Dairy chit chat II

whelan2 wrote: »

Are there any plants visible to spray at the moment?

Yes, it would hardly be sensible otherwise

whelan2 wrote: »

No need to be so smart. I walked mine yesterday and theres no plants showing yet

Different climate, no comparison to farming as far north as we are, growth and harvest is a fortnight earlier in tullamore than us and it's only 15mls south and lighter land.

Reggie. wrote: »

Yes but when you go north again around Meath they are on the same timescale to the south

There's a big variation of land types around the country. Also to how the previous generations amended the soil.
Take tullamore for example if you look at a bedrock map of Ireland there's a section in tullamore that has the same basalt profile as areas in Wexford and Waterford.
Also an example of amended soil would be some land in Cork where generations of farmers took sand and seaweed from below the high tide mark and spread it on the land by the cart load.
The land comes back with a high pH reading yet grows 4ton crops of barley.
Another example is a strip of land on the west coast of the outer Hebrides that lies on a bed of sea shells. It comes back with a high pH reading yet is very fertile.

Electrical conductivity would be a better option to look at in these cases though than pH or maybe quartz and silica in the soil?

Last year it was April here before they were ready to be sprayed. Hopefully it wont be as late this year

Reggie. wrote: »

Heres a question for ya. I came across something strange in a field last year.

Neighbour was reseeding a field with a powerharrow and airseeder. He rang me that he was having trouble with the seeder. My seeder was a landwheel where his was off GPS. Said I'll give it a look.

What was happening was as he was travelling across the field the seeder would shut off at a certain spot and if you added up the spots it was like a line through the field. It worked fine everywhere else in the field only gave bother near this imaginery line.

Now there was no powerlines above ground or anything like that underground that he knew of.

Any guesses to what might have been causing the interference?

Powerlines above or below ground and tall trees are all i could think of.

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Powerlines above or below ground and tall trees are all i could think of.

It was like something was shorting out the seeder.

Waffletraktor wrote: »

When you say it was gps operated does it have a radar sensor monitoring ground speed and then a micro switch recording when was lifted-lowered in work feeding the gps unit?

Yeah on the top link but not sure on the ground radar but it must have if no land wheel.Thought this was faulty but worked fine as best as we could figure out. Unless something was annoying the lift sensor at this spot

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Powerlines above or below ground and tall trees are all i could think of.

Another one ya that I came across while raking a field for a local contractor. I noticed he had a length of light lifting chain dragging behind the McHale baler. I stopped him thinking it had fallen off something.

He told me that something was interfering with the netting system that it wasn't cutting right or feeding early or something. Anyways if he dragged the chain out of the back of the baler then it counter acted this issue. Only then did I notice he had a chain out of the second baler also.

He couldn't tell me how it worked only that it did.

Reggie. wrote: »

Another one ya that I came across while raking a field for a local contractor. I noticed he had a length of light lifting chain dragging behind the McHale baler. I stopped him thinking it had fallen off something.

He told me that something was interfering with the netting system that it wasn't cutting right or feeding early or something. Anyways if he dragged the chain out of the back of the baler then it counter acted this issue. Only then did I notice he had a chain out of the second baler also.

He couldn't tell me how it worked only that it did.

static electrictity causes the netting to stick to the rollers, the chain earths it and negates the charge.

wrangler wrote: »

static electrictity causes the netting to stick to the rollers, the chain earths it and negates the charge.

Maybe but the tying mechanism was triggering early and going into the bale and not sticking to the rollers. It was either that or the net was cut too early by the knife was another issue if my memory is correct.

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Would ye have any nasty weed pressure other than Rye grass out there?

Nothing nasty. Rotations are usually long and varied because the climate allows a wide range of cropping.

Wild millet is a bit of a hassle in sorghum, so mechanical weeding is needed, and that’s about the worst of it.

Mooooo wrote: »

Disadvantage of parlour not being next to shed;, cows refuse to leave shed in driving wind and rain, a d then refuse to leave parlour once milked

You should threaten them with outdoor cubicles if they don't playball.

Reggie. wrote: »

Heres a question for ya. I came across something strange in a field last year.

Neighbour was reseeding a field with a powerharrow and airseeder. He rang me that he was having trouble with the seeder. My seeder was a landwheel where his was off GPS. Said I'll give it a look.

What was happening was as he was travelling across the field the seeder would shut off at a certain spot and if you added up the spots it was like a line through the field. It worked fine everywhere else in the field only gave bother near this imaginery line.

Now there was no powerlines above ground or anything like that underground that he knew of.

Any guesses to what might have been causing the interference?

Underground water drain. I worked in a company before where we had a similar problem. 6 machines side by side, all mounted on the one frame. One of the machines was acting up electrically. We moved all electrical components from one machine to another. Problem stayed at the one position. The only explanation we could come up with was a water drain right under the position and overhead high tensile cable outside.

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/amp/drought-in-new-zealand-gives-positive-signals-for-irish-milk-price-335693?__twitter_impression=true

Milk prices are looking a lot better heading into the 2018 season compared to this time last year when we were heading into the 2017 season. Unfortunate that it's on the back of another countries mis fortune

Say my name wrote: »

Hardly a tunnel from Tara Mines beneath your feet?

I know they were test drilling that field for zinc at one time