Dairy chit chat II

GrasstoMilk

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Well I just use it for the yards and either too dry or too wet is perfect for it.
I have the scraper for the tractor as well. I'd mostly use the scraper as the brush can be a bit hard on the yard and won't be long showing up cracks in the concrete. By that I mean it'll take the dirt out of the cracks, where the scraper hides them.

I sometimes have the brush on the loader with the scraper on the back of the tractor. But it would handle wet slurry easily. The more rows of bristles the better obviously and you can get replacement bristles when those ones wear out. They just slide out. On my one it is 3 sets of brushes wide. It was made by Prodig and I wanted it wider than the tractor.
You get some made for pallet forks but i'm not sure how they work when you want to reverse the tractor using it. Would they fall off??

More info here........
http://prodigattachments.com/index.php/item/29-agri-prosweep/9-1700-prosweep.html

Does she do as good a job as a road brush P ?

pedigree 6

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Does she do as good a job as a road brush P ?

I can't really comment on the road brush as have never used one.
The road brush pushes it to one side or else into a hopper. Whereas this you're either pushing or pulling it all before you.
A little bit of speed makes it work better too, within reason ( as it hits any stuck on dirt or clay harder and shifts it).
I imagine the road brush would do a better job in one run (plus a spinning brush) whereas this would want a few runs.
It's a simple thing though, a sweeping brush on the loader.

whelan2

Started milking early as we have to be in in laws in Dublin for 6. Fecker of a cow got herself stuck up the front in the dutch comfort cubicles. Had to put a rope on her legs and drop her and pull her out. Cant wait to knock those cubicle sheds.

trixi2011

whelan2 wrote: »

Started milking early as we have to be in in laws in Dublin for 6. Fecker of a cow got herself stuck up the front in the dutch comfort cubicles. Had to put a rope on her legs and drop her and pull her out. Cant wait to knock those cubicle sheds.

Handy tip for you if this happens you again, get someone to grab the cow by the nose and twist her head back against her back hold her for a minute and she should drop , then just point her in the write direction and she will get out. Could have one cow a day stuck here when sheds are fully stocked

C0N0R

trixi2011 wrote: »

whelan2 wrote: »

Started milking early as we have to be in in laws in Dublin for 6. Fecker of a cow got herself stuck up the front in the dutch comfort cubicles. Had to put a rope on her legs and drop her and pull her out. Cant wait to knock those cubicle sheds.

Handy tip for you if this happens you again, get someone to grab the cow by the nose and twist her head back against her back hold her for a minute and she should drop , then just point her in the write direction and she will get out. Could have one cow a day stuck here when sheds are fully stocked

Cubicles, now there's something I don't miss about farming in Ireland!!

Timmaay

C0N0R wrote: »

Cubicles, now there's something I don't miss about farming in Ireland!!

Ha, same, I've 60 cow cubicles here, outwinter or straw bed the rest, I'm making the point of letting cows soak up outside or in a low density straw bed 1st 3 or 4 weeks, a month max in cubicles before back on straw for calving.

freedominacup

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

There 3 heifers in it there were incalf and lost them
2 very big ones - I'd say 580 kilos
6 dry well over a month and the. 5 just gone dry.
All going tomorrow
All fairly well fleshed

How'd the heifers go? Sold three in Ross today. Scanned empty around the first of Nov. Put them on good silage and 5 kg of a 14% blend since. Two @ 575kg made €975, the other @ 600kg made €1050. Mar '15 calves. They didn't leave too much debt behind them. I think the 50 quids worth of meal was money well spent. The extra weight brought a lot of extra cash. They were the smallest of the heifers so I'd be happy enough that their peers are where they need to be for calving in.the spring.

GrasstoMilk

freedominacup wrote: »

How'd the heifers go? Sold three in Ross today. Scanned empty around the first of Nov. Put them on good silage and 5 kg of a 14% blend since. Two @ 575kg made €975, the other @ 600kg made €1050. Mar '15 calves. They didn't leave too much debt behind them. I think the 50 quids worth of meal was money well spent. The extra weight brought a lot of extra cash. They were the smallest of the heifers so I'd be happy enough that their peers are where they need to be for calving in.the spring.

2 heifers made 950 for us other went for 900
Good cows made 150 with there weight and the jex didn't even get there weight........
Happy enough though, a good share of them were 06 cows. There gone and will pay for something

freedominacup

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

2 heifers made 950 for us other went for 900
Good cows made 150 with there weight and the jex didn't even get there weight........
Happy enough though, a good share of them were 06 cows. There gone and will pay for something

How accurate were you with your weight assessment? Always good to calibrate your eye.

stretch film

For the sake of discussion.
sold empty heifers last week Sept.
200 kgs feed gone into them .
Avg money 860.
Base price 3.80 iirc.

Was shortish on grass in Aug and decided for quick exit .

GrasstoMilk

freedominacup wrote: »

How accurate were you with your weight assessment? Always good to calibrate your eye.

The 2 bigger ones were 600kg
Smaller heifer was 540kg
Wasn't too far off

Interesting how one of those heifers left yesterday along with her mother who was only a 2nd lactation animal.
No point in keeping that in the herd

Buford T. Justice XIX

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

The 2 bigger ones were 600kg
Smaller heifer was 540kg
Wasn't too far off

Interesting how one of those heifers left yesterday along with her mother who was only a 2nd lactation animal.
No point in keeping that in the herd

Neospora? I had a family like that that disappeared in two years between abortions and not being in calf.

GrasstoMilk

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Neospora? I had a family like that that disappeared in two years between abortions and not being in calf.

Mother was the only cow that didn't come bulling this year.
Daughter, as well as the other 2 heifers got one serve in the 2nd week of may and never came bulling again till they arrived home

freedominacup

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Mother was the only cow that didn't come bulling this year.
Daughter, as well as the other 2 heifers got one serve in the 2nd week of may and never came bulling again till they arrived home

In the past the three that went yesterday would have had an excuse made for them and been "given a chance" with the Autumn heifers. Only procrastinating really esp with heifers.

GrasstoMilk

freedominacup wrote: »

In the past the three that went yesterday would have had an excuse made for them and been "given a chance" with the Autumn heifers. Only procrastinating really esp with heifers.

Definitly. Clean up time now. Kept yokes over the last few years that shouldn't have been.
Mostly temperamental yokes and slow milkers.
Took out the worst this year and going to take out a few more next year too.
Will look after cows as best as we possibly can here but going forward intervention is going to be little to none. Did none this year and got on better than years we cidrd and drugged cows.

Different years I know to

Timmaay

Talking about culls, I got about 10 ready to go over the next month. I also want to buy in the same in incalf heifers. Tax wise what am I better off doing, flogging the culls now (extra income in this low milk price year), then buy the incalf in Jan? Or try to maximise the 25% stock relief, get the incalf now and hang onto the culls till early January? Most the culls are in reasonable shape from the maize, so shouldnt be too much disadvantage flogging them immediately.

mahoney_j

Timmaay wrote: »

Talking about culls, I got about 10 ready to go over the next month. I also want to buy in the same in incalf heifers. Tax wise what am I better off doing, flogging the culls now (extra income in this low milk price year), then buy the incalf in Jan? Or try to maximise the 25% stock relief, get the incalf now and hang onto the culls till early January? Most the culls are in reasonable shape from the maize, so shouldnt be too much disadvantage flogging them immediately.

I'd buy replacements now ,dry off culls straight away maximise stock relief and sell the culls late January when fully dried up .culls even if in good order won't command any sort of decent money if lobbed straight in out of parlour

whelan2

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Definitly. Clean up time now. Kept yokes over the last few years that shouldn't have been.
Mostly temperamental yokes and slow milkers.
Took out the worst this year and going to take out a few more next year too.
Will look after cows as best as we possibly can here but going forward intervention is going to be little to none. Did none this year and got on better than years we cidrd and drugged cows.

Different years I know to

Did you blood the heifers to find a cause? No estrumate or cidrs used here and we get on fine. Scanning man doesn't agree with estrumate. Reckons animal own heat is the best.

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

Did you blood the heifers to find a cause? No estrumate or cidrs used here and we get on fine. Scanning man doesn't agree with estrumate. Reckons animal own heat is the best.

Nope. Only got them rescanned on Friday and went with them yesterday

Signpost

At long last a second supplier - http://www.farmersjournal.ie/second-cattle-tag-supplier-fully-approved-242159

Website doesn't seem to be live yet thou

GrasstoMilk

Signpost wrote: »

At long last a second supplier - http://www.farmersjournal.ie/second-cattle-tag-supplier-fully-approved-242159

Website doesn't seem to be live yet thou

Ordered ours today. Was going to buy if cornac but I think we'll wait till next year.
Have they sorted the bvd testing yet?

Signpost

I emailed Cormac and got a reply that my lab will be able to test them (Enfer). When I contacted Enfer they said not yet but should be able to by the spring so I assume it'll be all good for spring calvers, I hope anyway!

pedigree 6

kowtow wrote: »

Is that an everyday job? - do you go straight at the slurry with it or some kind of scraper in advance?

Today was the perfect day for the job.
The sloppier the slurry with wet concrete the better.
A better picture of it here today to give an idea of it.

Sillycave

Got silage results finally from pit (only do one cut)
DM 31.6
DMD 71
P% 11.6
ph3.9

What do ye make of it?
Am happy with DM & DMD but is p low?
No winter milking.....thankfully

Keepgrowing

Knock yere selves out

http://www.dairyherd.com/magazine/big-cows-aren%E2%80%99t-efficient-cows

Mooooo

Sillycave wrote: »

Got silage results finally from pit (only do one cut)
DM 31.6
DMD 71
P% 11.6
ph3.9

What do ye make of it?
Am happy with DM & DMD but is p low?
No winter milking.....thankfully

P is low alright, what's the ME? DM and DMD good alright. Grass is the protein crop in this country so I guess that should be targeted at getting higher. Probably average 14 here in the pit. 16 this year but has ranged from 10 to 18 in the past.

Mooooo

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Knock yere selves out

http://www.dairyherd.com/magazine/big-cows-aren%E2%80%99t-efficient-cows

I guess it's capacity that should be focused on really. Have cows small in stature but would have plenty space for lungs and gut so would push out as much as others. Do you think the aAa thing would be better to improve some traits as it isn't fixed on one breed?

White Clover

Mooooo wrote: »

I guess it's capacity that should be focused on really. Have cows small in stature but would have plenty space for lungs and gut so would push out as much as others. Do you think the aAa thing would be better to improve some traits as it isn't fixed on one breed?

Spot on there I'd say moooo. I have seen a herd of Holsteins with cows upto 3rd calvers all bred using aAa. To say they are an improvement on their herd mates would be an understatement. Exceptionally well balanced cows and production not to be sneezed at either. The spring to the ribs on them is noticeable.

yewtree

Mooooo wrote: »

I guess it's capacity that should be focused on really. Have cows small in stature but would have plenty space for lungs and gut so would push out as much as others. Do you think the aAa thing would be better to improve some traits as it isn't fixed on one breed?

Would aAa breed smaller cows? I would be a bit skeptical about aAa to be honest its a bit too close to type breeding for me, is there any evidence they last any longer in herds and are the traits its focusing on economically important?

Anyone using the maintenance index in EBI to effect the size of their cows? I think one of the host farmers at grassland walk was using it.

Mooooo

Haven't used it myself just have heard of a few at it. My understanding is its more about balancing things out as opposed to extremes of either.? Have used a few so called high yielding genomic sires here and they came tall with nice udders and all that but they didn't have the capacity to match and haven't delivered the yield