Farming Chitchat 10/10- Now VIRUS-FREE!

TheFarrier

Albert Johnson wrote: »

I was working in the mart during the week and witnessed a colleague taking a full force kick to the stones from a weanling. It brought him to his knees almost instantly and he disappeared out to the car for an hour to recover. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage and everything is back in working order or so I'm informed. I've gotten some right belters of kicks down through the years but thankfully never in the balls. I hate to see anyone getting a belt but this was pretty funny to watch, has anyone else had similar misfortune?

About a month ago I went into a stable to help a client of mine catch a yearling for shoeing. She was ducking around him on his own so I stepped in to help corner her and she dodged him leaving me looking right at the top of her tail.
No swish of the tail no nothing only let fly with the hind one and nailed me as sweet as a nut into the balls.
By some miracle I reckon she only gave a warning shot as there wasn’t much force behind the kick but then again not much force is required when the aim is as good as she had.
Went a bit green in the face according to the other lad, at least that’s what I think he said as he was laughing so hard I couldn’t quite hear him. The prick.
Had a good few minutes questioning my career choices that day.

Limestone Cowboy

Albert Johnson wrote: »

I was working in the mart during the week and witnessed a colleague taking a full force kick to the stones from a weanling. It brought him to his knees almost instantly and he disappeared out to the car for an hour to recover. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage and everything is back in working order or so I'm informed. I've gotten some right belters of kicks down through the years but thankfully never in the balls. I hate to see anyone getting a belt but this was pretty funny to watch, has anyone else had similar misfortune?

Ya it happened me before with a weanling, not nice. Have gotten a few fine wallops in the legs castrating too.

wrangler

148multi wrote: »

Perhaps Hammond Lane if you are anywhere near the Midlands, make sure you have enough to fill it.

Chris lynch Mullingar usually gives the best price, you can bring it in in a car and trailer, weigh in and get cash there and then.

http://www.skippybag.ie/

newholland mad

_Brian wrote: »

Took some time to walk through the apple trees earlier.

They were a risk from the start as were exposed and 650ft above sea level. Lots of blooms most years but late frosts each year nips the blossoms and little to no fruit. 10 7 year old trees and I can only see one apple, last year we got maybe 12 apples and year before nothing. Have 2 cherry trees and about 12 cherries between them.
They were selected by seed savers as traditional old Irish varieties but I feel our site just isn’t suitable.

At this stage I feel like pulling them out !

Those old native varieties are useless. We have 12 here since reps about 10 years now and about 20 apples in total, and they aren't even that nice but in recent years occasionally the kids would see apple trees in aldi or lidl so there's a few of these mixed in. Bearing in mind these are half the age these are laden down. Like everything varieties and breeding moves on

Albert Johnson

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Ya it happened me before with a weanling, not nice. Have gotten a few fine wallops in the legs castrating too.

Yes squeezing is Russian Roulette for getting kicked. I usually help a few dealer friends with squeezing bundles of weanlings, I hold the tails. One of them doesn't pass much heed of buying real wild lad's which can make the squeezing interesting. The last day we were at them I was lifting the tail of a particularly cracked hoor when he kicked out between the bars and nailed me across both thighs. He broke the skin nd left 2 big bruises but we got him done in the end. It wasn't much fun going to work afterwards though.

KatyMac

My apple trees are taking a mighty beating this year with the kid goat. As she grows she can reach further and further up the trunk. It's a good job I'm not too worried about plants. Rose bushes are looking a bit shook too!!!!!

Omallep2

Albert Johnson wrote: »

Yes squeezing is Russian Roulette for getting kicked. I usually help a few dealer friends with squeezing bundles of weanlings, I hold the tails. One of them doesn't pass much heed of buying real wild lad's which can make the squeezing interesting. The last day we were at them I was lifting the tail of a particularly cracked hoor when he kicked out between the bars and nailed me across both thighs. He broke the skin nd left 2 big bruises but we got him done in the end. It wasn't much fun going to work afterwards though.

The man on the tail should have it straight up and apply downward force with 2 fingers - 1 either side of spin halfway up his back. The man with the squeezers should adjust so legs are almost crossed as he clamps on😀

Hard Knocks

Omallep2 wrote: »

The man on the tail should have it straight up and apply downward force with 2 fingers - 1 either side of spin halfway up his back. The man with the squeezers should adjust so legs are almost crossed as he clamps on😀

A tightened rope behind the navel too

Albert Johnson

Omallep2 wrote: »

The man on the tail should have it straight up and apply downward force with 2 fingers - 1 either side of spin halfway up his back. The man with the squeezers should adjust so legs are almost crossed as he clamps on😀

I'm fairly well versed in the best method although you've made some very valid points there especially about crossing your own legs. I find tail straight up, forward and down over the back is best. When the bushy part on the end of the tail is nearly hitting him between the eyes your usually doing it right. I knew this lad was a real hoor but I hadn't even caught the tail when he bursted me out through the bars, I often got a shot but it takes a fair belt to break the skin. Once we got him tightened up we squeezed him but you want to be set up for them or serious injury would occur. As Hard Knocks said above a rope tightened around them behind the navel and in front of the hips helps to incapacitate them. However they usually pull up the stones when it's tightened and it's harder to squeeze them.

Hard Knocks

Have a 10ft creep area behind the slats
Has anyone used cow mats instead of straw in a creep area?

Nekarsulm

wrangler wrote: »

Chris lynch Mullingar usually gives the best price, you can bring it in in a car and trailer, weigh in and get cash there and then.

http://www.skippybag.ie/

Brought a small car trailer of scrap to our local place.
Only 250kg, but still thought it'd come to more than €8 ......

patsy_mccabe

Hard Knocks wrote: »

A tightened rope behind the navel too

Would you be able to work away with a rope around your waist?

....sorry, just realised it goes on the bull.

Base price

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Have a 10ft creep area behind the slats
Has anyone used cow mats instead of straw in a creep area?

We used mats on the lie back area for weanlings last year and it worked well. I used to clean them off with the push scraper every other day.

kollegeknight

Got the slurry out on places I’d topped and on the silage field. Glad to have it done. Contractor is rock solid. Always arrives when he is supposed to.

charolais0153

Base price wrote: »

We used mats on the lie back area for weanlings last year and it worked well. I used to clean them off with the push scraper every other day.

Gramd for weanlings but woulndt like it for calfs under 100 days

Hard Knocks

charolais0153 wrote: »

Gramd for weanlings but woulndt like it for calfs under 100 days

Could you put straw on top of the mats?

Base price

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Could you put straw on top of the mats?

Yes but you will need a good depth cause the mats get slippy.

Dinzee Conlee

There is a line of black soil in one field we have, it’s visible in a bank that has kinda worn away...

This is a field we reclaimed, so it wasn’t used by us ever, so no idea what the history of the field is...

It almost has the look of something being burned there, as the stones are black but once you scrape through the outer layer they are a normal brown colour...
Not sure how deep it is, but it’s a few inches at least... not sure how much burning you’d need to do to get that depth of black?

Any idea what it might be, or how it came about?

The pictures aren’t great maybe...

Water John

A Fulacht Fiadh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulacht_fiadh

Dinzee Conlee

Water John wrote: »

A Fulacht Fiadh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulacht_fiadh

We actually have one of them in the home place - beside a stream... well, we had, I haven’t been back to where it is in years...

Where our black soil is, there isn’t any stream... it would be a good bit up a hill, so I don’t know if it would be a fulacht fia?

charolais0153

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Could you put straw on top of the mats?

Why would you?

Water John

A gradient of 20:1 is the most important aspect of a lie back area. Urine flows off it.

Say my name

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

There is a line of black soil in one field we have, it’s visible in a bank that has kinda worn away...

This is a field we reclaimed, so it wasn’t used by us ever, so no idea what the history of the field is...

It almost has the look of something being burned there, as the stones are black but once you scrape through the outer layer they are a normal brown colour...
Not sure how deep it is, but it’s a few inches at least... not sure how much burning you’d need to do to get that depth of black?

Any idea what it might be, or how it came about?

The pictures aren’t great maybe...

And are those all stones?
There's not charcoal mixed in?

Another black soil would be from granite. But you'd see flakes of silicate in a black soil from granite. Which there doesn't appear to be in your pics.

If it is from charcoal. You'd only want some and the carbon and life would spread from that bit of charcoal to the soil around it. Turning the soil black. The fancy name is called Carbon priming.

Was there a forge nearby?

_Brian

Home from work to find plate on bottom of pressure vessel ruptured.

Of course we didn’t notice until shops closed.

Thankfully rang a lad who had one stashed away.

Lots of cursing and messing but water back on now, just needs to settle, bit cloudy.

Whole evening work, just to get back to where we were

Mossie1975

Last of the turf saved. Never seen as many at the bog this year.

Dinzee Conlee

Say my name wrote: »

And are those all stones?
There's not charcoal mixed in?

Another black soil would be from granite. But you'd see flakes of silicate in a black soil from granite. Which there doesn't appear to be in your pics.

If it is from charcoal. You'd only want some and the carbon and life would spread from that bit of charcoal to the soil around it. Turning the soil black. The fancy name is called Carbon priming.

Was there a forge nearby?

Will have a poke around to see if there is any charcoal in there...

No forge nearby.

Lime Tree Farm

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Have a 10ft creep area behind the slats
Has anyone used cow mats instead of straw in a creep area?

Easyfix MG Max 8 - https://easyfix.com/product/easyfix-walking-surface-matting-mg-max-8-2/

We have these in the lie back areas, robust, non slip and easy to clean.

Hard Knocks

charolais0153 wrote: »

Why would you?

If they are too cold for calves under 3 months

SouthWesterly

Water John wrote: »

Brian, really depends on where you are in the country. Here in the SW wouldn't get horse chestnut over 550 ft. Japanese larch dies at that height here and will grow at 1,100 ft over in Wicklow.

I've had apple trees in full bloom only to be stripped by the late wind in May.
Lost everything last year and have 18 apples this year over 8 trees.
I've a good hedge around but planted willow as a windbreak this year.
Wife wants me to plant a walnut tree

charolais0153

Hard Knocks wrote: »

If they are too cold for calves under 3 months

Why would you put in mats in the 1st place?