Dairy Chitchat 3

orm0nd

Thanks guys, most of it is for grazing so I will stick with my original theory of a bag of sweet grass/ac in a few days time..

alps

Check out this Article I found - https://www.farmersjournal.ie/over-610-new-entrants-to-dairying-469667

Did new entrants avoid Dairygold?

Mooooo

Weighed the cows yday. Avg weight for whole herd was 540.4kg with 43% 1st calvers and 64% 1st and 2nd. Assuming the i didnt skip any weights when totting them up. Haven't averaged the weight of the mature cow's on their own yet. Range was from 400 for the smallest 1st calver to 728 for the biggest cow. Was surprised by some, those with more capacity weighed heavier even if smaller framed than some of the taller cow's. The first calvers ranged from 400 to 568, she is a fleckveih, the next heaviest fr i think was 538. I thought the herd would be a bit heavier

GrasstoMilk

Mooooo wrote: »

Weighed the cows yday. Avg weight for whole herd was 540.4kg with 43% 1st calvers and 64% 1st and 2nd. Assuming the i didnt skip any weights when totting them up. Haven't averaged the weight of the mature cow's on their own yet. Range was from 400 for the smallest 1st calver to 728 for the biggest cow. Was surprised by some, those with more capacity weighed heavier even if smaller framed than some of the taller cow's. The first calvers ranged from 400 to 568, she is a fleckveih, the next heaviest fr i think was 538. I thought the herd would be a bit heavier

What's your maintenance figure on your ebi moo?

Mooooo

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

What's your maintenance figure on your ebi moo?

According to the May report it's €3. Have an 11.5 yr old cow here weighed 706, one daughter will be 4 in Oct weighed 602 and the next daughter will be 3 in Oct and weighed 518. Be interesting as the herd matures what weights may be. The old cow has a maintenance figure of 5. Haven't gone thru em all and of course ebi figures take into account relatives etc so you will have outliers. That old cow is back in calf and has given her weight in solids in other years so would be happy to have more of her. I put it up on icbf anyway, figures may become more accurate the more that are recorded.
Also the two lightest heifers around the 400kg mark, aside from being some of the youngest, both had pneumonia as calves so just shows what effect it can have thru the lifetime of the animal,

greysides

Interesting, thought-provoking article.

From Two Bulls, 9 Million Dairy Cows

trixi2011

Mooooo wrote: »

Weighed the cows yday. Avg weight for whole herd was 540.4kg with 43% 1st calvers and 64% 1st and 2nd. Assuming the i didnt skip any weights when totting them up. Haven't averaged the weight of the mature cow's on their own yet. Range was from 400 for the smallest 1st calver to 728 for the biggest cow. Was surprised by some, those with more capacity weighed heavier even if smaller framed than some of the taller cow's. The first calvers ranged from 400 to 568, she is a fleckveih, the next heaviest fr i think was 538. I thought the herd would be a bit heavier

Weighed 50 cows here at the weekend as well got a shock at the weights of some of them .but very interesting exersize
Jersey cows weighing in at 470 to 550 kg
Xreeds from 450 to 650
Fr from 470 to 705
Would of been more of the older cows and less of the younger cows weighed
Could really do with weighing the hole herd to get the average but would be a massive job

C0N0R

trixi2011 wrote: »

Weighed 50 cows here at the weekend as well got a shock at the weights of some of them .but very interesting exersize
Jersey cows weighing in at 470 to 550 kg
Xreeds from 450 to 650
Fr from 470 to 705
Would of been more of the older cows and less of the younger cows weighed
Could really do with weighing the hole herd to get the average but would be a massive job

Walk over weigh scales at the exit of the parlour job done

C0N0R

Quick question guys, just doing a few calculations here, the teagasc profit monitor figures for milk production, do they include the cost of rearing Youngstock??

kevthegaff

C0N0R wrote: »

Quick question guys, just doing a few calculations here, the teagasc profit monitor figures for milk production, do they include the cost of rearing Youngstock??

Probably not!

jaymla627

C0N0R wrote: »

Quick question guys, just doing a few calculations here, the teagasc profit monitor figures for milk production, do they include the cost of rearing Youngstock??

Nope, it’s a big big bear of mine but then the real profit monitor figures might be a lot more sober reading rather then the small fortune they make out is to be made dairying

straight

Ye will give your cows a complex with all the weighing

C0N0R

Lovely, anyone have a rough cost assuming no more land or labour required and a 20-25% replacement rate?? Cheers teagasc 🙄

jaymla627

C0N0R wrote: »

Lovely, anyone have a rough cost assuming no more land or labour required and a 20-25% replacement rate?? Cheers teagasc ��

3.5 cent a liter would be a good figure, up past 5 cent here as all replacement ground is rented and expanding herd

C0N0R

Sure while I’m here, would someone care to throw a figure of how much above base price a 5500 litre cow will average with reasonably good solids? Say 30 cent milk price?

jaymla627

greysides wrote: »

Interesting, thought-provoking article.

From Two Bulls, 9 Million Dairy Cows

Oman and shottle are the two bulls that really have done the damage re in-breeding, using mostly all out crosses here now as far removed from the above two bulls as possible but very hard to find any bulls that don’t have them in the back pedigrees, I always cringe when you see Oman only maybe two-three generations back on both the dam and bulls side, it couldn’t be logically a good thing re inbreeding

Mooooo

straight wrote: »

Ye will give your cows a complex with all the weighing

I used myself every so often to check the scales and tis myself would want to lay off the biscuit meal I'd say

Timmaay

C0N0R wrote: »

Quick question guys, just doing a few calculations here, the teagasc profit monitor figures for milk production, do they include the cost of rearing Youngstock??

Yes they do! You can however provide them with figures that do not include the cost of heifers but your only fooling yourself. For myown pm I put purchased Incalf heifers down as a fixed cost rather than capital introduced, because what I'm saving by not rearing them myself I spend buying Incalf. Every single "cost of production" c/l figure that is thrown out there needs to come with a list of what is and isn't included, such as replacement heifers, unpaid labour, owned land value etc. That or have a very very very limited and well defined "costs before absolutely anything like heifers, drawings, land charge etc etc", which will be 15c/l, but absolutely isn't the same as cost of production which is very poor defined and open to complete click bail newspaper headlines.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mooooo wrote: »

I used myself every so often to check the scales and tis myself would want to lay off the biscuit meal I'd say

You'd want to be building up condition score now while the weather is good, cheaper than trying to force high quality expensive feed into the poorly conditioned after drying off.

We're still talking about cows, right?:P

C0N0R

Timmaay wrote: »

Yes they do! You can however provide them with figures that do not include the cost of heifers but your only fooling yourself. For myown pm I put purchased Incalf heifers down as a fixed cost rather than capital introduced, because what I'm saving by not rearing them myself I spend buying Incalf. Every single "cost of production" c/l figure that is thrown out there needs to come with a list of what is and isn't included, such as replacement heifers, unpaid labour, owned land value etc. That or have a very very very limited and well defined "costs before absolutely anything like heifers, drawings, land charge etc etc", which will be 15c/l, but absolutely isn't the same as cost of production which is very poor defined and open to complete click bail newspaper headlines.

So would I be correct to say your cop would be lower than the average except for fixed costs then? My assumption was that fertiliser meal vet ai etc was for all as apposed to what was just used for the milking herd but it’s a dangerous assumption to make.

mahoney_j

Zero interest in pm as no faith in them ,no where near accurate enough and u can manipulate it lots of ways ,as a comparasion tool I’d have less time for it as everyone’s system and methods are different for a variety of reasons .my own accounts ,cow performance ,milk and solids sold is all that interests me ,at farm walks I’m always interested in how people manage grass/stocking rates ,cow nutrition ,breeding don’t bother with financials as it ain’t any of my business and can be complex with drawings ,wages etc profit monitors don’t show this ,whole farm profit with all costs accounted for after tax is the bottom line

awaywithyou

out of interest lads what do ye think a cow should be yielding at this time of year?? see a guy on facebook there with cows ndoing 16.8 litres/day high solids no meal and he got 39c/l for his may milk...

anyone know him..? does he milk once-a-day?? in fairness his solids and price are good.... i think the litres sound very low for the time of year... my worry is what will they be doing in sept/oct even august.... wil they even pay the esb bill??

boggerman1

Down in the herd test again today.2 cows.locked up since last October.passed one test and now 2 in a row.both cows had nothing the previous tests,flat as could be.fair annoying at this stage.and the ones gone already killed out ok.

C0N0R

mahoney_j wrote: »

Zero interest in pm as no faith in them ,no where near accurate enough and u can manipulate it lots of ways ,as a comparasion tool I’d have less time for it as everyone’s system and methods are different for a variety of reasons .my own accounts ,cow performance ,milk and solids sold is all that interests me ,at farm walks I’m always interested in how people manage grass/stocking rates ,cow nutrition ,breeding don’t bother with financials as it ain’t any of my business and can be complex with drawings ,wages etc profit monitors don’t show this ,whole farm profit with all costs accounted for after tax is the bottom line

Oh I fully agree with you on that, accuracy is questionable with some of the profit monitors. But for a lad trying to throw some rough figures together, it’s surely a start.

mahoney_j

C0N0R wrote: »

Oh I fully agree with you on that, accuracy is questionable with some of the profit monitors. But for a lad trying to throw some rough figures together, it’s surely a start.

A start but I wouldn’t put a huge emphasis on them ,putting out cop of high teens low 20s is dangerous and plain wrong ,there has to be gdpr issues there as well .a guide but that’s it

Mooooo

awaywithyou wrote: »

out of interest lads what do ye think a cow should be yielding at this time of year?? see a guy on facebook there with cows ndoing 16.8 litres/day high solids no meal and he got 39c/l for his may milk...

anyone know him..? does he milk once-a-day?? in fairness his solids and price are good.... i think the litres sound very low for the time of year... my worry is what will they be doing in sept/oct even august.... wil they even pay the esb bill??

Dunno depends on the cows really. Doing between 26 and 27 litres or so, a bit up and down as grazing poor quality paddocks at the minute still on 4kgs. 3.74bf 3.6p. Have better quality coming in soon. You would be afraid of his drying early in the year really if he's at 16 now but I dunno how they will hold up. Young herd here so don't see mine holding high late in the year and may dry off some early to give a good dry period for next year

Mooooo

boggerman1 wrote: »

Down in the herd test again today.2 cows.locked up since last October.passed one test and now 2 in a row.both cows had nothing the previous tests,flat as could be.fair annoying at this stage.and the ones gone already killed out ok.

Tis a bollox. Will be testing soon here. Thought badgers may be the issue till a deer was spotted breaking thru wire in the out farm. At least it explained what drove the calves mad last year

Buford T. Justice XIX

awaywithyou wrote: »

out of interest lads what do ye think a cow should be yielding at this time of year?? see a guy on facebook there with cows ndoing 16.8 litres/day high solids no meal and he got 39c/l for his may milk...

anyone know him..? does he milk once-a-day?? in fairness his solids and price are good.... i think the litres sound very low for the time of year... my worry is what will they be doing in sept/oct even august.... wil they even pay the esb bill??

Came across him on Twitter, OAD I think alright. He seems happy enough with his profitability.

GrasstoMilk

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Came across him on Twitter, OAD I think alright. He seems happy enough with his profitability.

He's TAD did 380 kgs last year.
Alot of lads there telling him he should be doing it different, maybe he should but it's his herd and if he can make a living out of it does it matter?
If the lad wants advice he'll ask for it, no need to ram it down his neck whether he wants it or not.

Not directed at you Bu!

Timmaay

I took a heavy 1st cut of drycow stuff the last day of May, pure white underneath, which usually takes 2wks to even green up after. 21days later it has a cover of 1100 on it.. I've never seen grass recover as quick before. Its a fresh reseed though