David's going Dairying.

mahoney_j

kevthegaff wrote: »

On my own, had a guy during the winter re roofing a shed and milking empties but it was a disaster(his attitude stunk as well as costly errors) pity as I hoped it would work out. It's bad when you let a lad go at the end of February. ..

So so hard find Labour now ,still have gheorghe here ,be fooked without him

whelan2

I have a lad same age as myself. 100% reliable. Get him 2 or 3 mornings a week. Made a massive difference. He finished yesterday as young lad is home now, but hopefully will get him again next winter. Takes a lot of pressure off me

kevthegaff

So so hard find Labour now ,still have gheorghe here ,be fooked without him

Ya he's not the fastest but he's done a serious amount of milikings! It's handier to keep staff if your nearer to a town also. On the lookout for a lad/lass two days a week

davidk1394

farisfat wrote: »

Best of luck with your venture.
Lambing sheep will look easy if things start to go wrong with cows and calves.

I think calving is a lot easier versus lambing down the numbers we were, especially during ****ty weather.

Danzy

davidk1394 wrote: »

I’ve created a new thread so you can follow my journey into dairy farming. I’ve made the decision to start milking cows by February 2021. The first of the calves arrived today. I’ll post along the way

Here’s a link to my old thread: https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057681402/1/#post101948565

Best of luck

wrangler

Best of luck David
Two large beef farmers converting near here, would be feeding a lot of cattle between them.
One of them looked to lease my farm last year, at that time they had 1400 cattle in.
The other farmer would have more

orm0nd

davidk1394 wrote: »

Some of the calves are settling in nicely. I only have 10 dairy heifer calves bought. I missed out on a few because I didn’t have enough shed space with sheep lambing. The pens used for the sheep can be easily changed to hold calves which is very handy

I know many here don't regard me as a typical dairy or sheep farmer because of views I have expressed in the past, but when space gets tight here the below happens and works quite well.

Good luck BTW, and dont try to do much too quickly.

mf240

Best of luck David. You'll fly it.

mf240

orm0nd wrote: »

I know many here don't regard me as a typical dairy or sheep farmer because of views I have expressed in the past, but when space gets tight here the below happens and works quite well.

Good luck BTW, and dont try to do much too quickly.

Even the calf is wondering what the Fcuk :D

Dakota Dan

jaymla627 wrote: »

Last resort using stomach tube here, 10 times healthier calves when the first feed is bottled fed plus a lot better immunity to fight disease, you hear of horror stories where crypto and rota wipe out calves in places and I guarantee you its down to running with the tube to every calf instead of spending the time to bottle it

Never had a problem here with unhealthy calves after being tubed colostrum. If anything calves are healthier after enough colostrum on time.

jaymla627

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Never had a problem here with unhealthy calves after being tubed colostrum. If anything calves are healthier after enough colostrum on time.

Cows milked here once calf is licked and usually they will drink 3 and a half litres no bother, any less and they get a provita colostrum tube as well, calves lose their life here if you go near them with a tube, kicking and bucking especially the beef breeds, to a point where your under serious pressure to even get them tubed, takes a lot out of the calf so hate doing it

wrangler

jaymla627 wrote: »

Cows milked here once calf is licked and usually they will drink 3 and a half litres no bother, any less and they get a provita colostrum tube as well, calves lose their life here if you go near them with a tube, kicking and bucking especially the beef breeds, to a point where your under serious pressure to even get them tubed, takes a lot out of the calf so hate doing it

We always found that the sucking instinct is strongest immediately after birth, I'd agree on the struggle against the tube, you'd swear that you had it down the wrong way with some

Mooooo

Agree with first feed would always try feed with bottle first. Tubed about 8 to 10% maybe. Must be practical too 're getting colostrum in on time tho.
Had a lot of night time calvings this year, took a lot out of me but have only lost one calf born alive and it's mother did that so it paid off. However I would consider getting someone in for one or two nights a week next year to take the pressure off, would be hard to find and obviously would have to be someone trustworthy in terms of dealing with calving/ newborns and security. Alternative would be to have a midday nap when the part time guy is here but I'm not really someone that naps that way and when he is here it's a chance to get more done.

Keepgrowing

100% of calved born here are tubed on sight. Fresh colostrum collected morning and evening here. We brix test and refrigerate after each milking. No issues getting calved to suckle feeders at next feed, save an odd one who’ll be fed when hungry. Once 4 litres gotten at birth calf is dead safe

davidk1394

Howdy everyone. I purchased more calves over the last few weeks. In total I have 40 Freisan heifer calves and another 15 beef calves.
Calves came from a farm in Stoneyford Kilkenny, Ring in Waterford, Loughrea in Galway and Ballyduff in Kerry. They are all settled in and thriving, thankfully. The end of this week I’m going to vaccinate all of them. The dairy calves cost an average price of €275/ calf, that includes collection aswell.

Bullocks

Will you be starting with all heifers or will you get a few second or third calvers ? There will be a fair bit of training on the herd in the parlour if its all newbies to getting milked .

davidk1394

Bullocks wrote: »

Will you be starting with all heifers or will you get a few second or third calvers ? There will be a fair bit of training on the herd in the parlour if its all newbies to getting milked .

I’ll try and buy 30 cows aswell. It’ll bring up the litres aswell

Freejin

davidk1394 wrote: »

I’ll try and buy 30 cows aswell. It’ll bring up the litres aswell

You might be interested in this,speaks about going with all heifers when starting out:


https://audioboom.com/posts/7246100.mp3?modified=1556535333&source=rss&stitched=1

squinn2912

Good luck with the new venture David fair play.

Wondering what would you pay for fresian bulling, springing or calved heifers? €275 doesn’t sound over dear. Nearly 20 years since there was milking cows here. I’d an uncle died suddenly and we then lost the cows with brucellosis. Never had the heart to go back into it and my father converted the parlour to calving pens for sucklers

Mooooo

Calved heifers can be from 1300 to 2k depending on demand and what you're looking for

squinn2912

Mooooo wrote: »

Calved heifers can be from 1300 to 2k depending on demand and what you're looking for

I was think that at the very least 1100/1200. Makes 275 look cheap enough for calves. I bought reared calves last year at round 300 stg I’d have thought the dairy ones would be more. Just curious I’m not criticising

Mooooo

squinn2912 wrote: »

I was think that at the very least 1100/1200. Makes 275 look cheap enough for calves. I bought reared calves last year at round 300 stg I’d have thought the dairy ones would be more. Just curious I’m not criticising

Advantage to calves is having stock used to your own place as you get ready I guess. You'll end up spending the most of it getting them to calve down at 2yr old by the time everything is accounted for, feed, ai/ bull and losses of course. Blind quarters etc.
Advantage of calved stock bought on is risk with regard to most of those is passed as should be sold correct. Stress of a new environment and mixing with new cow's can be an issue sometimes tho. Would advise to do a herd health plan with the vet maybe when starting a new herd. Vaccinations etc and higher risk of bringing in johnes so setting up calving areas to be as efficient as possible.

davidk1394

So today I vaccinated all the calves for IBR, blackleg and PI13. I purchased another 12 dairy calves. Bringing the final number up to 52 and 11 beef calves. I’m not going to buy anymore.

Last week myself and the parents went up to our solicitor and started the land transfer. It will take a few months as there’s some of the land in my grandfathers name

GrasstoMilk

davidk1394 wrote: »

So today I vaccinated all the calves for IBR, blackleg and PI13. I purchased another 12 dairy calves. Bringing the final number up to 52 and 11 beef calves. I’m not going to buy anymore.

Last week myself and the parents went up to our solicitor and started the land transfer. It will take a few months as there’s some of the land in my grandfathers name

How many do you plan to milk year one David?

davidk1394

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How many do you plan to milk year one David?

My aim is to start with 70 in the first year. Then go up to 100 over the 5 years.

Reggie.

davidk1394 wrote: »

My aim is to start with 70 in the first year. Then go up to 100 over the 5 years.

Well achievable

davidk1394

Reggie. wrote: »

Well achievable

If I can get the basics done right. I can get bigger if I want to. I like the machinery so if still like to do a small bit of hire work like tedding and hedge cutting

carrollsno1

Fair play Davie, i was humming and hawing about heading home to farm in the near future myself but reckon ive made the conscious descision not too in the last week or so. Parents have been told they are fairly shocked and still think ill be back. Currently looking at getting back into nz once i finish up here im more or less on a camp job farming here at the minute so im gonna take full advantage of that for my remainder here its a far cry from the farm you were on here thats for sure.

davidk1394

More arrivals yesterday!

patsy_mccabe

You need to talk to your adviser. They won't have a drop of milk.

The Rabbi

They are not Norwegian,more like Rhode Island.They will help the protien though.

Dakota Dan

Freejin wrote: »

You might be interested in this,speaks about going with all heifers when starting out:


https://audioboom.com/posts/7246100.mp3?modified=1556535333&source=rss&stitched=1

Interesting, I don't know about the crossbreds doing 31 litres at peak though and the hectacres

davidk1394

These are some of the older calves. Their off milk about 3 weeks. Getting hay and about .5kgs of meal per head/day. Keeping them on fresh grass every few days. With the good weather it’s hard to manage, but a good complaint to have.

Going well so far, had a close call with pneumonia in one calf and the odd sick calf. What I’ve learned so far is don’t be shy with milk replacer, feed them for an extra few weeks if their a bit small. keep them well bedded, no draughts and fresh feed and water every day. I know their basics but if you do them right everything else should follow.

Biggest lesson so far is budgeting and cash flow. Money ran scarce for a few weeks but it was my own fault. I have money that was left uncollected. It was a good eye opener for me. Usually I’m good with that sort of thing but the last few weeks have been busy. My aim now is to collect money off each customer once a month, not the entire amount for the month but a certain amount off the bill instead of going at the end of the year with a big bill.

Green&Red

Best of luck David

I'm planning on starting milking in the spring, loan approval just going through
Have a herd of 40 sucklers at the minute with another 70 or so calves, bullocks, heifers etc
Have to keep a certain number of 4* and 5* cows until Halloween next year to meet the BDGP requirements
Theres a lot to get done this year to get ready for buying in springs at the end of the year

Plan is to keep on the job for at least 18 months to take the financial pressure off, so need to start looking for a suitable milker. Have a fella already who comes for a couple of hours a day during the winter to feed silage, clean yards but hes just got out of milking so will have no interest in going back milking

Anyone any tips on finding someone?

David, how are you sourcing your calves?

Panch18

Green&Red wrote: »

Best of luck David

I'm planning on starting milking in the spring, loan approval just going through
Have a herd of 40 sucklers at the minute with another 70 or so calves, bullocks, heifers etc
Have to keep a certain number of 4* and 5* cows until Halloween next year to meet the BDGP requirements
Theres a lot to get done this year to get ready for buying in springs at the end of the year

Plan is to keep on the job for at least 18 months to take the financial pressure off, so need to start looking for a suitable milker. Have a fella already who comes for a couple of hours a day during the winter to feed silage, clean yards but hes just got out of milking so will have no interest in going back milking

Anyone any tips on finding someone?

David, how are you sourcing your calves?

Try the fella you have, if he thought it was only short term he might help you out, certainly for some milkings anyway

davidk1394

Green&Red wrote: »

Best of luck David

I'm planning on starting milking in the spring, loan approval just going through
Have a herd of 40 sucklers at the minute with another 70 or so calves, bullocks, heifers etc
Have to keep a certain number of 4* and 5* cows until Halloween next year to meet the BDGP requirements
Theres a lot to get done this year to get ready for buying in springs at the end of the year

Plan is to keep on the job for at least 18 months to take the financial pressure off, so need to start looking for a suitable milker. Have a fella already who comes for a couple of hours a day during the winter to feed silage, clean yards but hes just got out of milking so will have no interest in going back milking

Anyone any tips on finding someone?

David, how are you sourcing your calves?

I’m sourcing the calves though done deal. Bought them off 4 different farms.

GrasstoMilk

Good idea with the money David. We pay our contractor a few k every month over the year. It suits him grand. Any spring work is paid up come first cut, first cut is paid come second cut and second cut is paid up come maize.
Just ended up developing that but working the finest.

Your calves are looking well. Are you going go keep them on meal all summer? Ours should have mostly aftergrass for the rest of the summer from 2 weeks on but will keep a kg to them all

Green&Red

Panch18 wrote: »

Try the fella you have, if he thought it was only short term he might help you out, certainly for some milkings anyway

I'll offer it to him first alright but he made it clear enough at the start he didnt want to be going on with cattle

davidk1394

Would it be worth my while to join Teagasc ?

yewtree

davidk1394 wrote: »

Would it be worth my while to join Teagasc ?

I would, local discussion group is a great source of information. A few new entrants have joined oursover the last few years. They havebeen a great addition to the group aswell

davidk1394

yewtree wrote: »

I would, local discussion group is a great source of information. A few new entrants have joined oursover the last few years. They havebeen a great addition to the group aswell

That was the main reason for joining, access to discussion groups. I went on a farm walk yesterday on a girl who leased a farm in Waterford. It was useful, but the best thing was talking to other people and ask them what they think and just a chat in general

Downtown123

yewtree wrote: »

I would, local discussion group is a great source of information. A few new entrants have joined oursover the last few years. They havebeen a great addition to the group aswell

Do you need to be a Teagasc client to join a discussion group? How would you go about joining one if you weren't. Similarly how would you join pasturebase without being a teagasc client?

davidk1394

No major updates so far. Passed the T.B test last week and the sheep shorn. Just busy at silage at the moment. Mowed out 12 ac of third cut clover and rye grass today

Keep Sluicing

davidk1394 wrote: »

No major updates so far. Passed the T.B test last week and the sheep shorn. Just busy at silage at the moment. Mowed out 12 ac of third cut clover and rye grass today

Did you go to the IGA sumner tour yesterday?. Great for focusing the mind for someone in your position

tractorporn

davidk1394 wrote: »

No major updates so far. Passed the T.B test last week and the sheep shorn. Just busy at silage at the moment. Mowed out 12 ac of third cut clover and rye grass today

Red or white clover?

davidk1394

Keep Sluicing wrote: »

Did you go to the IGA sumner tour yesterday?. Great for focusing the mind for someone in your position

I didnt know it was on

davidk1394

tractorporn wrote: »

Red or white clover?

Red clover. Set this time last year

visatorro

Did you join discussion group or anything yet?

Panch18

davidk1394 wrote: »

Red clover. Set this time last year

How do you get on with the red clover? What kind of yields are you getting? and what kind of inputs do you give it?

davidk1394

visatorro wrote: »

Did you join discussion group or anything yet?

I joined a local young farmers discussion group and I signed up for the new entrant into dairying run by Teagasc also