Farming Chit Chat II

hugo29

bogman_bass wrote: »

They used to dread myself and the brother coming to the creamery when we were little.

I managed to put caustic soda down my brothers nappy one day!

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

me and friend went into his yard where the council were storing the clay pipes( yes that long ago) for the sewage upgrade and smashed every one of them, to this day i dont know who paid for them

remember the days of tractors parked on hills to help them start, well me and my brother put my 7 year old sister sitting on it and left off hand brake and knocked it out of gear, never seen dad run as fast first trying to catch tractor and then trying to catch me and my brother

AntrimGlens

a cousin of my dads put me in a forty five gallon drum and rolled me down the lane when i was about eight, so after quite bite of bruising i plotted revenge. Two bags of sugar into the petrol tank of his new ford cortina was his medicine. The mechanic could never figure out what was wrong with the car...

reilig

Anyone fattening cattle on spuds?

Met a guy over the weekend who is growing 5 acres of sarpo mira which are an organic potato. We have about 1/10 of an acre of them every year for the last 7 or 8 years and gave this guy some of our seed after year 1. He now has enough of the seed to grow 5 acres. He recons that an acre of spuds combined with a small amount of silage will finish 3 bullocks over the winter. He plans to finish 15 this winter.

He has a pretty low cost system. MF 165, drill plough, planter and single row digger. He grows them in nice loose soil. Blackens it with slurry before he ploughs it. There's no spraying and no maintenance. He is retired and has time on his hands.

Just thought I'd put it out there - don't know how well it would work, but he claims thAt it works well for him!

hugo29

any one notice cows lame a lot this weather, wonder is it the hard dry ground

noticed two last night that were fine on saturday

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

Anyone fattening cattle on spuds?

Met a guy over the weekend who is growing 5 acres of sarpo mira which are an organic potato. We have about 1/10 of an acre of them every year for the last 7 or 8 years and gave this guy some of our seed after year 1. He now has enough of the seed to grow 5 acres. He recons that an acre of spuds combined with a small amount of silage will finish 3 bullocks over the winter. He plans to finish 15 this winter.

He has a pretty low cost system. MF 165, drill plough, planter and single row digger. He grows them in nice loose soil. Blackens it with slurry before he ploughs it. There's no spraying and no maintenance. He is retired and has time on his hands.

Just thought I'd put it out there - don't know how well it would work, but he claims thAt it works well for him!

If it was a success reilig, you could be on to a winner. We always sowed a half acre for the house. Great crop off bog garden. There would be some picking in them though! 5acres.... yeek!!

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

If it was a success reilig, you could be on to a winner. We always sowed a half acre for the house. Great crop off bog garden. There would be some picking in them though! 5acres.... yeek!!

Digger that he owns has a conveyor and loads them into a small trailer. I didn't get into the specifics of how he's going to store them. But surely when you take out the fact that he has no seed or fertilizer to buy and no spraying to do, it has to be a very cheap crop. Don't know what feed value is in them though!

nashmach

reilig wrote: »

Anyone fattening cattle on spuds?

Met a guy over the weekend who is growing 5 acres of sarpo mira which are an organic potato. We have about 1/10 of an acre of them every year for the last 7 or 8 years and gave this guy some of our seed after year 1. He now has enough of the seed to grow 5 acres. He recons that an acre of spuds combined with a small amount of silage will finish 3 bullocks over the winter. He plans to finish 15 this winter.

He has a pretty low cost system. MF 165, drill plough, planter and single row digger. He grows them in nice loose soil. Blackens it with slurry before he ploughs it. There's no spraying and no maintenance. He is retired and has time on his hands.

Just thought I'd put it out there - don't know how well it would work, but he claims thAt it works well for him!

How does he manage rotation though?

I am assuming here he has no other tillage.

reilig

nashmach wrote: »

How does he manage rotation though?

I am assuming here he has no other tillage.

He has wholecrop in for the first time and plans to feed it along with the spuds.

1chippy

reilig wrote: »

He has wholecrop in for the first time and plans to feed it along with the spuds.

A breeder up beside me fattens all his bulls prior to sale on them. Serious job to finish them

Dampintheattic

5kgs spuds = 1kg barley http://www.farming-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6411

And here's nice recipie http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/cut-feed-costs-with-surplus-spuds-26859228.html

bob charles

reilig wrote: »

Anyone fattening cattle on spuds?

Met a guy over the weekend who is growing 5 acres of sarpo mira which are an organic potato. We have about 1/10 of an acre of them every year for the last 7 or 8 years and gave this guy some of our seed after year 1. He now has enough of the seed to grow 5 acres. He recons that an acre of spuds combined with a small amount of silage will finish 3 bullocks over the winter. He plans to finish 15 this winter.

He has a pretty low cost system. MF 165, drill plough, planter and single row digger. He grows them in nice loose soil. Blackens it with slurry before he ploughs it. There's no spraying and no maintenance. He is retired and has time on his hands.

Just thought I'd put it out there - don't know how well it would work, but he claims thAt it works well for him!

Crazy plan in my view as he wont get the tonnage. It costs allot to grow an ac of spuds, and I dont know the DM of that variety but it varies massively. he would be better off growing some beet as this would yeild and also store allot better. He will have serious storage problems with spuds unless he pits them, after a couple of weeks in a heap they will be going off.

reilig

bob charles wrote: »

Crazy plan in my view as he wont get the tonnage. It costs allot to grow an ac of spuds, and I dont know the DM of that variety but it varies massively. he would be better off growing some beet as this would yeild and also store allot better. He will have serious storage problems with spuds unless he pits them, after a couple of weeks in a heap they will be going off.

It hasn't really cost him a lot to grow the 5 acres. As I said he has all of his own small machines. the seed cost nothing, no fertilizer or spray. In our own experience, sarpo's give an excellent yield with just manure - far more than roosters, kerr pinks or records that we grew and fetilized in the past, so there's no reason why he shouldn't get a good yield. I forgot to ask about storage, but I'm sure the same man has a plan. It's only on a very small scale, but he'll have more of a return on finishing his bullocks than some!!

Muckit

1chippy wrote: »

A breeder up beside me fattens all his bulls prior to sale on them. Serious job to finish them

reilig wrote: »

It hasn't really cost him a lot to grow the 5 acres. As I said he has all of his own small machines. the seed cost nothing, no fertilizer or spray........ I forgot to ask about storage, but I'm sure the same man has a plan.

I've heard they good to fatten too, but if they were that good I'd be buying in a few tonne to try them out for the first year or so. I'd prefer to take a hit to the pocket with bought in feed, than all the time and messing that goes along with sowing a crop yourself and and the land it takes up and then for it to be a disaster and nothing but hardship. If it was last year he'd have nothing!

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

If it was last year he'd have nothing!

He had approximately 15 ton last year off less than 3 acres + 5 ton of seed left over after that which he used this year.

case 5150

How do the cattle like there spuds with gravy or butter :P

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

He had approximately 15 ton last year off less than 3 acres + 5 ton of seed left over after that which he used this year.

It sounds ideallic. I can't argue with you on that one. A crop that yields well and produces seed for the next year sounds a great option.

You'd really want to be a neighbour, and a nosey one at that, looking in over the wall of that lad the whole year to see how 'the plan' goes from seeding to feeding. Storage would be the one thing I would be most concerned about as a few bruised spuds will shag a lot, then you've vermin and frost to contend with.

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

It sounds ideallic. I can't argue with you on that one. A crop that yields well and produces seed for the next year sounds a great option.

You'd really want to be a neighbour, and a nosey one at that, looking in over the wall of that lad the whole year to see how 'the plan' goes from seeding to feeding. Storage would be the one thing I would be most concerned about as a few bruised spuds will shag a lot, then you've vermin and frost to contend with.

Storage is the issue I'd say.

I know that Bob above argues that beet would be better - it maybe if the spuds were costing a lot to grow. He has his own machinery, own seed, slurry for fertilizer, no spray - you don't get this with beet, and you need better land than this guy has in order to grow beet.

Put it up here today because I thought there would be more people feeding with them. Maybe it'll be something for the future?

blue5000

reilig wrote: »

Storage is the issue I'd say.

I know that Bob above argues that beet would be better - it maybe if the spuds were costing a lot to grow. He has his own machinery, own seed, slurry for fertilizer, no spray - you don't get this with beet, and you need better land than this guy has in order to grow beet.

Put it up here today because I thought there would be more people feeding with them. Maybe it'll be something for the future?

I heard of washed spuds surplus to requirement going in with grass for silage, the spuds came out cooked.

whelan1

blue5000 wrote: »

I heard of washed spuds surplus to requirement going in with grass for silage, the spuds came out cooked.

cousins had done this years ago, they only used the last of it this year and it preserved perfect

kevthegaff

dying today, hit it heavy last night. No mood to milk:(

hugo29

kevthegaff wrote: »

dying today, hit it heavy last night. No mood to milk:(

stop feeling sorry for yerself, onwards and upwards and back to the pub

hugo29

anyone want to buy a trampoline:rolleyes:

whelan1

hugo29 wrote: »

anyone want to buy a trampoline:rolleyes:

did you only get it recently?

hugo29

whelan1 wrote: »

did you only get it recently?

2 weeks ago:D

bob charles

reilig wrote: »

He had approximately 15 ton last year off less than 3 acres + 5 ton of seed left over after that which he used this year.

so he had 20t of 3 acres or 7t per acre. A top crop of sugar beet would 4 to 5 times heavier. commercial growers would be getting 20t ac of roosters

bogman_bass

http://www.donedeal.ie/beefcattle-for-sale/belgian-blue-springing-heifers/5355803

"U grade springing heifers. Getting loads of meal"

Thats just what they need!:rolleyes:

lakill Farm

Have a client who is feeding spuds, parsnip and bread to store cattle. He said you should see bulls eating a full parsnip. :pac:. Even chocolate.

Same lad has 45 suckler cows and cost him 2 bales of silage all winter to feed them (Xmass). All the rest of the time on carrots, spuds and celery and leak tops. He said the smell in the shed is :eek:.

Muckit

lakill Farm wrote: »

Have a client who is feeding spuds, parsnip and bread to store cattle. He said you should see bulls eating a full parsnip. :pac:. Even chocolate.

Same lad has 45 suckler cows and cost him 2 bales of silage all winter to feed them (Xmass). All the rest of the time on carrots, spuds and celery and leak tops. He said the smell in the shed is :eek:.

Where is he getting all the veg 'waste'? Is there a vegetation processing plant nearby or has he a farm shop?

Bizzum

bogman_bass wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/beefcattle-for-sale/belgian-blue-springing-heifers/5355803

"U grade springing heifers. Getting loads of meal"

Thats just what they need!:rolleyes:

And maybe carrying to a BB. Best of luck with that!

just do it

blue5000 wrote: »

I heard of washed spuds surplus to requirement going in with grass for silage, the spuds came out cooked.

Same thing, heard of spuds going in a pit and the cattle loved it.