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

Dawggone

Markcheese wrote: »

I dont know what the french system is like, but under irish regs you have to get a derragation to medicate,you cant routinely medicate....the idea isnt to be backward, or have sick animals... if for eg your housing or calf handling/weaning are contributing to a pneumonia problem you'll have to fix
That... too many treatments will lead to the animal concerned losing organic status...
It isnt a perfect system... but for food exporters where the chain from farm to fork is long its better than anything else...

It's laughable Mark. All they ask is to double withdrawal period.


I'm convinced that the 'real' or 'slow' or 'organic' label should belong to the individual farmer, not to big Ag or gov.

Timmaay

Dawggone wrote: »

Organic is laughable when you take a closer look...all antibiotics, wormers, chemicals etc are still allowed. Laughable.

However those that choose to connect with the consumer and give them the real, healthy, warts an' all tasty food will find a market. The 'organic' label is just another way that big Ag gets its fingers into our production.

I was picking up a 500ml pot of yoghurt in Lidl the other day, and looked at the organic options for the craic. The Glenisk one was 2.99, then some own brand one, but made in Germany was only 1.77! Growning up it was always hammered into us we had to buy Irish meat and dairy ha, but there's no way I'd pay that sort of premium for basically no difference ha. And incidently both brands had about 5 different flavours/variations, 4 of them were "low fat", which of course when ya look at the ingredients means loaded with sugar.

And Ironically enough I ended up grabbing a Alpro coconut flavoured "yoghurt" pot in the end, for 2.15, and only discovered when I got home it's actually a coconut based vegan substitute for yoghurt haha! Was very tasty I'll admit!

Dawggone

Timmaay wrote: »

I was picking up a 500ml pot of yoghurt in Lidl the other day, and looked at the organic options for the craic. The Glenisk one was 2.99, then some own brand one, but made in Germany was only 1.77! Growning up it was always hammered into us we had to buy Irish meat and dairy ha, but there's no way I'd pay that sort of premium for basically no difference ha. And incidently both brands had about 5 different flavours/variations, 4 of them were "low fat", which of course when ya look at the ingredients means loaded with sugar.

And Ironically enough I ended up grabbing a Alpro coconut flavoured "yoghurt" pot in the end, for 2.15, and only discovered when I got home it's actually a coconut based vegan substitute for yoghurt haha! Was very tasty I'll admit!

Lol.

Markcheese

Dawggone wrote:

I'm convinced that the 'real' or 'slow' or 'organic' label should belong to the individual farmer, not to big Ag or gov.

Dawggone wrote:

It's laughable Mark. All they ask is to double withdrawal period.

Sounds a bit different to here, plus the organic name/ certification bodys are owned by the farmers/ members.. there are basic eu standards but if you want to change something get voted on to the board (not difficult here :-) )
The big deal is that organic has become a brand in itself ,that consumers like... you could spend years explaining to customers thats it grass fed ,freerange,gm free,blah blah blah.. with a million scheme stickers on the pack that no one cares about or you stick the word organic on it and play that game...

Dawggone

Markcheese wrote: »

Sounds a bit different to here, plus the organic name/ certification bodys are owned by the farmers/ members.. there are basic eu standards but if you want to change something get voted on to the board (not difficult here :-) )
The big deal is that organic has become a brand in itself ,that consumers like... you could spend years explaining to customers thats it grass fed ,freerange,gm free,blah blah blah.. with a million scheme stickers on the pack that no one cares about or you stick the word organic on it and play that game...

Yes.
Organic is a brand that everybody knows, but it needs to be taken another step forward...

It will be difficult in Ireland to market a top product...addiction to shyte food and obesity...

Base price

Timmaay wrote: »

I was picking up a 500ml pot of yoghurt in Lidl the other day, and looked at the organic options for the craic. The Glenisk one was 2.99, then some own brand one, but made in Germany was only 1.77! Growning up it was always hammered into us we had to buy Irish meat and dairy ha, but there's no way I'd pay that sort of premium for basically no difference ha. And incidently both brands had about 5 different flavours/variations, 4 of them were "low fat", which of course when ya look at the ingredients means loaded with sugar.

And Ironically enough I ended up grabbing a Alpro coconut flavoured "yoghurt" pot in the end, for 2.15, and only discovered when I got home it's actually a coconut based vegan substitute for yoghurt haha! Was very tasty I'll admit!

I appear to be one of the ****ing egits who support Irish produce like buying Glenisk products. Same way as it my nature to buy/purchase locally grown veg, meat and produced food.

Water John

TMK Glenisk is now owned majority by a UK company.

Our dept of Ag has out sourced the definition of Organic. Seems we have then set ourselves a very high threshold compared to other countries for the same label. Shooting ourselves in the foot if we did that. The consumer will not differentiate.

kowtow

Dawggone wrote:

Maybe I'm getting old but I think Kowtow is right.

Well I'm glad you are so confident, I haven't finished persuading myself yet!

If you look at it from my perspective, and I know there are others like me particularly in the US and the UK it simply goes against the grain to throw energy into a business where the producer is so intimately, passionately, totally engaged with the product and it's genesis but simultaneously so isolated from the customer.

It's the diametric opposite of all the wonderful tech companies we admire so much... our industry really is a linear creation, cutting edge 1950s thinking which we are still investing in as if it was the future.

And ironically it was not always so. In our grandparents time the guarantee of good food was to know the first name of the man who grew it. Farms fed families (not least the ones working them) rather than simply being a cog in an energy processing chain.

So I suppose the difference for me is that I'll keep asking why a farm shouldn't be a prosperous, sustainable, investment capable of growing from its own retained profits until someone gives me a sensible explanation why it shouldn't.

Dawggone

Article on Agriland forecasting that 70 cow herds will need off farm employment...assuming low debt levels.

I think that you could nearly double that figure.

darragh_haven

Dawggone wrote: »

Article on Agriland forecasting that 70 cow herds will need off farm employment...assuming low debt levels.

I think that you could nearly double that figure.

Didn't you hear Dawg.... things have bottomed out and things are on the up. 70 cows twill be grand

whelan2

Anyone still got bull/s in with cows? Anyone scanned yet?

Dawggone

darragh_haven wrote: »

Didn't you hear Dawg.... things have bottomed out and things are on the up. 70 cows twill be grand

Lol.

Markcheese

Dawggone wrote:

Article on Agriland forecasting that 70 cow herds will need off farm employment...assuming low debt levels.

Isnt " seventy cows" a bit of a ,how long is a piece of string measurement.. I mean, debt levels, high yeilding/low yeilding, bought in feeds versus home produced feed , rented land ,costs in

Dawggone

Markcheese wrote: »

Isnt " seventy cows" a bit of a ,how long is a piece of string measurement.. I mean, debt levels, high yeilding/low yeilding, bought in feeds versus home produced feed , rented land ,costs in

Absolutely Mark.

But the real message has its origins pre 1983...

Dawggone

whelan2 wrote: »

Anyone still got bull/s in with cows? Anyone scanned yet?

Always...:)

Scan every 35 days. Bulls never idle (lonely!)...

Dawggone

Dawggone wrote: »

Absolutely Mark.

But the real message has its origins pre 1983...

My oh my, if I posted this a few months ago I'd have been shot down by the cheerleaders...where are they now?

It'd be funny if it wasn't true....

atlantic mist

http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/heifers-reach-e4200-at-irish-holstein-friesian-association-sale/

highest replacement sales figure ive heard all year and i though i had a high value on mine, must erect a ring and start walking them around when next buyer arrives

what the most youd pay for a cow? i know when we restocked we set a limit of 1600 for calved/in calf heifers pedigree animals. We had commercial stock previous to this and got roasted on depopulating

Timmaay

atlantic mist wrote: »

http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/heifers-reach-e4200-at-irish-holstein-friesian-association-sale/

highest replacement sales figure ive heard all year and i though i had a high value on mine, must erect a ring and start walking them around when next buyer arrives

what the most youd pay for a cow? i know when we restocked we set a limit of 1600 for calved/in calf heifers pedigree animals. We had commercial stock previous to this and got roasted on depopulating

How can you trust a figure like that? Sounds more like headline grabbing figures.

pedigree 6

atlantic mist wrote: »

http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/heifers-reach-e4200-at-irish-holstein-friesian-association-sale/

highest replacement sales figure ive heard all year and i though i had a high value on mine, must erect a ring and start walking them around when next buyer arrives

what the most youd pay for a cow? i know when we restocked we set a limit of 1600 for calved/in calf heifers pedigree animals. We had commercial stock previous to this and got roasted on depopulating

Ah they'll return the favour.;)
They're not a fan of ebi then. Going by the milk figures it must be the fertility letting them down. Hard to know sometimes who is making the most money all year round guys or spring calvers. I wouldn't swap my winter off though.:pac:

awaywithyou

I often wonder lately.... Why do lads talk how many cows one man can manage....??

Would they not be better off talking bout how many litres one man can produce???

Guy near me with little over 100 cows producing over 1 million litres a yr and another guy near me with 150 cows producing producing bout 750000 litres.....

So this 70 cow thing is to me a laugh..... Are they talking bout 70 cows producing 350k litres or 700k litres??

Markcheese

Dawggone wrote:

My oh my, if I posted this a few months ago I'd have been shot down by the cheerleaders...where are they now?

Dawggone wrote:

It'd be funny if it wasn't true....

All a bit lost on me... I was 10 then.. and a crap sense of humour too...

whelan2

awaywithyou wrote: »

I often wonder lately.... Why do lads talk how many cows one man can manage....??

Would they not be better off talking bout how many litres one man can produce???

Guy near me with little over 100 cows producing over 1 million litres a yr and another guy near me with 150 cows producing producing bout 750000 litres.....

So this 70 cow thing is to me a laugh..... Are they talking bout 70 cows producing 350k litres or 700k litres??

Paper doesnt refuse ink and the fact we are disscussing it is worse, everyone knows whats suits their system best and no 2 farms are the same.

whelan2

Just saw a swallows nest in the corner of the dairy, I know it shouldnt be there but how long do they use the nest for? My dad said it's bad luck to move the nest.

kevthegaff

Dawggone wrote: »

My oh my, if I posted this a few months ago I'd have been shot down by the cheerleaders...where are they now?

It'd be funny if it wasn't true....

most of them have left the building!

C0N0R

Decided farming in Ireland just wasn't going to suit me, sitting in Dublin airport waiting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, they say a change is as good as a rest 😀

whelan2

C0N0R wrote: »

Decided farming in Ireland just wasn't going to suit me, sitting in Dublin airport waiting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, they say a change is as good as a rest 😀

Best of luck

mahoney_j

C0N0R wrote: »

Decided farming in Ireland just wasn't going to suit me, sitting in Dublin airport waiting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, they say a change is as good as a rest 😀

Best of luck Conor ,alamari I presume .keep us updated here

awaywithyou

C0N0R wrote: »

Decided farming in Ireland just wasn't going to suit me, sitting in Dublin airport waiting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, they say a change is as good as a rest 😀

All the best dude

kerry cow

It does nt matter what yield the cows do .It's the net profit per cow that is important and a cow back in calf , calving consistently each year . Herd size , and yield is pub talk , but you rarely hear about net profit per cow talked from the high stool., why because most haven't a clue . I would rather have 70 profitable cows than 100 empty non profit making cows .

kowtow

C0N0R wrote: »

Decided farming in Ireland just wasn't going to suit me, sitting in Dublin airport waiting to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, they say a change is as good as a rest 😀

The very best of luck to you, and a safe journey. I am certain you'll be a great asset wherever you end up. Make sure to keep us updated.

In view of your destination you might want to have a quick read of the water divining thread before you board.