Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119497904#Comment_119497904

Thing is grazing cocksfoot is high in energy and quite sweet…livestock will shave the ground. Proper grazing cocksfoot won’t be bunchy and overground iykwim. It’ll take a very experienced eye to tell the difference between grazing cocksfoot and perennial ryegrass. I put in the newest varieties (pure) on very dry land last year and the salesman bet me €50 that it’ll stay green in the worst of droughts, I owe him a fiddy after the worst drought on record! It’s still green but obviously not growing. However if I had water to give it I’ve no doubt that it’d grow grass.

Cocksfoot is surprisingly durable and persistent.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119496551#Comment_119496551

I think the value in the herbal element is for young stock as I found the likes of Plantain and Dandelion elements in the sward significantly improves thrive via improved grass utilization(aids digestion in young, still developing rumens), significantly less issues with scour, worms etc. Also Dandelion in particular has a long tap root that brings up essential trace elements from near the subsoil and makes it readily available for stock.

straight

Fecking typical. Got my grass seeds set and rolled and all rain disappeared from the forecast.

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119498121#Comment_119498121

I wouldn’t disagree. There’s probably a lot of benefits from the herbal elements for young stock, ie, as distinct from N poisoned prg that causes ‘summer scours’, however in terms of yield of good quality herbage for the likes of dairy cows it’s hard to beat grass/clover mixes in the sward. Tough, reliable, durable grass/clover mixes are hard to beat. The grasses I’m talking about will also forage deep in the ground to source vitamins/minerals that won’t be available from shallow-rooting prg on a diet of artificial N-P-K & slurry.

But point taken, for growing young stock herbs etc would definitely have their place.

Grueller

Sold a bunch of friesian runner bulls in the mart last week. They were all late January to the 3rd week of February. They averaged €375 a head. I would have probably gotten €20 for them at 3-4 weeks the year gone out. They would have had €40 of milk drank so I reckon they started at -€20 iykwim.

My costs were €100 milk. €100 meal (loads say that is madness but I'll argue that later if needs be). €7 commission, €3 transport, testing, bvd testing, tag, straw, a dose, grass all estimated at €60. They were vaccinated for crypto but would have gotten that before they were sold as calves so I am not counting it either side.

I am getting costs here of €270. So from -€20 I am about €175 better off keeping them unless I am missing something. They were on grass that I cannot get cows to. They weren't even an extra batch of stock as I ran them with the heifer calves.

Feel free to pick my figures apart people. Just to add, I won't be keeping them next year as I have extended cubicles into the shed that I reared them in.

trixi2011

Cost in labour @ 20 euro hour

Bedding costs

Opportunity of increasing mortality of heifers with higher stocking of calves

Have a few tail Ender's here due to being locked up with tb they should leave a few pounds when I sell them. when you factor in the added time spent and it adds up over the months

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504003#Comment_119504003

Straw ,hay ,grass ,labour ,worm dose …during spring costs 25/30 euros per calf per week to rear a calf …I got between zero and 95 euro for my Fr bulls in spring selling at an average of 22 days old ….I like rearing calves /cattle but there’s buttons out of rearing them to this stage

also you need to factor in a cost price of selling the calf from your dairy to beef enterprise ….

not criticising but I see lads selling calves /cattle /weanlings blowing about the price they got but they don’t put a relastic price on own labour and full costs of rearing the Ainmal

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504003#Comment_119504003

You couldn't lose. Better again if you had the ground to finish them.

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504249#Comment_119504249

U should talk to the many beef farmers that know there figures and have left the beef game …..there is next to nothing out of it ….the bps and glas etc keeps the show on the road ….good friend of mine finishing a couple of hundred cattle a year and knew his cost to a tee exited the beef game 3 years ago and now milking 150 cows ….difference to income is night and day …he misses the cattle game and wouldn’t have the same love for the cows but financially a no brainer

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504296#Comment_119504296

He's earning it now though. He wasn't putting in the same work or investment with dry cattle. You, like me lost money giving away fine calves at the peak of the market. If I had an outside block I'd keep them. Plenty people making money from calf to beef.

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504399#Comment_119504399

All costs factored in I’m better off taking what I got at 22 days …I have sheds to keep all calves but getting a decent calf and not sparing beastings /milk etc for that period makes far more sense ….the calves that I gave away were all twins and small calves ….I was delighted that someone wanted them…they’d of cost me a fortune and left me a bill keeping them any longer

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504437#Comment_119504437

18 month old fr bullocks are making nice money at the moment. 1000 I'd say easy.

It's not all about the money here. I lose alot of money on my calves in the spring but it's more that I put a different kind of value on my calves and I have created a bond with them and grow fond of them. Would love to keep them with me for their lifetime and whatever about profit I'd have plenty cashflow.

Most of the problem in the spring is caused by everyone doing the same thing.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504399#Comment_119504399

Talking to a few lads who kept onto fr bull calves ,they were glad to be able to sell them in the last few weeks ,the bills for ration are mounting up .I dont think grueller factored all costs ,like a grass cost of 60 euro ,there is no land charge in that .2.5 calves to the acre for the best 6 months of the year would peg back profit and no mention of tb test cost either

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504003#Comment_119504003

Grueller

Fed no hay. Straw and nuts as calves. Bit of straw with them at grass too.

I agree 100% that there isn't a shilling in it really. I had over 80 sucklers at one time and the beef game as a whole is a bet job in this country. I really only threw my costs and prices up to open up this debate. I am not basing any business plan around these boys😂😂

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504220#Comment_119504220

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504524#Comment_119504524

It’s only when u sit down and do proper costs u get a true picture of what’s really out of cattle …we always kept cattle here with cows ….the 13 cheque I called them …super job to keep some money together but the reality was/is there’s no worthwhile money to be made keeping them any longer than as calves …

Siamsa Sessions

Would there be a big difference in rearing a bull calf from a British Friesian cow compared to a bull calf from a JEX cow?

And would the costs to rear them to 6-7 months be the same?

cosatron

we keep all fr/hol bull calves up to finishing. We let them off them out of the shed in early feb this year between 22 to 24 months this year and average 1200 a head, some were finished others weren't. Ideally you need to keep them for the third summer of grass to put right flesh on them, they need time. Is there money out of them, i don't know, they keep money together and they cover there own cost but one thing i will say about them, they are hardy boys and are absolutely no bother from a health and temperament point of view and if you feed them they will finish, a fierce under rated beef animal.

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504718#Comment_119504718

3 summers …2 winters ….they def keep money together but bottom line is ….is there profit and worthwhile profit to keeping them that long …u can throw in nitrates now /sr etc

Gillespy

Got €330 to 350 for March fr bulls two weeks ago. Father saw some being sold the week before and decided to let the lot off. Money for old rope.

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504812#Comment_119504812

for us they are down in the rented out farm along with the replacement heifers and silage ground and if we don't keep them the grass would go wild, in fairness to them, if you have a few coming every year they will pay for the rent and fertilizer on the rented ground, so they are doing a job for us. when the nitrates kick in they will probably have to go and more silage will have to be made or sow some crops in some fields and all this money will be coming out of the milk cheque.

trixi2011

How's the grass situation looking around the place ? We had floods here last week and still no grass growth after it . cows going into really low covers alot of silage and meal going in

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119505191#Comment_119505191

5 meal 5 silage remainder silage from today ..no rain worth talking about for 3 weeks …grass is growing but nothing worth talking about

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119505191#Comment_119505191

Growing 38 to 40. Had to graze some heavier covers the last week or so. Still on 2kg meal and no silage. Rotation is gone out to 40 days.

whelan2

Cows going to aftergrass tomorrow, 60 acres in it. Topping away. 11 acres sprayed off for reseeding. Good bit of rain this morning

Mooooo

4kgs meal, OK for grass but quality is poor for time of year. A few acres to bale and another bit for reseeding but will get heifers off to outblock so reducing sr at home. Lower stocked this year has helped but meal fed won't be down much on last year. Doing 21 to 22L

Pinsnbushings

F all growth here, about 10mm rain in the last week but not enough to get things moving, ground is like a rock..2.5kgs meal and silage the last fortnight..not ideal oad this time of year, yield crashed a nice bit and protein down .1 too.

orm0nd

Silage since Sunday 4kg meal. Farm looking good but I walked it sfa covers.

Ground rock hard but not burning.

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509123#Comment_119509123

That's the stage I am back to after 5 weeks of feeding silage. Farm is as green as a cabbage again but begging for moisture.

K.G.

Struggling to keep at 20 days here.that hot week really flecked us.we re just coming right after getting that rain bank holiday week end and decided to premow a bit to tidy a few places which didn't help.up to 6 kilos and gave everything a big bang of 40 to 45 units.i m just worried that after these 2 weeks coming of more dry weather we ll be too late to come back out of the grass situation

Morris Moss

What way is everybody for silage? We've been lucky enough here, getting just enough rain to keep us going but know of lads feeding silage for the last 6 or 7 weeks.