David's going Dairying.

timple23

Looks like it is. What is the idea of the 4 gates against the walls? Drafting cows into different pens for different ai straws?

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118188778#Comment_118188778

I wanted plenty of pens to divide animals, also when the holding pen is full of cattle a lot of pressure will be put on the animals at the back and the gate. Dividing up the cattle will take the pressure off the ones at the back and makes it easier to handle them. They are rarely in use but when they are used they are a great help.

davidk1394

First years milking is in the books. I dried off the last cows a week ago.

The slats are on the tank and the rest of the concrete will be finished next week. I have converted collecting yard for the cows to stand on and eat silage for the moment. Incalf heifers are still out and the weanlings will be housed Monday.

Weanlings and cows were freeze branded last Tuesday. The in calf heifers will be done in the next few weeks.

blue5000

Great photo of the tank, it will never be as clean again. Who supplied the roof for the parlour, is there an Irish agent?

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255401#Comment_118255401

https://www.greenhillsystems.co.uk/

timple23

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-868804-Tile-Drilling-Jig/dp/B000T9W442

I saw your post about the suction cups on fb, these ones below are the same as the ones that are up on donedeal, you can flip the plate around and bolt the plexiglass to it.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255441#Comment_118255441

Brilliant l, thanks for that

Reggie.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255981#Comment_118255981

Just be wary of them. They don't like to be moved often. Seen a few baler screens cracked after the monitor fell off the window with those

davidk1394

Just finished in time for Christmas. The cows and heifers will be moved across to it next week. I want to leave the concrete harden as much as I can before I drive on it. There is a 2ft drop down into the shed. I'll make a ramp down for bedding and I'll raise the floor next summer.

The pillars for the shed went in now, because I plan on roofing the shed down the line. The wall is 8ft hight, I put it in for shelter during the spring. When the wind blows down the valley that yard gets very cold. The silage apron is 13ft wide and I left the wall at the end so I can scrape along the feed barrier and load it off the wall. I plan on doing a wall the whole way around the yard over a few years so it will be fully secure.

I'm glad it worked out as well as I planned and it will be a big saving on labour going forward. If the system works well I'll try work with it for a few years before putting in cubicles and another tank down the side of the shed where the two gates are.

kk.man

What was the purpose of the old stone two story building, David?...you done a great job with the round roof on it.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118370924#Comment_118370924

It was a hay shed dating back to the 1800's a storm back in 2013 took the roof off it. We got it restored. I keep machines in it now.

Odelay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118370945#Comment_118370945

Its a fine shed. Haven't seen many hay sheds like it, the farm must have been very big back in the 1800's?

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118371023#Comment_118371023

It was a few hundred acres. They milked 100 cows up to the 1930s. There was three identical cows houses on the three yards but I knocked it to put in the collecting yard. The yard I'm in was the main yard. My cousins are farming the other ground.

kk.man

Beautiful shed not many that size in this country. I think the round roof adds to it.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118371207#Comment_118371207

A round roof was added in the 1950's it was slate up till then. The shed is 4 spans long and 1 span in depth

davidk1394

This is the shed from the other side. The wall on this side was knocked out years ago. It's a brilliant shed to dry sticks in. Any excess concrete from doing the silage apron and pad did the floor in the first span of this shed. Always handy to have a place to pour excess concrete.

Reggie.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118372145#Comment_118372145

Ya think ya would have put the trailer with the bales in outta the rain 😅

Mooooo

Fairplay David, great work all round. How was planning re the unroofed areas? Or is it still just a case of one you have the storage for what rain will fall on it. Looking to extend here and will be building into a hill with costs the way they are if I could get away with a roofless section it may help.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118372183#Comment_118372183

They'll weigh heavier now 😁

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118372221#Comment_118372221

I have enough storage for the animals I have including extra capacity for water. When I applied for planning it included tbe two tanks and a roof over the shed. I hope to have it all done by the time planning permission lapses which is August 2025

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118372145#Comment_118372145

Brilliant to see a shed like that adapted for modern use. I agree that it's always a great idea to have a place set up for excess concrete when doing tanks especially. Have seen many the cubic meter of concrete dumped into a corner

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118372789#Comment_118372789

I learned that lesson here in the past month, easily 2-3 metres wasted on a couple of days pouring a tank..I used about a metre for a little bit of a path at the gable of the house but hadn't time to get anywhere else..annoying to see the waste more than the cost.

valtra2

If 2 or 3 meters are been wasted on a day every day I would be questioning who is making up the quantity. Shutters are the easiest to make up. It would be different if it was foundation or floors.

Tileman

I find u are usually a meter or 2 short when your doing floors. I always find it amazing that the concrete comma lies get it right when you are shuttering. I always get suspicious when the ask is for walls or floors?

valtra2

Because they know that if its a floor the measurement can be way off so will be ready to send either more or less.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118374632#Comment_118374632

I mean 2-3 metres in total over 3 pours. Around 115mtrs of concrete in total

davidk1394

Hello everyone. I'm back again. I fell out of interest posting on boards for a while and I decided this morning I'd update the thread or at least make a start.

It's my second year in now and I have to say it's chalk and cheese compared to last year. The spring went smoothly and AI is in its sixth week with cows and 5th week with heifers. I did a refresher AI course, bought a fresh second hand kit and I did most of my AI,.any difficult ones I let the AI man at them. We had a busy spring but it was enjoyable. I found I was more relaxed, better focused and it felt I knew what I was doing. In between cows calving and feeding calfs we were busy fencing fields and fencing roadways. During the dry period in January I got a friend in for a few days and we put in a couple of roadways. He was back a few weeks ago and did another one. All is left is to sink water pipes and put in a few concrete tanks. For the moment I am moving around a pipe and a plastic tank. It's a bit of a pain but I can see what will and won't work.

We also put in a calving camera and calving pen before things got busy and it worked well. Not used too much but it was good to know it was there. I also finished off the last few bits of concrete for the parlor. While I'm writing this I'm waiting on a contractor to arrive with a lime spreader and a rotovator. I have reseeded 19 ac so far and there's another 13ac to be done today. I soil Samples the entire farm over the last 2 years and I'm happy to see the soil pH is where it should be and the P&K index is nearly there. I will aim to have the grazing block fully reseeded in the next 2 years.

I'll stick up some photos during the day.

Bass Reeves

Well done David great to see you are getting on Ok.

I was actually pricing a water set up there a bit back. It was not as expensive as I taught it would be. 10k would do an awful lot of it. What surprised me was the lads putting the pipe under ground were not overly expensive.

Mooooo

Well done David. On the water a bigger pipe connected in a loop would make a big difference on a hot day. Put in 40mm here and its a super job particularly on the hot days. When getting going obv budgets are tight but as Bass indicated above, may be no harm pricing around. A large trough connected to the volume washer tank as cows exit or near the collecting yard may be useful also, but wouldn't have it walking in to the collecting yard as found it was only another thing to scratch off and would slow cowflow

davidk1394

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I update this thread. Still milking away but coming near the end. Cows averaged 5,200L supplied for the year. Average fat was 4.31 and protein at 3.52 supplied. Fed nearly a tonne of meal per cow. I AI'd some of the cows myself and I left my usual AI man do the repeats. I also hired in an AA bull near the end to pick up any repeats. I scanned 114 animals, out of that 112 animals were in calf. Zero grazed from mid August up to mid November, it was costly but the cows milked well and it took the pressure off grass on the milking platform. I have a good wedge of grass built up for the spring. 

The straw worked fairly well however two weeks ago when it was warm and wet I had a spike in mastitis cases despite doing my best to keep a clean bed under the cows and keeping their udders clean. I milked 81 cows for the year and lost 1 cow in the spring because a calf got stuck at her hip and I left her too long to calf. There is 108 cows due to calf next spring. I sold some late calvers to keep the calving pattern tight but also I would have been under pressure to have enough grass for the cows and carry out reseeding at the same time. I reseeded 30ac this year with a mix of red clover silage and multi species sward. Both took really well and I will do more next, roughly another 30acs. We got in most of the roadways and got a lot of the fencing done. If the weather dries up a bit, we'll get more done in the next few weeks. Water still has to go in but I have everything here and I bought a mole plough in an auction so it can all be done by ourselves.

I am training in someone to do milkings on the weekend and help out with machinery. Their eager to learn and I'd have some time off. I took a few breaks during the year and went around Ireland and one trip abroad. Hoping to do the same next year.

As everyone knows this year was a good year for milk prices, I paid off bills from last year out of cash flow, reseeded the 30 ac, put in the feed barriers, bought concrete water tanks, pipes, fittings and a 10,000L reserve tank. I paid a good chunk off the loan. I built up savings too.

The plan for next year is put in another slatted tank and 140 cubicles. The straw worked fine but the cost and labour that goes into it, I'd have the cubicles paid for in 5 years. Continue with reseeding, do a hoof trimming course, start grass measuring, use sexed semen on the best animals and then hire in aa bulls after 6 weeks(we'll that's the plan) and continue to enjoy the journey.