2016... How is it for you so far?

whelan2

Land saturated here. Very lucky we got our big tower emptied by umbilical spreader last week so pressure off there. Plenty of feed. So how is 2016 so far for you?

tractorporn

Plenty of feed as long as the winter doesn't last longer than March. Three tanks full here got a few foot out of each of them on Thursday but have no where else to go, the only dry field we have is plastered.

frazzledhome

Land wet

slurry tanks permenantly full or nearly full

Struggling to hit grazing targets,

Having to go out for cows every night at 8pm is a PIA

downward pressure on milk price

Bulls calves about 3:1

Wont have enough silage

Great vitality in the calves

Cows milking well

Every cow that's calved is milking

Every heifer is milking

Calving is zipping along

On/off grazing working well

So all in all good so far. Enjoying myself and looking at this year as a challenge.

freedominacup

frazzledhome wrote: »

Land wet

slurry tanks permenantly full or nearly full

Struggling to hit grazing targets,

Having to go out for cows every night at 8pm is a PIA

downward pressure on milk price

Bulls calves about 3:1

Wont have enough silage

Great vitality in the calves

Cows milking well

Every cow that's calved is milking

Every heifer is milking

Calving is zipping along

On/off grazing working well

So all in all good so far. Enjoying myself and looking at this year as a challenge.

Every cow that's calved milking. That's the big one. Things are fairly right if that's the case.

frazzledhome

freedominacup wrote: »

Every cow that's calved milking. That's the big one. Things are fairly right if that's the case.

Early days
45% calved as of tonight. Planned start of calving was 7 days ago but had some before time. Another 30 calvings will see 50% so should be there by Mon pm. That'd be 9 days from PSOC.

9 so far since evening milking with 4 of them heifers 1 dead heif (lay on) 3 fr Bulls and 1 he bull.

Gender tide may be turning but I'd prefer if the lions share of next yrs maidens were in the ground now.

Head down arse up for another few weeks

davidk1394

Going well so far:
Bought 53 in lamb ewe lambs and 7 in lamb ewes
Got cattle slurry of a neighbour as there land is too wet
Busy with the tractor hauling slurry and dung for people
Selling bales of hay and silage at a stead rate
Nearly ready to go quarrying
The last of the bulls to go this week and got great money for the last of the lambs
A local butcher approached us yesterday to supply them year round with lambs and another person asked us about supplying bulls bulls.

Dawggone

Wet.

orm0nd

Dawggone wrote: »

Wet.

+1

and busy, busy busy,

75% of cows calved
almost 200 lambs let off on grass, another 40 to 50 indoors, ewe lambs springing & due 10 days,
had to split the sheep & bring some to the outfarm

ok for slurry storage for now

have a vet. student here for a few days, & she certainly livened up the place, one gas ticket
makings of a good vet too, but coming from a non farming background is a bit green with handling livestock
I told her after a few visits to the A&E for stitches & casts she won't be long learning,

Mulumpy

Big change for me this year. Exited dairy so buying calves and weanlings where I'd normally being doing deals to sell them. Hopefully be a lot easier to manage with full time job. Certainly looking forward to spending more time with the family.

blue5000

wet, wet, wet.

Putting calved cows out as they calve, giving them silage and back fencing them in triangles, water troughs are in the centre of the field, and they have a hedge at the other end for a bit of shelter. Lost one with tetany the frosty night. Calving going ok.

Getting a few loads of slurry out every chance I get.

PM done for 2015, not as bad as I expected it to be.

Waiting for the dairy lads to give away their finished cattle before I sell bulls.

Loads of silage left. I reckon grass growth has slowed down since start of feb, re-growths are slow enough.

Miname

Not too bad so far, have had the usual ups and downs. Lost three calves however with some sort of virus. Calves just pining away as if they got no beistings. No temperature or scour initially but just stand with bad humps on them. Can't find the cause . Otherwise I've tightened my calving spread which is a good thing and am going for a six week spread next spring. Autumn born weanlings are flying it and have the August/September ones into 300 plus kilos. The main concentration for this year is to up quality, a new handling unit that I may roof and concrete another section of yard.

50HX

land boating:mad:

plenty of feed

half way through calving - all going well

tanks approaching full capacity

sold weanlings at good prices:)

all in all better than other years

a break in the weather and it'll be a good start to the year

simx

Wet wet wet
Need to put cows out
Slurry is a problem
Need to spread urea
Busy cows calving 60% calved 3 weeks
Can't wait for summer
Loads of silage

Count Mondego

Nearly half way through calving, usually would be later than this. Putting it down to boluses at breeding for the last 3 years and a ninja bull that we couldn't see bulling the cows. Hard to put newborn calves out in this weather but what can you do. Land saturated and we're on limestone. Loads of silage too and happy with the quality.

Friend of mine in limerick told me that the autopsy place in Limerick is full up, they've never had so many dead calves as this year with scour.

whelan2

Mulumpy wrote: »

Big change for me this year. Exited dairy so buying calves and weanlings where I'd normally being doing deals to sell them. Hopefully be a lot easier to manage with full time job. Certainly looking forward to spending more time with the family.

Do you ever see yourself going back dairying?

Grueller

[quote="Count Mondego;98806451

Friend of mine in limerick told me that the autopsy place in Limerick is full up, they've never had so many dead calves as this year with scour.[/quote]

Interesting to hear. Have they given any reason as to why so prevalent this year?

blue5000

Grueller wrote: »

Interesting to hear. Have they given any reason as to why so prevalent this year?

Couple of possibilities
Lads cutting costs, so no vaccine being used.
Farmers selling calves might not be too vigilant about colostrum.
Mild winter, lots of bugs around.

Grueller

blue5000 wrote: »

Couple of possibilities
Lads cutting costs, so no vaccine being used.
Farmers selling calves might not be too vigilant about colostrum.
Mild winter, lots of bugs around.

Had thought of all 3.
1 & 2 happen every year. 3 is the main reason I would have thought.

Mulumpy

whelan2 wrote:

Do you ever see yourself going back dairying?

At the moment no. I've been working off farm since I left college. Don't think I could see myself staying home full time but ya never know.

Count Mondego

Grueller wrote: »

Interesting to hear. Have they given any reason as to why so prevalent this year?

I'd say alot of people are leaving calves in doors with the bad weather. Perfect storm.