Dairy chit chat II

blackdog1

mahoney_j wrote:

This mornings collrction up over 80 Ltrs on Saturdays collection to my amazement considering weather since Saturday evening .in similar boat to yourself with grass but all bales so opening a few now and again no issue .i really don't want to start foddering till at least mid October tho.stocked at 3.1 last round starting 01/10 hopefully get to 07/08 November before housing full time will close up based on afc (650)so that could be before or after that

I know cows will go up a litre or 2 if I put it in but it's gotta stretch until April . They're getting 3-4kg in parlour so they're ok but I'd like to put it on for the few fresh calvers I have. Must make a smaller pit in the future or ag bag some so I can open and close as I want

Timmaay

Have had the opposite problem here all summer, bf never dropped under 4, usually more like 4.3, but protein back on average 0.2. If it gets seriously wet and I'm worried about yields I'll let the cows get 3/4kgdm of Bale silage, we are utterly awash with grass now however, best August and September here in a long time.

Gawddawggonnit

Ah lads, €180/ton for straw??


When milk was 24cpl were ye using it?

darragh_haven

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Ah lads, €180/ton for straw??


When milk was 24cpl were ye using it?

Dawg, I was in France last week, South of Lyon in the Rhone valley, and noticed maize that looked like it was tipped at about 3 feet high. What's that About?
Other maize was full height and being harvested

Gawddawggonnit

darragh_haven wrote: »

Dawg, I was in France last week, South of Lyon in the Rhone valley, and noticed maize that looked like it was tipped at about 3 feet high. What's that About?
Other maize was full height and being harvested

Broken over at 3', or only 3' high?

darragh_haven

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Broken over at 3', or only 3' high?

It was definitely cut at that height. Seemed to be still growing but i could see where the entire field was was cut with something at that height. Cobs were still on the plant

mahoney_j

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Ah lads, €180/ton for straw??


When milk was 24cpl were ye using it?

Caustic treated straw pellet ,no issue with palatability when fed straight or mixed through nut .makes a big difference up to mid June when fed in conjunction with lush leafy grass ,stops grass flowing through a cow and good solid sings whilst increasing butterfat a really super product better than bales as at 2kg per head it won't supress a cows appetite for grass

Gawddawggonnit

darragh_haven wrote: »

It was definitely cut at that height. Seemed to be still growing but i could see where the entire field was was cut with something at that height. Cobs were still on the plant

Those were castrated plants. A special castrator machine cuts off the tassle so the grains can be pollinated by other plants. That crop is for seed.

Gawddawggonnit

mahoney_j wrote: »

Caustic treated straw pellet ,no issue with palatability when fed straight or mixed through nut .makes a big difference up to mid June when fed in conjunction with lush leafy grass ,stops grass flowing through a cow and good solid sings whilst increasing butterfat a really super product better than bales as at 2kg per head it won't supress a cows appetite for grass

A litre of milk/cow/day to pay for her fibre?

I'm a little skeptical...

freedominacup

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

A litre of milk/cow/day to pay for her fibre?

I'm a little skeptical...

+1. Big time. Sounds very snake oily to me. Strong rate of calmag and a bit of lime will go a long way to balancing the rumen upset caused by high N lush swards. Lime cost around 2 euro per head so far this year.

yewtree

mahoney_j wrote: »

Caustic treated straw pellet ,no issue with palatability when fed straight or mixed through nut .makes a big difference up to mid June when fed in conjunction with lush leafy grass ,stops grass flowing through a cow and good solid sings whilst increasing butterfat a really super product better than bales as at 2kg per head it won't supress a cows appetite for grass

What kind of increase in butterfat would you expect?
There is a physical limit on the amount of grass a cow can eat therefore anything added will displace grass. Supplements with a lot of fibre have the highest substituation rate

Gawddawggonnit

freedominacup wrote: »

+1. Big time. Sounds very snake oily to me. Strong rate of calmag and a bit of lime will go a long way to balancing the rumen upset caused by high N lush swards. Lime cost around 2 euro per head so far this year.

There's umteen different sources of fibre and *if* I was flathuil I'd invest in something that brings a little more to the table than straw...

500g/cow/day of ryegrass hay does my bunch.

mahoney_j

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

There's umteen different sources of fibre and *if* I was flathuil I'd invest in something that brings a little more to the table than straw...

500g/cow/day of ryegrass hay does my bunch.

Where would we source really top quality ryegrass hay tho ??i was sceptical but after using it I'm sold ,I've no diet feeder maize or any other maize crimps lucerne etc that you'd have dwag ,difference in butterfat before nis 3.2 to 3.5 to 3.7/3.8 plus after

Keepgrowing

Twill be a while before I buy straw that's pelletted but is still straw for €180/ tonne. A few wraps at >45% DM a lot better value or even better feed nothing

blackdog1

Keepgrowing wrote:

Twill be a while before I buy straw that's pelletted but is still straw for €180/ tonne. A few wraps at >45% DM a lot better value or even better feed nothing

Prefer to buffer with whole crop myself if I could in the summer but mahoney_j is talking 1c a litre difference in solids with no extra work involved. Definitely worth a think about

kevthegaff

If I introduce silage will I have to keep feeding it, I just don't want to be feeding from Sept to April! cows have good grass 3 kg 14% and a pick of hay but seemed to be down a bit this morning

Gawddawggonnit

blackdog1 wrote: »

Prefer to buffer with whole crop myself if I could in the summer but mahoney_j is talking 1c a litre difference in solids with no extra work involved. Definitely worth a think about

Absolutely but I'd rather spend €180/ton on beet pulp, soya hulls etc.

There's always the cheap(er) option of ordinary straw, hay, osr haulm, wheat chaff etc etc.

I'd rather pocket the difference is what I'm saying.

yosemitesam1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

There's umteen different sources of fibre and *if* I was flathuil I'd invest in something that brings a little more to the table than straw...

500g/cow/day of ryegrass hay does my bunch.

Where would we source really top quality ryegrass hay tho ??i was sceptical but after using it I'm sold ,I've no diet feeder maize or any other maize crimps lucerne etc that you'd have dwag ,difference in butterfat before nis 3.2 to 3.5 to 3.7/3.8 plus after

When did you start feeding it? Could part of the increase have been caused by grass quality changing as it went into summer?

stanflt

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

When did you start feeding it? Could part of the increase have been caused by grass quality changing as it went into summer?

I used it in April may and June during breeding season - found it did more than just the higher bf- condition score was 0.5 higher and I had better conceptions than other yrs- in hindsight I should have kept feeding it till early august- this is my auctual 3 yr bf curve to the dairys

Gawddawggonnit

stanflt wrote: »

I used it in April may and June during breeding season - found it did more than just the higher bf- condition score was 0.5 higher and I had better conceptions than other yrs- in hindsight I should have kept feeding it till early august- this is my auctual 3 yr bf curve to the dairys

No doubt fibre is vital. They think I'm a little dotty because I'm always asking about the consistency of the cows dung.

Definitely agree that bf and eventually cows bcs suffers from too little fibre, but does one have to spend €180/t on fibre??

Then again rolled maize is €140/t and soya is €298/t and people still give €250/t to their local merchant for a 'dairy' nut...

Milk price is too high.

Keepgrowing

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

No doubt fibre is vital. They think I'm a little dotty because I'm always asking about the consistency of the cows dung.

Definitely agree that bf and eventually cows bcs suffers from too little fibre, but does one have to spend €180/t on fibre??

Then again rolled maize is €140/t and soya is €298/t and people still give €250/t to their local merchant for a 'dairy' nut...

Milk price is too high.

€250 per tonne for cow nuts, not a hope. The only time my rations were that dear was when I was pricking with beet and maize through TMR.

mahoney_j

Keepgrowing wrote: »

€250 per tonne for cow nuts, not a hope. The only time my rations were that dear was when I was pricking with beet and maize through TMR.

Aghhh but you would be a scale buyer or possibly purchasing through a purchasing group .also mix is ingrident specific ,you've outlined before u buy on price regardless of ingridents .personally I don't buy through a group but do buy based on ufl ,protein and ingridents and have no issue trying different ingridents or so called snake oil products to find what works for me .nis and megafat are 2 such things I've used by trial and worked so will continue to use them I want to stick as much as I can to a grass and quality silage fed cow with supplement through concentrate not maize ,tmr nor diet feeder .horses for courses

whelan2

Last heifer calved today. Really nice group of heifers. Ocp and yad mostly. Any idea what fr bull calves are making?

mattthetrasher

Anybody try eornagold beet and soya hulls pitted before

stanflt

whelan2 wrote: »

Last heifer calved today. Really nice group of heifers. Ocp and yad mostly. Any idea what fr bull calves are making?

20-30 euro

Sure I'll come down and pick them up off you when there weaned

White Clover

stanflt wrote: »

20-30 euro

Sure I'll come down and pick them up off you when there weaned

In all honesty, that's all they're worth. And that's not a cut at whelan2. They'd be good bit of British friesian in them from what I can gather from her posts.

mf240

mahoney_j wrote: »

Aghhh but you would be a scale buyer or possibly purchasing through a purchasing group .also mix is ingrident specific ,you've outlined before u buy on price regardless of ingridents .personally I don't buy through a group but do buy based on ufl ,protein and ingridents and have no issue trying different ingridents or so called snake oil products to find what works for me .nis and megafat are 2 such things I've used by trial and worked so will continue to use them I want to stick as much as I can to a grass and quality silage fed cow with supplement through concentrate not maize ,tmr nor diet feeder .horses for courses

I find that in order to save 10/15 a tonne you take a major drop in quality. That said If you just want to feed a kg to cover cal mag and get them into the parlour then price is probably the most important consideration.

Mooooo

Keepgrowing wrote: »

€250 per tonne for cow nuts, not a hope. The only time my rations were that dear was when I was pricking with beet and maize through TMR.

What are u paying for dairy nut?

whelan2

White Clover wrote: »

In all honesty, that's all they're worth. And that's not a cut at whelan2. They'd be good bit of British friesian in them from what I can gather from her posts.

What they are worth and what lads are willing to pay are two very different things though.

Gawddawggonnit

Keepgrowing wrote: »

€250 per tonne for cow nuts, not a hope. The only time my rations were that dear was when I was pricking with beet and maize through TMR.

You'd be surprised what lads are paying.



Maybe I could interest you in a bit of maize grain ready for crimping....?