Farming Chit Chat

whelan1

Muckit wrote: »

Were they bulls or heifers whelan1?

bulls

SarahBeep!

Hello lovely farming folks
I have to do an assignment for college and all I need is two advantages and two disadvantages of organic farming. After much googling I am still none the wiser! Is there anyone here who could offer me any advice?

snowman707

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Hello lovely farming folks
I have to do an assignment for college and all I need is two advantages and two disadvantages of organic farming. After much googling I am still none the wiser! Is there anyone here who could offer me any advice?

sorry no help Sarah , but it may be an idea to start a separate thread with your query.

LostCovey

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Hello lovely farming folks
I have to do an assignment for college and all I need is two advantages and two disadvantages of organic farming. After much googling I am still none the wiser! Is there anyone here who could offer me any advice?

Hi Sarah,

Full marks for initiative, but low marks for research effort!

Advantages
- low inputs overall - less feed, fertiliser, sprays, doses
- premium price for organic food, means a premium price for farm outputs
- marketing supports (plenty of favourable press coverage, labelling rules, etc
- some (very modest) grant supports
- because registered organic farmers must buy organic breeding stock you can sell these at a premium

Disadvantages
- less productive/unit of production (whether that unit is an acre of land, head of cattle or ton of seed potatoes)
- more expensive inputs (you have to avoid buying commercial or gentically modified feed feed, you can't buy commercial livestock if you are a registered organic farmer - you have to buy organic in both cases)
- highly regulated, so even more paperwork, inspections and rul;es than the non-organic sector
- you have to be very lateral in your thinking to preserve soil fertility without manures, control parasites without dosing etc - and in some cases you can't and you may need to get a derogation e.g. if you have liver fluke on your farm


You can expand these yourself. There are loads more, but its late and you said you only need two.

LostCovey

SarahBeep!

I do really really appreciate it! Thank you!!

Tipp Man

SarahBeep! wrote: »

I do really really appreciate it! Thank you!!

Don't forget that as with most things in life most of those advantages could be turned to disadvantages and most of the disadvantages could be turned to advantages

Atilathehun

haybob wrote: »

Went to Ennis last Saturday to buy a few shorthorn heifers anything nice was between 1400 and 1600, couldn't get over it will be going to Kilfenora bank holiday monday.

Probably wont be any cheaper in Kilfenora. Good few lads around there with nice shorthorn stock though;)

Muckit

Tipp Man wrote: »

Don't forget that as with most things in life most of those advantages could be turned to disadvantages and most of the disadvantages could be turned to advantages

So true

bbam

Another bad day here.. Wet N windy, pigs hardly came out for feed

Ground very wet now, couning down the time to housing.. we have 3-4 weeks grass if the weather is good enough..

5live

Just finished with the vet. Best cow came up this morning with hind tit in bits, a T cut on the side of it but the milk tube ok, thank god. 6 stitches which she didnt like and the vet with a nice covering of sh**e so both very happy with me. Ground is so soft i cant figure how she got it stood on on the only piece of ground that was solid enough to hold the tit enough to cut it

weefarmer

I have a few heifers to sell at the weekend, just checked the cards, they were herd tested last december, will this cover them for sale or do I need a blood test? They are around 15 months.

vanderbadger

weefarmer wrote: »

I have a few heifers to sell at the weekend, just checked the cards, they were herd tested last december, will this cover them for sale or do I need a blood test? They are around 15 months.

if they are under 18 mths you dont need a blood test I think so you should be fine. I think thats the case anyway

weefarmer

Ok thanks vander, im tryin to double check with the vet but cannot get through to them this afternoon atall!!

whelan1

does the blood test last 60 days now instead of 30?

redzerologhlen

whelan1 wrote: »

does the blood test last 60 days now instead of 30?

It does indeed!!

weefarmer

redzerologhlen wrote: »

whelan1 wrote: »

does the blood test last 60 days now instead of 30?

It does indeed!!

About time!

pakalasa

....and you only have to Herd Test for Brucellosis once every two years.

pakalasa

Anyone got any tips for getting a weanling to eat meal. Have one weanling bull (7 months) that wont touch the meal. All the others would knock you down for it. He just stands there beside the trough watching the others eating. I even locked him into a small yard on his own with the trough, but no good.

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

Anyone got any tips for getting a weanling to eat meal. Have one weanling bull (7 months) that wont touch the meal. All the others would knock you down for it. He just stands there beside the trough watching the others eating. I even locked him into a small yard on his own with the trough, but no good.

give him calf crunch when he is in the yard on his own

pakalasa

whelan1 wrote: »

give him calf crunch when he is in the yard on his own

Thanks, I'll give it a go. That stuff is sweeter isn't it.

blue5000

try putting some sugar in it as well

Bizzum

whelan1 wrote: »

give him calf crunch when he is in the yard on his own

Spot on. This worked for us before.
We had one or two over the years that refused to eat anything though!

LostCovey

Bizzum wrote: »

Spot on. This worked for us before.
We had one or two over the years that refused to eat anything though!

Add molasses, because it smells really great, and seems to really get their interest.

I buy Connacht Gold "calf muesli" to get them started - it is full of molasses, and a bit sticky to handle but awfully palatable

LC

reilig

Been to 3 marts now trying to buy a ram to run with the 20 ewes. There seems to be poor demand for rams at the moment, I know its late in the season, but I plan on lambing outside in spring. The sales that I went to have had 10 to 15 rams at each sale. Out of these, I picked 8 - 10 that were suitable with the rest being possibly culls. With few buyers at the sales, I'm often left bidding away on my own for the breeding rams and I haven't been able to convince any seller to sell a ram to me (inside or outside the ring). I'm not tight, I offered 2 guys a lot more than they were getting in the ring and they laughed in my face. The cull rams have loads of buyers, but the breeding ram owners seem happy to take them home.

Going to bite the bullet and head to the Charollais sale in Ballinasloe tonight. I have to source something this week. Anyone got an opinion as to how much a pedigree Charollais ram will set me back? As I'm not a pedigree breeder, I'll be buying in the lower end of the market - just something that will tip ewes.

Atilathehun

reilig wrote: »

Been to 3 marts now trying to buy a ram to run with the 20 ewes. There seems to be poor demand for rams at the moment, I know its late in the season, but I plan on lambing outside in spring. The sales that I went to have had 10 to 15 rams at each sale. Out of these, I picked 8 - 10 that were suitable with the rest being possibly culls. With few buyers at the sales, I'm often left bidding away on my own for the breeding rams and I haven't been able to convince any seller to sell a ram to me (inside or outside the ring). I'm not tight, I offered 2 guys a lot more than they were getting in the ring and they laughed in my face. The cull rams have loads of buyers, but the breeding ram owners seem happy to take them home.

Going to bite the bullet and head to the Charollais sale in Ballinasloe tonight. I have to source something this week. Anyone got an opinion as to how much a pedigree Charollais ram will set me back? As I'm not a pedigree breeder, I'll be buying in the lower end of the market - just something that will tip ewes.

Have you no neighbour with sheep, from whom you could borrow?

Don't have sheep anymore, but used to regularly lend my ram to few differnt fellas once the tipping on my place was done.

sako 85

reilig wrote: »

Been to 3 marts now trying to buy a ram to run with the 20 ewes. There seems to be poor demand for rams at the moment, I know its late in the season, but I plan on lambing outside in spring. The sales that I went to have had 10 to 15 rams at each sale. Out of these, I picked 8 - 10 that were suitable with the rest being possibly culls. With few buyers at the sales, I'm often left bidding away on my own for the breeding rams and I haven't been able to convince any seller to sell a ram to me (inside or outside the ring). I'm not tight, I offered 2 guys a lot more than they were getting in the ring and they laughed in my face. The cull rams have loads of buyers, but the breeding ram owners seem happy to take them home.

Going to bite the bullet and head to the Charollais sale in Ballinasloe tonight. I have to source something this week. Anyone got an opinion as to how much a pedigree Charollais ram will set me back? As I'm not a pedigree breeder, I'll be buying in the lower end of the market - just something that will tip ewes.

I bought a Pedigree Charollais Ram Lamb privately from a farm for €450. Personally I prefer buying rams privately from a farm because you get a good idea of how they were reared. Also in my opinion a strong ram lamb would be more than able for 20 ewes. So my advice would be to check out donedeal.ie or the classified sections of the IFJ.

Atilathehun

I see the lad who won the Case tractor in the farming Indo, is selling it.
Looking at the house in the background, he is not a farmer at all.

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/tractors/2597173

jay gatsby

One serious beast of a dairy farm for sale on the journal this week. Caherduggan Demesne in Cork - Must break open the piggy bank and see how we're looking.

whelan1

Atilathehun wrote: »

I see the lad who won the Case tractor in the farming Indo, is selling it.
Looking at the house in the background, he is not a farmer at all.

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/tractors/2597173

what would that go for, allowing for the cork registration and all:D

whelan1

jay gatsby wrote: »

One serious beast of a dairy farm for sale on the journal this week. Caherduggan Demesne in Cork - Must break open the piggy bank and see how we're looking.

are these dairy farms being sold by the banks or what?