33 acres. No shed. Summer Grazing. Help

Mental simmental

Hi looking for sum advice. Have. 33 acers. Of good land. Land was always in barley or maze. Thinking. Of re seeding it to grass. And buying cattle. First problem is there is no shed. Would like to buy a few suckler cows . But don't want to rush in. Worked on a dairy farm years ago. So not a total newbie. Just got lost in construction for a few years. Think summer grazing would. Suit me till I get some shed funds to together. How many Bulls Or heifers. Could I manage. On that acerage.
Please help

50HX

welcome to boards

the first thing you need to do by the sounds of it is apply for a herd number

this in turn will force you to have a crush/cattle handling facilities and some sort of a shed to put a sick animal into

unless it's very well fenced i would be staying away from bulls

you would want to watch your min stocking rate the of 0.15LU/hect for 7 consecutive months if claiming anc payment

Mental simmental

Thanks. Have a herd number. Would have to do a bit of fencing alright .. The most of it has good thick hedges and there is a good stream. Of water all on one side of it. . I'll be making a cattle pen and crush for testing and doseing. No entitlements with the land. So as regards to payments. I'm still seeking advice. And this is the place for it.

Who2

Stay away from sucklers unless you've a decent setup. Buy 450-500 kilo heifers and finish them on grass .

cacs

Who2 wrote: »

Stay away from sucklers unless you've a decent setup. Buy 450-500 kilo heifers and finish them on grass .

You can't beat an old cow or two around the place. Go with what you enjoy

Mental simmental

Thanks who 2. Any idea how many head. I could graze on it. Summer Grazing seems to be the way to go for me..

Lambman

Most people I know that summer graze is just till lift the payments not for Wat they make on the animals as far as I know you need keep them 7 months off the year for your payments so first thing I'd be doing is getting entitlements for the land.

Mental simmental

I agree. Ideally I would like the cows and to rare my own calfs. But the for the mean time. This will get me going in the right direction.

Mental simmental

Can I buy entitlements. Or how do I go about getting. Them?? . Thanks for the help

Lambman

Mental simmental wrote: »

Can I buy entitlements. Or how do I go about getting. Them?? . Thanks for the help

Yea you can buy them whoever had ur land rented likely owns the entitlements till it go see them.

Lambman

http://www.ifa.ie/schemes-and-payments/basic-payment-scheme/

Mental simmental

Thanks again.

Lambman

If I was in your shoes I'd go till a farm advisor in my opinion worth every penny from simplyfing stuff till paperwork chances are you'll need one b4 2 long with all the paperwork attached till farming nowadays especially if you haven't been farming in a wile.... hard till beat having someone in front off u till talk 2 besides a computer screen.

Mental simmental

I've. Been reading a few different. Thread. And hear mixed views. On Teagasc. Advisor or private. Advisor. Not living long in the. Area. To ask some of the local farmers. All though There all mighty. Decent People. I don't want to be hassling Them with my questions. . My main worry. Would. Be buying. To many for. The amount of grass. Or buying. Less and having To make round bales at a cost. A lough I cold sell them

Feckoffcup

Whatever you buy, make sure the cows aren't heavy. The land will cope alot better than some 700kg cow that tramps big holes when the weather turns wet.

Mental simmental

Thanks. Feckoffcup. If I split. My land up. And bought Heifers. To graze all summer and finish. Them. I see a Farm not to far way. And he out winters cattle. On kale. Would I be able to to finish heifers. On kale. So I would be buying a batch In early Spring. And also. Sending. The winter heifers To the factory In spring.???

Feckoffcup

Wintering is expensive, if you did you wouldnt have much of a profit margin ( but what is profitable ?). I think sheep would suit you better, low input cost, less risky and they thrive on the kale big time.

Mental simmental

God bless There wooly backs. But I couldn't. Be looking at sheep.. Wat extra. Exspens would. I incur. At winter feeding kale how much is to sow per acer.

Mental simmental

Any ideas on the head per Acer.??
Ideally I want to go with the suckler. Cows. But this is to get started with summer grazing..

jimmy G M

Mental simmental wrote: »

Any ideas on the head per Acer.??
Ideally I want to go with the suckler. Cows. But this is to get started with summer grazing..

Hard to say definitively how many animals you can carry. You are going to have to re-seed right so it's going to be good productive grass. If you put in some kind of paddock system you could carry 800 kg per acre (ie 2 400kg animals per acre) for a summer grazing period without going crazy on the fert. Even at that, you could make a few bales into the mix.

So for 33 acres you are looking at 60 animals purchased @ say €800 each, a 50k outlay, down on top of a reseeding job 33 acres @ €300 a €10k outlay, might be a big bite for a first year at the job?

Maybe work with 10 acres yourself this year, rent the rest out to a trusted local farmer who will reseed for you and leave back to to you in 2 years, you could try get €100 per acre out of him as well for the 2 yrs depending on local demand factors.

Best of luck with it.

Who2

jimmy G M wrote: »

Hard to say definitively how many animals you can carry. You are going to have to re-seed right so it's going to be good productive grass. If you put in some kind of paddock system you could carry 800 kg per acre (ie 2 400kg animals per acre) for a summer grazing period without going crazy on the fert. Even at that, you could make a few bales into the mix.

So for 33 acres you are looking at 60 animals purchased @ say €800 each, a 50k outlay, down on top of a reseeding job 33 acres @ €300 a €10k outlay, might be a big bite for a first year at the job?

Maybe work with 10 acres yourself this year, rent the rest out to a trusted local farmer who will reseed for you and leave back to to you in 2 years, you could try get €100 per acre out of him as well for the 2 yrs depending on local demand factors.

Best of luck with it.

I wouldn't bother reseeding until you've the stock to utilise it. If reseeded aren't eaten and fertilised properly your just throwing the money away. Buy 30 light heifers and rotate them around fields, cleaning them out properly. Bale whatever goes strong. If ran reasonably well you should turn maybe 200 or even a bit more over the summer per head. If your looking at filling it with sucklers you'll need a good four bay slatted unit a bale or pit area, a storage she'd and a bit of a yard. You wouldn't be long throwing a good 80k at it, so you'd want to get your sums worked out if you really want to head down that route.

jimmy G M

Who2 wrote: »

I wouldn't bother reseeding until you've the stock to utilise it. If reseeded aren't eaten and fertilised properly your just throwing the money away. Buy 30 light heifers and rotate them around fields, cleaning them out properly. Bale whatever goes strong. If ran reasonably well you should turn maybe 200 or even a bit more over the summer per head. If your looking at filling it with sucklers you'll need a good four bay slatted unit a bale or pit area, a storage she'd and a bit of a yard. You wouldn't be long throwing a good 80k at it, so you'd want to get your sums worked out if you really want to head down that route.

I think OP said that land is in tillage at the moment so he's going to have to reseed it.

Mental simmental

Thanks guys. Ye must be on the night shift. There's. About 5 acres in grass. At the moment. Rest had maize on it last year. . 60 is a fair amount of cattle. I'd be content. With 20 to 30 maximum. To get into it again... And a job at local. At home.

Wat prices For seed. Hav plough tractor. Power Harrow. And seeder. So would hope to do it myself. Wife's father was a. Tillage man. The wee field allways. Has a great crop of grass. So I have a fair idea. The rest will be good to. Credit to man that had it taken. He wasn't shy with the dung or lime.

Bass Reeves

Mental simmental wrote: »

Thanks guys. Ye must be on the night shift. There's. About 5 acres in grass. At the moment. Rest had maize on it last year. . 60 is a fair amount of cattle. I'd be content. With 20 to 30 maximum. To get into it again... And a job at local. At home.

Wat prices For seed. Hav plough tractor. Power Harrow. And seeder. So would hope to do it myself. Wife's father was a. Tillage man. The wee field allways. Has a great crop of grass. So I have a fair idea. The rest will be good to. Credit to man that had it taken. He wasn't shy with the dung or lime.

If you are reseeding after maize be careful. They use a certain amount of residual weedkillers. Near me a place was left for 12 months before reseeding not sure if it was deliberate or not. I know it is very hard to reseed ground after vegetable's lads grow grain for a year or two. Get your soil fertility checked if it is low in P&k and you can access slurry( maybe there is a pig farm near you it may spread it for you. However if you have to pay for drawing and spreading artificial fertlizer will! Be cheaper.

If that ground was in tillage no need to plough unless you have a real heavy green cover( even with a heavy green cover it can be grazed off if you have enough cattle. Spray off with 1-2 litres of gysophate ( ingredient name for roundup look for generic brand) depending on green cover on tillage ground. Leave it a week I would then get it disc harrow try to get a lad with the independent disc harrow as he can fly across the field. Two runs second slightly offset to the first so he cuts up the sod. Get you hand then on a chain harrow with a frame and give field a few runs of it. However it may not need it as ground that was in tillage should break up easy.

If it needs P&k fertlizer I would apply before the disc along with lime if required. Spread your grass seed with either a grass box( most co-op and merchants that sell seed have one) a fertlizer spinner( hard to set ) or an air seeder. The the three 'R' roll, roll, roll again. Never do it more that twice but try to get a good water roller.Spread 1/2 to one bag (25-50kgs) of granlime to the acre and a lot of farmers put out slug pellets as well. You will need to spray with a post emergence weed spray when grass is at 3 leaf stage and clover had one true leaf but weeds leaves need to be no bigger than a 2 euro coin.

If you are going fencing do not get trapped into going with barbed wire. Cut your hedges back and fence bounds with a single strand of electric fence. Make sure your contractor put in an intermediate strainer on long side of fields so you can put current on half the field only if you are using a battery fencer.


Sorry just saw you have you own one pass so go with that. should be no need to plough unless you like work. Last time I got grass seed it was 75 euro for a 14kg bag most bags are 11-12kg. some lads go with the smaller bag to the acre most lads now go with 14-15kg/acre.

jimmy G M

There's a thread here on reseeding, different methods, and aprox costing of the different operations including grass seed. You can deduct the cost of the jobs you can do yourself but w&t, fuel & your own time isn't free either


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=845&order=desc&page=2

Mental simmental

Great. Stuff thanks for all your help. Time is gonna be very important andi have a young family.. Lots. Of information here from people. With the right. Know. How. Thanks again

Mental simmental

If I do go down the road of getting a few suck cows. Simmental. For instance. How many head could I handle. On grass and how many acres. Would I need. To keep. For silage bales. . For winter feeding. In a shed????