Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Well that's just a whole heap of untruths I smell an alternative agenda 🙄

Exactly!

You can put the best beef genetics into an AI straw, but if its going into a 450kg JEX.... it won't matter.

DBI is unfortunately, like you say, just lip-service. Cow-type is by far in a way the biggest factor.

"Coincidences are planned"...?

A reminder a report on the just transition is completed on agriculture and land use in Ireland and is about to be made public.

The list of people involved in this is in a tweet below.

Nothing at all authoritarian or creepy about this.

You still have to show blanket comments on an entire sector are false. If I'm a thorn in someone's side and argument. Then I'm a good thorn.

It's the way all sectors should be going.

100% recognise I've large gaps to make it perfect. But I know what'll do it or help at least.

I've entered into the catchment program this year.

Last year I approached a teagasc advisor about all things foliar and sprayer biology related.

Yesterday at an event he approached me to know about the foliar and was delighted I was in the program. He said his knowledge is non existent and needs to learn.

It's changing big time.

*I know he accessed my latest grass wedge on pasturebase so knows I'm not completely full of it. I've a student from them doing the grass measure.

not everyone needs to up their game. we are being tainted by the few. most of my neighbours are using sexed and then ai beef with Angus or hereford bulls to mop up. the motivation behind rte are their vegan and green influences.

Factory kill sheets across the country over the past 10 years would say different. There has been a massive drop in weight and grading. Even accommodating the drop in sucklers the drop has been greater than this.

Its purely down to a reduction in dairy cow weight and poor choice of beef bulls, simples. It's accros the whole industry. Look at the reduction of the beef sub index value within the EBI over the past 10 years, it has fallen greatly. This is not down to a small cohort of dairy farmers, this is the direction that over 90% have taken under the guidance of Teagasc and ICBF.

I'm not expecting dairy farmers to put their cows in calf to a load of Blues, but what I, like a lot of other calf to beef farmers would like to see is

1.A touch more weight and confirmation on cows. Even 20kg LW would be a massive help. Better confirmation ( pelvic width) leads to easier calving and this cows going back in calf quicker

2. Careful selection of Beef straws and stock bull. They have to show a minimum of +10kg Carcase weight.There are a lot to stock mop up bulls showing in the negative territory out there.

Putting those 2 together leads to and animal that has the potential to carry 20kg more carcase weight. And in today's beef price that is approx an extra €100.

The obsession with 'large framed cows' has ruined many dairy and suckler farms. Bigger is better is a myth born around the show ring. Switching to smaller framed cows has saved many farms from going broke!

Id agree, they are no picture as calves but they even out over time and and finish easy, IF (a big IF I know!) the bull used is a good one for carcass traits.

A calf from an XBred cow and a high beefmerit bull is the best value out there (Aubracs are a great cross). Better than paying €400 plus for a big soft Blue or Hereford stock bull sired calf out of a narrow Holstein who will take 3 years to finish.

The much vaunted MACC curve has been "revised".

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/teagasc-unveils-roadmacc-to-reducing-emissions-774332

I agree 100% that dairy farmers should give farmers buying calves a better product- I see that even more since I've started dabbling in buying them. But that product can be much improved by using the right AI beef bulls on the herd, Fr or crossbreed alike.

A lot of crossbreed cows are still 530kg plus and will throw a good beef calf. It suits me that most buyers shy away from these calves, makes them super value to buy. Blues and black whiteheads are the worst value out there.

You played right into the factory’s hands so and done exactly what they wanted you to do. They’ve probably bought 90%+ of your factory fit stock since that day at €100 per head less than they’d have had to give you in the factory.

I was at Pat Aherne's open event this evening.

Pat is practicing foliar feeding, using zeolite and using homeopathy on his dairy herd. Multispecies swards and whole crop silage.

Never mentioned it.

Doesn't seem to be using it anymore?

Big macra crowd in Cork there at the open evening. He's gone full into dissolving urea with carbon sources, then the multispecies, the zeolite used on farm and a bit of wholecrop undersown with a multispecies sward.