Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Most milk suppliers are also plc shareholders,I know they pay poor milk prices but lower plc share price won't improve milk price... awful attitude.

bought a second hand parlour 2 years ago and retro fitted into our existing parlour, 8 ft pit. unreal job, milked the previous 20 odd years in a 4 ft 6inch pit, so the wider the better.

How much would it roughly be to retro fit swing arms to a 12 unit?

It doesnt add up you see the same farmers will complain about milkprice beef but not look at own cost.I dont make any silage after july its a waste of time given the cost to make it.Drawing silage 30 40 miles id milk less cows at home and set the land to some greedy derogation farmer

Is it or is it a different opinion. IMO when you go beyond 80-90% efficiency net margins are marginal.

Definitely in beef unless you are willing to spend 3-4 days a week around a mart ring ( even then it a different skills base) efficiency is a subjective analysis.

There comes a time when running around like a blue ar$ed fly is counter productive.

The hard part is realising where any system is at that stage.

It's easy to say that when gains are so marginal, In some cases, the difference between being in derogation can be the difference between an enterprise being viable or not.

I agree with @Jack98, The chap he's referencing has been coming in since day one with the same spiel tarring all dero farmers with the one brush.

You'd wonder if his tune would be the same if he didn't have a large landbase, real or imaginary, to milk a comfortable no. of cows.

Are the IFA or any of the farm organisations out lobbying specifically for farmers with lower numbers in derogation.

No they are not they are using lads with lower numbers as examples to try to stop the whole lot. This was signposted even at the last IFA election four years ago. There is an old saying that hard cases make bad law.

Yes there are many lads with 60-80 cows that are probably on the borderline. However there is a lot of intensive lads that are hitting 300kgsN/HA. A 20 acre piece of jand will not solve these lads issues.

Most of the problems for farmers is farm organisations will not actually negotiate and bring home the bad news. It's always a case of ''Ulster Says No'' with them

If you want to protect a subsection of farmers you go and negotiate for them.

Vast majority of dero farmers are big farmers …….absolute crap ….

Have you boys any proof to back this up like.Why dont farm orgs push for the poor auld 60 cow farmer to be left alone and tackle the big shots.

What proof have you the vast majority derogation farmers are big farmers apart from the few around you which you’re using as your sample size which is understandable because you clearly don’t get out much…

Seeing as it’s one of the biggest issues of the last year, if you talk to your neigbors, are in a discussion group or socialize with farmers I’m sure it’s going to come up…

I agree that derogation farmers are split across size. The lads with the biggest issue now however are the very large operators as @daiymann 5 is pointing at. There are a good few very intensive large operators that will seriously have to reconfigure there operations.

These lads already have there heifers rearing outsourced or off farm and calves have to be dumped out the gate at ten days . The milking platform was stocked at 4/ HA or above under the old banding with land rented for maize or silage a distance away.

The rebanding has created a headache and the new derogation limits along with the increases in volume of slurry to be exported. These are the lads that are really hurting and anybody thinking different is not looking at it from this angle. So there is a push to bring the smaller operator forwards as being the most significantly hit.

The farmer stocked at 2/ HA will muddle through. He will probably have to move heifers off farm or rent a bit of lands a distance away down a lane where large machinery cannot go. That is not an option for larger operators.

And why are you getting so worked up about is as you are not dairying. This is the biggest problem facing farmers, lads with no skin in the game pushing their agenda including the the city dwellers believing they have a right to dictate. And in case you think you are immune believe me the city folk are dictating how you farm too.

Its the biggest problem as u say facing a very small majority of the countries farmers