David's going Dairying.

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

timple23

Any particular reason you went for the bolus over the collars?

davidk1394

Hello everyone, I wasn't on here much since my last post because it was all go. I have plenty to post but not sure if I want to bore ye too much. The boluses are in 5 weeks, I am delighted with them. The reason I picked them over other options was the information it give you. It measures rumination, temperature, water intake, movement. It can tell you if a cow is sick, calving, bullying, if she has reproductive issues like cysts on the ovaries. It has been accurate on all of these so far. The app and website are easy to use, you have good back up, rolling warranty and the up front cost isn't as severe as the other options. I couldn't fault other systems but I just found this system ticked most of the boxes for me.

There has few been ups and downs the last while. One cow failed a TB blood test so I'm restricted since mid April. I'm hoping to pass the TB test in June as there was no lesions seen on her lungs. 30 ac of ground has been reseed two weeks ago, I'm into my third week of breeding, I have a few repeats so far but nothing too concerning yet. Myself and a few friends did it between us. It's the first time since 1998 since there was a pit of grass silage here. A few people said would I not get in a proper outfit but everything went well and we all knocked a bit of craic out of the day too which is the main thing. I made 180 bales of red clover silage and grass silage back in early May.

I'd like to see rain in the next week or so as grass is starting to go stemmy. If the ground doesn't get too dry I'll make a start at the water system. I was going to get a company in to do it but the cost was eye watering and I still had to put out the tanks and level them which is the hardest job, so I decided to do it all ourselves. 

davidk1394

There's room for a second cut in the pit and if the weather is good I'll aim for a third cut too.

davidk1394

Hello everyone. It has been a while since I updated this thread. 2023 was a challenging year with weather, finances and a few other bits but I survived it intact. I milked 106 cows last year, I am hoping to calf 112 cows to calf this year provided nothing else happens. I am disappointed with the amount of empty cows in 2023. It worked out at 12%, on top of that two cows died Christmas Eve, I had two other cows that lost their calves, the results from one of the calves came back with Schmallenberg and the other calf showed nothing unusual.

The cows averaged 272 days in milk, they produced 5237 kgs of milk, the total solids came to 423 kgs and the average SCC was 117,000. I fed the cows around 900 kgs of concentrates for 2023. The calving interval for 2023 was 375 days. If I’m being honest I shot myself in the foot in June during the mini drought. I made cows graze stemmy grass instead of baling it and zero graze in red clover grass The cows are in good condition, out to grass most days and some nights. I had a few cases of sub clinical milk fever and lost two calves because of it. I blood tested some cows and I’m waiting on the results.

There's plenty of work to get done out in fields but after all this rain I’ll have to wait another while. I’m starting to look at AI catalogues at the moment and planning on using more sexed semen and crossing more Friesian cows with Norwegian Reds and then crossing them with a Montbeliarde. I want to increase KGs of milk solids and fertility but I don’t want to use jerseys. It’s hard enough to sell calves at the moment and the minute buyers hear the mention of jerseys they won’t touch them.  I’m thinking of trying out a brassica crop in one of the paddocks so the cows can graze it, if the place gets dry. I’ll stick up a few pictures later. How’s the spring going with ye?

Kevhog1988

Interesting post david. What drove your fertility issues do you think?. We had a poor 2023 lambing % due to increasing numbers and not culling poor performers but on top them issues now I hope.

Best of luck with remainder of spring.