David's going Dairying.

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. 

Siamsa Sessions

Great stuff. Sounds like you had a busy year. Fair play

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119932356#Comment_119932356

whats will be target yield be and where do you hope to do the hoof trimming course. Fair play, you're flying it.

Farney Farmer

Fair play. How much does it cost to hire a bull? Do u keep him long?

davidk1394

Through skillsnet, a neighbour was holding one yesterday and today but I have a bord bia audit tomorrow so I couldn't go. When the herd is mature aiming for 6,000 litres and 550kgs of solids a cow.

It cost 600 to hire the bull and you can keep him for as long as you want

GrasstoMilk

David, not to be picking holes or anything but to do 550 kgs at the percentages you’re at now your herd will need to supply 7000 litres

that will have an impact on what cows/ ha you can milk on what land you have as you’re going from 92 kgs N /cow to 106 kgs N /cow with the new banding coming in next year

just highlighting it for any future new entrants reading the thread, you really need to know what type of herd you want when you go out to buy stock

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936478#Comment_119936478

I wasn't sure if I was right or not. This banding makes things complicated. Like you said the type of cow is very important, I focused too much on litres and not enough on solids. I'm now focusing on fertility, solids and the size of the cow.

Green&Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119939476#Comment_119939476

What sort of maintenance figure are you aiming for?

How'd you find AIing yourself? Good success rate?

Sounds like you're flying it anyway

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936478#Comment_119936478

Not to mind "new entrants" explain it again to older people like myself. I don't want every one arguing but what is the ideal cow to breed for in 23

Mooooo

If your cows are supplying over 6300L the cow moves up to 106kg/ N.

If under 6300L the cow is at 92kg/N

So depending on your yield your allowed stocking rate will change. Not a whole pile you can do about it breeding wise as twill be 3 years before next years breeding will hit the parlour. Unless you are close to the 6300 you could use milk for calves or whatever but other than that if is what it is

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119942066#Comment_119942066

A farmer in my dg with a very successful yogurt business is in the very low band despite quite a high yeild herd

working out lovely for him

Mooooo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119942495#Comment_119942495

Talks of everyone being in the one band next year as dep don't have access to coop data for milk delivered

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119942495#Comment_119942495

So diversifying the use of your milk is the key?

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119943044#Comment_119943044

Diversifying where your milk goes where there'll be no track of while still maximising margin is the key.

Some balls of a situation concocted by the dept. All for climate change and pen pushers.

Getting to a stage now where farmers are accepting the regulations against livestock farming, all for climate change. And plant farming and tillage and soil carbon emissions have not one bit of legislation or food carbon figures quoted against them. Idiocy through stealth, and solidarity from livestock farmers.

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119943648#Comment_119943648

I was at a farm meeting Monday night and the vice-President of IFA said the Dept have gone very quiet on banding. The co-ops will not give them farmer data and they'd need farmers to specifically give them permission to access their data on ICBF.

It's far from certain the Dept will drop the idea, but it seems to have dawned on them that there's more to banding than they originally thought.

And it underlies the importance of farmers realising that they own their data/information. I tried to hammer it home on Monday night that IFA need to step in and help farmers when it comes to data.

If you think it's all out there anyway, Dept knows everything, etc. and throw your hands in the air at the idea of it all, just remember that in this banding scenario, farmers owning/understanding their data might well scupper another brain fart from the Dept being imposed on them

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119940275#Comment_119940275

Average maintenance figure today is €18 so their a big frame of an animal. I'd like to be back at around €12. The conception rate for first round was very good, which I was surprised at compared to last year. Whether it was beginners luck or everything just worked well. I bought a fresh second hand kit off done deal. I AI'd cows and heifers and anything I was unsure of I he'd her back and the AI man came on at his usual time. I think it's great to be able to do it yourself as you can put the animals straight back out instead of them standing in the yard half the morning.

Mooooo

Be sure and measure the nitrogen in the tank regularly, secondhand tanks if they were used and then empty and filled again can craic and leak out the nitrogen

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119943648#Comment_119943648

Listened to the Ifj tillage podcast this evening while milking and siobhan was crowing about all the slurry she has seen being spread while travelling the country

for one I can’t say I believe it tbh

and also if there is tankers out how does she know if it’s dairy washings or not

goes on to say how unfair it was to see one sector that was contributing a lot to water pollution was disregarding the rules and how tillage followed the rules and had a lot less impact on the environment

she forgot to mention tillage farmers putting 0 10 20 down the spout with the autumn crops, ditches cut to the bone every year or the mucking that’s going on atm with lads trying to get crops in

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119946365#Comment_119946365

Farmers don't do themselves any favours. But that's just blaggardery especially from an ag sector editor on a farming podcast/paper.

I can see winter ploughing being stopped till 1st of February because of nitrates and because of the blaggardery there won't be any back up from livestock farmers for their case.

They have their tails up from a vegan element in the dept but science always tells. And science tells us if soil carbon is exposed through tillage. The nitrates that that carbon held are now free to leach into the waterways. So you've double the emissions with carbon and nitrates. Ploughing on the 1st of December just flushes nitrogen down the waterways before spring sowing and spring conditions can enable the plant to take it up.

And we haven't even commented on the public water supply in Carlow being regularly stopped because of glyphosate in the supply. And then the tenious position with the EU wanting it banned. Glasshouses and stones... Glasshouses and stones.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119943938#Comment_119943938

Oh for fs sake I'm bald from telling people no to be running to teagasc with there financial accounts this month. The figures are giving the government a stick to beat them with. Your profit should only be between you and God ( show some to the accountant too)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119943938#Comment_119943938

Said it 100 times before but one of the main reasons I left the KT scheme was the knowledge transfer was all one way, me sitting at a table filling in forms with my data so someone can hang me later. No thanks.

Siamsa Sessions

Last comment from me on data and we'll let David's thread alone then.

The word "data" means nothing. Whenever you hear someone, especially someone from the Dept, Teagasc, or other policy types, talking about data, what they mean in reality is "information about you and your farm". Often it can be sensitive information, such as your financials, your cow type, pH of your soil and any water courses on your farm, etc.

This is no conspiracy theory - I don't think anyone is out to get us. It's more about the age-old concept of control and sharp business practice.

"Data" sounds scientific and important, but it should be a red flag whenever you hear it.

Odelay

“Data” is very important. It is the only thing real factors can be based on. I don’t deal with people who analyse performance based on feally metrics such as “it’s not too bad” or “it seems to be better”.

Metrics like x% improvement is the only true measurement of performance.

Green&Red

I'm part of a clover specific group, joint programme between the coop and Teagasc. We've a lady doing a PhD study on the carbon saving of our group through solohead. As James Humphreys said it's studies like these that will help make the argument around what savings farmers are making and without them we're allowing others to make our rules.

Study will include the financials also.

It makes sense to me at least.

davidk1394

Hello everyone, just wanted to give an update on how I'm doing. Calving is coming to an end but I still have 13 cows to calf, unfortunately the bull I hired in hurt his leg and I never went back A.I'ing cows, lesson learned for this year! Spring has went well, cows calved down fine, calves are healthy and no mortalities so far. I had a lot of dairy bull calves so I bought in eighteen dairy calves to cover the shortfall. March was a wet month so grazing was on and off which made things a bit more difficult, especially when trying to keep straw under milking cows. Grass is starting to grow again so I decided to spray off 20 acres of grassland.

I made the decision to buy twenty sexed semen straws and another 40 conventional straws, I also decided to install the Smartex bolus system. I'm hoping to have it up and running by the end of next week. I also rented 30 acres right beside me so that will be included  in the grazing block. The paperwork for the lease was finalised last week so I had a contractor in this week with an umbilical system to spread slurry on it.

We put mass concrete walls around the calving shed and calf shed in January and we put up windbreakers on top of the walls on one side of the calf shed. We will be putting in a water system during the summer, I'm putting in 300 gallon tanks and 40mm piping around the farm.

It's nice to see everything starting to come together and hopefully the investment in the boluses and water system will make things easier. 

Tileman

Great to hear the progress you were luckily yo get the 30 acres beside you. How many extra cows will u hope to get to kill this year