IHFA field day

bogman_bass

Anybody heading to Leitrim tomorrow?

td5man

bogman_bass wrote: »

Anybody heading to Leitrim tomorrow?

Was but too busy.

frazzledhome

Would love to have go. I have a diss group and recording.

It's great to visit good operators, never fail to bring something home. I hope someone will be posting a report

stanflt

Will be heading off shortly
Hopefully something of relevance to be learned
Interested in their drainage strategy and grass land management on heavier ground
Good figures for last year 559 kg milk solids from 7350 litre- hope this is co-op and not milk recording
Should be an interesting day out

Greengrass1

How many KGS of solids per litre should lads be targeting?
I always here about 450/500 but nothing about ms/per overall yeild

stanflt

Greengrass1 wrote: »

How many KGS of solids per litre should lads be targeting?
I always here about 450/500 but nothing about ms/per overall yeild

As much as your genetics are capable of on your Ebi report

mahoney_j

Not going to this obe as too much on,but an observation from previous visits to i h f a (which I'm a member) days.there focus on the most part is wrong,ebi is the work of the devil andvits about big stylish milky looking cows where classification is more important than anything,stan mentioned it in his article in the Indo some time back that his herd wouldn't even be in contention for awards in his knock of the woods.why wouldn't a high ebi,fertile ,high volume,solids herds with a large proportion of milk produced from quality grass feature in such things especially as his herd is hol freisan and I'm presuming he is a member of the association.guys like Jim delahunty in birr and stan should be poster boys for the association.

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not going to this obe as too much on,but an observation from previous visits to i h f a (which I'm a member) days.there focus on the most part is wrong,ebi is the work of the devil andvits about big stylish milky looking cows where classification is more important than anything,stan mentioned it in his article in the Indo some time back that his herd wouldn't even be in contention for awards in his knock of the woods.why wouldn't a high ebi,fertile ,high volume,solids herds with a large proportion of milk produced from quality grass feature in such things especially as his herd is hol freisan and I'm presuming he is a member of the association.guys like Jim delahunty in birr and stan should be poster boys for the association.

Sure they couldn't complain about the ****e price there getting from the creamery then or boost there getting so many K for embryos.
My father has tried numerous times to get cows classified here (something he wants to do)
But as soon as he mentions ebi and solids they take no interest and tell you they'll be in contact but never do

C0N0R

Just finished up here so will be heading down to it, looking forward to seeing how they operate.

frazzledhome

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not going to this obe as too much on,but an observation from previous visits to i h f a (which I'm a member) days.there focus on the most part is wrong,ebi is the work of the devil andvits about big stylish milky looking cows where classification is more important than anything,stan mentioned it in his article in the Indo some time back that his herd wouldn't even be in contention for awards in his knock of the woods.why wouldn't a high ebi,fertile ,high volume,solids herds with a large proportion of milk produced from quality grass feature in such things especially as his herd is hol freisan and I'm presuming he is a member of the association.guys like Jim delahunty in birr and stan should be poster boys for the association.

+1

Member also, pity about their focus though its changing slowly. Still a chance to learn something from a visit

As Stan said I'll reserve judgement till I see what milk is sold from the total number of cows on the farm

freedominacup

stanflt wrote: »

Good figures for last year 559 kg milk solids from 7350 litre- hope this is co-op and not milk recording
Should be an interesting day out

Not going from here. Oul boy away. Ihfa members also. Initially I couldn't get my head around your point on milk delivered stan but there's no doubt it's a better measure of performance. Milk recording is still vital for other stats.

That said I was at a meeting recently where a teagasc rep was arguing the opposite. He was trying to turn 5k into 6k by saying that the delivered milk didn't reflect actual yields because in reality only x number of cows were actually milked and not the y figure,from I assume icbf , of cows on the farm which was significantly higher. He was arguing that in that particular case milk recording was a more accurate reflection of where cow performance was.

Btw mention of your performance figures made them very shifty. You're rocking that boat big time with your high yields and high ebi and excellent financial figures. Don't you know that you can't have all three.

Gillespy

Can't they have their day out? You are spoiled if you want to hear about EBI, grass and how many tonnes of meal you shouldn't be feeding? I can see the milk recording thing out already to disparage them, same as last year, like it or lump it, it's accepted worldwide and we all know ways of skewing any figure you can think of.

Timmaay

freedominacup wrote: »

That said I was at a meeting recently where a teagasc rep was arguing the opposite. He was trying to turn 5k into 6k by saying that the delivered milk didn't reflect actual yields because in reality only x number of cows were actually milked and not the y figure,from I assume icbf , of cows on the farm which was significantly higher. He was arguing that in that particular case milk recording was a more accurate reflection of where cow performance was.

The only small problem with Stans figure of cow numbers divided by the delivered yield is if you hold on to culls and fatten them, this obviously skews the figures. Its effectively a separate enterprise. However I think once you put in all the dry off dates for culls into ICBF the Co-op preformance report has more accurate figures for average delivered yields.

On the milk recording, obviously very useful to compare individual cows, but at the end of the day, getting one days snapshot of the yield from a cow every month/quarter in fairness gives a very very limited picture. In fairness who here doesn't push on the cows the day before you are milk recorded? Nobody holds back the cows anyways, simple as is its in our nature to get the best possible figures on paper ha! The milk recorded figure comes in approximately 6% more than what the cow actually did for the year.

And then as for the total milk produced over a cows lactation against either 305 or the full year, thats an utter no brainer that the lactation figure is a totally pointless figure for almost every farmer bar chaps with huge USA HOs who only expect to get 2 lactations out of the cow anyways.

Timmaay

Anyone know how to get the IHFA to stop texting you also? I don't know how I ended up on a mailing list of theirs but its annoying to be honest.

sheebadog

Timmaay wrote: »

The only small problem with Stans figure of cow numbers divided by the delivered yield is if you hold on to culls and fatten them, this obviously skews the figures. Its effectively a separate enterprise. However I think once you put in all the dry off dates for culls into ICBF the Co-op preformance report has more accurate figures for average delivered yields.

On the milk recording, obviously very useful to compare individual cows, but at the end of the day, getting one days snapshot of the yield from a cow every month/quarter in fairness gives a very very limited picture. In fairness who here doesn't push on the cows the day before you are milk recorded? Nobody holds back the cows anyways, simple as is its in our nature to get the best possible figures on paper ha! The milk recorded figure comes in approximately 6% more than what the cow actually did for the year.

And then as for the total milk produced over a cows lactation against either 305 or the full year, thats an utter no brainer that the lactation figure is a totally pointless figure for almost every farmer bar chaps with huge USA HOs who only expect to get 2 lactations out of the cow anyways.

Why would you want to skew the milk recording data Tim? Surely you're only codding yourself?

Milked out

Milk recording is for your own use, no point doing things different the day of the recording. Only time It comes into play really Is if u lose a cow to tb or something and at that it won't make much odds

mahoney_j

Milked out wrote: »

Milk recording is for your own use, no point doing things different the day of the recording. Only time It comes into play really Is if u lose a cow to tb or something and at that it won't make much odds

It makes a nice difference trust me,I had a maiden go down with tv some years back and the fact I had her pedigree registered and milk records from her dam and grand dam added over 450 euros to her value.milk recording data if used right is a very very usefull tool,the info you get on each individual cow is invaluable.when I'm recording everything is same ,same milk time,same feed and paddocks grazed.have a neighbour who milks early in morning before recording late in evening and late following morning as well as having cows on fresh grass for every milking.dobt know what he is achieving tbh

Milked out

mahoney_j wrote: »

It makes a nice difference trust me,I had a maiden go down with tv some years back and the fact I had her pedigree registered and milk records from her dam and grand dam added over 450 euros to her value.milk recording data if used right is a very very usefull tool,the info you get on each individual cow is invaluable.when I'm recording everything is same ,same milk time,same feed and paddocks grazed.have a neighbour who milks early in morning before recording late in evening and late following morning as well as having cows on fresh grass for every milking.dobt know what he is achieving tbh

I agree with that, what I meant was feeding extra the day of recording may only up things for a reactor valuation over the correct recording figure and it probably wouldn't be enuv to get her into the next band, i wasn't clear in the previous post. Recording in Itself is v important

stanflt

Fantastic grassland management- a credit to all involved

Off home too milk now

Lovely cows

And a good day out

bogman_bass

I was running the Macra stockjudging so saw very little but was very impressed with the grass. Certainly didnt live up to the Leitrim stereotype!

Greengrass1

In the IFJ this week.
Fine yard in it.
What sort of demands do those cows have 20kgs of dry matter a day?
Says they get 8 kg of meal in spring and they peak at 50l/day

trixi2011

Greengrass1 wrote: »

In the IFJ this week.
Fine yard in it.
What sort of demands do those cows have 20kgs of dry matter a day?
Says they get 8 kg of meal in spring and they peak at 50l/day

They would be eating more than 20 id be thinking 23/24 I been a few years since I worked with them sort of girls tho . Would be offering 20kg to bigger xbreeds at peak

frazzledhome

Very scant report on IFJ. I missed the open day but am wondering how many cows in the farm and what milk they sold. By all accounts a very well run operation. As usual with IHFA no financials so what's the point?

trixi2011

frazzledhome wrote: »

Very scant report on IFJ. I missed the open day but am wondering how many cows in the farm and what milk they sold. By all accounts a very well run operation. As usual with IHFA no financials so what's the point?

Think they were milking around the 100 mark, cows were doing 8600l @3.77 fat and 3.34p 612 solid a cow. Had been years since I was at a Holstein day had forgotten how big the cows were:eek:. Id love to know what sort of meal levels per cow per year were being feed there.

Greengrass1

trixi2011 wrote: »

Think they were milking around the 100 mark, cows were doing 8600l @3.77 fat and 3.34p 612 solid a cow. Had been years since I was at a Holstein day had forgotten how big the cows were:eek:. Id love to know what sort of meal levels per cow per year were being feed there.

Ye get to like the little jex. Takes everything in her stride