Farming Chit Chat

whelan1

Finno59 wrote: »

Any chance she had mastitis?

no , checked her out...:mad:

johngalway

A farmer named Sid was overseeing his stock in a remote moorland pasture in North Yorkshire when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"

Sid looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing stock and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASApage on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany .

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Sid.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the back of his car.

Then Sid says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Member of Parliament for our Government", says Sid.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the farmer. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of pounds worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a flock of sheep. ...


Now give me back my dog!

blue5000

Nice one Johngalway, heard something similiar before, but the young man was a consultant!:cool:

Tipp Man

whelan1 wrote: »

just wondering with the lack of rain would fertiliser be being utilised ?

Lack of Rain ??!!!!!

We must of had in excess of an inch of rain in the past couple of days

Looks like temps will be increasing to high teens from the middle of the week, should give the grass a good spurt of growth

johngalway

No shortage of rain here. Pelting down at the moment, just as well or I'd be out lamping, got an early start tomorrow.

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

cow was dead this morning , now when vet came out my da was with her . Temp was up at 40 , i always thought that temperature goes down if they have milk fever cow got 4 bottles of calmag and 1 bottle of magnessium , so was well covered there. A raised temp in my opinion is the sign of an infection... just a bit peeved off as cow was a pb angus

sorry to hear about the cow big loss. what was her breeding and how old was she.do yous have any big bang bloodline in the cows.

whelan1

what happen wrote: »

sorry to hear about the cow big loss. what was her breeding and how old was she.do yous have any big bang bloodline in the cows.

is that sunet acres bang ,we used alot of him, all our cows have a lot of canadian breeding , we had 2 bulls in ai , priestown jupiter and priestown tornado... great bulls...tbh we havent really been working as hard with them as we should have been over the last few years as with the kids i wouldnt have the time to keep everything right , we have a atock bull with them but i hope to get back to ai'ing them again next year. M ust take some pics and post them on here some day , they are massive cows

vanderbadger

anyone see that show on beeb last night about lambing, just caught a bit of it, your man who's farm was being featured had 2 serious looking lim bulls that he brought to sale in carlisle, one made over 6500 sterling :eek:

Muckit

vanderbadger wrote: »

anyone see that show on beeb last night about lambing, just caught a bit of it, your man who's farm was being featured had 2 serious looking lim bulls that he brought to sale in carlisle, one made over 6500 sterling :eek:

What I couldn't get over was how they fast they could run when they got asway from them:eek: And the fact that they got away even though he had em on the nose ring. Scary. And they were show cattle.

Fine animals alright. It's gas how the bull that came first in his class made the smaller money at just over £2sterling :rolleyes:

vanderbadger

Muckit wrote: »

What I couldn't get over was how they fast they could run when they got asway from them:eek: And the fact that they got away even though he had em on the nose ring. Scary. And they were show cattle.

Fine animals alright. It's gas how the bull that came first in his class made the smaller money at just over £2sterling :rolleyes:

yep but thought it was crazy they way they were trying to load them anyway, big open yard up a high ramp of a truck with camera crew and gos knows what else around..the auld lad was lucky they didnt crease him and the quad trailer
jesus when they took off they were really moving..what age would you say they were, they must have been pushing 2 ?

JohnBoy

irishh_bob wrote: »

how much do you hope to get for crop of silage

With the price of fertilizer going onto it I really need to get 165 an acre.

14 acres, of varying age/quality, from fresh reseed, some a few years older but very good. down to a few acres older sward but still good ground.

No idea of what it's going to be making this year. I wouldnt be surprised if it's down on last year. Super Levy could knock the wind out of a lot of sails, and there's a lot of silage left over from the winter. but then again costs are up and tillage is taking over a lot of land, so who knows.

Anyway since when has farming been about making a fair return?

irishh_bob

JohnBoy wrote: »

With the price of fertilizer going onto it I really need to get 165 an acre.

14 acres, of varying age/quality, from fresh reseed, some a few years older but very good. down to a few acres older sward but still good ground.

No idea of what it's going to be making this year. I wouldnt be surprised if it's down on last year. Super Levy could knock the wind out of a lot of sails, and there's a lot of silage left over from the winter. but then again costs are up and tillage is taking over a lot of land, so who knows.

Anyway since when has farming been about making a fair return?

no superlevy , cordinated efforts to avoid it were successfull

165 euro for one crop of silage :eek:

JohnBoy

Just saw that they reckon it'll just be avoided. everyone will plough on regardless so!

going rate seemingly around 150 last year, and fertiliser costs are way up this year.

Muckit

vanderbadger wrote: »

what age would you say they were, they must have been pushing 2 ?

Hardly ever 24mths when being sold at a sale for breeding, more likely 20mths tops I reckon. Yes exceptional cattle

Madness with that steep ramp alright and open yard. You'd swear they were amateurs! (they were far from it!)

Bodacious

Muckit wrote: »

Hardly ever 24mths when being sold at a sale for breeding, more likely 20mths tops I reckon. Yes exceptional cattle

Madness with that steep ramp alright and open yard. You'd swear they were amateurs! (they were far from it!)

Sounds like a good show!What was the name of that programme?channel i might try and get it online?

vanderbadger

Bodacious wrote: »

Sounds like a good show!What was the name of that programme?channel i might try and get it online?

i think its just called lambing live but the bbc player wont work in ireland so you might have to download it from somewhere

pakalasa

There are small clips of it here on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4KCU06WM5E&feature=BF&list=SP1FB8601C07FBDEEB&index=1

If anyone knows where the full programme can be downloaded, could they post it here? Thanks.

vanderbadger

whelan1 wrote: »

is that sunet acres bang ,we used alot of him, all our cows have a lot of canadian breeding , we had 2 bulls in ai , priestown jupiter and priestown tornado... great bulls...tbh we havent really been working as hard with them as we should have been over the last few years as with the kids i wouldnt have the time to keep everything right , we have a atock bull with them but i hope to get back to ai'ing them again next year. M ust take some pics and post them on here some day , they are massive cows

would love to see a few pics whelan some time if you get a chance, just wondering would you get a good calf from crossing big angus cow with blue bull?
I suppose yours are all purebred so you probably arent crossing them anyway

whelan1

will wait til they go out and get cleaned up a bit and will post some then:)

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

is that sunet acres bang ,we used alot of him, all our cows have a lot of canadian breeding , we had 2 bulls in ai , priestown jupiter and priestown tornado... great bulls...tbh we havent really been working as hard with them as we should have been over the last few years as with the kids i wouldnt have the time to keep everything right , we have a atock bull with them but i hope to get back to ai'ing them again next year. M ust take some pics and post them on here some day , they are massive cows

yes that him great bull no wonder they have loads of milk and are big cows.i worked for a man that had a bull with that breeding he had great lenght.he sucker and finishs all to slaugher.he kept heifers off him for breeding and he sold him to the brother.his brother kept him a number of years and then needed money and sold him.he asked the brother did he want to buy him back and he said no.he told me later he regreted not buying him back. he said he couldnt get the same bull at the carrickonshannon sales and he went every year to buy a bull.the mans brother used him on bb he had great heifers out of him which he kept for breeding.

whelan1

ye ptj , was a fantastic animal , he bet charlaois , limousin etc in tully for dlwg

johngalway

I'm blessed by ram lambs this year. 16 ewes have lambed so far, that's 22 lambs. 15 of which are ram lambs! 2 of the 7 ewe lambs are Cheviot which I doubt I'll keep so that leaves 5 prospect replacements thus far :pac: I'll need to sprinkle Holy Water over them

Breeding the flock out of existence at this rate :pac:

whelan1

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

What's in the bullets Whelan1? Copper / magnesium?? Does it help get them back in calf? Never used them myself

whelan1

magnessium for tetany

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

just back from bulleting the sucklers... i hate that job with a passion

And there is always 1 or 2 that will spit one of them back up no matter how many times you put it in there.

whelan1

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

I catch them in the nose with my thumb and first finger :eek: We have no tongs around here!!
Usually get the old man to put the bullet down. There's always 1 that will try to roll ya.

Username John

johngalway wrote: »

I'm blessed by ram lambs this year. 16 ewes have lambed so far, that's 22 lambs. 15 of which are ram lambs! 2 of the 7 ewe lambs are Cheviot which I doubt I'll keep so that leaves 5 prospect replacements thus far :pac: I'll need to sprinkle Holy Water over them

Breeding the flock out of existence at this rate :pac:

I had mostly ram lambs at the start as well - I think the first 10 lambs we had were all rams... (10 I know is a small number, but as % of what I have, tisnt too small)
But we had more rams than ewe lambs overall...
And the ones that had rams acourse, were the nice ones you'd like to breed off... I dont have many replacement ewe lambs this year either.

Last year, I breed a few ewes I should have sold as lambs to be honest, but I wanted to up my numbers a bit. They were a bit small, and had problems lambing... So being a bit more cautious with what I keep now...

what happen

whelan1 wrote: »

its the thickness of the cows, they wont put their head through the crush gate , impossible to catch them with the tongs and then to get the bullets in:mad:

the canadian angus dont like their heads touched.the man i worked for told me that as i found out myself.