what did you learn in 2014?

whelan2

I learnt that milking gloves are the best thing ever, go through about 10 pairs a day, no cracked hands,reduced scc. Always learnt if you feel you are right about something dont let it drop it will all work out in the end:) take as many holidays , breaks away that you can

Brass Tag

whelan2 wrote: »

I learnt that milking gloves are the best thing ever, go through about 10 pairs a day, no cracked hands,reduced scc. Always learnt if you feel you are right about something dont let it drop it will all work out in the end:) take as many holidays , breaks away that you can

Do you bring the gloves with you on the holidays -:)

whelan2

Brass Tag wrote: »

Do you bring the gloves with you on the holidays -:)

thats a good idea, start a new craze

Mehaffey1

Learnt too much to mention. Only started working in agriculture in Sep 13 after being a full time 'townie'. Didn't take long into 2014 to realise this is the career for me.

X2 on the milking gloves and have to add in wearing sleeves or at least long sleeved jacket while milking in spring is a must.

Also learned that its not your knowledge or skills you have at the start that limits you but your attitude and commitment to learning and improving.

Most importantly, go very wide and slow through gates with the big bale feeder in tow haha

Timmaay

Fully agreed on gloves also, going one step further I spent more on clothes/boots this year, all too easier to pickup the cheapest set but when you look at the other things that you spend money on on the farm it's madness not to spend a few quid on things like that which make your job alot easier every single day. Now I tend to buy new boot/wet gear etc before I actually need them , and throw out the old set a little sooner rather than getting every last bit of use outa it. Life wayyy too short to be uncomfortable for the sake of a few quid!

blue5000

It pays to get as much slurry as possible out in the first 3 months of the year.

Kovu

Don't skimp on straw with calves.
Don't assume it's a false heat when calves aren't jumping.
Bolusing needs a head scoop to make life easier.
A good reliable contractor is worth a lot more than you'd save on a cheap one.
Sometimes it's better to keep my mouth shut and bite my tongue than to start arguments over petty things that shouldn't matter.

Don't break bones

visatorro

no two years are the same.
I don't know everything and im not actually that clever!!

Base price

One thing that I did learn is that I should have calves on OAD a lot sooner and save more on the costs of milk replacer. Learned a lot from talking to some dairy farmers earlier in the year. Most have their calves are on OAD from 10 days and in some cases also have them out in a paddock. In their cases they are talking about heifer calves but the same should apply to the bulls. I tried a batch of April born calves on OAD, after 1 week on TAD and there does not seem to be any difference in size with a batch that were on milk for 4 weeks :eek:
Also another important lesson was to ensure that the dogs are securely locked in a shed when the lagoon was agitated or slurry was been spread.

Mac Taylor

Base price wrote: »

One thing that I did learn is that I should have calves on OAD a lot sooner and save more on the costs of milk replacer. Learned a lot from talking to some dairy farmers earlier in the year. Most have their calves on OAD from 10 days and in some cases also have them out in a paddock. In their cases they are talking about heifer calves but the same should apply to the bulls. I tried a batch of April born calves on OAD, after 1 week on TAD and there does not seem to be any difference in size with a batch that were on milk for 4 weeks :eek:
Also another important lesson was to ensure that the dogs are securely locked in a shed when the lagoon was agitated or slurry was been spread.

Sorry bp, but what is oad? Tks, Mac

Kevhog1988

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Sorry bp, but what is oad? Tks, Mac

Once a day mate

Mac Taylor

theemigrant wrote: »

Once a day mate

Cheers. Just like my love life!:D:D

Reggie.

Learnt OAD was the way to go with calves.

You can build anything once you put your mind to it.

Plans finally coming together here and patience is required for such...you will get there if you have the will to do so.

Take no chances with cattle....no matter how well behaved they are

Base price

Reggie. wrote: »

Learnt OAD was the way to go with calves.

You can build anything once you put your mind to it.

Plans finally coming together here and patience is required for such...you will get there if you have the will to do so.

Take no chances with cattle....no matter how well behaved they are

Reggie I am still keeping an open mind on the OAD feeding regime. I find it very difficult to deter myself from feeding milk to young calves twice daily
As I said earlier I only fed one batch (32 calves, FR bulls) on OAD and that was after a week on twice a day after they arrived here. The youngest of them was 14 days old, the eldest was 19 days.

Agree with you - never, ever take chances with cattle (or horses) no matter how well behaved you think they are.

Viewtodiefor

Base price wrote: »

Reggie I am still keeping an open mind on the OAD feeding regime. I find it very difficult to deter myself from feeding milk to young calves twice daily
As I said earlier I only fed one batch (32 calves, FR bulls) on OAD and that was after a week on twice a day after they arrived here. The youngest of them was 14 days old, the eldest was 19 days.

Agree with you - never, ever take chances with cattle (or horses) no matter how well behaved you think they are.

Lads I cannot understand how anyone can come to the conclusion that OAD is good for rearing calves?
Some points on this are.
The first 40 days of a calf 's life are the most important. if this is got right then you can't go too far wrong. A calf needs as much feed as it can physically take in in this 40 day period , restricting it or putting it on OAD is totally going against nature and everything it's DNA is set up for. Do you see a suckled calf feeding OAD ? Of course not! It will feed at least 4 to 5 times.
Would you feed yourself once a day?
Is it possible to get enough feed into a calf on OAD For it to thrive at its optimal level? No
Is it illegal ? Yes in the uk
Does OAD affect animals performance when they are older ? Yes

Kevhog1988

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Cheers. Just like my love life!:D:D

palmela

Base price

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Lads I cannot understand how anyone can come to the conclusion that OAD is good for rearing calves?
Some points on this are.
The first 40 days of a calf 's life are the most important. if this is got right then you can't go too far wrong. A calf needs as much feed as it can physically take in in this 40 day period , restricting it or putting it on OAD is totally going against nature and everything it's DNA is set up for. Do you see a suckled calf feeding OAD ? Of course not! It will feed at least 4 to 5 times.
Would you feed yourself once a day?
Is it possible to get enough feed into a calf on OAD For it to thrive at its optimal level? No
Is it illegal ? Yes in the uk
Does OAD affect animals performance when they are older ? Yes

Viewtodiefor - I am not been a smart ass but do you actually rear calves.
I presume you don't but will stand corrected.

Reggie.

Base price wrote: »

Reggie I am still keeping an open mind on the OAD feeding regime. I find it very difficult to deter myself from feeding milk to young calves twice daily
As I said earlier I only fed one batch (32 calves, FR bulls) on OAD and that was after a week on twice a day after they arrived here. The youngest of them was 14 days old, the eldest was 19 days.

Agree with you - never, ever take chances with cattle (or horses) no matter how well behaved you think they are.

It worked very well for me last year. They moved onto meal far quicker.

The 24hr duties can cause problems with the second evening feeding that's why I moved to the OAD

ganmo

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Is it illegal ? Yes in the uk

No defra rowed back on that, the rule now is the calves have to be eating enough ration to be considered a feed...but they didn't put any quantity on it.
So as it stands it's not illegal anywhere

Viewtodiefor

ganmo wrote: »

No defra rowed back on that, the rule now is the calves have to be eating enough ration to be considered a feed...but they didn't put any quantity on it.
So as it stands it's not illegal anywhere

Maybe your right I dont know

http://m.farmersguardian.com/54049.article?mobilesite=enabled

TUBBY

I thought i learned OAD is illegal in UK. Now i am not so sure

braddun

who milks by hand these days


pansys wear gloves

whelan2

braddun wrote: »

who milks by hand these days


pansys wear gloves

i'm sure a good few lads milk by hand prefer to be a pansy than have cracked hands

Greengrass1

braddun wrote: »

who milks by hand these days


pansys wear gloves

Suppose I'm a pansy so

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

i'm sure a good few lads milk by hand prefer to be a pansy than have cracked hands

As well as scc and mastitis issues

Timmaay

Whelans allowed to be a pansy

onyerbikepat

What did I learn this year - not to delay with the Blackleg injection. the one time i forgot to give it, I lost an animal to it.:(

Miname

braddun wrote: »

who milks by hand these days


pansys wear gloves

I milked a Simmental suckler today by hand, and I only had one leg tied. No gloves, woo hoo.

mahoney_j

What I learnt
1 reseeding pays,and hand in hand with that ,adequate use of slurry,front loading n p and k from late spring grows a hell of a lot of grass ,ditto applies in August for building a bank of grass for autumn
2 I now have a herd of cows I'm happy with,maintaining what I have and improving it will take careful planning as I don't want breeding a cow that's too milky and won't fit into a spring milk system
3 I'm lucky to have the old boy around still,he can't do as much work anymore but would be a hell of a loss of he couldn't come out the yard
4 money spent on vaccines and Bolus is money well spent,
5

Limestone Cowboy

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

simx

grass measuring makes good sense, will push harder at it next year,
reseeding pays
i still love hardship doing nearly all my own work
know who your friends are
simple methods are usually best
close off paddocks earlier in the back end, made the mistake last year of "jaysus theres a nice shot of grass on that again, maybe ill let the cows back in there"
everyday is a school day
theres a lot of begrudgers out there
if you put your mind to something it usually can come right

Brass Tag

Soil testing and appropriate P&K pays.
Granlime makes sense if you can't use ground lime.
A couple of days of a track machine fixing broken drains is a great investment.
ICBF figures for so called maternal bulls are suspect to say the least.

Bitten & Hisses

Access to pig slurry is invaluable as a cheap source of nutrients.
As much as I advocate having your own machinery as much as possible, a time hungry off farm job and young family show the value of a good contractor.
I can't overstate the importance to the business of knowing your onions regarding cashflow.
I can't see how a beef enterprise will ever generate enough cash and profit to allow expansion beyond the current land block.
Following on from above, I've concluded that the way forward for me is low input+ the appropriate stocking rate for this level of input.

Base price

One other thing (amongst others) that I did learn this year from reading this forum.
Don't assume that your insurance provider is giving you value for money.
Shop around. Compare prices and policies. I saved nearly €300 on a simple commercial policy by switching insurance providers earlier this month.

just do it

• Trust your own research/ instinct
• An extra pair of hands makes light work and better for life/ work balance
• You can't beat good neighbours, and the best way to have good neighbours is to be one yourself

KatyMac

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

And that's you being an optimist!

farmerjj

What did I learn! That summer does exist, some summer!!! Fingers crossed 2015 summer will be just as good

Connemara Farmer

If you want it done, do it yourself, no one else better.

onyerbikepat

just do it wrote: »

• You can't beat good neighbours, and the best way to have good neighbours is to be one yourself

So true. I've heard so many stories about bad neighbours, but when I think about it, it's always from people that I wouldnt like to live beside myself.

Willfarman

know when you have enough sheep for the set up.

thank God for blessings and never take things going right for granted.

Keep a diary.

Bullocks

Willfarman wrote: »

know when you have enough sheep for the set up.

thank God for blessings and never take things going right for granted.

Keep a diary.

You're right about the diary , I got 3 last year . 1 for the farm and 2 for work . Unfortunately I only made a few entries in one of the work ones , but this year will be different .....

whelan2

Willfarman wrote: »

know when you have enough sheep for the set up.

thank God for blessings and never take things going right for granted.

Keep a diary.

on sheep local farmer had 1200 sheep a few years ago, he now has 200 and said he is making more money than when he had 1200.

Connemara Farmer

Bullocks wrote: »

but this year will be different .....

I'm gonna write that down in my new 2015 diary to remind you

Bullocks

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

I'm gonna write that down in my new 2015 diary to remind you

I'm out sourcing the farm diary to the 9 year old son (he has better writing than me and more likely to keep it up to date ) and hopefully I'll have more time at work for scribbling into that diary !

whelan2

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

I'm gonna write that down in my new 2015 diary to remind you

last year and the year before i wrote down 4 or 5 things i was going to do each year in my diary on 1st january, didnt do them all but its good to look at them every once in a while

Brass Tag

whelan2 wrote: »

on sheep local farmer had 1200 sheep a few years ago, he now has 200 and said he is making more money than when he had 1200.

If I remember correctly, lots of fellas up your part of the country had a thousand or more sheep at the time of the F&M disease. -:)

Connemara Farmer

whelan2 wrote: »

on sheep local farmer had 1200 sheep a few years ago, he now has 200 and said he is making more money than when he had 1200.

Some statement to make.

whelan2

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Some statement to make.

he rents out some of the land for 1st, second cut silage....

Connemara Farmer

whelan2 wrote: »

he rents out some of the land for 1st, second cut silage....

Had three other scenarios on the go, hadn't thought of that one.

Brass Tag

He must have read AP2014's dissertation on making money in beef and applied the same logic to his sheep operation.

Connemara Farmer

Brass Tag wrote: »

He must have read AP2014's dissertation on making money in beef and applied the same logic to his sheep operation.

Keep me out of that I've enough going on