Dairy chit chat II

whelan2 · 28-10-2017 05:50AM

alps wrote: »

A friend had to have a card replaced in his bulk tank. It blew 18 hours after the electricity came back after Ophelia. He used a generator during the outage. The service contract company claim they are not responsible for any damage caused during and subsequent to the storm....

Has anyone had any experience with a situation like this?

What age is the tank? I had to get the card replaced on my tank, it was about 2 years old, gaurantee is for 1 year but service company went back to packo as the card shouldnt go so soon. I didnt pay anything, how much does the card cost?

Gawddawggonnit · 28-10-2017 05:59AM

Cows milked early this am. Feck but they hate their routine being disturbed, cranky bunch this morning!

Off now on a 14hr drive with my young girl and ponies. She's representing a country that she's not a citizen of with ponies that are immigrants also.

Never wrestle with pigs · 28-10-2017 07:01AM

whelan2 wrote: »

Milk goes to lough egish. A good hour away. Drogheda plant is 5minutes away from all of us

Your milk fits their spec. Transport cost difference between going to the two plants are more or less nothing.

Fecking around with a few million quid worth of a plant because of out of spec milk, labour costs, extra washing, dumping milk etc is far more expensive than transport. Correct spore count will allow the plant to run for a few hours longer between washes so more efficient.

Daily collection is to keep the bacteria count down and increase the chance of milk making grade for uht.

George Sunsnow · 28-10-2017 07:40AM

whelan2 wrote: »

What age is the tank? I had to get the card replaced on my tank, it was about 2 years old, gaurantee is for 1 year but service company went back to packo as the card shouldnt go so soon. I didnt pay anything, how much does the card cost?

You’ve a service contract on the tank though? which surely covers that?
The motor burnt out on my ice cooler which was covered
Some don’t take the insurance

George Sunsnow · 28-10-2017 07:47AM

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Your milk fits their spec. Transport cost difference between going to the two plants are more or less nothing.

Fecking around with a few million quid worth of a plant because of out of spec milk, labour costs, extra washing, dumping milk etc is far more expensive than transport. Correct spore count will allow the plant to run for a few hours longer between washes so more efficient.

Daily collection is to keep the bacteria count down and increase the chance of milk making grade for uht.

All the more reason for them to honor their 1c a litre extra payment committent
The let’s throw €600 at a large enough supplier who goes the extra mile (absorbing the cost too) in quality for them is symptomatic of a disgraceful lack of respect for the supplier
I mean for heavens sake,what sort of company is this? And it with a chairman and a lot of its board also on the co op board supposedly the voice of the farmer
It would make you sick

Never wrestle with pigs · 28-10-2017 08:37AM

George Sunsnow wrote: »

All the more reason for them to honor their 1c a litre extra payment committent
The let’s throw €600 at a large enough supplier who goes the extra mile (absorbing the cost too) in quality for them is symptomatic of a disgraceful lack of respect for the supplier
I mean for heavens sake,what sort of company is this? And it with a chairman and a lot of its board also on the co op board supposedly the voice of the farmer
It would make you sick

Fully agree just saying the reason why it travels. Did any group of dairy farmers get together to try secure a deal on power charges before or would it be a waste of time?

mahoney_j · 28-10-2017 09:30AM

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Fully agree just saying the reason why it travels. Did any group of dairy farmers get together to try secure a deal on power charges before or would it be a waste of time?

I know of purchasing groups doing it

whelan2 · 28-10-2017 09:32AM

Milkman came just there now. Still will be on every day collections. Plant was closing for bank holiday weekend. .....Youngest lad had never seen the milk lorry before as he collects the milk normally around 3 am.

George Sunsnow · 28-10-2017 10:07AM

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Fully agree just saying the reason why it travels. Did any group of dairy farmers get together to try secure a deal on power charges before or would it be a waste of time?

Ferdia,FMP’s CoOp do it

Buford T. Justice XIX · 28-10-2017 11:19AM

Signpost wrote: »

You must have huge capacity to carry 4 days do you? Were on 3 here for a few weeks and it was a struggle for a start, def would never manage 4!

All Kerry suppliers should have three and a half days peak supply in their tanks but it isn't enforced. I doubled the tank size about 10 years ago with the last grant scheme so I'll be good for a long time to come.

And we are spring calving only, mostly:rolleyes:, so we would be well off peak supply.

Very few split/Autumn calving herds around so no capacity issues at all.

kowtow · 28-10-2017 11:42AM

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Off now on a 14hr drive with my young girl and ponies. She's representing a country that she's not a citizen of with ponies that are immigrants also.

Have had the same problem here.

Why oh why could she have not picked tiddly-winks. Or become the Irish ski team? instead of turning the place into a waiting room for the most expensive glue factory on earth?

Talk about Ice Cream to Eskimos. It's just a way of punishing us for bad parenting.

I must take the tailcoats to the dry cleaners.

alps · 28-10-2017 12:17PM

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

All Kerry suppliers should have three and a half days peak supply in their tanks but it isn't enforced. I doubled the tank size about 10 years ago with the last grant scheme so I'll be good for a long time to come.

And we are spring calving only, mostly:rolleyes:, so we would be well off peak supply.

Very few split/Autumn calving herds around so no capacity issues at all.

I just don't understand this requirement, if it is across the board regardless of scale. I can understand it on tanks up to say 10,000 litres or a little bit more, which might be typical of a 100/120 cow farm holding 3 days milk at peak.

A 240 cow farm would need 20,000 litres capacity to hold for 3 days, so you can see the issue if the milk lorry fills at this farm, where I'd he going to find 6,000 litres to fill him up. I can see the efficiency working in collecting from tanks of 10,000 litres where most loads could be put together with 3 or 4 stops which can be arranged close by, but trying to combine tanks of 20k to corresponding smaller collections will incur huge mileage...

Buford T. Justice XIX · 28-10-2017 12:26PM

alps wrote: »

I just don't understand this requirement, if it is across the board regardless of scale. I can understand it on tanks up to say 10,000 litres or a little bit more, which might be typical of a 100/120 cow farm holding 3 days milk at peak.

A 240 cow farm would need 20,000 litres capacity to hold for 3 days, so you can see the issue if the milk lorry fills at this farm, where I'd he going to find 6,000 litres to fill him up. I can see the efficiency working in collecting from tanks of 10,000 litres where most loads could be put together with 3 or 4 stops which can be arranged close by, but trying to combine tanks of 20k to corresponding smaller collections will incur huge mileage...

Not really. About half my neighbours are in one collection and half in another the following day.

As milk volume drops, contract drivers get dropped and their suppliers allocated to other collections in the same area.

There are some collected twice in one day, once to fill one load and the second time to fill another load and empty the tank.

And Sunday collections are finished now as well so back to a more 'normal' working week for the drivers.

The routes are generally well developed at this stage so they know roughly who gets transferred and to whom to keep the loads filled and minimise transport costs. And there are certain farmers collected on the way to the factory to top up the loads regularly but all emptied every 2-3 days regardless.

alps · 28-10-2017 12:55PM

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Not really. About half my neighbours are in one collection and half in another the following day.

As milk volume drops, contract drivers get dropped and their suppliers allocated to other collections in the same area.

There are some collected twice in one day, once to fill one load and the second time to fill another load and empty the tank.

And Sunday collections are finished now as well so back to a more 'normal' working week for the drivers.

The routes are generally well developed at this stage so they know roughly who gets transferred and to whom to keep the loads filled and minimise transport costs. And there are certain farmers collected on the way to the factory to top up the loads regularly but all emptied every 2-3 days regardless.

That's exactly as I would see it work, but how messy is this for suppliers? Are tanks finished washing when you want to go milking, are samples taken at each collection, particularly when uneven numbers of morning or evening milking are collected, do you have to milk into a half emptied tank with already stained sides....

That carry on would drive me nuts....

Buford T. Justice XIX · 28-10-2017 01:04PM

alps wrote: »

That's exactly as I would see it work, but how messy is this for suppliers? Are tanks finished washing when you want to go milking, are samples taken at each collection, particularly when uneven numbers of morning or evening milking are collected, do you have to milk into a half emptied tank with already stained sides....

That carry on would drive me nuts....

You get used to it. Generally drivers would take some milk from lads that wouldn't have enough capacity for 3 days so they might collect 1 days milk from a lad and finish him the next day. And they would alternate lads to take a top up from maybe sharing lads with other collections.

Generally lads would be emptied and washed at least every 3 days.

kowtow · 28-10-2017 01:44PM

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Not really. About half my neighbours are in one collection and half in another the following day.

As milk volume drops, contract drivers get dropped and their suppliers allocated to other collections in the same area.

There are some collected twice in one day, once to fill one load and the second time to fill another load and empty the tank.

And Sunday collections are finished now as well so back to a more 'normal' working week for the drivers.

The routes are generally well developed at this stage so they know roughly who gets transferred and to whom to keep the loads filled and minimise transport costs. And there are certain farmers collected on the way to the factory to top up the loads regularly but all emptied every 2-3 days regardless.

My co-op are telling me that as I count as a new supplier the milk lorry has to be able to swing around completely without reversing (we are at the end of the boreen). I did suggest a mobile tank but they would prefer we had a static one.

Not sure what the turning circle (with steerable axles) is but I'm guessing 12m or more - which means taking out a building.

And if it comes down to a choice between my cubicle shed and the farmhouse, I know which is first for the chop.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 28-10-2017 01:52PM

kowtow wrote: »

My co-op are telling me that as I count as a new supplier the milk lorry has to be able to swing around completely without reversing (we are at the end of the boreen). I did suggest a mobile tank but they would prefer we had a static one.

Not sure what the turning circle (with steerable axles) is but I'm guessing 12m or more - which means taking out a building.

And if it comes down to a choice between my cubicle shed and the farmhouse, I know which is first for the chop.

Caravan, be grand:pac:

The old farmhouse is still standing here and is kinda in the way but, tbh, we're not ready as yet to knock it as yet:o

alps · 28-10-2017 02:37PM

kowtow wrote: »

My co-op are telling me that as I count as a new supplier the milk lorry has to be able to swing around completely without reversing .

Its probably a good idea to insist on proper access to new facilities, however if they continue with the connection pipes and meters at the rear of the tank, they will in most cases end up reversing up to the dairy door.

An artic truck can turn in a distance a fraction longer than the length of the trailer....steering axles make no difference in the area needed to "swing around" , however I would hate to be paying for tyres...

An alternative compromise would be an area where the truck can pull foreword into and then take one reverse to the dairy door which will leave the truck angled towards the exit....they will reverse once anyway most likely

kowtow · 28-10-2017 05:35PM

alps wrote: »

An artic truck can turn in a distance a fraction longer than the length of the trailer....steering axles make no difference in the area needed to "swing around" , however I would hate to be paying for tyres...

Any idea what the length of a big milk truck would be?

I agree on the reversing, on the other hand this yard is a nightmare anyway so we are going to have to do something.

Unfortunately as the yard is a perched on a fairly steep slope it's difficult to create decent space without going overboard on earthworks. I'll try and make just enough space and I reckon he'll end up reversing once anyway - happy to do anything we can to accommodate them since they'll only be taking a relatively small amount of milk.

whelan2 · 28-10-2017 05:41PM

kowtow wrote: »

Any idea what the length of a big milk truck would be?

I agree on the reversing, on the other hand this yard is a nightmare anyway so we are going to have to do something.

Unfortunately as the yard is a perched on a fairly steep slope it's difficult to create decent space without going overboard on earthworks. I'll try and make just enough space and I reckon he'll end up reversing once anyway - happy to do anything we can to accommodate them since they'll only be taking a relatively small amount of milk.

Oh is always giving out when doing deliveries if a farmer says the milkman gets in no bother. It usually means an artic won't get in. Google maps is great as he can see where he's going in to

Buford T. Justice XIX · 28-10-2017 09:04PM

ICBF are launching the new COW index next Monday to help farmers make culling decisions.

https://www.icbf.com/wp/?p=9448

Base price · 28-10-2017 09:30PM

whelan2 wrote: »

Oh is always giving out when doing deliveries if a farmer says the milkman gets in no bother. It usually means an artic won't get in. Google maps is great as he can see where he's going in to

OH is the same when delivering or collecting with the lorry and drag.
I never thought of looking at google maps.

whelan2 · 28-10-2017 09:32PM

Base price wrote: »

OH is the same when delivering or collecting with the lorry and drag.
I never thought of looking at google maps.

Just ask for their postcode and type it in to google maps

Attie · 28-10-2017 09:37PM

Google earth will let you see the entrance from the road.

Base price · 28-10-2017 09:38PM

whelan2 wrote: »

Just ask for their postcode and type it in to google maps

Sometimes its difficult to understand their accent. I reckon that most people don't know their eircode thingie. I have mine saved to my phone otherwise I wouldn't remember them.

Base price · 28-10-2017 09:43PM

Attie wrote: »

Google earth will let you see the entrance from the road.

Most farm entrances are ok, the problems arise when you get into the yards.
If we haven't been to a yard before I park up on the road or somewhere that is safe nearby and ask the farmer to pick us up and drive us to the yard.

Floki · 28-10-2017 09:45PM

whelan2 wrote: »

Just ask for their postcode and type it in to google maps

And there was a whole thread on After Hours discussing the point of the postcode.
You'd wonder why.

Had a few deliveries here and gave the longitudinal and latitudal coordinates as well as the postcode. In both cases they used postcode. Less numbers and no more ringing for directions.

whelan2 · 28-10-2017 09:49PM

Oh checks every delivery on google maps before he does it. He says it's great knowing exactly were you are going. He forgot his paperwork the other morning but knew were he was going as he had googled it.

Attie · 28-10-2017 09:58PM

[/QUOTE]
Sometimes its difficult to understand their accent. I reckon that most people don't know their eircode thingie. I have mine saved to my phone otherwise I wouldn't remember them.[/quote]

I didn't know eircode works on Google maps never tried it.

Would Google satellite not let you look at the yard layout be it from a distance.

K.G. · 28-10-2017 10:25PM

kowtow wrote: »

Any idea what the length of a big milk truck would be?

I agree on the reversing, on the other hand this yard is a nightmare anyway so we are going to have to do something.

Unfortunately as the yard is a perched on a fairly steep slope it's difficult to create decent space without going overboard on earthworks. I'll try and make just enough space and I reckon he'll end up reversing once anyway - happy to do anything we can to accommodate them since they'll only be taking a relatively small amount of milk.

a sugestion,rather than turning the lorry outside the front of dairy could the lorry go around the buildings in a sort of a loop

Dairy chit chat II

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