Farming Youtubers

patsy_mccabe

As the vet said to me at the time - if they are coughing while standing around, you need to dose that day. If they are coughing after running, you need to dose that week.

kk.man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121074428#Comment_121074428

Very true. A cough is alarm bells. I do ivomec super and no resistance thank you know who. But I don't overdo it either. I had a bout of coughing one year finishing cattle. The slaughter reports were an eye opener. I vowed never again. Vet took samples this year when tb testing lab results were a1. I don't take samples myself just observe animals and it seems to work. I can't vouch for calves but my weanling stock get two shots over the second grazing season and I had no issues since.

orm0nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121074320#Comment_121074320

By overdosing I presume you mean dosing when unnecessary, cos one of the main reasons for worm resistance is under dosing i.e too little drench volume for bodyweight.

Anyhow I have expressed my opinion on the use of mectin type doses over on one of the dairy threads (this was sparked by Farmer Phil's post last June) and I won't comment any further here.

Wildsurfer

The advice is also that calves are put back into the paddock they are grazing for a few days after dosing. Traditionally calves would be moved to a fresh pasture immediately after dosing but this leads them to infecting the new pasture with resistant worms.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121074296#Comment_121074296

Watched that YouTube after reading the comments here, them calves are shook and a big advertisement not to have jex and poor bred calves for the beef game, rearing calves you need to be on your game and trying to blame the dose is a cop out, the dose is only as good as the man administering it at the correct volume and if them calves were bad before being done hard to blame the dose.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075548#Comment_121075548

Blind faith in the vet/thinking the cydectin was a wonder product probably didnt help, calves probably need to be dosed two months ago, waiting for a nice few to drop dead before dosing them was bizarre....

Have a real nasty bug here causing mastitis that if you treat it with antibiotics either with tubes/injectables, it feeds of them and makes the mastitis alot worse basically kills the animal,am basically gone antibiotic free in the herd here, a sick animal now just gets a anti-inflammatory mineral drench and dry cow tubes is all that's used....

Microbial resistance down the line is going to be a huge problem in agriculture

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075563#Comment_121075563

In agriculture? It’s going to be a huge problem in society.

charolais0153

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121080122#Comment_121080122

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/animals/beef/better-beef/IFJ-27Jan2018.pdf - timeline

teagasc have an answer to almost any question you have

kk.man

Actually coming to think of it didn't farmers phils land flood recently.... no recriminations or anything..no-one has perfect land but that's not good for fluke..just an observation

endainoz

A strict grazing rotation can solve a lot of issues with the need for worm dosing. Maybe people should sample more often than they dose to see if the animal actually needs it in the first place. Dose resistance is becoming a huge issue.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121083675#Comment_121083675

Could the next step be sampling required to get a prescription for the dose.

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121084727#Comment_121084727

Vet here is pushing for that already. I wouldn’t be a calendar user of medicines but I get the sense it’s a policy they’ve taken on. Anyone you talk to behind the counter has the same message for you when you go in.

timple23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121085938#Comment_121085938

I think Vets get paid per farmer. It's part of a programme.

https://animalhealthireland.ie/programmes/parasite-control/parasite-control-tasah-consult/

farmerphil135

For some more context. 2 weeks before we dosed them Liv got onto the vet and the problem was put down to the changeable weather as it was previously sick calves that were giving trouble. We had some coughing but due to overdosing in the past over calves coughing leading to an ivermectin resistance we work off dung samples rather than coughs and we weren’t due to take the next samples for another 2 weeks.

on the product we used. We weighed the 1st batch of calves we doses to get an accurate measurement and used the average of them to dose the other batches.

we got our dung samples back during the week and they were 270 320 and 60 egg count. The 4th batch we had the autopsy for. We’re trying to figure out why one batch over the others is relatively fine over the others and apart from being on the multi species sward for about 4 days before sampling we’re at a loss

we run paddock system with the calves changing paddocks anywhere from 3 to 7 days and we used the bulls to eat down heavy covers ahead of the calves back in the end of June

endainoz

Sounds like the bulls may have spread the worms before the calves went in and unfortunately they caught them.

farmerphil135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121088990#Comment_121088990

My assumption would’ve been the dose would’ve killed the worms they’d of picked up after the bulls?

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121089856#Comment_121089856

The day you dosed. Did you finish the leader follower system with the bulls leading?

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121089856#Comment_121089856

Phil I would keep the calves to there own paddocks and use a block grazing type system on the paddocks

fresh grass every 2 days and back fence them off the previous break

top the grass behind them instead of getting the bulls to do it if need be but once you get them in on it and have a handle of it yourself they should peal the break and no need for topping or bulls grazing behind them, bulls would make shite of the fences too? If the calves had their own block it would be less fences to be maintained all the time ?

those cattle are the lifeblood of your business seeing as you put all the crops through them

I don’t want to come across as critical but those calves should be tipping 200 kgs now. If you can get there weights right as weanlings going into the shed you’ll have 600/650kg of beasts going to the factory instead of nearer the 500-550 bracket the following year

tanko

How much would Tom Pembertons new parlour have cost? I’m surprised he didn’t make it all out of gold while he was at it.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121093946#Comment_121093946

I saw the video of them finishing up today. How many units again? Was it 14 or 14 a side or something, I forget?

funkey_monkey

@farmerphil135 - what arrangement do you have with the calf suppliers? Are you in any position to strike a deal with them to use specific bulls which are highly rated for beef related EBV's?

Just watching tonight's video and it struck me that your tillage work is all aimed at your own stock primarily and excess is sold (correct?). I know you said previously that the accounts show what you are doing works, but there is always room to improve things. With the volume of calves you are purchasing can you not downselect suppliers to those willing to work with you on the breeding of the calves you receive? Would a premium paid on day 1 not be recouped by the time it is ready to go?

Is the price difference between the Holstein/JEX calves so much more than Continental breeds that they can't claw back the difference in price between purchase and slaughter?

fulldnod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121093946#Comment_121093946

I'd say about £10k a unit

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121105183#Comment_121105183

Yeah, that was me.

That series is being repeated at the moment. Think it was first shown back in Feb/March. I know the main guy in GIY, Michael Kelly, and he asked me to take part. Fairly harmless stuff really. He got some commission from RTE to make 6 episodes and I got a sense he was running short of things to talk about.

The premise for the one I was on was putting a beef farmer and a vegan at the same table and showing that it didn't always end up in a shouting match.

The first point I made was that such rows rarely take place anyway, outside of social media and the likes of Primetime. But strangely that point was cut from the show 😀

There was a nutritionist on it too and she made loads of good points but few of them were shown either. I guess that's just television, or the media in general.

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121105326#Comment_121105326

I've seen it all with editing.

There's a lesson now for any farmer who has something to say on camera or radio. To make sure agreement is reached that it's included, before or after the recording. The whole context and message can be changed through selective editing.

Irish media has a habit in the last few years to pee off their farmer interviewees with selective editing.

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121105571#Comment_121105571

It's one of the things I like about Twitter and social media in general. There's no longer just a single version of a story from RTE or the Irish Times that could have been skewed god-knows what way to fit with their overall beliefs.

farmerphil135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121090262#Comment_121090262

Only with one batch which turned out to be the worst affected by the worms. We would of finished with the others only for the flooding down the bottoms in July and august screwed up the rotation. We had 4 paddocks completely or mostly flooded

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121094170#Comment_121094170

14 a side i think.

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121098082#Comment_121098082

Would that include all the building work and the tank?

fulldnod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121123830#Comment_121123830

No that's just machine, no building or tank

farmerphil135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121094917#Comment_121094917

This year we bought from 5 farms all we work for and each got a quota of calves based on how the calves preformed in the past. We do suggest which breeds and bulls to use.

that’s correct yes. Working for the men we buy from means we have great relationships with the farmers. As regards to a premium unless you have a record of how cattle have preformed in the past you have no idea how a new farm or new bull will preform.

basically yes. The only exception I have ever seen is Simmental bulls off a Holstein herd. Savage cattle all over 320kg carcass. Usually beef off Holstein are worth it as you get weight and weight pays over better grades. But all bar one of our farms have moved away from Holsteins to kiwis some more so than others but the price reflects what we get including on a beef out of a kiwi.