Dairy chit chat II

whelan2 wrote: »

I have 5 bottles left here in fridge. I am not paying it . Luckilly I realised, pity I didnt realise a few months ago

My rep was having to source it from England last month and was paying a over a tenner a dose, have two 10 shot bottles in the fridge here if your stuck

Timmaay wrote: »

Just looking at my agfood tams applications now (this thread reminded me I've an application to fully finish and submit before the end of the year!), anyways the 1st application I put in was on the 24th June (I'm fairly sure the closing day of that tranche was the end of June), but anyways the status on it since the 15th Dec is "ready for pre approval", whatever that means anyone? 6months and I've still no approval, could they take any longer if they tried? The fancy online system doesn't appear to have helped speed up anything if this is to go by.

Both of my tams applications now read "HQ check open of query". Anyone any ideas what that means?

Why does everything now have to be a round of fecking competition?
We put applications competing with each other, seems to be the game.
Glas, Milk Reduction Scheme, Tams, Leader. They set aside a specific fund and let us then fight each other for it.

When you buy the bull, do you buy all the bull?

Just something simx said on another thread about culling hard. I wonder is there an argument to try with a beef sire and if she goes incalf so be it. Culling for bad traits in a start up is too hard financially. If she's walking and milking she's as good as your worst cow, just don't breed replacements from them. In an established herd it's easier for selective culling. Iykwim?
Maybe I'm abit innocent/backward!!

visatorro wrote: »

Just something simx said on another thread about culling hard. I wonder is there an argument to try with a beef sire and if she goes incalf so be it. Culling for bad traits in a start up is too hard financially. If she's walking and milking she's as good as your worst cow, just don't breed replacements from them. In an established herd it's easier for selective culling. Iykwim?
Maybe I'm abit innocent/backward!!

Back when I started out here, I would have done well to culled 1/2 the herd overnight! That wasn't really an option though, cash was very tight at the time, and we just didn't have enough replacements. I remember borrowing 11k off my mum to buy in 8 heifers (and being dam glad she was very OK about it and saved me the headache of getting it from the bank), we'd bought in a few times, and had paid up to 1600 for calved down heifers! (that was the going rate back then), some of the culls were only making 400e, that was a fair price difference to come up with to replace a cow!

Needless to say a cow incalf here was well appreciationed, good bad or ugly ha. I started serving everything in may and June to Fr, and pretty much anything outside of that was beef. That made a huge difference to being able to have a batch of heifers calf down in the early spring 2yrs later, but it did leave afew utter wagons of heifers, from poor cows who got a fr straw just because it was may!

So no, needs must, a reasonable cow will still knock out 2k or so worth of milksales per year , if you have culled her and don't replace her that's a fair hit on income. The only thing I will say now is when incalf heifers are going for 1100 now, and good culls say 800e, it's never been a better time to clear out your bad stock and replace them with heifers, that's assuming your OK with bought in stock, obviously not really a runner if your a closed herd and don't vaccinate for much.

Merry titmas and a milky new year.

visatorro wrote: »

Just something simx said on another thread about culling hard. I wonder is there an argument to try with a beef sire and if she goes incalf so be it. Culling for bad traits in a start up is too hard financially. If she's walking and milking she's as good as your worst cow, just don't breed replacements from them. In an established herd it's easier for selective culling. Iykwim?
Maybe I'm abit innocent/backward!!

Well I started this year but kept all the heifers I had this year so will have plenty replacements come spring 18 all going well, all incalf to beef this year as I have a small herd and should be able to buy a few good enough ones, might still breed my own in future but will prob stay to this system for the moment, sure dairy herds can only.be improving i think, bit caught for land too and never over supply for silage so this suits too, hope to take no less than €200 for any calf next year, the fr bull calf is going to suffer next year I think

pedigree 6 wrote: »

There's good and bad to what you're doing.
We used to do what you're doing here. We would put everything incalf to a Hereford and some Belgian Blue and then look to buy our replacements.
It's an ok system and I say ok as any beef breed will be harder calve on a freisian, then it puts too much pressure then trying to keep the herd compact calving in 6 weeks.
We got good prices for the beef calves but then pressure was harder on the cows. Then we had to source replacements and at that time the only guys selling heifers were all year round guys and we were buying these heifers and they never lasted in a compact spring calving and I got p1ssed off (to tell the truth) and it was a shame to be putting a beef bull on the few that lasted in the herd and the vaccination status of the herds we were buying from was little or non existant.
So I bit the bullet and started sourcing fr/hol bull calves (they wouldn't sell the heifers) from a spring calving herd where I knew the stockman and he could pick calves from the cows that I wanted. Square, milky, fertile, high fat and protein, that lasted and who would give a good bull calf.

Maybe breeding has changed now with lads selling heifers (I hope so).
Would I go back to where we were 10 years ago? Not a chance.

(Not a dig but just saying of our experience).

Not in the bit insulted, pros and cons to every system and mine might change after this year just a tester, I would have to rent land for replacements and more for silage, not a big amount really all the same, would have accommodation for them alright, would only buy off one herd ideally, have a couple of sources lined up and are good herds but like said lads don't sell there best but they might be as good as what I might breed at the time, still in two minds, I set up a thread about this last year I think and more people said to do what I was planning

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Thats Legendairy.

it's a bit cheesy /@!

Mooooo wrote: »

Keepgrowing wrote: »

About to walk in to dinner, all done here

Happy cows having their Christmas dinner

So when she said she'd drug me and put me on the plane she obviously meant it. Happy Christmas to everyone. Thank God for calving cameras...

Water John wrote: »

Inchidoheny is looking nice, Kowtow.

I think that Global Warming might be real after all!