Dairy Chitchat 3

Castlekeeper

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Yeah, dead serious.

The scrapers are in 17 years, a new one added last year.

That's shocking, depending on the cause there could be a case for a recall.
Keep it quiet though in case our farm insurance premiums go up...

1373

whelan2 wrote: »

How old are the scrapers? Having a few problems with my new ones atm

We put in new dm scrapers , if yours are anything like ours you can get use to plenty of problems . We have had seals leak at 13 months, not covered under 12 months warranty. Pipes leak at joiners , grub screws loose and leaking . Fixed the small problems ourself as call outs were shockingly expensive . €400 to replace a ram seal

visatorro

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Yeah, dead serious.

The scrapers are in 17 years, a new one added last year.

You haven't great luck with scrapers lately!

kevthegaff

Alfco ones with the ram inside djob, have alfcos with the ram outside. Always water get into then

whelan2

1373 wrote: »

We put in new dm scrapers , if yours are anything like ours you can get use to plenty of problems . We have had seals leak at 13 months, not covered under 12 months warranty. Pipes leak at joiners , grub screws loose and leaking . Fixed the small problems ourself as call outs were shockingly expensive . €400 to replace a ram seal

These are dairy power. Think the pressure valve is faulty. My back is broke lifting the scraper. There's some weight in them

awaywithyou

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Yeah, dead serious.

The scrapers are in 17 years, a new one added last year.

did ya buy local?

Buford T. Justice XIX

visatorro wrote: »

You haven't great luck with scrapers lately!

Tell me about it!

awaywithyou wrote: »

did ya buy local?

Yeah, local ones. I had a look before the service van arrived, there's a rubber covered electrical panel on top of the motor next to the oil filter, that seems to have gone up in flames. Scrapers still worked with half the cover melted so I'll have to take that as a plus.

Good job I decided to get up to look at that ewe, good job that I had an extinguisher close by and bad luck that I'll be switching over to manual from now on. I'd normally switch over later in the month anyway in case I missed a cow calving in the cubicles.

I'm not in the better of that, tbh.

Buford T. Justice XIX

1373 wrote: »

We put in new dm scrapers , if yours are anything like ours you can get use to plenty of problems . We have had seals leak at 13 months, not covered under 12 months warranty. Pipes leak at joiners , grub screws loose and leaking . Fixed the small problems ourself as call outs were shockingly expensive . €400 to replace a ram seal

You get quite good at repairing their stuff after a while, the only thing I wouldn't go near is the electrics.

A neighbour had new scrapers put in 30 years ago but it was too close to Christmas to get an electrician out so they ran an extension cable out to power the scrapers till after Christmas. There was some fault somewhere along the line and he ended up electrocuting a good number of cows.

I stay away from electrics altogether.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Castlekeeper wrote: »

That's shocking, depending on the cause there could be a case for a recall.
Keep it quiet though in case our farm insurance premiums go up...

It shouldn't be bad enough to justify a claim, I hope, just a replacing of a board. Will still come in at a couple of hundred euro, though.

straight

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Tell me about it!


Yeah, local ones. I had a look before the service van arrived, there's a rubber covered electrical panel on top of the motor next to the oil filter, that seems to have gone up in flames. Scrapers still worked with half the cover melted so I'll have to take that as a plus.

Good job I decided to get up to look at that ewe, good job that I had an extinguisher close by and bad luck that I'll be switching over to manual from now on. I'd normally switch over later in the month anyway in case I missed a cow calving in the cubicles.

I'm not in the better of that, tbh.

You need a good stiff drink.

Dakota Dan

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Tell me about it!


Yeah, local ones. I had a look before the service van arrived, there's a rubber covered electrical panel on top of the motor next to the oil filter, that seems to have gone up in flames. Scrapers still worked with half the cover melted so I'll have to take that as a plus.

Good job I decided to get up to look at that ewe, good job that I had an extinguisher close by and bad luck that I'll be switching over to manual from now on. I'd normally switch over later in the month anyway in case I missed a cow calving in the cubicles.

I'm not in the better of that, tbh.

My neighbors fuse box in the dwelling house went on fire the end of last year, lucky enough it was during the day and he was there. He had to get the neighbors fire extinguisher and had to wait a week to get the electricity back after repairs and jumping through all the hoops with the esb.

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/moves-to-tighten-veterinary-controls-a-hammer-blow-icsa/

It’ll be a hammer blow to me!

Wormers etc are POM here with years, thus the likes of 5L Eprinex is €700-800 and can only be bought from Vets.
I buy in Ireland for significantly less...

Buford T. Justice XIX

I was at the Grassland conference today and Donagh Berry mentioned the benefits of using linear scoring to possibly increase health benefits and increase longevity in cows.

First time hearing a senior man in ICBF advocating linear scoring.

jaymla627

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I was at the Grassland conference today and Donagh Berry mentioned the benefits of using linear scoring to possibly increase health benefits and increase longevity in cows.

First time hearing a senior man in ICBF advocating linear scoring.

Bit to late to be trying to put that genie back in the bottle, type and functional cows where/are a after thought when going with high ebi bulls

alps

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I was at the Grassland conference today and Donagh Berry mentioned the benefits of using linear scoring to possibly increase health benefits and increase longevity in cows.

First time hearing a senior man in ICBF advocating linear scoring.

Nooooooo...

First the calf..

Now they forgot the cow needs to be functional....

whelan2

My milking parlour man is scaling down. I have the choice of dairy master or delaval. Any plus or minuses for either?

Panch18

whelan2 wrote: »

My milking parlour man is scaling down. I have the choice of dairy master or delaval. Any plus or minuses for either?

Dairymaster here

Would have question marks over the quality of some of the components. It’s in 12 years and let’s say it hasn’t been flawless, but I don’t know if any of them are

1 thing I will say though is that we think the claw piece of the dairy master is the most comfortable to use of any that we looked at. It’s lighter, and less cumbersome than all others that we saw. And that’s important when you lift them a few hundred times every day.

Gawddawggonnit

I’ve been offered heifer calves from a 11500kg herd for €80/hd. Calves reared to 2mts old. Herd has been closed for 35yrs and is free from all diseases. Should I test them for IBR, BVD, Johnes etc? Or just roll with it?

whelan2

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

I’ve been offered heifer calves from a 11500kg herd for €80/hd. Calves reared to 2mts old. Herd has been closed for 35yrs and is free from all diseases. Should I test them for IBR, BVD, Johnes etc? Or just roll with it?

Johnes wont test positive at that age

straight

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

I’ve been offered heifer calves from a 11500kg herd for €80/hd. Calves reared to 2mts old. Herd has been closed for 35yrs and is free from all diseases. Should I test them for IBR, BVD, Johnes etc? Or just roll with it?

Keep a closed herd I'd say

GrasstoMilk

What's ppls thinking on urea soon?
None ordered here yet and couldnt see us spreading any in the next 10 days with how the forecast is looking

whelan2

whelan2 wrote: »

Johnes wont test positive at that age

On johnes. Vet was telling me that a farmer had 120 cows tested for johnes through milk samples in November. 100 % positive. He reckoned the volume of milk wasnt there to get a reliable result. He dung sampled them all and the results were more accurate

Mooooo

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

I’ve been offered heifer calves from a 11500kg herd for €80/hd. Calves reared to 2mts old. Herd has been closed for 35yrs and is free from all diseases. Should I test them for IBR, BVD, Johnes etc? Or just roll with it?

Is the adult herd tested free of all those or is he saying it's free due to being closed. If herd is closed for that long what is the avg lactation no.? If they are low Johnes may be there but not picked up

Mooooo

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

What's ppls thinking on urea soon?
None ordered here yet and couldnt see us spreading any in the next 10 days with how the forecast is looking

Fert prices are supposed to be declining, altho dunno if the middle East carry on will have any effect on that. Was talking to a neighbour and he reckons he's going to switch to using as it's needed, not getting the yearly supply but just what's needed every 4 to 6 weeks or whatever. Reduces risk of bag damage or awkward to spread stuff or weather conditions not suiting etc. He is like myself in that it is stored outside most of the time.

Gawddawggonnit

straight wrote: »

Keep a closed herd I'd say

Bit late for that...

Gawddawggonnit

whelan2 wrote: »

Johnes wont test positive at that age

Interesting. At what age would it show?

whelan2

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Interesting. At what age would it show?

Over 2 years of age

Gawddawggonnit

Mooooo wrote: »

Is the adult herd tested free of all those or is he saying it's free due to being closed. If herd is closed for that long what is the avg lactation no.? If they are low Johnes may be there but not picked up

Herd tested free for Johnes, BVD, IBR, TB, Brucellosis, Q fever, Neosporose and Leptospirosis with many years.
Average lactation is 3.8, but he’s always culled hard...it isn’t easy to get to that level of production without robots.

I’ve bought culls off of him before and I was very pleased with them in fairness.

The man is 58 and none of his children will touch the farm, and nobody interested in taking on the farm either. Lovely 308ha farm in two blocks. He’ll be retiring in two years time so all young stock will be sold from now on.

Gawddawggonnit

Mooooo wrote: »

Fert prices are supposed to be declining, altho dunno if the middle East carry on will have any effect on that. Was talking to a neighbour and he reckons he's going to switch to using as it's needed, not getting the yearly supply but just what's needed every 4 to 6 weeks or whatever. Reduces risk of bag damage or awkward to spread stuff or weather conditions not suiting etc. He is like myself in that it is stored outside most of the time.

Fert has jumped €28-33/t from a month ago when I bought, and will go more.

Seems with wwheat plantings down the manufacturers ceased production, cleared existing stocks, and are waiting until price rises to resume production. Nice.

mahoney_j

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

What's ppls thinking on urea soon?
None ordered here yet and couldnt see us spreading any in the next 10 days with how the forecast is looking

Ordered and will be delievered by weekend ,won’t be spreading for a bit by look of weather .no panic either unless ground temps and conditions are good