Dairy Chit Chat- Please read Mod note in post #1

blackdog1

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Stocked at 2.6 over all this yr here.
Made 1100 bakes last yr and we're sailing close to the wind now as regards silage.
Granted we have away 20 bales to a young lad who's starting out and we probably used up 110 bales by wintering culls and a few beef weanings and few we fattened.
Won't do any of that next yr.


Working out what we utilised on whole farm, it was little over 6t
We grew 13.7 on milk block and utilitisee 11.5t of it.

I'm hoping to push on again next yr and push milk block to little over 3 and still keep overall Sr around 2.6.
Depends on a few things but I still want to winter all this stock and make a decision then in spring weather we cull and do a bit if a clean up or drive on again.

I'd need to make at least 1000 (180t) bales at least for 120 day winter for everything which would be giving us good leway I reckon.

Will I make enough silage this yr? Option to buy maize is there as well as one neighbour who grows about 6 acres of grass for silage.

Plan was to cut 30ac in bales 1st wk of may for real good silage for milkers and then get the pit crew in to do a second cut end of July for dry cows.

But I'm not sure if that will yield enough silage for me. (I'd like to be self sufficient, as much as possible)


If I can get that extra 4t that's not being utilised off the farm ill have my 200t of silage.
Bit out farm I'd old grass. Granted we haven't used our full N allowance in a long time


Sorry for the long post

I use wholecrop undersown with grass. Fantastic feed and you get the added bonus of reseeding a paddock plus you get the field for 2 grazings at the back end of the year. I generally rent silage ground and grow wholecrop on my own farm.

Greengrass1

blackdog1 wrote: »

I use wholecrop undersown with grass. Fantastic feed and you get the added bonus of reseeding a paddock plus you get the field for 2 grazings at the back end of the year. I generally rent silage ground and grow wholecrop on my own farm.

Would prefer not to take on extra ground this yr. (Money isn't there) might not do any reseeding this yr either

freedominacup

frazzledhome wrote: »

Tim 430 kg from 850 kg nuts, nothing wrong there. What was it last year?

Where it loses its shine is when you factor in sr of 2,6 it only gives an output per ha of 1200 kg. nothing wrong here at first glance.

If you put the whole picture together I looks to me as you're replacing grass with meal.

Proper grass measuring and budgeting should shift these numbers. Nothing wrong with bringing in outside forage but your figure for Fert would suggest to me that you may be skimping on it.

Again nothing wrong with that if you were feeding 300 kg of meal. Roughly Fert costs need to be near of greater than nut costs (roughly).

Agrinet tells you 9 tonne grown, that's correct if you were measuring and entering figures. Not to be too smart but a well maintained lawn grows 7.

I'd say there's loads of money to be gotten out of your place by better grass management and try to cut out the substitution that seems to be going on.

Btw, leave the maize where it is and it'll be replaced by lots af hi DM bales made with more grass measuring

Here's a calc that may prove or disprove my assement but will give you a goodish handle on your tonnes of grass utilised

2200kg - kg meal/cow (bought forage also)
+
Milk solids/cow * 6.4
*
Sr/1000
=
Tonnes of grass utilised.

On this calc we utilised just over 11 tonnes across whole farm. All acres incl ground for youngstock. Same as Tim on kgs ms/ha around 1200 across whole farm. We'd hope to push this by up to 20% this year through a combination of increased sr and production per cow.

There's another few acres probably 5% of farm badly in need of reseeding which will help production once it's sorted this spring. Another 20% needs to be done in the short term and after that we'll be trying to get a real reseeding program established. There's no doubt the first of the ground done when we got back into milk will be knocking on the door of being done again in another couple of years.

I've been thinking about this calc since you posted it frazz and tbh I think it does for grass measuring what kgs of ms sold per cow did for 305 day milk recording as a metric for measuring cow performance. It seems to me that every time some new farmer is featured by teagasc or the comic the tonnes/ha figure being produced is up by another tonne. Not long ago 13 tonnes was seen as excellent but now in a few short years 18 tonnes is the new standard.

I'm very sceptical about grass measuring figures. There are so many variables in the measuring methods alone between farmers that it has very little meaning as a comparison of performance imo. This calc on the other hand takes the variables out. Cows producing x milk solids have y requirement which is met by so much concentrate which means the balance is coming from grass tonnes. Which multiplied by Sr gives you tonnes utilised. The question now becomes about sr and whether you can push this.

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Would prefer not to take on extra ground this yr. (Money isn't there) might not do any reseeding this yr either

I'll throw a curve ball and I'll suspect u won't agree but anyway ,steady up with the expansion in milk through more cows and more nos .outlook for year ain't good price wise and your looking at a deficit in feed and adequate housing slurry storage etc to cater for extra nos .consolidste things ,cull out under performers sell your Autumn calvers and just milk March April calvers to fill gap .also on selling all your bull calves asap ,sell maby the jex Bulls but keep the rest till September ,October or early 17 .these may not leave a massive return but will leave profit and a ball of cash at short notice .this may be a year to have a rainy day fund like that .

mahoney_j

freedominacup wrote: »

On this calc we utilised just over 11 tonnes across whole farm. All acres incl ground for youngstock. Same as Tim on kgs ms/ha around 1200 across whole farm. We'd hope to push this by up to 20% this year through a combination of increased sr and production per cow.

There's another few acres probably 5% of farm badly in need of reseeding which will help production once it's sorted this spring. Another 20% needs to be done in the short term and after that we'll be trying to get a real reseeding program established. There's no doubt the first of the ground done when we got back into milk will be knocking on the door of being done again in another couple of years.

I've been thinking about this calc since you posted it frazz and tbh I think it does for grass measuring what kgs of ms sold per cow did for 305 day milk recording as a metric for measuring cow performance. It seems to me that every time some new farmer is featured by teagasc or the comic the tonnes/ha figure being produced is up by another tonne. Not long ago 13 tonnes was seen as excellent but now in a few short years 18 tonnes is the new standard.

I'm very sceptical about grass measuring figures. There are so many variables in the measuring methods alone between farmers that it has very little meaning as a comparison of performance imo. This calc on the other hand takes the variables out. Cows producing x milk solids have y requirement which is met by so much concentrate which means the balance is coming from grass tonnes. Which multiplied by Sr gives you tonnes utilised. The question now becomes about sr and whether you can push this.

Excellent post with excellent points made

mahoney_j

freedominacup wrote: »

On this calc we utilised just over 11 tonnes across whole farm. All acres incl ground for youngstock. Same as Tim on kgs ms/ha around 1200 across whole farm. We'd hope to push this by up to 20% this year through a combination of increased sr and production per cow.

There's another few acres probably 5% of farm badly in need of reseeding which will help production once it's sorted this spring. Another 20% needs to be done in the short term and after that we'll be trying to get a real reseeding program established. There's no doubt the first of the ground done when we got back into milk will be knocking on the door of being done again in another couple of years.

I've been thinking about this calc since you posted it frazz and tbh I think it does for grass measuring what kgs of ms sold per cow did for 305 day milk recording as a metric for measuring cow performance. It seems to me that every time some new farmer is featured by teagasc or the comic the tonnes/ha figure being produced is up by another tonne. Not long ago 13 tonnes was seen as excellent but now in a few short years 18 tonnes is the new standard.

I'm very sceptical about grass measuring figures. There are so many variables in the measuring methods alone between farmers that it has very little meaning as a comparison of performance imo. This calc on the other hand takes the variables out. Cows producing x milk solids have y requirement which is met by so much concentrate which means the balance is coming from grass tonnes. Which multiplied by Sr gives you tonnes utilised. The question now becomes about sr and whether you can push this.

Excellent post with excellent points made

freedominacup

mahoney_j wrote: »

I'll throw a curve ball and I'll suspect u won't agree but anyway ,steady up with the expansion in milk through more cows and more nos .outlook for year ain't good price wise and your looking at a deficit in feed and adequate housing slurry storage etc to cater for extra nos .consolidste things ,cull out under performers sell your Autumn calvers and just milk March April calvers to fill gap .also on selling all your bull calves asap ,sell maby the jex Bulls but keep the rest till September ,October or early 17 .these may not leave a massive return but will leave profit and a ball of cash at short notice .this may be a year to have a rainy day fund like that .

Why not milk the cows for the summer take the easy to get cheap milk from them then do your culling in August. Dry off and tidy up for a month or six weeks maybe even following milking herd and get your ball of cash from them. I'd be surprised if that wasn't a more profitable way to stock farm for the summer.

Dawggone

I caught the end of ETTG, the bit on dairy.
Did they really have to show cows caked in shyte. I've two here...not for long.

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

I'll throw a curve ball and I'll suspect u won't agree but anyway ,steady up with the expansion in milk through more cows and more nos .outlook for year ain't good price wise and your looking at a deficit in feed and adequate housing slurry storage etc to cater for extra nos .consolidste things ,cull out under performers sell your Autumn calvers and just milk March April calvers to fill gap .also on selling all your bull calves asap ,sell maby the jex Bulls but keep the rest till September ,October or early 17 .these may not leave a massive return but will leave profit and a ball of cash at short notice .this may be a year to have a rainy day fund like that .

Undecided Wether we go up again or do as you say take a break for a yr or 2.
Both options being thought about atm.
Depends on a few variables which won't be known till next yr.
Won't keep the calves mj. Extra work load and all that as well as having extra heifer calves this yr. I want to look after them as best as possible and there the priority.

Have the budget done for worst case scenario, it's looking okay tbh. Extra production saving us.

frazzledhome

Dawggone wrote: »

I caught the end of ETTG, the bit on dairy.
Did they really have to show cows caked in shyte. I've two here...not for long.

I have to agree, really good show but the shytty cows could've been skipped

Mehaffey1

Hoping to put together a C.V for Irish farming positions at the end of the week. Any tips on how to structure it? Main question would be should I include basic qualifications such as GCSEs which is the equilivent of Junior Cert ( I assume) and a few decent qualifications in Sports Science?

freedominacup

Mehaffey1 wrote: »

Hoping to put together a C.V for Irish farming positions at the end of the week. Any tips on how to structure it? Main question would be should I include basic qualifications such as GCSEs which is the equilivent of Junior Cert ( I assume) and a few decent qualifications in Sports Science?

Once you're any more than a couple of years out of college it's all about your experience.

whelan2

Anyone else getting the odd text for water in milk? Was saying it to milking machine man yesterday, he said loads of people are getting them. Everything fully drained here after/before each milking.

kowtow

Mehaffey1 wrote: »

Hoping to put together a C.V for Irish farming positions at the end of the week. Any tips on how to structure it? Main question would be should I include basic qualifications such as GCSEs which is the equilivent of Junior Cert ( I assume) and a few decent qualifications in Sports Science?

It's a personal preference and others might disagree but (unless it is the very first job out of college) I preferred to see GCSE's summarised, as in:

15 O Levels (11 at A Grade)

or 5 GSCE (3 at C Grade)

rather than the exhaustive list of biology, physics, history of art, etc. etc. - note that this does not apply to A Levels (Leaving) which should be listed separately, to my mind as of course should more senior or specific qualifications.

There is no need to pad out CV documents, it adds nothing and insults the reader by wasting their time. If your career is short to date, then have a short but concise CV. It is the sign of a forthright and precise applicant, and indeed a confident one, all of which count for more than words on paper.

And for God sake check the spelling by reading it (as well as a spell checker), and get someone else to double check it.

kowtow

Detergent:

Does any one use the FIL (Quantum) range from Gregg Care? If so does it perform any better than the usual range to be found in the Creamery - it looks a lot more expensive (although I may be comparing different sizes?).

If it's worth using, how to choose within the range?

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

Anyone else getting the odd text for water in milk? Was saying it to milking machine man yesterday, he said loads of people are getting them. Everything fully drained here after/before each milking.

Got a 200quid fine for it in the Nov or Dec milk cheque uggghhh! Never chased it up properly, the auto washer pipe can suck in water if I start filling the trough too early tho.

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

Got a 200quid fine for it in the Nov or Dec milk cheque uggghhh! Never chased it up properly, the auto washer pipe can suck in water if I start filling the trough too early tho.

Its annoying me as we flush out the system with air before and after milking.

Milked out

kowtow wrote: »

Detergent:

Does any one use the FIL (Quantum) range from Gregg Care? If so does it perform any better than the usual range to be found in the Creamery - it looks a lot more expensive (although I may be comparing different sizes?).

If it's worth using, how to choose within the range?

Don't know about that stuff but I use circodine P, it's a powder, for hot and cold washing and paracetic acid in rinse water seems to be doing fine. Avalkasan in the bulk tank then cos that has to be a liquid it draws in itself. The new jar I find awkward to rinse have to do a split rinse to get all milk residue out of it.

whelan2

Have a lad here today with umbilical system injecting in slurry, tanks are fairly full

Milked out

whelan2 wrote: »

Have a lad here today with umbilical system injecting in slurry, tanks are fairly full

Same here except.with splash plate, didn't agitate tank just pumped out a shot of watery stuff to relieve pressure, had to go to same fields as last time as he was tracking even with flotation tyres

Buford T. Justice XIX

Milked out wrote: »

Same here except.with splash plate, didn't agitate tank just pumped out a shot of watery stuff to relieve pressure, had to go to same fields as last time as he was tracking even with flotation tyres

Same as.:(

The unit was here for 5 days waiting for a bit of dry weather to go out but had to go anyway with the slurry out over the top of the slats.

As he was pumping out the slurry, it was flowing down the field into the next paddock so we had to abandon the job.

It gave me about a week or 10 days before I will be under pressure again.

Greengrass1

After buying a loaf of maize to try it out.
Will feed it as a buffer to cows at grass. (Should be back out again tomorrow)

How many kgs should I feed.
Feeding 4kg 16% nut atm

Deepsouthwest

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Same as.:(

The unit was here for 5 days waiting for a bit of dry weather to go out but had to go anyway with the slurry out over the top of the slats.

As he was pumping out the slurry, it was flowing down the field into the next paddock so we had to abandon the job.

It gave me about a week or 10 days before I will be under pressure again.

Feck it, that's challenging.

Deepsouthwest

whelan2 wrote: »

Anyone else getting the odd text for water in milk? Was saying it to milking machine man yesterday, he said loads of people are getting them. Everything fully drained here after/before each milking.

Probably too much Holstein breeding in ur cows. Have u considered crossbreeding?!!!

whelan2

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Probably too much Holstein breeding in ur cows. Have u considered crossbreeding?!!!

feck all holstein here anymore, crossed with bf.

Milked out

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Probably too much Holstein breeding in ur cows. Have u considered crossbreeding?!!!

last test here 4.38bf 3.56p. ....All hol

mahoney_j

Milked out wrote: »

last test here 4.38bf 3.56p. ....All hol

4.84 3.76 all hol who needs x breeds !!!

whelan2

ah lads dont want a mickey waving competition, just think its strange that a few people in the same area get water texts at the same time

Milked out

whelan2 wrote: »

ah lads dont want a mickey waving competition, just think its strange that a few people in the same area get water texts at the same time

Is it just a reminder or has it actually tested high for water? If the wash didn't get in is there a chance something is up with the plate cooler, possibly water getting in to milk unlikely I guess as it would be visibly leaking if something like that was up.

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

ah lads dont want a mickey waving competition, just think its strange that a few people in the same area get water texts at the same time

Agreed I also got a 2.2 % aw on my first collection ,don't know why as I've an air purge in parlour to flush lines and tank drained dry