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

mahoney_j

Timmaay wrote: »

It's not about the fact that a HO will do say a 3rd more output, it's about how much profit the cow will leave at the end of the year. Also sales of heifers/AI or breeding bulls let's face it is a limited market, Stan is in the top 1% in terms of many elements with a fantastic herd of cows behind him, I'd consider myself not the worst nut behind the wheel here on our farm, and everything tells me that using JE will help hugely speed up the transition from what was an AYR calving herd of HOs with average solids and very average output to a compact calving spring herd with good solids and in a simple system that doesn't require a huge amount of meal etc. I for one am very happy that the option of JE is there, and has been well proven in an Irish setup, and that reasonable research has been done on it. Like all research there will be an element of bias towards it, but it's up to me to pick and choose what I want to take from it. What I think will be the ideal cow for me will be a 1/4 JE 3/4s HO, decent boost in durability and solids from the JE, while retaining the milk, size and beef of the HO. That's what I'm trying to bred in here for now.

Hard disagree with that ,and crucially you also make the point of picking and choosing certain elements from research etc to improve what u already have ,that is key rather than taking that info as gospel and blanket implementing it .stan whilst u correctly place right at head of top table has a system that yes requires some serious knowledge of genetics ,nutrition etc but is damn profitable and with all young blood now coming through with supposed open minds this system should be able to be replicated ,maby not to same level initially but def in time

whelan2

WheatenBriar wrote: »

Who sent that text?

Pat smith, its how he wants his 2 million distributed

WheatenBriar

whelan2 wrote: »

Pat smith, its how he wants his 2 million distributed

Its being paid in January through the sfp system or balanced ps or whatever its called now so subject to any delays or cross compliance fines on that
So no use to anyone in that boat

kevthegaff

Do I qualify 33 but no bps top up

Milked out

kevthegaff wrote: »

Do I qualify 33 but no bps top up

Ah shir 33 is ancient

whelan2

Found some bloody slime on bed in dry cow shed, so I assume 1 of them is not in calf, now to find out who iti is, she must have had a heat in the last few days, all were scanned in calf in early oct

Milked out

whelan2 wrote: »

Found some bloody slime on bed in dry cow shed, so I assume 1 of them is not in calf, now to find out who iti is, she must have had a heat in the last few days, all were scanned in calf in early oct

Balls, could be a chance it's not but if you know which one it is u could scan her again to be sure.

Greengrass1

whelan2 wrote: »

Found some bloody slime on bed in dry cow shed, so I assume 1 of them is not in calf, now to find out who iti is, she must have had a heat in the last few days, all were scanned in calf in early oct

Incalf cows slim aswell. Just keeps everything in order inside them. See it here all the time

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

Found some bloody slime on bed in dry cow shed, so I assume 1 of them is not in calf, now to find out who iti is, she must have had a heat in the last few days, all were scanned in calf in early oct

Poor milk price, good cull cow price, ya could be in a lot worse of a situation!

Corkfarmer

Following on from the debate above about cow type, having been at the conference the message I took home was that all this talk about x-breds giving €200 extra per lactation doesn't stack up when you compare them to hols of the same ebi. And going into the conference I was sold on x-breds for myself setting up.

Mehaffey1

Best cow type here I feel would be jersey, no messing about with this x breeding kiwi cross away to nothing. Fellas on here would have bigger yearlings than our four year old crosses! Nice jersey herd with no pugging the ground, light on their feet for the long walks and sure they look lovely.

Mehaffey1

Although the most important thing to remember when it comes down to what is the best system/cows/parlour/tractor/machinery is management at the end of the day. Think a lot of people overlook that when it comes to comparing things in Farming.

RobertKK

WheatenBriar wrote: »

Who sent that text?

I have the Farmers Journal app on my phone, got a notification, that the government decided to match European money and they will distribute the money equally among all dairy farmers, with an €800 top up for younger farmers-terms and condition, some young farmers are valued more than others :P
But the basic will be somewhere around €1,350 and paid early in the new year..

danjoe

I have a nice British Friesian maiden heifer 450kgs, thinking of selling her soon, what is she worth or am I better off holding on and putting her in calf in January?,

whelan2

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Incalf cows slim aswell. Just keeps everything in order inside them. See it here all the time

not pure blood slime though, it was like a slime from a missed heat

whelan2

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

visatorro

whelan2 wrote:

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

wouldn't say that. bigger is certainly not better in every case. iv increased numbers slightly and I'll be reducing next year. combination of a few factors here. as lads were saying here expansion was never a race. if he milked ten more every year he would be further on.

Milked out

whelan2 wrote: »

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

I sent in 15k extra litres in Nov this year over Nov last year and will only get a similar amount in the cheque if not a bit less. I wouldn't say he is in the minority, expanding and a 10 cent drop in price year on year would do what he describes fast enough

stanflt

whelan2 wrote: »

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

Unfortunately some people need to get more efficient before they increase numbers
I had 20% more cows in October 15 compared to 14 and supplied 85% more milk
Already sold more milk in dec than last dec and only 6 collection so far- no extra meal being feed and no extra autumn Calvers

Dawggone

First of the cold nights have arrived so grass growth will pretty much stall from now on. Have enough grass for another three weeks if the weather plays ball...

alps

Dawggone wrote: »

First of the cold nights have arrived so grass growth will pretty much stall from now on. Have enough grass for another three weeks if the weather plays ball...

Lovely scene....looks like early Nov here....nice bit of foliage still up. ..

blackdog1

whelan2 wrote: »

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

45 cows is a lot . That's 45 heifers he didn't sell or he bought. That's a huge loss in income their. Then if he had to rent land to have enough land for these extra animals that's a cost plus extra feed and fertilizer. Most people had the land but quotas held them back production and cow wise. I'm expanding here by 20% with same land base and fertilizer costs. After that I'll have to either rent or buffer feed which adds a significant cost.

kevthegaff

whelan2 wrote:

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

I'm up 30% cow numbers this year, last year was at once a day 1st August, dried in October. I'm up 80% on milk. How would things pan out with quota and current prices..

kevthegaff

Dawggone wrote:

First of the cold nights have arrived so grass growth will pretty much stall from now on. Have enough grass for another three weeks if the weather plays ball...

Looks like here in autumn

Dawggone

kevthegaff wrote: »

Looks like here in autumn

We are only 10 days into winter Kev...


I suppose it may be a bit difficult to understand seeing all the rain you are getting. Send some over to me next month to fill the irrigation lakes.

This herd is milking 32l, with 3.3 pr and 4.2 BF.
The other herd are housed fulltime as reseeding was done too late...37.6l with 3.4pr and 4.3bf.

It will be interesting to see which is the most profitable...

WheatenBriar

stanflt wrote: »

Unfortunately some people need to get more efficient before they increase numbers
I had 20% more cows in October 15 compared to 14 and supplied 85% more milk
Already sold more milk in dec than last dec and only 6 collection so far- no extra meal being feed and no extra autumn Calvers

You are indeed brilliant, and perfection personified, with skills, cows and land management that is a light and a star in the sky,the brightest,that we could all do well to follow
Your milk quality,silage results, and sheer knowledge of numbers with inputs, outputs and everything else too numerous to mention to bring about the remarkable story of against the grain sucess and the endless flourishing of your situation is that beacon of light we all aspire to

RightTurnClyde

whelan2 wrote: »

My dad spoke to a lad the other day, he increased his cow numbers by 45. Said it was the worst thing he could have done, he was tipping along nicely beforehand. Now he owes everyone money, last months milk cheque was a good bit smaller than the same month last year, extra mouths to feed and extra work. I would assume he is in the minority?

Don't know anything about this farmer, but I found carrying big numbers of expansion heifers is a KILLER on cash flow. I found that last years goodish milk price got eaten up carrying the extra heifers, having to cut milking early (1st Nov), and a small SL fine. So even though there were no major outstanding bills coming in this year, there weren't the reserves there that would have been there if I wasn't in expansion mode. Remember those 45 extra cows have cost him ~€60k and he probably just absorbed it in cash flow in '13 & '14 and the effects are appearing now. IYkwim.
I wonder if he calculated this years milk price on last years cow numbers, would he still say he's better off without the extra 45 cows.

kevthegaff

RightTurnClyde wrote:

Don't know anything about this farmer, but I found carrying big numbers of expansion heifers is a KILLER on cash flow. I found that last years goodish milk price got eaten up carrying the extra heifers, having to cut milking early (1st Nov), and a small SL fine. So even though there were no major outstanding bills coming in this year, there weren't the reserves there that would have been there if I wasn't in expansion mode. Remember those 45 extra cows have cost him ~€60k and he probably just absorbed it in cash flow in '13 & '14 and the effects are appearing now. IYkwim. I wonder if he calculated this years milk price on last years cow numbers, would he still say he's better off without the extra 45 cows.

When you stop expanding is when you see the most profitable system

RightTurnClyde

kevthegaff wrote: »

When you stop expanding is when you see the most profitable system

Ya, but that's when the fun goes out of it. I think half the buzz of farming is the next project or the next bit of expansion
I'd say I'd throw my hat at it the day I stop having "a plan"

Greengrass1

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

Ya, but that's when the fun goes out of it. I think half the buzz of farming is the next project or the next bit of expansion
I'd say I'd throw my hat at it the day I stop having "a plan"

Exactly the way I feel. I'd be very very bored if there wasn't a challenge in it.
Everyone is different I suppose.