Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123660485#Comment_123660485

Well I think its not the 1 cent a liter difference between the top and bottom players that is causing the exodus or threat of. It is all the other issues, rules and regulations, lifestyle, no successor, TB, environment buls,it, etc.

RightTurnClyde

I'm in derogation but at this stage it would be better off gone. Impossible to run or plan a dairy farm with that sword hanging over the business.

Impossible to get land around here for less that 500-550. Why would I spend money on buildings or concrete to have the rug pulled out from underneath me at the stroke of a derogation pen.

EVERYTHING that comes under the government's gaze goes to sh1t, and to run a business that depends on the whims of whatever moron is the minister for ag.

Screenshot_20250721_124829_X.jpg

straight

Alot of the problem with succession is the huge amount of opportunity and good opportunities available to people now along with all the other stuff.

I'm building extra storage and cubicles here. If derogation goes, the it will be surplus to requirements but sure a few more acres might come up for sale in a few years time.

I'll build it and get the 60% grant anyway.

Mehaffey1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657594#Comment_123657594

You'd be some young fellow to propose to a land owner a 60 40 split of income in your favour…lost me at that suggestion.

dairyedge2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123660986#Comment_123660986

Are you entitled to this 60% grant, ie, do you already have enough storage? Another great rule the powers that be came up with. People that took over farm’s that hadn’t enough storage penalised and entitled to no slurry grants and people under the radar got grants for milking parlours, slatted tanks etc while out spreading twice before Christmas. You’ll listen to Stuart and like it. His voice is about to break. I knew him years ago as well and he was a knob back then as he is today.

older by the day

I'm finding my fertilizer limit is squeezing lads around here. Especially when you need silage to cover a six month winter. I was carrying over a surplus off the books the last two years, but it will be will be wiped this year. A bit of my land in outside places is too far for slurry so I use 18.6.12 to keep it going for silage.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661489#Comment_123661489

Local Contractor is telling me bales are selling because lads are buying silage because they can't buy the fertiliser .what would things be like in a bad year.the writing is on the wall for spring calving grass based dairy but the alternative systems aren't very attractive for.alot of people

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661607#Comment_123661607

How many times have I posted on here that you don't need to keep horsing out the fertilizer to grow grass. Foliar is the answer and get your soils biology right. Yet lads keep on doing the same thing because the "experts" say so. Even tillage lads haven't copped on. We are growing excellent crops of wheat and maize with a small fraction of the "industry" reccomended rates of nitrogen.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661607#Comment_123661607

They're Probably the lads that couldn't wait for their first cut to grow...... Expensive way of making silage.

I'd say I'll be at least 10 ton under my fertiliser allowance here this year.

K.G.

With all due respect if I ran the place according to what i read on the Internet it would be some s##tshow.that being said I have not come across anyone in our area doing this but many have tried the liquid ferts sold in this area and most have said that it was inconclusive at best.tow and fert ran an open day but I didn't get to it but where they were run was some of the best land in the country. I often wonder is the use of humic acid and the like just nutrient mining

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661916#Comment_123661916

It’s the opposite to that around here, the lads that cut early got good heavy second cuts as well and have 3rd cuts near ready now and don’t need them.

mahoney_j

the n allowance isn’t the issue on majority of farms …I won’t use my full n allowance this year and havnt last few years …just got bit more targeted with when and how much goes out ……the big problem I see is the minuscule p allowance a lot of us have …that’s going to have biggest affect going forward

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661726#Comment_123661726

I know a few lads at foliar. Cannot see the attraction. Friend of mine spent 4 k last year setting up pumps and tanks to mix foliar. It’s all sitting there this year and he bought a new fert spreader

Another friend got a trial of a tow and fert for a month in may this year. He won’t be buying it. His cousin bought a big one last year, silage crops were no where near as good as other years.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661951#Comment_123661951

Well first of all the Tow and Fert wouldn't do a great job of spraying. It is all about getting a fine mist onto the leaf and most important a lot of the humates that are being marketed are not great. The proof of the pudding as they say is in the eating.

There is another boards contributer on here that can see one 30 acre field we have with 3rd cut ready to harvest grown with only 14 units of nitrogen and 2000 gallons of slurry.

It takes time to get the system working and the soil biology in good order. It has to be seen to be believed the transformation in our land since we started over 15 years ago.

Say my name

In fairness to Ginger he's way ahead of everyone. From the use of specially selected cold pressed seaweed to the choice of microbes in mixes. And he's stuck with it and improved on what works and doesn't through trial and error. Sounding dippy now but he's brought the soil along with him. That takes years to do. If you are conventional fert and spray out and out and when you stop spreading for a round and your growth stops. Then your ground is bolloxed. Those selling you fert and chems want your soil to be bolloxed so you have to be totally reliant on them for any growth whatsoever.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661942#Comment_123661942

And they're keeping the contractors pockets full. As I said, it's an expensive way of making silage not to mind the labour of it.

jaymla627

Its mad stuff re the north and Muir trying to basically bankrupt the sector with the proposed phosphate limits, for a economy thats in such bad shape and the agri sector is very relevant, how does the green agenda even be on the radar, no sane government should be even contemplating it...

Projected economic losses yearly, predicted to be hitting 1.5 billion

https://www.loveballymena.online/post/agrisearch-urges-rethink-on-nap-proposal-amid-billions-in-potential-agri-food-losses

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662017#Comment_123662017

Changed to 3 cut last year.wont be going back

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662012#Comment_123662012

Half related observation… I'd notice growth slowing on reseeded ground here if it doesn't get fertiliser post-grazing.

I think I read someplace that the "top-rated" seed mixes now are very N hungry.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662012#Comment_123662012

I'm still unsure,

I'm looking at gingers post a long time and I'm relatively sure, he is farming very good land. I'm uncertain that this system will work on middling farms. Urea is a waste of time here anyway. I have tried it the last 30 years. I have tried a different things and on half my farm 18.6.12 and 27. 2.5.5 gets the best response for growth

farmertipp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662000#Comment_123662000

TThere is surely an opening there for a private advisory service to instruct guys on this. it looks like a great way forward if you can make the right decisions get organised and get proper advice

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662077#Comment_123662077

But you are not giving up the p and k. Maybe some do. But for me you still need the fert spreader for the p and k. Don't drop your p and k. The foliar is about cutting N use and getting micronutrients and plant growth promoters into the system. It livens up your soil biology that when you skip a round it still grows. You do all this with an eye on an albrecht type soil test and getting the soil balanced up and at it's optimum.

Confession I haven't used the sprayer this year as I'm chasing my backside. But like for silage the first cut had no N applied and had 5 bales per acre. The second cut had 40 units applied and 8 bales per acre. That's 13 bales per acre on 40 units. Third cut now will have 36 units with 2 bags 18.6.12. Slurry was applied naturally but that's nutrient in the farm loop and there's nutrient leaving the farm in animals and milk sold.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662051#Comment_123662051

Its more suited to dry ground would be my biggest problem with it.

atlantic mist

does anyone know if you can remove 3 legged cow cubicle with a mini digger or do they need to be cut out?

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662206#Comment_123662206

Absolutley incorrect. It is the wetter ground that would really benefit because of better soils structure. But it will take time to get it sorted. Another poster commented that he thinks we are on very good land. He couldn't be more incorrect. In total 80% of the land we farm would have been drained at some stage.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662017#Comment_123662017

haven’t you been complaining about spring milk yeild ?…….

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662017#Comment_123662017

Delaying their first cut wouldn’t change that fact. They’d just end up with the same contractor bill for poorer quality feed.

I’d never complain of having too much feed, you never know what the winter will bring and better to be looking at it than looking for it. It’s easy reduce the fertiliser bill instead next spring if there’s still plenty left over after the winter.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662353#Comment_123662353

Ok, but I was actually commenting on the 3 cut silage system. Spraying fert is too much for me.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123662394#Comment_123662394

The baler man isn't bad but harvester is 180 euro per acre. Have to get the value at that price.

You might or might not travel silage fields around here in may or August. You have to farm what you have and not what it says in the book.

yosemitesam1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123661939#Comment_123661939

Humic acid stops p being permanently locked up. You could change nothing in your system and still apply humic acid to boost the effectiveness of your p allowance