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

mahoney_j

Mooooo wrote: »

Would it have taken 2kg a piece for the last 90 days to get that far? @30c/kget twud be 54 euro. Then again a different day in the mart and they wouldn't make the fleshy price. For the 10 or twenty extra not a whole pile in it I guess

If I'm honest I'm dissapointed with weights and price but made a concours decision this year to run these Bulls on quality grass and as little meal as possible I'm left with 8 >335 Ebi Bulls which will go as breeding Bulls from next March and 2 teasers as well as some Bb and Hereford calves and my fr heifers .

whelan2

Mooooo wrote: »

What make? Will warranty cover it? Got a text from my tank this morning saying wash stopped due to low water and check filters. Went messing around for 30 mins only to click that it was the farm pump not the tank at fault. Wait an hour then for the thing to wash before milking. Have two Wells one for house and one for farm so was able to switch over till I get the farm well fixed. Another few euro gone now, balls

my bulk tank maintenance will cover it , he said they will have to try to claim the money off packo for it. He said the new tanks seem to be alot softer than the old ones and hewould recommend that everyone has cover.

whelan2

Just finished scanning, 3 cows not in calf, 1 heifer not in calf, no surprises ,wrecked....out to milk now, have to be finished for football at 7

Mooooo

When buying our tank, maintenance guy was advising against packo based on agitators etc going but also I suspect because he was having difficulty getting packo to reimburse him for repairs

whelan2

Mooooo wrote: »

When buying our tank, maintenance guy was advising against packo based on agitators etc going but also I suspect because he was having difficulty getting packo to reimburse him for repairs

wonder would farm insurance cover it?Or is that just for the milk in the tank?

Timmaay

Know a chap with a packo about 2yrs old, both chemical pumps have given up the ghost, out of warranty, and cost something like 350 to replace each time.

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

Know a chap with a packo about 2yrs old, both chemical pumps have given up the ghost, out of warranty, and cost something like 350 to replace each time.

Is he with glanbia? Would the bulk tank maintenance not cover it?

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

Is he with glanbia? Would the bulk tank maintenance not cover it?

Yeh he is, I don't actually know did they cover it, I may ask him.

orm0nd

mahoney_j wrote:

Offloaded 24 fr Bulls this am ,born from 01/02 to 08/03 .average weight 168 kg .average price 270 .no meal since 19/05 .left me 84 euro a piece after costs including labour of 50 per calf .much fleshier calves weighing 210 /230 kg made 335/350'but by looks of it ate a lot more meal than mine .said id off load now before big flush comes .could of fed more meal and got better weights but would I have made any more ???

Saw your post last night MJ and TBH would have been interested in a couple but had already promised a guy ld meet him at ennis mart.

No fr in the runner ring but saw a couple of hex males about 220 kg making 780. Appeared to have been multiple suckled
Small coloured cattle were an utter rob. Needless to say I didn't stay too long.

kevthegaff

Timmaay wrote:

Know a chap with a packo about 2yrs old, both chemical pumps have given up the ghost, out of warranty, and cost something like 350 to replace each time.

Pack have a great name, is it the newer ones? me and Bro have dairy cools, pretty good so far!

mahoney_j

orm0nd wrote: »

Saw your post last night MJ and TBH would have been interested in a couple but had already promised a guy ld meet him at ennis mart.

No fr in the runner ring but saw a couple of hex males about 220 kg making 780. Appeared to have been multiple suckled
Small coloured cattle were an utter rob. Needless to say I didn't stay too long.

8 Angus Bulls ,born March ,not best looking stock .average weight 98 kg made 360 ,pure rob .lots of lads there for freisans but only at a price

Keepgrowing

mahoney_j wrote: »

Offloaded 24 fr Bulls this am ,born from 01/02 to 08/03 .average weight 168 kg .average price 270
.no meal since 19/05 .left me 84 euro a piece after costs including labour of 50 per calf .much fleshier calves weighing 210 /230 kg made 335/350'but by looks of it ate a lot more meal than mine .said id off load now before big flush comes .could of fed more meal and got better weights but would I have made any more ???

Moral of the story, sell calves at 2-3 weeks at €70-100 and let someone else rear them. It calls into question some of the claims here regarding the importance of calf sales.
Calf sales are only important if your shoving out calves at >€200

blackdog1

Keepgrowing wrote:

Moral of the story, sell calves at 2-3 weeks at €70-100 and let someone else rear them. It calls into question some of the claims here regarding the importance of calf sales. Calf sales are only important if your shoving out calves at >€200

Wouldn't totally agree. He still has cash flow at a time where bills are big. In other years he would have made alot more. Wouldn't judge something on the worst year.

kevthegaff

Keepgrowing wrote:

Moral of the story, sell calves at 2-3 weeks at €70-100 and let someone else rear them. It calls into question some of the claims here regarding the importance of calf sales. Calf sales are only important if your shoving out calves at >€200

If calves are making 200+, good possibility cow yield/fertility may suffer

whelan2

kevthegaff wrote: »

If calves are making 200+, good possibility cow yield/fertility may suffer

why?

Mooooo

I'd agree with keepgrowing here, if we weren't locked up all calves would be gone at 6 weeks or before. Any calves sold made from 80 for 2/3 week old small fr to 280 for 4wk old blues. I accept if the farm is fragmented it may be viable and suit but if in one block I'd get rid. The fr bulls I'd sell either way as the profit is likely to be what you would get as sucks anyway. Fair enough coloured calves may be different for fragmented farms. The cash flow if managed would be there from sales as calves, but it away if you want it in store. On the calves greater than 200 causing issues with the cow I'd disagree anything coloured would do fine and fr bull can often be more difficult than any blue. Although I have a dislike for some Herefords simply due to the size of their heads esp on heifers

kevthegaff

whelan2 wrote:

why?

Longer gestation with blues,limos, charlies, simmentals. I had angus this year and they were a bit too big, got good money but felt it was a little hard on the cows to recover

whelan2

kevthegaff wrote: »

Longer gestation with blues,limos, charlies, simmentals. I had angus this year and they were a bit too big, got good money but felt it was a little hard on the cows to recover

Don't think too many use Charolais or Simmental on dairy cows any more. Blues don't carry too long with their time. Use Angus here and happy enough. Have 2 cows due to blue next week. As others said you can have as much difficulty with a friesian as other breeds

Mooooo

kevthegaff wrote: »

whelan2 wrote:

why?

Longer gestation with blues,limos, charlies, simmentals. I had angus this year and they were a bit too big, got good money but felt it was a little hard on the cows to recover

Match the bull to the cows, only use ai blues, AA and some HE on cows and only aa on heifers or first calvers. Even easier calving aa if you hold them till 5 or 6 weeks they will fill out a a bit then if u want. Out of hol/fr anyway. Dbz is the blue bull I use, hasn't gone over time yet. Wouldn't go near limo or charlaois due to gestation length. That's when the calf gets too big I reckon

mahoney_j

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Moral of the story, sell calves at 2-3 weeks at €70-100 and let someone else rear them. It calls into question some of the claims here regarding the importance of calf sales.
Calf sales are only important if your shoving out calves at >€200

Look this was worst year as regards price I got when selling ,they were poor weights and poor price got but I still cleared over 80 euro a head on them ,grass only since mid May .as said before I've fragmented land away from milk block so it suits ,less will be kept ongoing as Sr on milk blick increases .very handy cheque to have this time of year ,I'll get cash and good discounted prices on my last fertliser ,and salmonella and lepto vaccines as well as pratically wiping clear coop trading account .i still have 8 Bulls which will be sold as breeding Bulls and 13 Hereford ,Bb and Angus calves which will be kept till next Feb/March .again another cash flow boost ,handy thing have in bad milk price .....I still exited the mart yesterday with head down like a rocket !!!!!

mahoney_j

Mooooo wrote: »

Match the bull to the cows, only use ai blues, AA and some HE on cows and only aa on heifers or first calvers. Even easier calving aa if you hold them till 5 or 6 weeks they will fill out a a bit then if u want. Out of hol/fr anyway. Dbz is the blue bull I use, hasn't gone over time yet. Wouldn't go near limo or charlaois due to gestation length. That's when the calf gets too big I reckon

Big fan of Dbz and atg Bb here ,no issue going over time or calving .ran an Aubrac bull to clean up heifers this year

alps

Lots of different variables on different years at play on this one. Paid very well this year to shove on cheap milk to young calves and get them weaned. Huge prices paid for these and operators well paid for their time...not sure if in this case MJ added much to the value since weaning but you must remember that on a per hectare basis these calves can leave a significant margin. Again MJ has paid himself, and if he has the time, he may as well pay himself a few bob to be doing something rather than being idle. No commute to a part time job, no inconvenient hours...no simpler way yo put together 2 or 3 grand for a holiday...

Mooooo

We had an old ai man that used always suggest aubrac to dad. Let us know how the calves turn out up to 6 weeks. I send all mine to bandon if not sold out of yard so colouring would be important in case fellas think they're actually big jerseys or use it as an excuse ha

yewtree

On fragmented farms would it be more profitable to lease out owned Outside blocks tax free and cut additional enterprises? provided you can get a suitable client and the outside blocks aren't required to support milking herd. I am thinking more where herd size is increasing and labour is an issue.

mahoney_j

yewtree wrote: »

On fragmented farms would it be more profitable to lease out owned Outside blocks tax free and cut additional enterprises? provided you can get a suitable client and the outside blocks aren't required to support milking herd. I am thinking more where herd size is increasing and labour is an issue.

Outside blocks =winter feed

mahoney_j

alps wrote: »

Lots of different variables on different years at play on this one. Paid very well this year to shove on cheap milk to young calves and get them weaned. Huge prices paid for these and operators well paid for their time...not sure if in this case MJ added much to the value since weaning but you must remember that on a per hectare basis these calves can leave a significant margin. Again MJ has paid himself, and if he has the time, he may as well pay himself a few bob to be doing something rather than being idle. No commute to a part time job, no inconvenient hours...no simpler way yo put together 2 or 3 grand for a holiday...

Once weaned and on grass there's v little to them as regards work .even rearing them to me ain't huge work ,even in a compact calving set up which I'm lucky to have .rearing facalities are there and cruically big and good enough .only thing that throws a spanner in works is if you get sick calves /scours etc ,then it's time consuming all out blocks within 2 miles of home and I'd be seen maidens and heifer calves anyway

mahoney_j

Mooooo wrote: »

We had an old ai man that used always suggest aubrac to dad. Let us know how the calves turn out up to 6 weeks. I send all mine to bandon if not sold out of yard so colouring would be important in case fellas think they're actually big jerseys or use it as an excuse ha

Yeadh ,if you looked at my lad from front you'd say jersey but from side and back he's a ball of muscle .sellibg Young calves id say you'd find it hard but I'll be keeping till back end and up to a year old so should be fine .real easy calving ,short gestation and average 35 kg birth weigh .ill see how things go next spring

jaymla627

Mooooo wrote: »

Match the bull to the cows, only use ai blues, AA and some HE on cows and only aa on heifers or first calvers. Even easier calving aa if you hold them till 5 or 6 weeks they will fill out a a bit then if u want. Out of hol/fr anyway. Dbz is the blue bull I use, hasn't gone over time yet. Wouldn't go near limo or charlaois due to gestation length. That's when the calf gets too big I reckon

Good to know about dbz have a good few cows incalf to him

freedominacup

jaymla627 wrote: »

Good to know about dbz have a good few cows incalf to him

Once they're managed correctly while dry you'll have no problems. I wasn't sure he was still available. There's a few carryover girls that will be served with beef straws and he'd be top of the list.

yewtree

mahoney_j wrote: »

Outside blocks =winter feed

That's a fair point and every dairy farmer I know is using outside blocks for winter feed.
My point is more about keeping additional stock to keep out farms stocked and I would include additional replacement heifers in that aswell. I think a lot of years farmers are poorly paid for their surplus replacement heifers.
i am not saying have no out blocks, but I do think the some farmers have to many outblocks and are over complicating their system.