Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

roosterman71

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120438242#Comment_120438242

@IFarmWeFarm7615 is around the same size herd I think and in one of his videos went through a lot of the history of his setup. Maybe a good man to talk to about it

cute geoge

kiss ,no need in spending a whole pile if you are undecided .Why dont you get parlour and tank up and running ,plenty of s/h parts and plants knocking around.Get supply contract and animal health cert sorted ,Plenty of surplus cows /3 papers /slow milkers will be in any dairy sales for cull cow value for the next 6 weeks and tear into it.

20 of the above cows will set you back 20k,no bull and sell as cull cows in october for roughly 12/13 k

It is not rocket science Nothing ventured nothing gained!!

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120438504#Comment_120438504

You just need to get milk in the tank, people are being bulled by salesmen to put in bells and whistles and everything around the parlour. Concentrate on having enough slurry storage and space in the winter housing, plenty of very functional basic second hand parlours out there for 60 cows 8 to 10 unit nice and simple. Site it in the right place make the pit long enough and ensure that collecting yard and exit race aren't restricted in future..fancy parlour and drafting etc can all come in time. Service man was here on bulk tank and was saying loads of good second hand bulk tanks out there around 5-6000 litres available for a euro a litre.

We milk with 5 unit 40 year old problem, never misses a beat, easy service no issues with tbc or cell count..of course I'd like a new parlour but get the milk in the tank first.

Castlekeeper

Just on the calving in the last page, like most here, I'm at this game a bit. And whatever I'm doing right at this stage has been well earned through mistakes, ciall ceannaithe (wisdom well paid for) as my mother says.

But I haven't used calving ropes or a jack now since 2021, and I've fine healthy calves of a few beef breeds, one stillbirth last year (attended), no loss yet this year, touch wood. Things are far from perfect here, numbers are small, and it's down to a lot of different factors which result in reasonably fit healthy cows. Among them I think are maternal genetics including hybrid vigour, I've a lot of NR blood in the herd. Dry cow silage of moderate dmd but high dm, low K and good mineral status. AI Beef bulls below 5%CD for mature cows, c. 3% for young cows and stock bull. Plenty space in sheds and calving area. Apart from that I'm not sure what I'm doing right and I would never have aimed particularly for this or thought it would become the norm here, but it makes a huge difference to life on a dairy farm in the spring.

alps

Make sure you look at a system of buying in replacements at or after calving.

You have an opportunity to set up a right profitable simple system that can turn you 80k+ profit.

Keep it really simple, 70 cows max. Anything more and you will be chasing ground. You will then end keeping young stock to utilise the ground, building facilities for calves and drawing on a ferocious ampunt of hardship in the sringtime.

Buy 10 replacements (calved) from the same source every year. Pay a small premium for them and it will reurn you the best of quality.

Calve your 60 to beef and let the calves up the ramp as soon as the card is back. Milk the 70 through to October and move yourempties..Winter 60.

Even paying 17/18k for your replacements, the simplicity, reduction in facilities and storage will easily pay for itself.

There's an income of 80k to be pulled here.

Siamsa Sessions

Thanks for the ideas and replies. It sounds corny but seeing them reminds me that one of the main reasons I'm thinking of cows is to be around good people, even if it is online. Thanks.

Re breeding/replacements: I was thinking of doing what @alps said above for at least the first 2 years - leave a decent Angus bull off with them, sell calves, and buy in replacement heifers/cows. It'd be a British Friesian / Holstein cow I'd be milking so the calves should be OK for anyone buying them. Equally, if time permitted (hah!), I might keep them til Sept/Oct and sell as runners.

I need to stop thinking about it now or the idea might really take hold before I see if the finances stack up!

Thanks again.

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439022#Comment_120439022

Go for a hereford instead of an angus, its getting very hard to move angus calves at the moment as buyers think they are jersey crosses.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120438242#Comment_120438242

I dont think there is any repayment capacity on 60 ish cows nowadays.there might be a living but if you are very shrewd.as a stepping stone would you consider buying high cell count cows and multiple sucking them to get the animal captital together.it was the only beef type operation that ever washed its face in our place.buy the cows in the spring and train them(not easy) but you have a set up that could work with them.as the summer goes on wean a calf every couple of months and then dry the cow in september,a fist of ration and hanging by christmas or so.if you can sell the calves to the grass market in the spring you ll do well

alps

Keep nitrates in mind. For every 3 days a calf is on the farm, it displaces 1 cow from the farm that day.

If you hold onto 30 calves to sell in October, you will have to reduce your cow numbers by 7..☆☆☆

The profit from the 30 calves won't pay for the loss of 1 cow, and the work involved in that bunch of calves v's milking the cow wpuld be just inomparable..

farawaygrass

I’m in a similar position to @Siamsa Sessions. Was thinking of converting for a while, would have similar land in one block. But with other financial commitments and a steep learning curve I found it hard to make the jump. Like a lot of things it would have been great to do it ten years ago!

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439091#Comment_120439091

so if you have a cow rearing four calves, after a while you’d take one and replace it with another, and so on?

charolais0153

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439201#Comment_120439201

You’d have a February bunch and then an April bunch better calf’s than bucket reared

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439201#Comment_120439201

We do that system here - buy in hcc/three spins cows and multi suckle them. A good dairy cow with easily rear 4 calves (others will rear 3) but as her milk yield reduces you take a calf off and leave her with 3 or 2 depending on how many she started with. In September wean whatever calves are left, dry the cow and kill her in Dec or the new year.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439486#Comment_120439486

Do you have to stand beside the cow for the calves to suck or can you let them off out in a field?

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439740#Comment_120439740

We get them started in a pen in the shed and if the cow is quiet we will leave the calves with her for a few days to bond. Then we let them into a paddock by themselves for another few days until you are sure they are working well and all getting a suck, them off they go out to the main herd. If the cow isn't quiet we keep the calves behind a gate and let them out to the cow twice a day while she eats a few nuts. The cows normally settle after a day or two and take to the calves. You get the odd cow that just won't work or the odd calf that's too stupid to suck a cow but no issue sucking a teat feeder. It really is all about patience and perseverance.

orm0nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120438504#Comment_120438504

Ffs stay well away from 3 spinners and especially slow milkers. You will finish up with enough of them without buying them. It encouragement he needs not punishment.

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439842#Comment_120439842

ha, you always the 3 spinners and slow milkers always, and i mean ALWAYS go in calf

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439772#Comment_120439772

We double sucked a few first cross suckler cows here down through the years, usually to rear replacements. But never got to a situation where they could be left off together, it was a morning and evening job. Wonder is it with the dairy cow being quieter is that why it works?

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439905#Comment_120439905

if you get a quiet dairy cow, she would take to any calf

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439201#Comment_120439201

No you taking one at a time until they are gone.3 maybe enough for alot of cows.if you start with the calves inside and letting the cows in twice a day and once things are up and running let them off after maybe 3 weeks.we had a crush with a open side for starting the more difficult ones.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439905#Comment_120439905

Some cows take to it faster than others but it works best when they dont have their own calf

orm0nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120439877#Comment_120439877

Have 4 of them here with calves under them, and they weren't even with the bull.

On a bit of investigation they all calved exactly 9 months after the 1 weekend herself and myself went away the whole year.

If you wanted to sync them you'd fail.

Base price

A couple of pics from last year - apologies the pics are sideways.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120440235#Comment_120440235

Wow impressive, and there’s a real shine on them calves

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120440235#Comment_120440235

Nice lookin stock - what kind of sward do you have them on??

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120438476#Comment_120438476

Good video in terms of what’s possible but one of my gripes with it is he said to young ppl don’t bother with any collaborative agreements

there’s an awful lot of young ppl out there getting on fierce well with share milking and arrangements like it that don’t have access to land or the capital to lease an existing dairy farm and it’s enabling them to get closer to having something of there own in the not to distant future

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120442069#Comment_120442069

It's really old permanent grassland. Some of the farm was reseeded about 40 years ago the rest was never touched. It gets slurry/fym and topped with a disc mower about once a year to keep docks and thistles under control. We only graze the home farm and don't cut silage or hay off it.

Mooooo

Holly cairns coming out against dero in a constituency which has the highest percentage of dero farmers

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120443373#Comment_120443373

Yes, but derogation farmers are not her constituency. She's not trying to win them over for their vote in the next election.

In fairness to her, she's been consistent on various environmental issues but she'll have to make some click-bait statements now to mark her ascension to leader of the SocDems. The TV and print media will probably lap it up as she's (1) photogenic, and (2) saying nice PC things. The details don't matter after that in the media.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120443373#Comment_120443373

Might come back to bite her in the next election ,read somewhere her seat is nowhere near safe ,would it be gas to see her out on her hole with Bacik along with her .