Dairy Chitchat 3

GrasstoMilk

I think there will be farmers to buy the early calves but the ones from mid march onwards might be hard to shift. We could possibly keep them ourselves till the next spring as I'd have the grass on outfarms after 1st cut. Keep them in the shed till mid june and let them onto aftergrass.

Probably looking at getting very small money for friesans at 2 weeks old, dont know what will happen jex.
We've about 20 or so cows bred to LM and HE also

K.G.

After 12 months things may settle but you have to assume the mess after the strike is going to affect calf trade.dont forget beef prices are poor all over europe so there isnt that.many handy outlets for calves.long term when everyone adjusts i do see a market for calves

wrangler

K.G. wrote: »

After 12 months things may settle but you have to assume the mess after the strike is going to affect calf trade.dont forget beef prices are poor all over europe so there isnt that.many handy outlets for calves.long term when everyone adjusts i do see a market for calves

Lairage in France seems to be a huge problem and the numbers of calves projected next year could mean that some calves will have to be kept up to 12 weeks in Ireland

mahoney_j

mf240 wrote: »

Sell them.
Shoot then
Or rear them yourself.

Option 2 is something I’d never contemplate ,I’m a farmer and I aim to keep ainmals alive

mahoney_j

kerry cow wrote: »

totally agree with you .
the fr bull calf is going to be a massive problem next spring ,
so what are the realistic options .
i would give them away free at 7 days but I doubt you'd even have takers ,
bullet and skip ?? if it's allowed .
where is our ifa's etc ,
minister ??
now is the time , not next spring .

is it not a interesting topic that would interest jack and the journal boys to get their teeth into .

usual story again , we have to find ourselves up to our neck in it before we react .

The decent quality fr bull won’t be an issue as exporters will be in for them the problem will be the extreme hol and any jex

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Talk is they wont be allowing bobby calves. The first questioned asked abroad when they go to sell product is what happens the dairy bull calves. If they're bobbied they'll just move onto the next company

Proper order ,we shouldn’t forget tegasc in all this they promoted and pushed dairy expansion ,x Breds etc .zero thought given to the calf and there still at it

mahoney_j

Panch18 wrote: »

Logically there is absolutely no reason in the world for Ireland to have a bobby calf issue. We don't need to go down that route only for the fact that logic is gone totally out of the window.

The beef from a dairy animal is at least as good, if not tastier, than a suckler bred animal.
The factories don't want huge continental carcasses, Angus and Hereford ideal for what they want, hence the bonus
There is money to be had, relatively speaking, rearing calves to yearling or for second summer, especially in comparison to sucklers which is and has always been a dead end game.
There is at least as much beef coming from the "dairy" side each year

Teagasc have a huge amount to answer for in this country. Our traditional system of cows in the south, rear the calves to store in the west, finish in the east, was perfect for this country. They ****ed it up from the dairy side by pushing everyone down the cows cows cows route, without any thought whatsoever for how we were going to sell the milk products, and they pushed us towards the Jersey route. They ****ed up the beef side by trying to convince sucklers to a) use continental cows weighing a ton in land suited to carrying light stock and b) started getting these guys to finish their stock by putting them down a high cost finishing route - pure and utter madness the whole lot of it

Nailed it with that

freedominacup

mahoney_j wrote: »

Proper order ,we shouldn’t forget tegasc in all this they promoted and pushed dairy expansion ,x Breds etc .zero thought given to the calf and there still at it

Teagasc don't, certainly high profile people in the dairy advisory in teagasc don't have many hang ups with bobby calves.

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

I think there will be farmers to buy the early calves but the ones from mid march onwards might be hard to shift. We could possibly keep them ourselves till the next spring as I'd have the grass on outfarms after 1st cut. Keep them in the shed till mid june and let them onto aftergrass.

Probably looking at getting very small money for friesans at 2 weeks old, dont know what will happen jex.
We've about 20 or so cows bred to LM and HE also

The mid March on calves are no problem move

Mooooo

There'll be no disposal scheme, and have heard any increase in mortality rates is going to be checked a lot more also.

mahoney_j

freedominacup wrote: »

Teagasc don't, certainly high profile people in the dairy advisory in teagasc don't have many hang ups with bobby calves.

The fact they don’t says enough about them our image will be destroyed if we go Bobby calf route

whelan2

mahoney_j wrote: »

Option 2 is something I’d never contemplate ,I’m a farmer and I aim to keep ainmals alive

All the effort you put into keeping some of them going and then lads just shoot them . I wasn't brought up to to even think of shooting them

Panch18

mahoney_j wrote: »

Option 2 is something I’d never contemplate ,I’m a farmer and I aim to keep ainmals alive

This a million times over

jaymla627

Mooooo wrote: »

There'll be no disposal scheme, and have heard any increase in mortality rates is going to be checked a lot more also.

Vast majority of dairy farms barely have the facilities to rear their replacement heifers, if a situation occurs where calves have to remain on farm for 6 weeks plus you’ll hugely increased mortality rates, the labour/housing/finances and general will won’t be their in some cases to carry all calves born on farm for any extended period of time

kerry cow

thinking of building a scour house out near the gate , plenty milk and they will be gone in a day

straight

kerry cow wrote: »

thinking of building a scour house out near the gate , plenty milk and they will be gone in a day

There was an Austrian guy that had something like that once. He used gas though.

GrasstoMilk

mahoney_j wrote: »

The mid March on calves are no problem move

I'm talking about next spring, the guys that are going to buy the early ones.

visatorro

From talking to the dealer that takes calves here and to guys that buy sucks to rear there is plenty of farms where calf health is not good enough either. Crypto and ibr seems to be a massive problem in places still. You'd be surprised how a bad name can follow a farmer selling calves. I find even for poor money you'll always move a healthy although poorer quality calf.
If buyers get stung a couple of times they'll tar all with the one brush

cosatron

Panch18 wrote: »

Logically there is absolutely no reason in the world for Ireland to have a bobby calf issue. We don't need to go down that route only for the fact that logic is gone totally out of the window.

The beef from a dairy animal is at least as good, if not tastier, than a suckler bred animal.
The factories don't want huge continental carcasses, Angus and Hereford ideal for what they want, hence the bonus
There is money to be had, relatively speaking, rearing calves to yearling or for second summer, especially in comparison to sucklers which is and has always been a dead end game.
There is at least as much beef coming from the "dairy" side each year

Teagasc have a huge amount to answer for in this country. Our traditional system of cows in the south, rear the calves to store in the west, finish in the east, was perfect for this country. They ****ed it up from the dairy side by pushing everyone down the cows cows cows route, without any thought whatsoever for how we were going to sell the milk products, and they pushed us towards the Jersey route. They ****ed up the beef side by trying to convince sucklers to a) use continental cows weighing a ton in land suited to carrying light stock and b) started getting these guys to finish their stock by putting them down a high cost finishing route - pure and utter madness the whole lot of it

the dairy industry right now, reminds me of the construction boom, everyone is throwing their hat in the ring and expanding until kingdom come. I was down herding one morning and a neighbour pulled up and told me his going milking and I said well ware and best of luck and out of curiosity I asked him how many units was he going putting in and was it hard to source a good second one, oh little did I know what was coming, his going putting in a robot straight of the bat and milking 90 cows which will be indoor year round as his land is fragmented enough and went on to tell me about xyz. For a finish I was sorry I asked.

Panch18

I have often wondered if the whole island of ireland went organic would we be better off.

We would all have far less animals to look after, far less sheds and expenditure etc.

Our production would be dramatically down but our sales prices should be up

Say my name

Panch18 wrote: »

I have often wondered if the whole island of ireland went organic would we be better off.

We would all have far less animals to look after, far less sheds and expenditure etc.

Our production would be dramatically down but our sales prices should be up

Google Denmark.

Timmaay

I have afew acres sprayed off, read for a reseed, only problem is the ground is absolutely rock hard. Would I get away with direct drilling the seed, or am I better off 2 runs of a disc harrow and sow on the 3rd run?

mf240

Everyone around here is getting cows or more cows. Now I don't have a business degree nor do I have one in economics but I'd say the whole arse hole is going to fall out of milk price. But sure what else is out there.

Panch18

mf240 wrote: »

Everyone around here is getting cows or more cows. Now I don't have a business degree nor do I have one in economics but I'd say the whole arse hole is going to fall out of milk price. But sure what else is out there.

work harder and harder for less and less

you're right, it's hard to know where to turn

Snowfire

cosatron wrote: »

the dairy industry right now, reminds me of the construction boom, everyone is throwing their hat in the ring and expanding until kingdom come. I was down herding one morning and a neighbour pulled up and told me his going milking and I said well ware and best of luck and out of curiosity I asked him how many units was he going putting in and was it hard to source a good second one, oh little did I know what was coming, his going putting in a robot straight of the bat and milking 90 cows which will be indoor year round as his land is fragmented enough and went on to tell me about xyz. For a finish I was sorry I asked.

Hope he’s not intending to milk 90 cows with one robot...?

GrasstoMilk

Panch18 wrote: »

work harder and harder for less and less

you're right, it's hard to know where to turn

Were milking over double what we were in 2013, few more to add on next year, No where near as much work as then or the years before it. At the max next year with what can be milked here, looking forward to letting things settle for a few years, let the herd mature and get rid of the bottom cows and see where the herd can go.
I'd gladly milk more if land came available.

Milk price has been volatile since 09,

freedominacup

Timmaay wrote: »

I have afew acres sprayed off, read for a reseed, only problem is the ground is absolutely rock hard. Would I get away with direct drilling the seed, or am I better off 2 runs of a disc harrow and sow on the 3rd run?

Direct drill working well here in those conditions. Lime essential though regardless of ph status. Granlime has worked for us where lime status is right and acres to do are smallish. We're moving away from any other method unless field needs levelling. I saw a spring reseed done conventionally a day or two before we did a bit dd this spring. Cows were just gone out of that reseed as ours were going in to our dd reseed for first graze.

cosatron

Snowfire wrote: »

cosatron wrote: »

the dairy industry right now, reminds me of the construction boom, everyone is throwing their hat in the ring and expanding until kingdom come. I was down herding one morning and a neighbour pulled up and told me his going milking and I said well ware and best of luck and out of curiosity I asked him how many units was he going putting in and was it hard to source a good second one, oh little did I know what was coming, his going putting in a robot straight of the bat and milking 90 cows which will be indoor year round as his land is fragmented enough and went on to tell me about xyz. For a finish I was sorry I asked.

Hope he’s not intending to milk 90 cows with one robot...?

I think so but it could of being less. I kinda a tuned out

straight

mf240 wrote: »

Everyone around here is getting cows or more cows. Now I don't have a business degree nor do I have one in economics but I'd say the whole arse hole is going to fall out of milk price. But sure what else is out there.

Ah I'd say we'll have a soft landing.

cosatron

straight wrote: »

Ah I'd say we'll have a soft landing.

I think the established lads should be able to ride it out, but I would fear for the lads that are heavily borrowed