Dairy Chitchat 3

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

I scanned last week and was surprised to find 6 or 7 cows who had been observed bulling last month were actually well incalf. I wouldn't pay to much notice!

I sent 3 to the factory yesterday evening. One was bulling yesterday morning. She was a cnut. Would head butt the cluster off the cow in front in order to get nuts. Then move back into the manger behind. Was delighted she was in heat yesterday.

Reggie.

kevthegaff wrote: »

I see a crowd selling slurry separators on agriland, are they good?

Be careful with them

kevthegaff

Reggie. wrote:

Be careful with them

Well?

Reggie.

kevthegaff wrote: »

Well?

Supposedly a farmer used the dung from the separator to bed his cattle and when bord bia found out he lost his bonus. 4c a litre

whelan2

Reggie. wrote: »

Supposedly a farmer used the dung from the separator to bed his cattle and when bord bia found out he lost his bonus. 4c a litre

Is it 4 cpl?

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

Is it 4 cpl?

First I ever heard of there being a bonus on milk for being bord bia approved

Reggie.

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

First I ever heard of there being a bonus on milk for being bord bia approved

Or whatever. Could have been organic bonus or something on beef kg. This man was going to import a separator but that incident put him off

Snowfire

whelan2 wrote: »

Is it 4 cpl?

6 cent/kg QA bonus

White Clover

Snowfire wrote: »

6 cent/kg QA bonus

12c/kg, only if the animal grades correctly, is under 30 months and has resided on a maximum of 3 farms.

kevthegaff

Anyone notice it's gone very quiet here lately

whelan2

kevthegaff wrote: »

Anyone notice it's gone very quiet here lately

WE'RE all either depressed, broke or busy or possibly all 3. Silage in today. Good full pit

visatorro

kevthegaff wrote:

Anyone notice it's gone very quiet here lately

What do you say, most are just fed up with the year. Don't want to be on here moaning all the time!

Signpost

Off topic entirely but easiest place to get an answer hopefully! For the holiday visa to USA (esta?) what do ye all put down as employer? Do I just use my own name and phone number or do I give Edmond Scanlon from Kerry's name and number or whats the easiest solution?

straight

This looks easy. 😀
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=230680974276516&id=1466271413598078

Mooooo

Scanned Today, 1 empty heifer and 1 to recheck other 40 incalf. Cows 17% empty, a bit disappointed. A couple i thought were empty were incalf but a few served early on showed empty.

kevthegaff

Mooooo wrote:

Scanned Today, 1 empty heifer and 1 to recheck other 40 incalf. Cows 17% empty, a bit disappointed. A couple i thought were empty were incalf but a few served early on showed empty.

Anyone try the milk recording instead of scanning?

Mooooo

kevthegaff wrote: »

Anyone try the milk recording instead of scanning?

I haven't, vet mentioned lads are scanning a bit more and earlier this year. Asked him did milk test have any effect on the scanning side of business for them and he said no, more people seem to be scanning in recent years.

Timmaay

kevthegaff wrote: »

Anyone try the milk recording instead of scanning?

It doesn't give you a date, just a yes or no. It's also more expensive than normal scanning. I get a chap here with a non arming scanner (on a 2ft probe instead), he can do a full crush no problems, I do it while milking, my relief milker milks, and I sort the cows and take numbers. He can also tell me twins/cists etc.

MF290

https://www.lely.com/orbiter/

Is this new or are there already set ups like this available?

visatorro

Timmaay wrote:

It doesn't give you a date, just a yes or no. It's also more expensive than normal scanning. I get a chap here with a non arming scanner (on a 2ft probe instead), he can do a full crush no problems, I do it while milking, my relief milker milks, and I sort the cows and take numbers. He can also tell me twins/cists etc.

I found too many inconclusive with milk. You'd have to handle anyway. That's a few years ago, maybe it's improved

blackdog1

First case of summer mastitis on a heifer 2 weeks from calving... Lovely. Still feeding 10 kg of silage and 9 kg of meal sadly. However who ever said you can't produce good solids on silage is talking ****e. Cows doing 25 litres at 4.05 fat and 3.77 protein. That's with a good few autumn calvers i have to dry this week.

Mooooo

Timmaay wrote: »

It doesn't give you a date, just a yes or no. It's also more expensive than normal scanning. I get a chap here with a non arming scanner (on a 2ft probe instead), he can do a full crush no problems, I do it while milking, my relief milker milks, and I sort the cows and take numbers. He can also tell me twins/cists etc.

Vet has that as well, probe goes into a curved pipe, super job no cows projectile ****ting across the parlour and can do em from outside the crush. He still handled the empty ones with prope in hand to make sure as bull was out the 26 july or if he couldn't get a good view with probe in pipe thing

Bo dearg

I have a field refusing to grow.
Grass turns yellow in patches and tips look burnt. Fertility is good and getting fertilizer like all other paddocks. Can grass get rust like barley or could it be low in something else?

whelan2

Bo dearg wrote: »

I have a field refusing to grow.
Grass turns yellow in patches and tips look burnt. Fertility is good and getting fertilizer like all other paddocks. Can grass get rust like barley or could it be low in something else?

Has it been soil tested?

Bo dearg

whelan2 wrote: »

Has it been soil tested?

yes last year needs 2ton of lime but ok otherwise. it got 2 bags 18/6/12 about 4 weeks ago but looks hungry and brutal colour. It grows a bit then turns yellow and stops

GrasstoMilk

Bo dearg wrote: »

yes last year needs 2ton of lime but ok otherwise. it got 2 bags 18/6/12 about 4 weeks ago but looks hungry and brutal colour. It grows a bit then turns yellow and stops

Is it only at this time of year or all the time? If just time of year it sounds like rust. Just graze it off is the only thing for it

whelan2

Does it ever get slurry?

Say my name

Bo dearg wrote: »

yes last year needs 2ton of lime but ok otherwise. it got 2 bags 18/6/12 about 4 weeks ago but looks hungry and brutal colour. It grows a bit then turns yellow and stops

You can have too much calcium in the ground too ya know.
Calcium overload gives that burnt look on grass.

You could get a basic pH soil test and it comes back as low with a recommendation to spread 2 ton/acre of lime. But unless you get a proper element constituent test you won't know how much of each elements that plant is getting.

Calcium is a big element in the ground (like a football).
All the rest are like ping pong balls.
Too many footballs around the root and in the root blocks the root from getting any access to those ping pong balls.

Advice would be to get a proper Albrecht type soil test done to see the breakdown of the elements in the soil.
Pay particular attention to the calcium : magnesium ratio.

That's the proper advice.
For the short term quick buster fix.
Spread boron in your next application of fertilizer to bust all that calcium blocking your roots.
Then if you have to spread lime make sure it's a magnesium lime you're spreading.
But that's a very strong speculation on my part.

The proper advice is to get a detailed soil test to see what's really going on.
It could even be compaction but with the dry soil cracking weather just gone highly unlikely.

Bo dearg

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Is it only at this time of year or all the time? If just time of year it sounds like rust. Just graze it off is the only thing for it

yes this time of year. Up untill august it grows fine. I resseded some neighbouring fields for this reason and it still affects them but not as bad. Tip of the grass leaf stays blunt and burnt looking

Bo dearg

whelan2 wrote: »

Does it ever get slurry?

yes slurry most years and dung in past years too