Anyone still foddering??

kevthegaff

Well lads is there many around yer area still feeding indoors, just wondering hows the grass situation. Around tipp here things are getting better

Muckit

We still have the majority of cattle in. We could have let some out a week or even a fortnight ago, but they would have walked and wasted a lot of grass. Passed a lot of fields along the road that are seriously poached. Glad we had enough feed and kept them in.



There's a lot around here, especially those with sheep, that are still feeding away goodo. I've been giving a grab or two to a few lads

bbam

Definitely the last few days brought
Out alot of cattle.

The big thing is ye ammount of silage ground grazed bare that would have been closed a month ago.

Round Cavan lots, if not most lads are talking about wintering less stock next winter, suckler and dairy. Lots of talk of culling cows in the autumn. A good summer would probably change this setament.

1chippy

A couple of lads with a few dry cows still in. Like others have said, silage ground is grazed off on a lot of farms around here. The thing im seeing though is that a lot of lads are only going out with fertilizer now. These guys would be farming ground similar to our own here with a lot less stock. we have plenty of grass and i cant see the reason bar not going out with the fertilizer that they are sshort on grass.

KatyMac

only got fert out yesterday on silage ground. It rained lightly after so should be a good uptake. Have more to put out on grazing ground but still too soft to go on with tractor. Hope early next week if it stays reasonably dry.

bob charles

allot of cattle still indoors in the south west and will remain for some time yet. out driving yesterday and there is allot of land still brown

Figerty

Going out later today.

Taking the spike of the tractor at last.

royaler83

Did ye see yer man ond journal from Leitrim, ran out of feed in october, reckons he bought €40k of feed since, surely selling some of his 100-140 cows would be a better option?! God help him but even in an average year he'd be under pressure for stuff

pakalasa

royaler83 wrote: »

Did ye see yer man ond journal from Leitrim, ran out of feed in october, reckons he bought €40k of feed since, surely selling some of his 100-140 cows would be a better option?! God help him but even in an average year he'd be under pressure for stuff

Ya, read it. Poor man. You can imagine the mental strain of having to deal with something like that.

Muckit

pakalasa wrote: »

Ya, read it. Poor man. You can imagine the mental strain of having to deal with something like that.

How you fixed Pak? All out?

pakalasa

Well out at this stage. I had them out in a dry field as they were calving in March. Back in again then when weather got wet. Growth more of a problem now. We need warm weather and soon.

Figerty

pakalasa wrote: »

Ya, read it. Poor man. You can imagine the mental strain of having to deal with something like that.

Was talking to a couple of lads from Offaly a while back. They buy in feed to finish cattle. The make no silage. They had there summer supply used up in October also.

It seems a dangerous game to be at the whim of the market by not to be making or saving any feed.

restive

My last bale of silage was finished today. Cattle now on pasture that i closed of and put 18-6-12 on tree weeks ago. Not extra but will do them for a while.

Paddy1951

Lots of cattle in yet in Sligo and mayo big cut backs talked about but never mind the fellow with the welling tons will forget and be out again buying at the dearest time but as banjo player blarney mc kenna said when told in the pub it was quarter to 4 in the morning ,,ah it's to late to stop now,,paddy51

DanielGibbons

Cow with calf (who's having bother sucking) still in for the moment along with a few bulls which were trying to sell. Everything else out, buying in silage the last 2 weeks.

Anyone looking to buy CH bulls in mayo??

grazeaway

we've had everything out for about 3 weeks now, grass not really grwoing as we would like, had to graze some silage ground. hope the sun stays for a while and the wind dies down, you could nearly hear the grass grow yesterday.

neighbour has his weanlings and finishers still indoors. Was understocked for the last 2 years so had a huge amount of silage built up. has decided to finish off all last years bales as he was concerend with quality and wasnt sure they would survive another winter. He plans is to allow the grass to recover better as he only has suckler cows out at the mo. Recokons it'll be july before the weanlings will be out on grass and the he is now finishing the others indoors.

Muckit

Promised my last three grabs to a lad for Saturday. Will be letting the rest of our own out this evening or tomorrow

locky76

why in the name of god didn't he sell the bales of silage...
utter madness keeping cattle in to eat them and the dire straits people were in:mad:

grazeaway wrote: »

we've had everything out for about 3 weeks now, grass not really grwoing as we would like, had to graze some silage ground. hope the sun stays for a while and the wind dies down, you could nearly hear the grass grow yesterday.

neighbour has his weanlings and finishers still indoors. Was understocked for the last 2 years so had a huge amount of silage built up. has decided to finish off all last years bales as he was concerend with quality and wasnt sure they would survive another winter. He plans is to allow the grass to recover better as he only has suckler cows out at the mo. Recokons it'll be july before the weanlings will be out on grass and the he is now finishing the others indoors.

grazeaway

locky76 wrote: »

why in the name of god didn't he sell them...
utter madness keeping cattle in to eat them and the dire straits people were in:mad:

i dont understand your question? he has ended up keeping his cattle indoors longer then normal (like most farmers this year) and because he has had enough silage (unlike most farmers this year) he has decided to keep them indoors to finish off the remainng average quality silage from last year so at to provide the grassland time to grow and have enough grass to restock his silage for 2013 and still have grass available into the authumn. It would make no sense to sell animals if he didnt need to. he wil normally have his finishing stock on grass and feed them meal before going to teh factory and will soemtimes house them for a few weeks if need be. all that has cheged is that they never got teh few weeeks of grass nt ehspring this year. and before you ask yes he did sell some bales to a few hard up neighbours.

delaval

I am going to give milkers a bale of straw fat on the low side. They can pick at it while waiting

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

I am going to give milkers a bale of straw fat on the low side. They can pick at it while waiting

Wonder would they even bother with it,tried it a few years ago with mine and look at it is all they did.then again your jex girls wouldn't be as fussy as my leggy ladies!!!

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Wonder would they even bother with it,tried it a few years ago with mine and look at it is all they did.then again your jex girls wouldn't be as fussy as my leggy ladies!!!

It's my black and whites causing the prob. I'll give it a go, see what gives?

locky76

grazeaway wrote: »

i dont understand your question? he has ended up keeping his cattle indoors longer then normal (like most farmers this year) and because he has had enough silage (unlike most farmers this year) he has decided to keep them indoors to finish off the remainng average quality silage from last year so at to provide the grassland time to grow and have enough grass to restock his silage for 2013 and still have grass available into the authumn. It would make no sense to sell animals if he didnt need to. he wil normally have his finishing stock on grass and feed them meal before going to teh factory and will soemtimes house them for a few weeks if need be. all that has cheged is that they never got teh few weeeks of grass nt ehspring this year. and before you ask yes he did sell some bales to a few hard up neighbours.

I think you misunderstood my question: if his silage was of questionable quality why didn't he sell more of it when people were in dire straits?
I can't understand people who keep cattle inside just to finish off the silage...

bbam

Was with a fella earlier today and he still has all in, 28 sucklers and their calves plus some of last year yearlings.
Plans to let them out at the weekend as grass is getting strong, ground is good..

Couldnt understand it.. plenty of grass, ground is good and hes using away at pit silage that could be saved for god knows what next winter will be like.

He could cut hay of most of the grazing ground..

Muckit

Perhaps his ground looks better than it actually is. He might have grass, but is he able to use it without his cows walking it into the ground? There could be sense to his madness. Then again......maybe he's just mad! :pac:

delaval

bbam wrote: »

Was with a fella earlier today and he still has all in, 28 sucklers and their calves plus some of last year yearlings.
Plans to let them out at the weekend as grass is getting strong, ground is good..

Couldnt understand it.. plenty of grass, ground is good and hes using away at pit silage that could be saved for god knows what next winter will be like.

He could cut hay of most of the grazing ground..

Send him to the grass measuring thread we'll have him mowing in no time:):)

grazeaway

locky76 wrote: »

I think you misunderstood my question: if his silage was of questionable quality why didn't he sell more of it when people were in dire straits?
I can't understand people who keep cattle inside just to finish off the silage...

This fella keeps cattle from calf to factory so why would he sell the cattle before they were ready and why sell the yearlings as he would have none foe next year? Grass growth round here was far from good so it made more sense to let the cows and calves out to grazing ground and let them into the ground that was ear marked for the others without having to get into the silage ground (unlike me). As for the bales same fella would not be the type of lad to sell bales of ****e to someone at 30 yoyo's a pop.

Timmaay

Only got the last of the cattle out here today . Afew dry cows, and some bulling heifers that we kept close by to keep an eye on them. I really should have had them heifers out from feb 1st I'll admit!

Muckit

Only getting around to watching this...

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10152122/

Muckit

Very good letter in this weeks IFJ re fodder crisis. Basically what this lad was suggesting was an excellent idea in my eyes. Let everyone text or ring in their shortfall of silage as it is taken and then this material could be deciphered to see how the country is fixed for fodder for next winter.

Fore warned is fore armed. This year plenty of excuses could and were made. We know now that next winter will be tight for fodder. We quickly passing the period of the year when the most grass is grown and feck all silage has been made so far for next winter. Another disaster needs to be averted and the groundwork needs to be put in NOW

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Wonder would they even bother with it,tried it a few years ago with mine and look at it is all they did.then again your jex girls wouldn't be as fussy as my leggy ladies!!!

Jex need straw, oh look only 1 or 2 nibbling

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

Jex need straw, oh look only 1 or 2 nibbling

the better the grass the more straw or fibre cattle will eat, on saying that its expensive fibre this year and I could think of more appropriate feeds, but then you would be making more bales

kowtow

delaval wrote: »

Jex need straw, oh look only 1 or 2 nibbling

delaval - stupid question, but are those Jex any smaller than HO (physically..) ?

Manoffeeling

delaval wrote: »

Jex need straw, oh look only 1 or 2 nibbling

I have Jex heifers. I saw one nibbling the top of a fur. Never saw other cattle at it before. And they have loads of grass.

delaval

kowtow wrote: »

delaval - stupid question, but are those Jex any smaller than HO (physically..) ?

Apples and oranges average 15%

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

Apples and oranges average 15%

What did the Yanks make of the "weanlings"?

delaval

freedominacup wrote: »

What did the Yanks make of the "weanlings"?

Never thought I'd say this but I could have done with Quadboy. 23 female vet students in the end I had to admit defeat!!Sleep well tonight!!!!

moy83

delaval wrote: »

Never thought I'd say this but I could have done with Quadboy. 23 female vet students in the end I had to admit defeat!!Sleep well tonight!!!!

One for every inch he has :P

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

Jex need straw, oh look only 1 or 2 nibbling

U getting lazy with the tail paint delaval??cows look to be in very good condition but could they do with a copper bolus??their coats look a bit rusty.Either that or it is just the jersey cross comming through

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

U getting lazy with the tail paint delaval??cows look to be in very good condition but could they do with a copper bolus??their coats look a bit rusty.Either that or it is just the jersey cross comming through

Ai over bull run started. I'd say that the colour was more to do with early morning sun!!