Dairy Chitchat 3

straight

Tonynewholland wrote: »

I didn’t see it all but saw the part of growing beef in a lab I don’t think it was about calves

Not the infamous calves one. It was about lab grown meat and there was a report at the end spelling out that farms will be completely different places in 10 years time. Theres something every week now at least. We are under attack from all angles and they will get their way. Nobody seems to be attacking the tourism industry in the same way.

Say my name

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

They're clamping down on derogations while seeming to support them.

And, like you say there, it probably won't stay at 90kgs for too long once the precedent is established.

And now even more farmers not currently in derogation will be put into derogation by then.
What's this now they want if you're in derogation? Your fertilizer purchases, your grass growth rates, clover to be sown all across the farm, meal dockets, your wife's pps number, a relegated advisor to advise on fertilizer and meal purchases, a grass course to show how grass is grown, a reduction in protein content of meal allowed.

Tonynewholland

straight wrote: »

Not the infamous calves one. It was about lab grown meat and there was a report at the end spelling out that farms will be completely different places in 10 years time. Theres something every week now at least. We are under attack from all angles and they will get their way. Nobody seems to be attacking the tourism industry in the same way.

It wasn’t very motivating that’s for sure. Almost everything that comes from a lab has side effects of some sort, Will this form of so called meat be a as safe as a real steak only time will tell

Buford T. Justice XIX

Panch18 wrote: »

Crap milk price
Crap beef price
Crap calf price
Crap grain price
Cuts to BPS but no cuts to BS rules
Cuts to stocking rates
increased slurry storage requirements
reduced slurry spreading dates

Is there even a glimmer of hope on the horizon for anybody in farming

There is, tbh. We're here because we're the resilient ones, lucky to an extent but resilient most of all. We and those before us have gone through hard times, poor weather, poor prices, silly regulations and still survived and prospered.

But most of all, we will have to grow the same amount of food in the next 40 years as mankind has consumed in the last 2,000 years. Now, the publicity is all against us but the majority of people out there complaining couldn't grow enough food to feed themselves for a day never mind a year.

One thing I do know is lab meats depend on manufactured inputs to feed their vats of cells and it's inevitable that there's going to be corners cut in the manufacturing of that and poorer inputs used to maximise profits. And I've seen nothing about how they deal with the waste products from the manufacture of lab meats.

Be patient, the wheel always turns, as my father used to say.

Say my name

My own thoughts.

Irish farming is being treated as a cash cow for industry. A carbon sequestering machine but not being rewarded to farmers but the government will get the financial benefits. A lab test tube to test out new products that'll "save the world" and be patented to specific companies.
Basically more stringent rules and regulations come in every year and no matter that targets were hit in previous years it'll always never be enough.

The way to beat the system is to remove yourself from the system. Go as low input as possible while still achieving an income. Read the books. There's technological advances that have been brought in for farmers in third and second world countries. Copy them. Read all the natural farming books or online you can. It'll open your eyes to the biological world.
There's experts in this country but only expert in making you buy a new machine or fertilizer or even meal product.
I've tried a few things down through the years and it does reduce your fertilizer amount. It all counts. I'm no expert myself far from it. But a lot of change is in your own hands. Don't be afraid to go against the grain. It won't be in mainstream agricultures interest in this country for you to do so. And there may be kickback.
But sure isn't life interesting.

farisfat

Would anyone know what freshly calved high ebi xbreed cows are making.

Reggie.

Say my name wrote: »

And now even more farmers not currently in derogation will be put into derogation by then.
What's this now they want if you're in derogation? Your fertilizer purchases, your grass growth rates, clover to be sown all across the farm, meal dockets, your wife's pps number, a relegated advisor to advise on fertilizer and meal purchases, a grass course to show how grass is grown, a reduction in protein content of meal allowed.

Cattle cant cross or drink from rivers, hedges cant all be cut at once, drinkers cant be any closer than 20m from any water course

Albert Johnson

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

My father had loads of stories about the creameries back in the day. One lad was talking to the manager while the manager was sucking up the milk with the hose when the hose stopped sucking the milk. The manager lifted out the hose and there was a dead cat stopping the milk going into the hose. Still talking away to the farmer, the manager pulled off the cat and threw it into a corner and put the hose back in again and worked away.

Just as the lad was getting off the platform, the manager told him to put the fcuking cover on the tanks at night before he runs out of cats:D

The auld fella does often tell me about an incident that occurred year's back when the milk was delivered to the local creamery in milk cans. A neighbor had the job of collecting the milk cans locally with a horse and cart each day. One day the man in question was feeling unwell and his brother was given the task in his absence.

According to Dad the brother was a little bit "harmless" and was excited at the prospect of being in the driving seat for the day. This excitement caused him to leave a few cans behind him and this fact only came to light in the evening when another local who was a bit of a jennet called to complain about his milk cans being forgotten. Seemingly the same man had bad land even by local standards and kept 3 or 4 starved cows that produced little milk. Despite the fact that he was somewhat lacking our temporary milkman was witty and upon being informed that the forgotten milk had to be delivered in person by it's producer he promptly told him "that for all the milk you ever had you could have sent it down in a fu#king envelope".

Castlekeeper

straight wrote: »

Father tells me there was always one bollix with a load of them all half full. Creamery worker fooked him out of it one morning for his notions.

He was ahead of his time with health and safety, the worker should have been thanking him!

Castlekeeper

Another local story again involved a cat.
In this particular case, a lot of farmers used to draw home clean water from the creamery well. To their consternation, on inspection one day a well dead cat was removed from the well. As you can imagine demand for said water dropped dramatically, leaving the perplexed maintenance man to observe, "They couldn't get enough water all summer when the cat was in the well, but now that I've him out, they've no meas on it!"

Tonynewholland

Panch18 wrote: »

Crap milk price
Crap beef price
Crap calf price
Crap grain price
Cuts to BPS but no cuts to BS rules
Cuts to stocking rates
increased slurry storage requirements
reduced slurry spreading dates

Is there even a glimmer of hope on the horizon for anybody in farming

No mention of brexit in there. It could get messy

K.G.

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

They're clamping down on derogations while seeming to support them.

And, like you say there, it probably won't stay at 90kgs for too long once the precedent is established.

I m thinking the next logical step for most lads is a tie up with a tillage guy to supply winter feed or at least replace some of mill bought stuff.similar arrangements as the pig men have

Buford T. Justice XIX

K.G. wrote: »

I m thinking the next logical step for most lads is a tie up with a tillage guy to supply winter feed or at least replace some of mill bought stuff.similar arrangements as the pig men have

Could happen. I don't think the current individual independent farms will be very common in future. Some form of collaboration will be a lot more common than it is now.

Maybe something like 2 or 3 farms in a partnership or profit sharing with different farms managing cows, replacements and fodder and supplying casual labour to the others at busy times.

straight

Tonynewholland wrote: »

No mention of brexit in there. It could get messy

Mary Lou and her gang of head bangers are going to sort that out...

K.G.

Panch18 wrote: »

Crap milk price
Crap beef price
Crap calf price
Crap grain price
Cuts to BPS but no cuts to BS rules
Cuts to stocking rates
increased slurry storage requirements
reduced slurry spreading dates

Is there even a glimmer of hope on the horizon for anybody in farming

We are competitive at the moment with anyone else inthe world fir producing milk.the dairy industry in alot of other countries is struggling at the minute due primarily to borrowing .our adoption of grass based production and our system of passing farms from one generation to the next has allowed us to be competitive. If however we move to a system of employed labour and high bought in feed we would quicky get sucked back into the pack.there is also a danger of dairy farmers being used for social engineering in rural areas.

thisyear

Looking for a bit of advice. sales rep is calling tomorrow about breeding. Wondering should I consider going back to DIY(current parttime relief is ex tech) or is it just going to cost me in long run. Tended to do about 5weeks AI then out with the bulls. Just wondering what everyone is paying for AI?

Mooooo

K.G. wrote: »

We are competitive at the moment with anyone else inthe world fir producing milk.the dairy industry in alot of other countries is struggling at the minute due primarily to borrowing .our adoption of grass based production and our system of passing farms from one generation to the next has allowed us to be competitive. If however we move to a system of employed labour and high bought in feed we would quicky get sucked back into the pack.there is also a danger of dairy farmers being used for social engineering in rural areas.

Is it realistic for a farmers to be competitive without borrowing going forward?. The days of their being bodies around to do building etc is gone as well as family members working for little or no financial recompense other than the roof over their head. Regulations etc are all increasing costs.

straight

K.G. wrote: »

We are competitive at the moment with anyone else inthe world fir producing milk.the dairy industry in alot of other countries is struggling at the minute due primarily to borrowing .our adoption of grass based production and our system of passing farms from one generation to the next has allowed us to be competitive. If however we move to a system of employed labour and high bought in feed we would quicky get sucked back into the pack.there is also a danger of dairy farmers being used for social engineering in rural areas.

God forbid the dairy farmer himself would get paid a fair wage.

K.G.

Mooooo wrote: »

Is it realistic for a farmers to be competitive without borrowing going forward?. The days of their being bodies around to do building etc is gone as well as family members working for little or no financial recompense other than the roof over their head. Regulations etc are all increasing costs.

When i say borrowing i mean how many dairy farms could sustain the repayments to buy themselves as happens in alot of other countries .we all.have some bit of borrowings but places where that hits 4 or 5 grand a cow are scarce nevermind 20+ which isnt out of the way in lot of countries.regs are in most countries

K.G.

straight wrote: »

God forbid the dairy farmer himself would get paid a fair wage.

There is a danger that dairy lads will become the money source for both tillage and beef farmers in that area.

jaymla627

K.G. wrote: »

When i say borrowing i mean how many dairy farms could sustain the repayments to buy themselves as happens in alot of other countries .we all.have some bit of borrowings but places where that hits 4 or 5 grand a cow are scarce nevermind 20+ which isnt out of the way in lot of countries.regs are in most countries

I reckon their is alot more units that are gone over 4k a cow In Ireland then you'd think, their is a savage amount of parlours gone in the last few years that would be coming to over 2k a cow nevermind the extra slurry storage/cubicles needed on top of this, once you go tams and building contractors the costs sky rocket even taking account of the grant

straight

K.G. wrote: »

There is a danger that dairy lads will become the money source for both tillage and beef farmers in that area.

That's the way I see it going. Everybody living off the dairy farmers back but they all get their days off, etc.

K.G.

jaymla627 wrote: »

I reckon their is alot more units that are gone over 4k a cow In Ireland then you'd think, their is a savage amount of parlours gone in the last few years that would be coming to over 2k a cow nevermind the extra slurry storage/cubicles needed on top of this, once you go tams and building contractors the costs sky rocket even taking account of the grant

Even at 4k a cow over a mixture of 10 and 20 year loans could be 400 e a year in repayment s.put it another way 40 k for a 100 cows.

jaymla627

straight wrote: »

That's the way I see it going. Everybody living off the dairy farmers back but they all get their days off, etc.

Plenty of the above going dairying aswell to be fair, the smart lads are renting our contracting rearing to dairy farmers, cant begrudge a lad making a handy few pound if its their to be made

straight

jaymla627 wrote: »

Plenty of the above going dairying aswell to be fair, the smart lads are renting our contracting rearing to dairy farmers, cant begrudge a lad making a handy few pound if its their to be made

Ya everyone has to live but I'm just trying to mind my own little corner. Had a bad year or two with contractors letting me down but still no bother in charging top price and whinging to me about the price of diesel, repayments, etc. I'll be doing more DIY here if I can.

jaymla627

straight wrote: »

Ya everyone has to live but I'm just trying to mind my own little corner. Had a bad year or two with contractors letting me down but still no bother in charging top price and whinging to me about the price of diesel, repayments, etc. I'll be doing more DIY here if I can.

Got my fill of relying solely on contractors here two years ago, just hire in a lad to rake and pick silage with wagon now who's very reliable, some comfort not to be having to be begging to get work done like slurry our silage mowed when you need it done

Reggie.

jaymla627 wrote: »

Got my fill of relying solely on contractors here two years ago, just hire in a lad to rake and pick silage with wagon now who's very reliable, some comfort not to be having to be begging to get work done like slurry our silage mowed when you need it done

You obviously never used me

whelan2

Reggie. wrote: »

You obviously never used me

Are you busy at the moment?

straight

Teagasc recommend calves should drop by 70 to 80 euro per head this year. Teagasc fee is increasing though. Some joke.

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/teagasc-green-acres-calf-to-beef-programme-year-1-eprofit-monitor-results/

Reggie.

whelan2 wrote: »

Are you busy at the moment?

Nah quiet now sure ya couldn't travel with tankers out there. Was busy upto the start of these storms.

Good bit of reseeding on alright for when it dries in june or whatever
Have to repair abit of my own reseed from last year aswell