Thinking of Dairying

pedigree 6

Morris Moss wrote: »

Montbelliarde wouldn't make any sense if you want a high yielding herd.

They've got the same extremes within the breed as the Holstein and British Friesian have in the black and white cow.
You have Holstein Montbeliarde, tall sharp and narrow who are more suited to indoor systems and then you have the British Friesian Montbeliarde, not tall but wide and capacious and really suited for grazing.

I've a purebred Monty giving 10 gallons of milk and spring calving.
She's the last purebred I have mind and a small thick yoke.
The solids increase coming from the high ebi hol/fr with yield and still square cows shouldn't be ignored though.
I'm going down the square high producing (litres anyway but the solids are improving on last year) cow type. It can be done and the square type are more suited to grazing.
But you need to really push the Monty purebreds as youngstock to calf down at 2.

davidk1394

mf240 wrote: »

Buy good cows with low scc and good feet and respectable solids.

Don't get caught up in fancy breeds or pedigrees.

More importantly if it's what you want to do ,then get stuck in , and don't listen to the barstool experts.

Best of luck with it .

Great advice. Thanks. I'm still undecided on a few things but whatever farms I go to I learn something new from each one.

Timmaay

davidk1394 wrote: »

There is in the spring with calving and A.I but once the silage is done its fairly straight forward interms of grazing management, just keep on top of any issues with mastitis and vaccines towards the end of the year. If I could get a student during the spring it would help with the workload

Hang on there a second haha, 120 cows compact calving (whether they be jex or 9kl HOs, and either spring or autumn calving) is not something to be sneezed at in any sense of the word! If you are not prepared for a burst of calves, and say get a run of difficult calvings alongside an outbreak of calf scour, then even you, your dad, and this magical student (who will definitely be a reliable worker etc etc) won't be enough to keep on top of the workload, and you could end up with 1000s worth of losses between crocked cows, lost milk and dead calves.

I'm never one to sugarcoat stuff ha, but by the tone of your post above I personally don't think you appreciate the workload and effort that goes into running a dairyfarm yet! But Nay, bring more positive ha, getting experience doinh the likes of a calving season in the likes of a NZ system, alongside afew months on the ground in a high input system would do you the world of good, and really open your eyes to what's involved in both!

Dwag

I milk/calve 365 days...
A lot less hassle and makes the whole job much more industrialised.
If you really want to make it properly industrialised then a total indoor system is the job. Better utilization of labor etc.





I'll get my coat...

einn32

Guy on countryfile milking 250 shorthorn cows in Cumbria!

OP I might have missed it but have you experience of milking 80 cows? If you want to milk 300 then you're going to work and then work more even with decent workers. I'd get experience on a farm with numbers then see how you feel.

Buford T. Justice XIX

einn32 wrote: »

Guy on countryfile milking 250 shorthorn cows in Cumbria!

JR from Strickley? He has some great videos on twitter.

einn32

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

JR from Strickley? He has some great videos on twitter.

Missed his name and that. Nice looking herd.

pedigree 6

einn32 wrote: »

Guy on countryfile milking 250 shorthorn cows in Cumbria!

He's very active on Twitter too.
JRfromStrickley.

einn32

pedigree 6 wrote: »

He's very active on Twitter too.
JRfromStrickley.

Fella on now turned the milking parlour in to a brewery! It just shows people are diversifying.

GrasstoMilk

einn32 wrote: »

Guy on countryfile milking 250 shorthorn cows in Cumbria!

OP I might have missed it but have you experience of milking 80 cows? If you want to milk 300 then you're going to work and then work more even with decent workers. I'd get experience on a farm with numbers then see how you feel.

250? Thought he had 100 cows

The part time boy

einn32 wrote: »

OP I might have missed it but have you experience of milking 80 cows? If you want to milk 300 then you're going to work and then work more even with decent workers. I'd get experience on a farm with numbers then see how you feel.

I have to agree . If you want to milk 300 high cost cows fair play to you .

But starting out with 80 - 120 to find you feet for a few years would be very advisable. Find your feet . Cows are not easy . Lot easier to learn with 80 than 300.

Look it as steeping stone ..when setting up for 100 have the plan for 300 when building sheds etc

einn32

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

250? Thought he had 100 cows

Fairly sure it said 250

darragh_haven

einn32 wrote: »

Fairly sure it said 250

Yeah, 250 cows.

Sam Kade

Dwag wrote: »

I milk/calve 365 days...
A lot less hassle and makes the whole job much more industrialised.
If you really want to make it properly industrialised then a total indoor system is the job. Better utilization of labor etc.





I'll get my coat...

Don't forget to shut the door on your way out That reminds me where has dawggone? He last posted here 6 months ago.

GrasstoMilk

darragh_haven wrote: »

Yeah, 250 cows.

Paper never refused ink 🙄

Bullocks

einn32 wrote: »

Fella on now turned the milking parlour in to a brewery! It just shows people are diversifying.

I was traveling in Yorkshire the last couple of days and couldn't believe how little stock are out and farm's looking alot emptier than i last remember . I'd say farming is dying out there more than here

Username John

Bullocks wrote: »

I was traveling in Yorkshire the last couple of days and couldn't believe how little stock are out and farm's looking alot emptier than i last remember . I'd say farming is dying out there more than here

Is it a nice place? Would like to go there sometime - York seems like a very nice town (city?)

K.G.

My sixpence worth.forget high yeilders,extra feeds and hassel.takes along time to get a fella up to speed on the management of those girls.start with a herd of high ebi fr-you can breed either way as time goes on and you find your feet and decide your system.the biggest problem with robots is running costs andthey are a bit limiting in options and flexibilty.and that brings me to my last point.dont plan for an exact number of cows, time moves on and things change as it does but think your system out srategically so that you can adapt to what ever may come down the line and be able to move with it.for my money an herd of fr cows doing maybe 5.5 to 6 k litrs stocked at 3 to 3.4 with maybe a ton of concentrates probaly represents the best option at the moment

Bullocks

Username John wrote: »

Is it a nice place? Would like to go there sometime - York seems like a very nice town (city?)

I wasn't in York city , mainly Leeds University but saw a few more spots up north aswell . It's a nice place but I'd actually prefer the scenery in Wales where the ferry comes in

davidk1394

Thought I'd update ye on my progress. I'm heading out to Australia next month for a while and going working on a dairy farm with 6 robots on an outdoor grazing platform to gain experience. Setting up a partnership and building up cattle numbers so they can be changes for dairy stock in about 2 years time. Gone away from the big indoor operation for the moment and thinking of building up what I can outdoors first and go from there.

MF290

Following this thread intensely. Dairying is in the back of the mind. Will be starting with a greenfield and can't see myself sticking up sheds to go finishing cattle...

wrangler

davidk1394 wrote: »

Thought I'd update ye on my progress. I'm heading out to Australia next month for a while and going working on a dairy farm with 6 robots on an outdoor grazing platform to gain experience. Setting up a partnership and building up cattle numbers so they can be changes for dairy stock in about 2 years time. Gone away from the big indoor operation for the moment and thinking of building up what I can outdoors first and go from there.

Outdoor system, you must have rose tinted glasses, we were looking through our weather records today,
The last two years were the driest of the last ten, 2012 and 14 had up to 30% more rain.
Ground temperature for the last year was over one degree higher than the average for the last ten years.
just saying in case your plans were based on this year

kevthegaff

wrangler wrote: »

Outdoor system, you must have rose tinted glasses, we were looking through our weather records today,
The last two years were the driest of the last ten, 2012 and 14 had up to 30% more rain.
Ground temperature for the last year was over one degree higher than the average for the last ten years.
just saying in case your plans were based on this year

global warming maybe?

speckled_park

davidk1394 wrote: »

Thought I'd update ye on my progress. I'm heading out to Australia next month for a while and going working on a dairy farm with 6 robots on an outdoor grazing platform to gain experience. Setting up a partnership and building up cattle numbers so they can be changes for dairy stock in about 2 years time. Gone away from the big indoor operation for the moment and thinking of building up what I can outdoors first and go from there.

Best of luck. If you dont have a big sfp dairying is the only way to go full time in the future i think, for any young person, just try not to take on to much debt i suppose. Bring suncream to oz too. I was liking the idea of dairy farming myself before i did a season in nz, best decision i could have made! Milked enough cows to do me a lifetime didnt mind working with the cows , just not for me long term.

carrollsno1

speckled_park wrote: »

Best of luck. If you dont have a big sfp dairying is the only way to go full time in the future i think, for any young person, just try not to take on to much debt i suppose. Bring suncream to oz too. I was liking the idea of dairy farming myself before i did a season in nz, best decision i could have made! Milked enough cows to do me a lifetime didnt mind working with the cows , just not for me long term.

In nz myself, big difference between ireland and nz is thst youre not farming out there, your just swinging cups. Learned a lot out here and altough im fed up of it at the moment i will enter dairying full time back home yet.im only giving up the farming for the moment so i can make money to sink into my dairy venture.

Timmaay

carrollsno1 wrote: »

In nz myself, big difference between ireland and nz is thst youre not farming out there, your just swinging cups. Learned a lot out here and altough im fed up of it at the moment i will enter dairying full time back home yet.im only giving up the farming for the moment so i can make money to sink into my dairy venture.

I'm surprised with that 2bh, friend of mine who is fresh outa college is just back from a calving season in nz, and he said there was plenty scope for him to have stayed on and gone into share milking and climb up the ladder fast enough if he wanted to. He did his fair share of milking but got on very well with the boss and there was plenty talk about opportunity, even about him being back in Ireland, everyone was suggesting he go lease himself a herd and get going asap.

carrollsno1

Timmaay wrote: »

I'm surprised with that 2bh, friend of mine who is fresh outa college is just back from a calving season in nz, and he said there was plenty scope for him to have stayed on and gone into share milking and climb up the ladder fast enough if he wanted to. He did his fair share of milking but got on very well with the boss and there was plenty talk about opportunity, even about him being back in Ireland, everyone was suggesting he go lease himself a herd and get going asap.

Youd get plenty of credit easier alright, but tgen you may as well be just employed by the bank to milk cows there

abnormalnorman

davidk1394 wrote: »

Thought I'd update ye on my progress. I'm heading out to Australia next month for a while and going working on a dairy farm with 6 robots on an outdoor grazing platform to gain experience. Setting up a partnership and building up cattle numbers so they can be changes for dairy stock in about 2 years time. Gone away from the big indoor operation for the moment and thinking of building up what I can outdoors first and go from there.

Well . . .. any news since ? You still considering your dairy plan ??

davidk1394

I am enjoying my time here in Australia. Going to be home the beginning of June and come back out the end of September. Working on a 6,500 cow dairy farm but I am on the farm side on the farm of things which is all cropping. Ireland has a massive advantage in terms of COP. I'm
coming back to the farm and I will work on the dairy side next time, mainly health and maternity. The plan is cows at some stage alright

carrollsno1

davidk1394 wrote: »

I am enjoying my time here in Australia. Going to be home the beginning of June and come back out the end of September. Working on a 6,500 cow dairy farm but I am on the farm side on the farm of things which is all cropping. Ireland has a massive advantage in terms of COP. I'm
coming back to the farm and I will work on the dairy side next time, mainly health and maternity. The plan is cows at some stage alright

Are you around for any of the test matches im heading back east the first week of june