. Is your scc high? Always found culling the real high scc cows did the job to lower it

kevthegaff

whelan2 wrote: »

Did you do a sensitivity test. I never used the bolus. Is your scc high? Always found culling the real high scc cows did the job to lower it

No sensitivity test, scc around 280 so I want to bring it down. I had problems in the old parlour that I think affected alot of animals. It's coming down slowly with the new parlour and some culling

GrasstoMilk

kevthegaff wrote: »

No sensitivity test, scc around 280 so I want to bring it down. I had problems in the old parlour that I think affected alot of animals. It's coming down slowly with the new parlour and some culling

Are you pre spraying? Pre spraying will drop.it by 50.or do fairly quick.
Do a sensitivity test on your highest cows, they cabt have been treated with any antibiotics for 3 months I think for it work.
You'll find out what bug is causing your scc and you will be able to get the right milking cow tubes and dry cow tubes this year for them

whelan2

Are you being penalised?

Mooooo

kevthegaff wrote: »

No sensitivity test, scc around 280 so I want to bring it down. I had problems in the old parlour that I think affected alot of animals. It's coming down slowly with the new parlour and some culling

Sensitivity testing is worth it, if you do the high cow's along with the bulk tank it'll build a picture for ya. Pre spraying also along with dipping the clusters after high cow's. If one quarter is infected or not curing leaving that quarter soak up works as well.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Bit of this today, finally:)

Wildsurfer

I hope you didnt get the Thunder, lightening, hailstones and floods we got today! Only lasted half an hour, steam coming off the concrete afterwards. Its like a tropical country here at the moment.

awaywithyou

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Bit of this today, finally:)

No side walls by you.... smart move looks like they fixed the back panel on the loader after I reversed into it with the vacuum tank last week!!

Sacrolyte

Feckin gob****e

Buford T. Justice XIX

awaywithyou wrote: »

No side walls by you.... smart move looks like they fixed the back panel on the loader after I reversed into it with the vacuum tank last week!!

How's the tanker, no damage hopefully?

Mooooo

Pit silage on its way in, hopefully be in before any rain lands. Got a few showers last night but a breezy morning has helped. Have 10 acres of second cut to bale on the out farm as well if we can get a dry spell.

Timmaay

The lads over on twitter looking for rain again ha...

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

The lads over on twitter looking for rain again ha...

Raining here atm.

ted_182

Timmaay wrote: »

The lads over on twitter looking for rain again ha...

Really? Could do with abit of mildness here more than anything, grass getting scorched with the wind over the last few days. Having to put on a wolly cap in June when heading out for the cows in the mornings is not good

Timmaay

In fairness ground conditions absolutely perfect around Wicklow on dry ground. We definitely had a big enough moisture deficit in places during April/may, the last few weeks of heavy showers have been an absolutely fantastic short term grass turbo boost, but those heavy showers that wash off fast don't necessarily help the soil deeper than 3 or 4 inches. In particular I notice here the drycow 1st cut ground that I cut the end of May is still absolutely rock hard, and no regrowth at all yet, the heavy 1st cup crop sucked every last drop of moisture out of the ground.

Btw I'm not complaining at all here (yet lol), this weather is nearly perfect and much better than an absolute washout summer like 2012, but it is a knife edge as to the ideal grass growing conditions here.

Mortelaro

As above
Feck all rain here today,just 0.8.m
Very chilling wind yes
Grass is growing like the hammers in SE Wicklow at the moment
Fierce tillering on silage ground cut a week ago and after grass on paddocks taken out for bales 3 weeks ago,ready for grazing now

Buford T. Justice XIX

Theres a link below to the booklet for the national milk quality awards winner open day today.
https://twitter.com/teagasc/status/1138815778743037953?s=19

Timmaay

Mortelaro wrote: »

As above
Feck all rain here today,just 0.8.m
Very chilling wind yes
Grass is growing like the hammers in SE Wicklow at the moment
Fierce tillering on silage ground cut a week ago and after grass on paddocks taken out for bales 3 weeks ago,ready for grazing now

Dirty wet miserable weather for the full day here, and 5mm in the rain gauge.

straight

It's very cold here with the northerly wind. Left the calves back in and out of the shed because they were cold. Grass is turning blue.

whelan2

straight wrote: »

It's very cold here with the northerly wind. Left the calves back in and out of the shed because they were cold. Grass is turning blue.

Calves didn't get out here yet. Pain in the hole bedding and feeding them at this stage

Timmaay

Timmaay wrote: »

Dirty wet miserable weather for the full day here, and 5mm in the rain gauge.

And another 9mm overnight. 2019, best year ever for weather here, So far (the rain can hold for 2wks or so now plz).

Mortelaro

Timmaay wrote: »

And another 9mm overnight. 2019, best year ever for weather here, So far (the rain can hold for 2wks or so now plz).

I'm about 10 miles south of you and no rain yesterday after the morning and just 0.2mm overnight
Ground is dry!
Tyners between Ashford and kilcoole had 6.6mm

White Clover

Timmaay wrote: »

And another 9mm overnight. 2019, best year ever for weather here, So far (the rain can hold for 2wks or so now plz).

You always have good warm sunny weather Tim. 2019 must be the poorest start to June ever?

Mortelaro

whelan2 wrote: »

Calves didn't get out here yet. Pain in the hole bedding and feeding them at this stage

I leave mine into the cubicles at night,they go up on the mats no bother as young as they are
No straw,no bedding,just a run of the scraper now and again

Mooooo

Timmaay wrote: »

And another 9mm overnight. 2019, best year ever for weather here, So far (the rain can hold for 2wks or so now plz).

If the summer turns into a washout I'm blaming you !

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mooooo wrote: »

If the summer turns into a washout I'm blaming you !

Best year since2008 here for grass.

Timmaay

White Clover wrote: »

You always have good warm sunny weather Tim. 2019 must be the poorest start to June ever?

I wouldn't call it good sunny weather 2bh. However to grow 80+ of grass per day you need heat, long daylight hours and moisture, and we got all 3 of them at the minute. Nitrogen use for the next few weeks will be the throttle for grass, if we were to have the most perfect of summers and I kept horsing out as much N as possible then I'd end up with a huge huge surplus of grass that I'd have to make into silage, and the economics of wet silage are very very poor in my book, especially low dm bales. I'll happily have say 5months of grass silage in the pit alongside the 6wks worth of maize, the economics of carrying anymore fodder than that aren't great 2bh. (all this some polar opposite to my dilemmas last August ha)

jaymla627

Timmaay wrote: »

I wouldn't call it good sunny weather 2bh. However to grow 80+ of grass per day you need heat, long daylight hours and moisture, and we got all 3 of them at the minute. Nitrogen use for the next few weeks will be the throttle for grass, if we were to have the most perfect of summers and I kept horsing out as much N as possible then I'd end up with a huge huge surplus of grass that I'd have to make into silage, and the economics of wet silage are very very poor in my book, especially low dm bales. I'll happily have say 5months of grass silage in the pit alongside the 6wks worth of maize, the economics of carrying anymore fodder than that aren't great 2bh. (all this some polar opposite to my dilemmas last August ha)

Put 40 acres of surplus paddocks into a pit here on Tuesday, that would usually of been baled, was nearly 600 ton fresh weight of silage brought in roughly when load count was tallied up, cost 3k to pit it, would of been a bill of 7k plus if it had been baled

GrasstoMilk

jaymla627 wrote: »

Put 40 acres of surplus paddocks into a pit here on Tuesday, that would usually of been baled, was nearly 600 ton fresh weight of silage brought in roughly when load count was tallied up, cost 3k to pit it, would of been a bill of 7k plus if it had been baled

How many acres was that over? That's alot of grass off surplus pddks

Mooooo

Growth took off when the rain and heat hit 2 weeks ago, the only issue was taking off the grass dry, managed to get surplus bales with a few showers but pit went in yday, at best mid 60s dmd I'd say, I still have a few paddocks i should have topped post grazing given the weather which will be steamy enough stuff now. Last 3 to 4 days have been cold tho has really slowed growth down.

Timmaay

jaymla627 wrote: »

Put 40 acres of surplus paddocks into a pit here on Tuesday, that would usually of been baled, was nearly 600 ton fresh weight of silage brought in roughly when load count was tallied up, cost 3k to pit it, would of been a bill of 7k plus if it had been baled

75e/ac in the pit? For a 15ton/ac crop?? What about mowing and any other cost??

GrasstoMilk

Mooooo wrote: »

Growth took off when the rain and heat hit 2 weeks ago, the only issue was taking off the grass dry, managed to get surplus bales with a few showers but pit went in yday, at best mid 60s dmd I'd say, I still have a few paddocks i should have topped post grazing given the weather which will be steamy enough stuff now. Last 3 to 4 days have been cold tho has really slowed growth down.

Growth down to 60 from 90 the previous week. Cold mornings the last week. Last night was very chilly