Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Another way of looking at it. Is if you do your own work. Machinery, etc, as much as possible, is you require less cows.

If you start getting the contractors to do everything little thing. Suddenly you require 500 cows to make a living.

The journal and teagasc like and promote the second model as it's more money for contractors, more money for the spin off services from each individual cow to the service providers.

If you can afford new machines yourself they should last a lifetime with the reduced work and be there when you want them.

Same goes for contractor. Nothings perfect.

Can be more favourable than trying to talk on the phone to some contractors. 🤪😬

Some you are expected to know when their mower is on and when their mower is off the tractor and then you are expected to believe their weather forecast that it won't rain for the week.

Don't ask..🙄

gave 10 years working for multinational …great money ,perks pension etc …..an amount of bullshit to put up with but didn’t bother me ….I was lucky in I got vokuntary redundancy and my dad wanted to retire ….I absolutely love what I’m at now and all the hassle and shite that goes with it ….yep it’s frustrating some times but it beats dealing with jumped up little **** of line managers in out of college and no offence…women …majority were fine but some if you had an argument or they didn’t like something you did or said might forget it for few days or a week or month etc but they never forget and you’ll always get it back both barrels 🤣….give me cows any day

Absolutely it's an animal welfare event plus a farmer tragedy waiting to happen 90 cows per man/woman max that's it after that the farmer would be an indebted slave

And your walking away from that security to go milking ,Fair does to you

brave move walking away from that, I’d love to walk away from my job as I hate, never had any bother walking away from jobs in the past but it’s amazing how a mortgage and children change the mindset, I can safely say if I didn’t have the farm I’d end up on the news some evening

I calve down 100/110 cows in 10/11 weeks in spring …..in spring I have local transition year student for 2 hours in morning ,2 in evening …another local lad gives me hand Saturday /Sunday during spring …..once past mid April I have relief Milker Saturday /Sunday evening and if I’m ever away for few days etc

In no way would I like to be on my own all spring and having Saturday Sunday evening relief Milker even if doing nothing is great just to get break from parlour ….I could go another 20/30 cows if I had land around parlour with same help

Farm has lots of automation from calf feeder to good spec parlour good gandeling faciiities etc ….crucial for mostly one man show

That's not one man don't be putting up fairytale rubbish lads have seen through these type figures a long time ago and anyone who hadn't has this last 22 months

The new term been coined on the above type units is the shadow wage

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/research-estimates-shadow-wage-on-irish-dairy-farms/

theirs probably another combined labour unit on alot of these one man band set-ups but its not accounted if it was, the real world profitability levels on farm would be on the floor, and the top 10% of farm that apparrently cleared 1k a cow in 2023 would be back to 400-500

No. No it's not up to the person or circumstances 😕. No matter the facilities there's only so many cows one man can handle on his own. contracting silage and bits of hedge cutting or digger work. If you're getting contractors to do a heap of work along with mammy and daddy maybe other family plus possibly two relief milkers ( not aimed at anyone specificly ) then your not on your own . It really amazes me that lads love to tell everyone that's paying them for there product that they can do the work of three people and still expect to get paid properly for it .have we not learned by now milking cows and farming in general is expensive,and bloody hard work ( also very enjoyable most of the time) stop being heroes boasting of numbers when someone else's helping/doing the work

Great advice g.