Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Good loser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119768973#Comment_119768973

And what are the figures/parameters for those. If numbers fall the production of food must be weighted in the balance. A small or relative fall in numbers could be justified by the extra food produced.

alps

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119768973#Comment_119768973

"Biological monitoring system" ?

https://youtu.be/gdnn3oOdPx4

farmertipp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119773216#Comment_119773216

they are kept faceless so they don't have to account for their actions. **** is all they are . lowlife. that's what you get when you give tramps a bone.these types of upstarts don't know when to Stop because responsibility is something they are not used to.

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776116#Comment_119776116

On the other hand I sent an artic load of oak posts to be divided between two merchants. Posts were pointed and debarked and 1.8m long. Definitely good for 30-50yrs…however the merchants nearly failed to sell them because they didn’t ‘look’ the part and weren’t treated with creosote.

Afaik the ‘proper’ creosote has been off the market for years.

Tonynewholland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776543#Comment_119776543

I haven't seen creosote posts with a long time but the ESB still have the real stuff for their poles

I’ve bought “cresotoe” post’s from dairygold Co-op, more like brown paint. Seen it disappear after 3 years. You’d get respectable post’s from farm relief fencing places. I must go shopping soon. Only thing their dear. Very annoying when corner posts go down.

whelan2

I'm lucky the lad who does relief milking for me is a fencing contractor. He drops a post or 2 from esb posts when he sources them

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119773407#Comment_119773407

Its based on what the species suite would be in a pristine water body given similar soils, altitude, geology, etc. The aim of the EU Water Directive is to get to get water quality to a "Good" rather than "Pristine" status since the later is in many cases probably not achievable given the world we now live in. The "Good" status allows the water body to maintain the bulk of its biodiversity, fisheries, water supply status, recreational use etc.

kevthegaff

Was talking to a lad in frs and he maintained the slower growing trees from Scandinavia make better stakes. Irish conifers grow fast

RightTurnClyde

As i head out at 5am on a wet and windy sunday morning, heres Luke our mep cutting the hole out of dairy and beef farming https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFkdqFQb/

and they wonder why the farmers have bad mental health

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119781952#Comment_119781952

And how much food had that a,,,,,e produce in his life. Amazing the way the likes of him can knock everything but has no solutions. Perhaps if farmers were paid a viable price for their products our vegetable growers wouldnt be quitting.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119781952#Comment_119781952

He's on the farmers side when it suits him to get a few votes. Like his big stand at the ploughing as one example.

3 the square

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119782186#Comment_119782186

Was that not the tullamore show ??

K.G.

In fairness ye are being too hard on him .he has a fierce interest in grass.......

Tonynewholland

Nice to see he's wearing all his clothes this time.

Good loser

He's just playing with words. If we're No 1 in the world for food security that's just what we are. Sovereignty doesn't come into it. We're not self sufficient in food - only North Korea has that distinction nowadays. De Valera was at that crack from 1933 to 1956 until realism and commonsense took over and consigned his policies to the dustbin. Which is the rightful place for them.

ginger22

Looks like lads wont have to flood their drained peat land after all. https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/news/i-humbly-apologise-for-misleading-you-eu-farming-expert-admits-his-evidence-to-oireachtas-was-incorrect-42089649.html

Neddyusa

In what way was it misleading?

I watched it a few weeks back and what was discussed was confirmed again in oireachteas committee last week.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119787362#Comment_119787362

In some ways I'm not surprised seeing how Copa Cogea go about their business as lobbyist in the EU ie. a crowd whose real agenda is often at odds with smaller/medium sized farmers

roosky

question for the dairy farmers...from a sheep farmer.

I have been talking to a lot of friends that are milking and they are all talking about clearing nearly €1,000 a cow....would ye agree with this figure, most these lads are in or around the 80 to 100 cows with one labour unit so its probably the optimum..

My question is, if there is a €1,000 a cow to be made why aren't there more 40 cow farms which would mean a good wage of 40k and BPS on top of that....why is there an idea out there that you need 80 or 100 cows to make a go of dairying?

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119788948#Comment_119788948

I thought that discussion was among tds and farming orgs on the basis of what they heard from yer man who made the apology mentioned above??

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789058#Comment_119789058

From my experience there is probably as much work most of the year outside of calving maybe, with 40 cows as 80 cows especially as the 80 cow farmer has probably got better facilities., But there isn't the spare cash to employ a regular relief milker, there isn't the repayment capacity to borrow much to improve the place. Eventually the depreciation catches up on you.

Also the fixed costs aren't diluted as much, such as insurance, vehicle tax, subscription to the likes of icbf etc. These cost the same on a 40 cow farm as an 80 cow farm.

roosky

That makes sense….So realistically the 40 cow man can’t make €1000 a cow due to poor economies of scale and is making maybe €700 a cow ?

still a good income from a 50 acre farm. And payments on top of that, it would take a lot of sheep to make 28k on 50 acres and you would need to sell 5 acres a year to make it out of sucklers !!!

Your probably right about the €700 mark but I can’t say for sure, I’m milking 50 cows and go from 1 year to the next with not much spare money to invest into the farm. Often feel like I’m working everyday to pay a bunch of people. If you have poor facilities it’s a killer job, will wear you out. Has me worn out anyway. Theirs so many variables in farming, how good you are, markets, and what money is leaving the farm to pay for other things outside of your control. You’d have to spend time on a dairy farm at the height of calving to know if it’s for you.

Mooooo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789058#Comment_119789058

You've answered you're own question there. Not everyone is making those returns and a lot depends on farm development layout etc. Breaking it down to per hour worked can show a different story at times also. most of those margins likely include the sfp

Green&Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789679#Comment_119789679

I'd say that includes payments, as does the €1,000 figure

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789679#Comment_119789679

Don't forget the repayments to the bank if you have to borrow to build the parlour, put up cubicles, dig more effluent tanks for Bord Bia standards, buy heifers, etc.

I've recently left sheep, have a calf-to-beef enterprise now, and seriously looking at cows (again). So, the figures and pros/cons are in my head most of the time.

As mentioned above, scale is the issue for investments. Say it took €50k to get set up. The farmer milking 60 cows thru that parlour will pay back his loan quicker than the farmer milking 40 cows, so he'll pay €1,000s less in interest over the loan period. Having said that, I'm not saying bigger is better. But it is a factor all the same.

K.G.

It's the level of reinvesting that kills it.if you didn't stay with the constant investment you eventually come to a point where its not viable anymore due to sheer amount that has to be spent.i could be wrong about this but I often think that people think there s great money in milking cows because they see constant spending on infrastructure whereas the reality is you have to keep spending to stay 9n the business.for instance thermoduric testing on the milk and the new dry cow tube regime has meant housing standard s and hygiene has to jump up a level and if you don't make the jump you will eventually be out of the business.it stuff like this and other regs changing that means you constantly spending to keep up.and often those investments are worthless if you left milking

fulldnod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789058#Comment_119789058

i wudnt get carried away with this year, we will never see a year like this again and wudnt believe everything you hear, eg yesterday i was talking to a farmer telling me he is getting 77c for sept, he never me told they milked 11lts/day. i would look at 5 or 10 year averages, that kind of money is achievable but will take 15 years+ if you are good enough. when you are expanding, you are always reinvesting. you dont need 100 cows either, the best herd of cows my milk man collects is 60 cows

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798183#Comment_119798183

Sounds like one of the guys from glanbia that were crying when his neighbours saw his milk statement.