Farming Chit Chat II

delaval

Don't forget deadline 31-3-13.
Submit fert/meal accounts for 2012
Complete 2013 application

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

Don't forget deadline 31-3-13.
Submit fert/meal accounts for 2012
Complete 2013 application

will you remind me again closer to the date, with my DVO gone now I havnt access to the few days past the deadline stamp:D

whelan1

using the end of silage pit now- well its there a couple of years, about a months feeding in it, cows milking better on it than they did all winter on last years stuff, does silage improve with age?

mf240

No but there was sunshine in 2011 so it was probably better silage. If teagasc catch you feeding silage in march theyll report you.:D

whelan1

mf240 wrote: »

No but there was sunshine in 2011 so it was probably better silage. If teagasc catch you feeding silage in march theyll report you.:D

what happens if you're feeding silage in april... i'm getting scared

Timmaay

whelan1 wrote: »

using the end of silage pit now- well its there a couple of years, about a months feeding in it, cows milking better on it than they did all winter on last years stuff, does silage improve with age?

this is why I'm thinking of some maize for next, silage is hard to get consistent from one year to the next, ours milked sh*te all winter to be honest, protein below the 3% for a good while. When they came back 2wks ago because of the weather I straight away saw a 400l drop in the milk collection (about 2000l). Ours this year is just too wet I think, nuts costing me an arm and a leg, and even feeding them 6 to 10kg in the parlour hasn't giving the response I'd hoped!

Down in carnew mart today with afew cull cows, thought mine were booked in early, but looks like ill be stuck here all day! Hate wasting the day at the mart as such! And lost a nice 190ebi heifer calf lastnight to scour, raging the i let it happen, bad day so far!

kevthegaff

Timmaay wrote: »

this is why I'm thinking of some maize for next, silage is hard to get consistent from one year to the next, ours milked sh*te all winter to be honest, protein below the 3% for a good while. When they came back 2wks ago because of the weather I straight away saw a 400l drop in the milk collection (about 2000l). Ours this year is just too wet I think, nuts costing me an arm and a leg, and even feeding them 6 to 10kg in the parlour hasn't giving the response I'd hoped!

Down in carnew mart today with afew cull cows, thought mine were booked in early, but looks like ill be stuck here all day! Hate wasting the day at the mart as such! And lost a nice 190ebi heifer calf lastnight to scour, raging the i let it happen, bad day so far!

What does maize work out compared to meal in terms of price?

Manoffeeling

whelan1 wrote: »

using the end of silage pit now- well its there a couple of years, about a months feeding in it, cows milking better on it than they did all winter on last years stuff, does silage improve with age?

A big yes.

whelan1

Timmaay wrote: »

this is why I'm thinking of some maize for next, silage is hard to get consistent from one year to the next, ours milked sh*te all winter to be honest, protein below the 3% for a good while. When they came back 2wks ago because of the weather I straight away saw a 400l drop in the milk collection (about 2000l). Ours this year is just too wet I think, nuts costing me an arm and a leg, and even feeding them 6 to 10kg in the parlour hasn't giving the response I'd hoped!

Down in carnew mart today with afew cull cows, thought mine were booked in early, but looks like ill be stuck here all day! Hate wasting the day at the mart as such! And lost a nice 190ebi heifer calf lastnight to scour, raging the i let it happen, bad day so far!

whats the cull price like? heading with a few next week, are thet dry or straight out of parlour? shame about the calf, but these things happen

Timmaay

whelan1 wrote: »

whats the cull price like? heading with a few next week, are thet dry or straight out of parlour? shame about the calf, but these things happen

Most of these were big cows, well dry and we have been feeding them nuts over the past month (my dads choice, I don't even want to know how much money/time and effort was wasted at that), anyways, worst was a 14yr old lady, 600quid, and best a big lump of a cow, 780kg and she got almost 1300.

1/2 thinking about getting the vet to look at a sample of the scour, and see if he can test it for ecoil or the likes. Many of yas bother doing the likes? As ya said though these things happen, on the plus side I think the number of calves with scour has certainly reduced this year, I'll put that down to not moving the calves between different pens, and better hygiene, straw more often and I went around the pens with the knapsack and disinfectant afew times. Having said all that, the pin that the calf was in last night was a brand new (makeshift) pen, inwhich there had been no calves in previously, I don't know what she could have picked up.

whelan1

Timmaay wrote: »

Most of these were big cows, well dry and we have been feeding them nuts over the past month (my dads choice, I don't even want to know how much money/time and effort was wasted at that), anyways, worst was a 14yr old lady, 600quid, and best a big lump of a cow, 780kg and she got almost 1300.

1/2 thinking about getting the vet to look at a sample of the scour, and see if he can test it for ecoil or the likes. Many of yas bother doing the likes? As ya said though these things happen, on the plus side I think the number of calves with scour has certainly reduced this year, I'll put that down to not moving the calves between different pens, and better hygiene, straw more often and I went around the pens with the knapsack and disinfectant afew times. Having said all that, the pin that the calf was in last night was a brand new (makeshift) pen, inwhich there had been no calves in previously, I don't know what she could have picked up.

osmonds have a scour test kit, i know nothing about it... might be better to ask your vet

tanko

Bizzum wrote: »

Anyone thinking of a Limousine Maternal type bull might be interested in Pacha 08 (PCH) below
http://herdplus.icbf.com/bull-search/view/animalId/288220824

On offer from Dovea at the moment at €10 a throw.

Have you ever used him yourself or seen any calves out of him?

Bizzum

tanko wrote: »

Have you ever used him yourself or seen any calves out of him?

Nope. I know nothing about him.

Timmaay

kevthegaff wrote: »

What does maize work out compared to meal in terms of price?

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2010/20100205/TheCostOfMaizeAlternativeForages.pdf

Teagasc boys putting a price of €144/ton of utilized DM, I don't know if you can compare that directly with meal at say €300/ton, but it would be a substantial saving anyways. Maize is a very variable crop also, with some chaps getting shockingly low yields this year, but I'm right by the sea with little frost, two neighbours managed to get good yields so it does sound like a decent option for me. Biggest risk I think is the high outlay cost, of sowing/plastic etc, so you can be out of pocket if the yield is rubbish.

What one of the neighbours do also is only put in 3/4ft of silage in one of the pits, then put the maize in on top, feed it with the sheargrab, so zero extra cost that way. I'd consider beet as the yield per HA is massive, but it seems too labour intensive, washing etc, right in the winter when you don't need the extra workload.

Kev you not spring milk though? I'm only considering maize now as the winter milkers did rubbish this year off the silage, which forced me to feed lots of nuts in the parlour.

freedominacup

Timmaay wrote: »

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2010/20100205/TheCostOfMaizeAlternativeForages.pdf

Teagasc boys putting a price of €144/ton of utilized DM, I don't know if you can compare that directly with meal at say €300/ton, but it would be a substantial saving anyways. Maize is a very variable crop also, with some chaps getting shockingly low yields this year, but I'm right by the sea with little frost, two neighbours managed to get good yields so it does sound like a decent option for me. Biggest risk I think is the high outlay cost, of sowing/plastic etc, so you can be out of pocket if the yield is rubbish.

Right by the sea isn't all it's cracked up to be with maize the site still needs to be right. We're less than a mile from the coast but getting close to the 300 ft limit and maize just doesn't work in most of our suitable (in terms of land quality) sites. They're just too exposed. We get a much more reliable return from wholecrop wheat. It's not as good as good maize but the year has to be outrageously bad not to get a good crop. With maize we found we were having too many bad years to make it cost effective.

whelan1

snowing

freedominacup

whelan1 wrote: »

snowing

Didn't we sort this out last week? stop saying snowing:rolleyes:

mf240

Snowing

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

snowing

FFS where are you the north pole? theres a northeasterly wind here that would cut you in 2, but no snow yet :rolleyes:

delaval

freedominacup wrote: »

Didn't we sort this out last week? stop saying snowing:rolleyes:

I think she meant to say
'Atmospheric water vapour frozen into ice crystals and falling in light flakes':P:P:P:P

whelan1

td5man wrote: »

FFS where are you the north pole? theres a northeasterly wind here that would cut you in 2, but no snow yet :rolleyes:

well its either snowing or i have very bad dandruff! no seriously it is snowing... bitter out

delaval

whelan1 wrote: »

well its either snowing or i have very bad dandruff! no seriously it is snowing... bitter out

Did you take any hay out to the sheep?

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

well its either snowing or i have very bad dandruff! no seriously it is snowing... bitter out

Much :eek:

whelan1

delaval wrote: »

Did you take any hay out to the sheep?

sheep are long gone,think it was mid january, although they did leave1 behind, dont have any hay to leave out either!

whelan1

td5man wrote: »

Much :eek:

not alot yet. but snowing all the same

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

not alot yet. but snowing all the same

forecast is giving up to 150mm :eek:

whelan1

might as well, sure water off a ducks back at this stage... cheers having a few beers

kevthegaff

Timmaay wrote: »

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2010/20100205/TheCostOfMaizeAlternativeForages.pdf

Teagasc boys putting a price of €144/ton of utilized DM, I don't know if you can compare that directly with meal at say €300/ton, but it would be a substantial saving anyways. Maize is a very variable crop also, with some chaps getting shockingly low yields this year, but I'm right by the sea with little frost, two neighbours managed to get good yields so it does sound like a decent option for me. Biggest risk I think is the high outlay cost, of sowing/plastic etc, so you can be out of pocket if the yield is rubbish.

What one of the neighbours do also is only put in 3/4ft of silage in one of the pits, then put the maize in on top, feed it with the sheargrab, so zero extra cost that way. I'd consider beet as the yield per HA is massive, but it seems too labour intensive, washing etc, right in the winter when you don't need the extra workload.

Kev you not spring milk though? I'm only considering maize now as the winter milkers did rubbish this year off the silage, which forced me to feed lots of nuts in the parlour.

Jep im a spring milker, i like the sound of maize as its cleaner, less work. I just need to get my hands on 15-20 acres of cheep ground:eek: away from the farm. My friend has about 20 acres beside a piggery, saves a fortune on fertilliser.

Kovu

Cripes, the cold in work today would shatter the b*lls off a brass monkey:eek:

Muckit

Kovu Murr wrote: »

Cripes, the cold in work today would shatter the b*lls off a brass monkey:eek:

Nips like pencil erasers