Farming Chit Chat

whelan1

never rains but it pours:o my calving shed is just across the yard from the house.. got up at 4 this morning as a heifer was calving and the cleanings where over its head, calves are too valuable to loose this year especially...

Kovu

whelan1 wrote: »

never rains but it pours:o my calving shed is just across the yard from the house.. got up at 4 this morning as a heifer was calving and the cleanings where over its head, calves are too valuable to loose this year especially...

Did you get to the calf in time Whelan1?

whelan1

yup went out in my pyjamas and wellies:D

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

yup went out in my pyjamas and wellies:D

A vision I'm sure 

Kovu

whelan1 wrote: »

yup went out in my pyjamas and wellies:D

Hahaha, did the same myself this morning, let the cat out at 9 and next thing I hear a donkey braying....
Out I go and hadn't the effin' cat chased the donkey across the field and backed him into a corner!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

blue5000

Cows and heifer calves off to grass today, yippee:)

whelan1

blue5000 wrote: »

Cows and heifer calves off to grass today, yippee:)

Hope they dont have to come back in:) looking at the forecast wet weather this week, was going to put out urea tomorrow but will leave it til the end of the week after seeing the forecast after the news

thetangler

Hi Karen
By ("have to be declared when selling") does the auctioneer have to announce it or is it on the board somewhere ?
Thanks.

vanderbadger

blue5000 wrote: »

Cows and heifer calves off to grass today, yippee:)

lucky devil..thats a long way off for some of us yet

Kovu

thetangler wrote: »

Hi Karen
By ("have to be declared when selling") does the auctioneer have to announce it or is it on the board somewhere ?
Thanks.

Auctioneer announces it and it's written on the sheet for future use. I.E. If a query about the animal came up or a dispute about what was declared.

lakill Farm

Where would i get a silage knife for cutting round bales? I checked the 2 local hardwares and well :eek:. many people use them now? i want to cut bales

reilig

lakill Farm wrote: »

Where would i get a silage knife for cutting round bales? I checked the 2 local hardwares and well :eek:. many people use them now? i want to cut bales

I don't know if silage knifes are being made nowadays. They've been replaced with bale unrollers and bale splitters. You can still buy hay knifes like this but silage knifes that you can operate with your foot like this are a tough find.

I bought a new head for my knife which was originally bought in the 1980's in Connacht Gold about 4 years ago. You could call them and see if they have anything. Otherwise, if someone handy had a picture, it wouldn't be too hard to knock one up

I know that we'd be lost without the one that we have!

lakill Farm

Thanks Reilig,

I couldnt justify buying a bale unroller or a bale cutter at the moment. Trying to grape out even percision cut can be though when you get to the bottom of the bale on day 2.

reilig

lakill Farm wrote: »

Thanks Reilig,

I couldnt justify buying a bale unroller or a bale cutter at the moment. Trying to grape out even percision cut can be though when you get to the bottom of the bale on day 2.

I don't have to cut chopped bales (Well McHale chopped ones if that makes a difference). I just leave them on their flat and then spread them out on both sides until I get to the core. Then just take out the core with the fork and the rest is easy forked then!

lakill Farm

i do the same, but the good wife does go down and fed sometimes and this is when it becomes a task. No blame intended, the fact she has an interest is great and i dont want to knock that.

reilig wrote: »

I don't have to cut chopped bales (Well McHale chopped ones if that makes a difference). I just leave them on their flat and then spread them out on both sides until I get to the core. Then just take out the core with the fork and the rest is easy forked then!

Tipp Man

The more intact you can keep a bale the longer it will last without going off

bbam

Can vouch for the foot operated knife. We use one and it makes feeding the bale so much easier.

johngalway

Got an unsolicited compliment from the ould lad today while we were gathering, "a lot of land down there and not a bit of it wasted." I figure he's looking for something

Bodacious

Had my first calf of the year this morning, a big yellow heifer by Limkiln Bosco (KIB) she threw her out cow took only 279 days, 277 last year , 275 year before both blues

you dairy guys and girls would love this cow, calved at 2 and has 5 heifers out of 5, Bulling 5 weeks post calving outdoors on haylage only

5live

Just got surveyed by redC polls. I'm going to be on national news:p. I never took much notice of polls because nobody i ever asked was ever surveyed. Just dont blame me if you think house prices will rise and the economy is improving and we should vote yes to lisbon3

Good loser

lakill Farm wrote: »

Thanks Reilig,

I couldnt justify buying a bale unroller or a bale cutter at the moment. Trying to grape out even percision cut can be though when you get to the bottom of the bale on day 2.

Use a two prong or three prong pike.

limo_100

Bodacious wrote: »

Had my first calf of the year this morning, a big yellow heifer by Limkiln Bosco (KIB) she threw her out cow took only 279 days, 277 last year , 275 year before both blues

you dairy guys and girls would love this cow, calved at 2 and has 5 heifers out of 5, Bulling 5 weeks post calving outdoors on haylage only

is she out of a charolais cow?

Bodacious

limo_100 wrote: »

Bodacious wrote: »

Had my first calf of the year this morning, a big yellow heifer by Limkiln Bosco (KIB) she threw her out cow took only 279 days, 277 last year , 275 year before both blues

you dairy guys and girls would love this cow, calved at 2 and has 5 heifers out of 5, Bulling 5 weeks post calving outdoors on haylage only

is she out of a charolais cow?

hi limo,

no she a lim cow alot of lim in her I bought her in with a second calf at foot but she may have a bit of Ayrshire (dark brown hair on the muzzle) or shorthorn in her

I'm away with work at the min, will upload pic on other thread on Friday hopefully, just delighted she calved okay as it's a Fxxker when you are away etc, fair play to ole lads!!

john mayo 10

just in from the sheds, had our first born of the year, coming backwards but all is well. A fine ch bull calf by PIO out of a ch/simx cow:D

bbam

Finally the mornings are brightening up.
Got away without a lamp thismorning.
Roll on long bright days Maybe it's an age thing but I hate thee long dark winter evenings.

snowman707

Lambing in full swing since last Thursday, the first 80 lambs out on grass this morning, will have the the most of the early batch out before the calving starts end of month,

a bit disappointed with the quality and quantity of the pasture, was closed since late september and some got FYM , a lot of yellowing, but then it has been constantly lashed with for the last 8 weeks, will continue meal feeding the ewes until the lambs are eating creep fairly well

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

Lambing in full swing since last Thursday, the first 80 lambs out on grass this morning, will have the the most of the early batch out before the calving starts end of month,

a bit disappointed with the quality and quantity of the pasture, was closed since late september and some got FYM , a lot of yellowing, but then it has been constantly lashed with for the last 8 weeks, will continue meal feeding the ewes until the lambs are eating creep fairly well

Isn't is so ironic with the variations of grass growth and variations of weather within 100 miles in this little country. Last summer was one of the driest on record in many parts. Many people complained of droughts. In the west and north west, 2011 will be remembered for being one of the wettest and coldest summers in living memory where grass growth was stunted and cows poached ground in the middle of july.

Things are quite the opposite with us now. Most of the ground has been closed since the beginning of october when the cattle were housed. We've had temperatures of above 10 degrees since the middle of December and any field that is a bit rank has a good coating of grass on it. I have meadows that I reseeded 2 years ago and they have a lush coat of long green grass - like what you would expect to see the last week of April. If they got another 3 weeks of growth, I could cut them for silage. Alas, we have received our normal allocation of rain in the last 2 months and the ground wouldn't carry a small cow at the moment. The sheep will get at it in a few weeks time. As D'Unbelievables used to say "It would be a great little country if we could only roof it".

Kovu

Second calf of the year and it's a section:mad:

leg wax

Karen112 wrote: »

Second calf of the year and it's a section:mad:

it can only get better and everthing always works out for leg wax, thats what i always mutter to myself.let us know how it goes.

Kovu

leg wax wrote: »

it can only get better and everthing always works out for leg wax, thats what i always mutter to myself.let us know how it goes.

I wouldn't mind but this is a third calver who carried a hard blue last year and calved herself....put PAM on her this year and got a bull that could nearly get up on a cow already:o