Dairy chit chat II

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

Teagasc man was here today, he kept saying knock the autumn calvers on the head and go all spring. My arguement was I dont have the labour for all spring. I have no plans to go all spring for a few years yet, if ever. What do you think of the future of the autumn calving herd?

You've a liquid contract and valve nice and compact and are set up for it and I'd bet your making a few quid at it ,very strange he'd just tell u to knock it on the head just like that .the coops are telling us they want a flatter lactation curve rather than an even bigger may June peak to pump milk into cheap commodities like powder

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

What about their kids /family time? You'll never get those days back when they are older

100% agree

Wildsurfer

whelan2 wrote: »

Teagasc man was here today, he kept saying knock the autumn calvers on the head and go all spring. My arguement was I dont have the labour for all spring. I have no plans to go all spring for a few years yet, if ever. What do you think of the future of the autumn calving herd?

Did I not read on here somewhere that Joe Patton had figures at the moorepark open day that Winter milk was more profitable than spring production?

yewtree

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Did I not read on here somewhere that Joe Patton had figures at the moorepark open day that Winter milk was more profitable than spring production?

From a couple of talks i heard joe at, he said winter is profitable but it wheather its worth the extra labour and effort. It really depends wheather you have a big enough wintet contract

Water John

Whelan, you listened to his case for total spring. This is the base message they all have been given. You saying you're sticking with what you have, is the decision. That's yours.
He then, like any professional needs to move on and help devise the best plan for you, within that frame, you have given him.

blackdog1

whelan2 wrote:

Teagasc man was here today, he kept saying knock the autumn calvers on the head and go all spring. My arguement was I dont have the labour for all spring. I have no plans to go all spring for a few years yet, if ever. What do you think of the future of the autumn calving herd?

Teagasc would want to question themselves sometimes. If everyone was winter would we need all these new plants? ?. Would we have a better milk price because we would be selling the same amount of product each month not just dumping it on the market over 3 months. Would labour be an issue if farmers could share a labour unit? And that labour unit would have full time employment all year round. ...

It's alot of work no doubt but it has its advantages too. If disease breaks out it only effects a small number of calves etc.

Spring calving us an excellent system too if you have help during the calving season.

jaymla627

blackdog1 wrote: »

Teagasc would want to question themselves sometimes. If everyone was winter would we need all these new plants? ?. Would we have a better milk price because we would be selling the same amount of product each month not just dumping it on the market over 3 months. Would labour be an issue if farmers could share a labour unit? And that labour unit would have full time employment all year round. ...

It's alot of work no doubt but it has its advantages too. If disease breaks out it only effects a small number of calves etc.

Spring calving us an excellent system too if you have help during the calving season.

Its getting alot of press recently the whole calf rearing issue re bobby calves/massive increase in calf mortality rates, its gas for all the blowing about all farms being certified bird bia quality approved theirs only a after thought given to calf rearing practices/death rates on dairy farms....
Sickens me to see lads spending small fortunes on parlours/land/expansion etc and then turning around and cramming calves into sheds not fit for a dog, if farms that are constantly registering mortality rates over 10% year on year out where spot checked in the middle of spring calving some fairly horrific animal neglect cases could come to light

Samson1980

Mooooo wrote: »

From what I'm told is a good drafting system with space to keep the cows out of the tank separate in yard is better as the drafting will also be used year round. Depending on cost of dumpline if either save it and put it towards drafting or extra units.

Dumpline costing round 4k. Dunno why it's so dear!

Samson1980

blackdog1 wrote: »

Dunno about the dumpline as I've never used one I just keep the antibiotic cows till last. I wouldn't be without acrs now that I have them and I'm in a 10 unit. Takes the stress off the shoulders when taking them off. Let's you leave the parlour if something comes up and if your slowed up pre spraying ir anything else cows aren't over milked.

Yeah definitely going for acrs when going to trouble of putting in new machine. Dunno how people keep clusters going on big parlours. Esp if cows dirty or problem ones in.

Keepgrowing

yewtree wrote: »

From a couple of talks i heard joe at, he said winter is profitable but it wheather its worth the extra labour and effort. It really depends wheather you have a big enough wintet contract

Got it in one

Keepgrowing

jaymla627 wrote: »

Its getting alot of press recently the whole calf rearing issue re bobby calves/massive increase in calf mortality rates, its gas for all the blowing about all farms being certified bird bia quality approved theirs only a after thought given to calf rearing practices/death rates on dairy farms....
Sickens me to see lads spending small fortunes on parlours/land/expansion etc and then turning around and cramming calves into sheds not fit for a dog, if farms that are constantly registering mortality rates over 10% year on year out where spot checked in the middle of spring calving some fairly horrific animal neglect cases could come to light

And the prize for the most hysterical post hoes to........

What hard facts are you basing this on, an article by Mr Hysterical from the FINDO?

Samson1980

yewtree wrote: »

I think 12 is too small as you could easliy manage 16, i made the mistake of putting in a parlour too small( grand at the time) will have to look at more investment now. In one man shows think anymore the 7 rows is too much

Make sure the parlour is big enough for future expansion, lad I know put in a brand new parlour 4 years ago and it's not big enough anymore. Teagasc man coming here this morning along with builder to work out plans for our new parlour and sheds


Only milking 80 cows, max I'd ever been at would be 100 I reckon.

Samson1980

Timmaay wrote: »

14 here, hit the full 8rows now, 9 next yr prob. Got grant approval for another 10units, but at the stage where I've a decent few dependable chaps who can milk here, moving forward I'll be getting in spring time help, at least the evening milking then, and outside of the spring aim to only milk 10times a week myself, or say get in a milker 4times a week, that will do more for taking out the hardship of Milking than reducing the number of rows from say 10 back to 7 but still stuck in the parlour 14times a week.

Couple of milkings of every week sounds good, woutdoor g

Samson1980

Timmaay wrote: »

14 here, hit the full 8rows now, 9 next yr prob. Got grant approval for another 10units, but at the stage where I've a decent few dependable chaps who can milk here, moving forward I'll be getting in spring time help, at least the evening milking then, and outside of the spring aim to only milk 10times a week myself, or say get in a milker 4times a week, that will do more for taking out the hardship of Milking than reducing the number of rows from say 10 back to 7 but still stuck in the parlour 14times a week.

Couple of milkings of every week sounds good, you would have more heed and more energy when you are there

kowtow

Surely given the risk .. both actual and perceived.. to cross border imports of liquid milk after 2019 autumn calving herds at least have a better high margin market with less competition to look forward to?

stanflt

If I was offered liquid contract in the morning I would take hand and all and calve all my cows in oct and November- have the fertility to keep it compact and I know how to feed the cow

Way more profitable if your good at grass both grazing and silage making

stanflt

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I emailed a local cheese maker to see if they will let me run off with some of their waste.

I'm assuming I'll get a 'lol no' kinda reply. Don't suppose anyone on here would be a farmer with some bad odours they could lend a hand, anywhere near me? (I'm in Drogheda, but can get to louth/meath etc. handy enough, and have no issue travelling a bit to try this approach out. If it works it'll be well worth it in just eroding the stress of scumbags galore hanging around the whole time).

Friend of mine had similar problems with a house on ballymakeeny road- he glued broken glass to the top of the walls to stop them coming in

stanflt

stanflt wrote: »

If I was offered liquid contract in the morning I would take hand and all and calve all my cows in oct and November- have the fertility to keep it compact and I know how to feed the cow

Way more profitable if your good at grass both grazing and silage making

Cow 69 still doing 40 litres 7 months into lact at grass and fty- cows do a second peak when they hit grass

Mooooo

Autumn cows here often matched the spring ladies up to July but the key point you make there is the liquid contract, the bonus payment has to be worth it and in dairygold it simply isn't.

kevthegaff

Lads have a bull who broke down after fits week of use, very sensitive hoofs I reckon. Any ideas what to do, lost serious condition..

kowtow

Mooooo wrote: »

Autumn cows here often matched the spring ladies up to July but the key point you make there is the liquid contract, the bonus payment has to be worth it and in dairygold it simply isn't.

What do you reckon the difference in c/l needs to be to cover extra feed, etc. or is that oversimplifying it?

blackdog1

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads have a bull who broke down after fits week of use, very sensitive hoofs I reckon. Any ideas what to do, lost serious condition..

get a good hoof guy out to lift his feet and he'll advise you. it might be a quick fix but i would definitely put him on straw and some silage and meal straight away to improve his condition.

blackdog1

kowtow wrote: »

What do you reckon the difference in c/l needs to be to cover extra feed, etc. or is that oversimplifying it?

its hard to put a figure on it.. it depends on your silage,maize quality, if you have good silage with high p then you dont need the same amount of soya in the diet, likewise if your starch is high in maize you probably can feed less of it or less nuts in the parlour. id say its can vary each year ..stan is the man who likes his figures he probably could put it in c/l for you.

visatorro

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads have a bull who broke down after fits week of use, very sensitive hoofs I reckon. Any ideas what to do, lost serious condition..

Black dog probably right,, lift feet and park him up for the year . Can't rely on him to work now. Is he freshly bought in?

whelan2

Got different teat spray off a sales rep last week. Scc has doubled . Back to virolac for me

visatorro

whelan2 wrote: »

Got different teat spray off a sales rep last week. Scc has doubled . Back to virolac for me

Just a lad that called in?

You obviously hadn't a problem before?

whelan2

visatorro wrote: »

Just a lad that called in?

You obviously hadn't a problem before?

I bought a barrel of detergent and a drum of teat spray from this crowd. Normally just buy off the one place but said I'd give this place a go

pedigree 6

whelan2 wrote: »

Got different teat spray off a sales rep last week. Scc has doubled . Back to virolac for me

You cannot beat Lactic Acid for killing the mastitis bugs.
Well the bacteria that come from the lactic acid environment where it is sprayed on the teats. Even antibiotic resistant strains of mastitis causing bugs get killed by the lactic acid bacteria.

I wouldn't use a teat dip/spray without lactic acid.

Mooooo

kowtow wrote: »

What do you reckon the difference in c/l needs to be to cover extra feed, etc. or is that oversimplifying it?

Well I guess with liquid milk they get a set price for that amount whereas in the wintermilk scheme in dairygold it is a bonus on top of manufacturing price. So when the base was 30c you'd get the manufacturing price as normal with solids adjustment and the bonus then for the litres in the contract so say 32 cent after solids plus 5.6 so 37.6. Which would be ok but when manufacturing was down at 23cent you may only get29.6 for winter which is too low. Id reckon you would want to be getting 38 cent for winter milk minimum. And that would be supplying just the contract amount so as not to dilute the price. There are other variables obv management is the main one but length of winters access to feed and quality/cost of It, etc Haven't the proper figures to hand I think the ifa say 40c is required for liquid milk.
In my case too much needs doing 're infrastructure and it coincided with landpurchase and other things so the capital investment required for efficient winter milk with fresh calved cows would be too much at the minute. Ideally we'd all have perfect housing etc but it's easier to manage dry cows or end of lactation cows than it is a mixture of fresh stale and dry when space is tight etc. May review in the future if things change but not at such a low bonus. Ive a way to go to get on top of things so simplify is my route and hopefully have a period of the year where basic things can be done and that's it., down time so to speak. Rambling now so I am

stanflt

Mooooo wrote: »

Well I guess with liquid milk they get a set price for that amount whereas in the wintermilk scheme in dairygold it is a bonus on top of manufacturing price. So when the base was 30c you'd get the manufacturing price as normal with solids adjustment and the bonus then for the litres in the contract so say 32 cent after solids plus 5.6 so 37.6. Which would be ok but when manufacturing was down at 23cent you may only get29.6 for winter which is too low. Id reckon you would want to be getting 38 cent for winter milk minimum. And that would be supplying just the contract amount so as not to dilute the price. There are other variables obv management is the main one but length of winters access to feed and quality/cost of It, etc Haven't the proper figures to hand I think the ifa say 40c is required for liquid milk.
In my case too much needs doing 're infrastructure and it coincided with landpurchase and other things so the capital investment required for efficient winter milk with fresh calved cows would be too much at the minute. Ideally we'd all have perfect housing etc but it's easier to manage dry cows or end of lactation cows than it is a mixture of fresh stale and dry when space is tight etc. May review in the future if things change but not at such a low bonus. Ive a way to go to get on top of things so simplify is my route and hopefully have a period of the year where basic things can be done and that's it., down time so to speak. Rambling now so I am

My winter milk and liquid milk is paid on a manufacturing price plus solids plus bonus-