What's your slurry/fodder situation?

whelan2

Had to buy 30 silage bales last week, have enough in pit for 3 weeks. Just a few sucklers out atm. Loads of grass but can't graze it. Got some slurry out with the pipes on Friday to take some pressure off. It's been wet since last August . How's everyone else fixed?

Hershall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058341697/whats-your-slurry-fodder-situation

Enough silage for two weeks lot's of grass but very wet. Let some out last Saturday and had to go back in on Tuesday. The rain is relentless around here. Looks like I will have to buy bales..........

green daries

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121904552#Comment_121904552

Ok for fodder for I'd say 6 weeks at least slurry is a disaster and a pain in the hole. Buts being done with pipes around here to relive lads a bit but they are still messing with then never mind tankers. Hopefully things will improve shortly

Grueller

Got 70% of tanks emptied in January in a dry(ish) week here, about the 15th or so I'd say. Got another 16 loads out in mid February. I have slurry capacity for about 3 to 4 weeks I'd say.

Fodder, I have enough in the pit til into May on full winter feeding so I am lucky enough on both counts.

mr.stonewall

Loads of fodder until June, but slurry is starting to become an issue. Have about 2 weeks left in the tanks, and only put a few loads out in Feb. Ground is the biggest issue. It was coming right a bit up to Monday last week, back to square one again

I the same as @Hershall put cattle out last Saturday only for them to come in Monday evening.

bogman_bass

Fodder is fine but tank is full as of today. Somebody bought a farm down the road and I caught him on the way to the parade and he said I can put 3 or 4 loads in the tank there so that give a little breathing space

blackdog1

Enough Silage till May hopefully. Slurry is fine for a month. Straw is a problem. Probably have to calve the last 5/10 cows outside in a few weeks and keep the remaining straw for calves.

morphy87

Fodder till the end of April, slurry is a problem, can’t get it out on fields that I want, raining here since the second week of June

older by the day

I have gone through a lot of silage. But had 60 bales and had a nice bit of a pit left from last year. Some of it 3 years old, grand stuff. So should be ok.

Emptied the tanks here in January. So have a couple of weeks left.

These types of years you just have to farm according to the weather. Whether cutting silage or spreading slurry or grazing ground in autumn. You have to farm when you get the chance.

GrasstoMilk

About 10 days feed here. Squeaky bum time

if it stops raining we’ll be fine. Been feeding something since august

cows are out when ever it’s dry enough which helps a lot

kevthegaff

7 days feed here, have to buy some bales. Reducing back 40 cows due to rent prices and nitrates. Hopefully cull some of the underperformers ( prob should have last year instead). Slurry 2 weeks and ok for straw.

Wildsurfer

Ten days left for about 300 mouths, oceans of grass, its in the hands of the Gods now. Plenty of bedding straw but no feeding straw left. My contractor has saved me re slurry, just seemed to come when it was just dry enough on a few occasions

Fine Day

Ok for feed here too. Got tanks emptied the end of Jan, should be ok but they are filling up nicely too again. I do see alot of bales moving in the last week or two. Seems to be plenty of fodder out there from what I see and I believe it's not gone mad in price yet. €35 would buy you a good bale.

K.G.

Finishing 2023 silage today.starting the reserve but it's probaly not fantastic stuff so I think I'll have to do some grazing every day no matter what.if we get weather I ve a heap of zero grazing.if its just dry cows i m feeding I've loads but if I have to feed milkers many days I ll get tight. Yearlings on grass today

Silverdream

Weather is improving for the next 10 days, still light showers but at leasts the apocliptic floads have stopped for now.

Plenty feeding, I usually have 2 months buffer from winter to winter. Slats are full and I dropped them down about 2 foot but had to throw the slurry into the feild off the road

Who2

I’ve about two weeks feeding left , three at a push. I’ve never seen cows here to go through as much silage as this year, I’ve usually a months feeding over in any given year but I will be buying very shortly if something doesn’t change with the weather. The driest of ground around seems to be saturated after last weeks rain.

I got my slurry out in February with a pipeline luckily. But I’ve one tank I’m pumping out of to keep it below the slats and it is filling the other tanks faster than I’d like.

there does seem to be a better feel of spring about which brings a bit of optimism to the whole thing.

Cionn80

About 7-10 days feed left, probably 2 weeks left in the tank. Got a good bit of slurry out the week it opened up in Jan. straw getting very tight also. Going to start letting out some of the smaller cattle tomorrow

Dunedin

Silage till 1 may and ok for slurry as got good a bit out earlier due the ‘dry’ periods.

really starting to worry about the weather as no real sign of a take up. Bits of rain even on the dry days 😡😡

land is swimming around here.

Base price

Our contractor got some watery slurry spread outta the lagoon with the umbilical pipes in Jan. We've been transferring slurry from the two slatted tanks into the lagoon over the past two weeks but it's filling up fast with all the rain. We swap round bales of silage with wbs from a dairy farmer friend and so far we are ok for feed. We have plenty of straw and hay for calves and the suckler springers.

grange mac

2 weeks silage bales left....biblical amounts rain yesterday. On second round of rain gun since last week.. Can't take out much more as will only be adding water later on. Tanks 6 inches from overflowing again.

Have to laugh when FJ said don't be putting out slurry in Jan as would be wasted.... If I hadn't I'd be in some mess now. Calendar farming does not work in Ireland.

IMG-20240316-WA0002.jpeg

visatorro

Tanks emptied last week. Would be in serious trouble if not done. Will probably sell bales. Have enough straw.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906668#Comment_121906668

I always have a good chuckle when we get the advice that it is waste to spread until March ,I spread what ground I could travel the week of the opening and have got a mighty growth response .Compare if I had to dump out now off roadways down on high covers of grass ,the mind boggles

minerleague

Neighbour keeps no cattle for winter - let me put 7 tankerfuls in open slurry pit ( keeping the slurry as he sells silage off the field and this will go out on that). Good deal of silage left BUT a lot contaminated with clay and dirt - normally cut my own but let contractor cut and rake outside place. Only having hay built up over a few years (all gone ) and bales of silage from last year would have been a disaster. Dumping some bales whole as you know as soon as plastic comes off what they're like, even good looking bales have to drop them away from cattle and fork it in bit by bit to pick out bad bits.

Aravo

Dropped tanks last Saturday. Was a torture with the agitation one tanker out one tanker water in. But great to get that done. Clamp silage will be gone in 2-3 weeks. Have silage bales left after that. OK for hay (2021 & 2022) & straw. Straw baled 1st week of Sept. Pure luck to have good straw.

ruwithme

Undoubtedly weather has been exceptionally bad for almost 9 months now. Leave aside last year, the first 2 & a half months of this year are not that unusual. We've been here before.

Never have much good weather of note till holy week.if we do, it's usually not a good omen for later on.not long to wait now anyway till then.

tractorporn

Have sold the cows so have enough silage to get me to the end of May. I emptied every tank in the place with the pipe on Jan 17th and it's a great job cos there only 18 inches left in any tank here and the place is swimming, I doubt that they would get out with the pipe at this stage and even if they did the place would be in pure muck after it.

50HX

10 days feeding left, ok on slurry storage

Letting out 8 of the heaviest on a dry section 2mor, good grass cover on & that'll stretch the silage that's left.

I knew I'd be tight but housing 3 weeks early last year caught me.....soya hulls either side of Xmas has gained me a good bit

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121907168#Comment_121907168

Are you changing system with selling the cows?

Good loser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906965#Comment_121906965

It would be much easier to give the full bale to the cattle and let them sort the good from the bad; they will have no trouble knowing one from the other.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906965#Comment_121906965

Keep a real good eye on the cattle that you are feeding that silage too. IMO Listeriosis raises it head in Spring.

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/news/news/treating-listeriosis-commonly-associated-with-cattle-eating-mouldy-silage-167384

whelan2

Weather looking ok for our area this week, hopefully the end of muck and all that goes with it is in sight

mr.stonewall

Get over Tuesday night and it's starting to pick up. Just got a few loads of water out of tanks this morning, should help greatly.

Danny healy ray

20240318_130603.jpg

I should have enough silage for few weeks on a side note the cling film is some job on a silage pit

davidk1394

Ok here for silage and slurry. Starting to see the straw disappear alright. Had the cows out last night and out by day with the last while so that's making a big difference.

tractorporn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121907426#Comment_121907426

Yeah got out of cows and into calf to beef. Time will tell if its the right call.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909204#Comment_121909204

What numbers and breeds are you going for?

Birdnuts

While the Irish weather has always been variable to some extent it seems we are now entering a period of more extreme cycles of rainfall, drought and heat etc. This will have implications for current farming models in Ireland , the EU and beyond. Unfortunately much of the conventional industry seems to be very behind the curve in acknowledging this let alone making reasonable attempts to adapt in terms of stocking rates, land management approaches, input levels etc. To highlight my point, an increasing amount of CAP money across the EU is going to bailout the most intensive agri sectors from various weather disasters relating to drought and flooding over the past 10 years, which is problematic in terms of the current CAP model where 80% of funding is already going to this "Privileged" sector while the majority of smaller operators continue to scrap for an already mediocre share. This same privileged sector is also the most hostile to any reasonable measures in the CAP relating to to restoring degraded soils, natural drought and flood buffering of farmland and generally any measures to make farming more climate resilient,and sadly they are getting their way via the political influence of the main industrial farming orgs within the likes of the EPP in Brussels.

tractorporn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909239#Comment_121909239

I reared a batch of Belgium Blue heifers and a batch of mixed continental heifers before Christmas and they are at grass atm. I've two batches in the shed atm mostly Aax and Hex with a few Aubrac and Charolais. I'm gonna rear 40 this year and along with the few cows that I didn't sell and a few old dears that I didn't bring to the mart I'll end up around the 50 mark. I've just made up my mind to buy a auto feeder just to ease the workload as I'm working an hour and a half away as well.

Good loser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908727#Comment_121908727

Do you use one cling film underneath and then one new black 500g sheet, or do you use more?

I've a pit for first cut and one for second. Used cling on both. The second pit was quite steeply sloped and had a lot more waste; feel air got it and was blown up under the cling/plastic especially at one side.

Danny healy ray

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911122#Comment_121911122

one new 500g cover but iv a cover hanging along the length of the walls on both sides they go down on top of the cling film then new cover on top of that

Conversations 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911138#Comment_121911138

Is the cling film expensive?

I'm sick of spronging spoiled silage from the corners of the pitt.

Danny healy ray

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121912501#Comment_121912501

forget the price exactly now but I think it wasn't too dear

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909514#Comment_121909514

I can't disagree agree with you, but the problem is the money ain't in it to back it up.

I was doing the acres course last year, they bored the Shiite out of us for hours about the environment, but they won't back it up with money. An acre of land is worth 7 to 15k. The power that be, expects lads to rewet or let it idle for a few hundred a year, and we all know that it will be considered a habitat after a while, so you can never again work it.

So will you **** up a very valuable asset for a couple of hundred a year.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121912990#Comment_121912990

Probably why the CAP needs further restructuring to provide the necessary incentives via increased Pillar 2 "funding" which would also have the benefit of getting more SFP money to the bigger number of smaller farmers that have been screwed over the by the fat cats via the current grossly unfair Pillar 1 Monster. In addition the Irish government are meant to be setting up a 3bln euro restore nature fund as announced in the last budget to finance the next 10 years of such measures too, so farmers who play ball should be getting a big chunk of that too. In any case we are not talking about whole farms here, just a low single figure % in each landholding concentrated on critical areas along water retaining/flood buffering habitats like existing water courses, steep peaty hillsides, turloughs, callows etc. which are difficult to farm at the best of times anyways. Of course the elephant in the room here is the immense ongoing damage semi states like Coillte and BNM continue to do in this space without being held accountable by successive governments - despite the fact that the current line Ministers for same are Cabbage Head Ryan and Hacket🙄

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121913759#Comment_121913759

If you are right all FF and FG are doing are turning people against farmers and farmers against anything green

https://gript.ie/icmsa-hits-out-at-biased-leaving-cert-climate-curriculum-plan/

Aravo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121912501#Comment_121912501

Used cling film a few years back. Sure it fits more snug to the silage. I got a few years out of the same cover. Didn't bother replacing it. I find cutting the grass a bit earlier in good conditions and having the pit well rolled and covered will do more than any film. Been using the long sausage sand bags along the base of the cover with tyres on top. I find this is a great job in keeping air out. Previously just had tyres.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121914400#Comment_121914400

Yep - clumsy and FA joined up thinking. As I have often stated here, the average suckler farmer is probably the most biodiversity friendly farmer we have, yet this is the very sector in farming getting the most kicking by the Greenwashers in government and state agencies🙄

Aravo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121907052#Comment_121907052

Update. Some calved cows are gone out so this has meant silage pit is still there. 2wks left there at most at the rear of pit so I expect some wastage as this silage is there a few years. Straw going faster than expected but should be ok.

Conversations 3

Few cattle out, will probably have to put back in this evening once I look at the field.

Fodder is ok, plenty of bales taken off strong fields last year.

Slurry will be an issue next week, nearly to the underside of the slats.

grange mac

Tanks need to be rain gunned again tomorrow.... Neighbour giving me 10 bales. Im out as sold another neighbour 20 in Jan... None of my neighbours have bales. We are trying to get loads from east Cork as none in locality for sale. We have secured 100 but at 50 plus 15 delivered…

Tensions simmering around here as 2 farmer's with no cattle won't sell their 200 bales even when know fellas are stuck. They said want to keep them for next winter. I know they are theirs but its not gone down well..

Two of my dairy neighbours leaving cattle out by day as no feeding and they making absolutely shyte of each field they go into.

Were under pressure but just taking it day by day…hopefully nxt wk improves.

That's general gist in bantry.

50HX

Tanks ok for 2 weeks

Out of feed, bales off of neighbour he's ~250 to sell but some big loads starting to move yestarday & this mornin

Your 2 neighbours could be dead nxt winter...we all had to row in in 2013 & it wasn't forgotten. Ffs hate that lack of community spirit.

One lad got cleared out here with tb early 2013 had a full pit of silage that he wouldn't sell....it hasn't been forgotten since

It's a real once I'm alright fcuk everyone else mentality.

Different mentality to our parents & grandparents era