Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Absolutely.

Better have a bit of competition for Glanbia milk.

Can't have that Gibbons Danone supporting Putin company only dictating price to Glanbia. They wouldn't be the loyalist of companies globally supporting suppliers up to this anyway. I'd rather have a back up there.

N derogation has been renewed!

Part of the course of modern day farming, huge debt levels now on a good % of dairy units, expansion in numbers and lack of available labour means farmers are working twice as hard to standstill, soaring input prices and to top it all off the never-ending newscycle of highly profitable dairy farmers with the perfect work life balance who's biggest job is keeping money spent been portrayed by our farming media combined with the environmental element trying to shut you down leads us to the above .....

It gas even on here you try to argue the milking game this year could be a rough ride and you get picked apart about how highly profitable a year lads "should" have, for men and women that are struggling this obviously makes them feel like failures and see themselves as poor farmers and that's why things could be financially tight, while Jimmy down the road is setting up his 3 Rd unit and flying it, sure that Journal article on him last week said as much all the while Jimmy could be up to his eyes in it and nearly broke

I was talking to a man I know yesterday with 200+ cows. He was exhausted and said he wished he had 70 to 80. He had a young lad helping him for about 2 weeks before he saw the light and got a handier job. He was working late the night before to get an hour off for the parade. His first hour off since calving began. I don't think he'll last much longer at it. Felt sorry for him.

Maize and another 10 if u could get it ….lots may have silage but quality may not be best so any grass silage for most part this year needs to be top notch

beet another option …great feed bit bit of work with it ….wholecrop barley /wheat another option

Hard get the good lads through FRS though ,all sick of Frs we will all choose the farmer paying privately over the lad paying through frs 51€ for a sunday milking and 20%tax out of it all the while ye are paying 60€ish to frs Frs getting 10€ for just being the middle man you may aswell pay that straight to the milker and be done with it hel appreciate it alot more than just getting screwed by farm relief every way. Frs is grand to make contacts and get in with lads but soon get sick of them and if the milker is any good you wont need insurance with them anyway.

Lucky here ….got v good lad last year to relief milking through Fr’s ….have lad in morning for spring and likewise v happy ….no payslips etc to worry about ….Fr’s cover tax etc and I’m insured thru them for any accidents /fook uos ….only a very rare occasion I’d pay anyone cash

Will have most of a pit left here, if I put in a forage crop second pit will be taken and most silage would have to be all bales then which I'm not set up for. Extra cost involved in bagging or baling wholecrop or maize along with extra cost of growing it this year would be significant also. Hard to call, if it wasn't for the fact supply could be a factor next spring I'd be of the opinion as good as silage as you can make and buy in whatever meal needed

You were very lucky. As I've mentioned here, I provide a relief milking service, Above board with invoice etc. I have 3 farmers on my books that would under no circumstances go back to FRS, Unreliable milkers and reneging on insurance cover, Granted I've only heard one side of the story but have no reason to doubt them either. Take home is to have your own insurance and be prepared to use it. Professional indemnity insurance is impossible to get from a milkers point of view.

Would she not go out and help him...

If its the same for a number of years something must give, but if its just until things fall into place either facilities or getting to the stage of taking someone on fair enough. Still a lot of uncertainty in terms of planning to spend. 500k could be spent here very easily even standing still on numbers, hard to go for it with current rhetoric

She works off farm and they have kids

It's gone to alot of lads heads. I know a few lads now with the wives trying to get them to cut back. I'm too tied to the fecking thing myself but my workload is more manageable.

Any cow not eating meal needs attention immediately imo.