Keepgrowing wrote: » Started to read article, stumbled at the first mention of An Taisce but kept going. Stopped the moment I read “JOHN Gibbons said” Google Gibbons, read his musings and then decide as to his agenda.
kerry cow wrote: » Tell me do all these large dairy herds browns ,twomeys , o keefes etc and research farms like shinagh and Greenfield use toppers ? They seem to pride themselves on growing so much tons per hecactre etc, I imagine they wouldn't dream of topping it to waste . How do they do it or not ? Maybe some one can tell me as I struggle . Have to say they dont have a weed , so must be spraying a lot .never see a ragworth , dock or anything that shouldn't be there .so we'll manicured . Is it spray and tight grazing or topping or what
mahoney_j wrote: » U can bet your bottom dollar they all too but may not mention it as there seems to be an afull stigma or impression of poor grass manager if u do .some places go way overboard pushing cows too hard on cleanouts .cows can’t be used as toppers if u do tank and milk Cheque will suffer
older by the day wrote: » Ah blast it I only asked about a good topper, have ye all attention deficit, a simple question and you all sound like professer Jerry Boyle
Burning Tires wrote: » John Gibbion is a tin foil hat kinda guy. And modern farming is the devils work. I had my own 2 year battle with An Taisce, its classed as a charity to avoid tax. And totally faceless at a local level . Shower of f......
leg wax wrote: » will cell count rise just because of this heat,coming from a very low base but it has doubled in the last few days ,milk filter is spotless, and stripped them this morn just in case but all fine....
alps wrote: » 90% of farms graze covers that are too high. If you can consistently graze at the correct time, skipping everything that has gone past ideal, you can go long way to achieving what you refer to. But you will notice that a mower passes over each and every paddock that had at some stage gone too strong. Your reward will be more milk more protein, and more grass grown..
mahoney_j wrote: » I was replying to Kerry cow .....heat seems to be getting to a lot of people and making them cranky !!
alps wrote: » Big decisions to be made very soon... My take on it is that this farm will not grow a surplus of grass again until Magic Day 2019.... Any daily surplus that may occur between here and September will now be needed to fill the winter budget, so in effect we will not see a true surplus again until 2019. This means that from here to the end of the year a massive proprotion of our milk will be produced from fully bought in feed. With fodders/concentrates now costing and likely to cost 300/tonne dry matter, how much of this milk production is actually viable. To date during this drought, we have been operating on the MO of "stay in the game"..."it's only a few weeks"..but looking at in more depth, because we are now dipping into winter reserves be it fodder or finances, to hold production and body condition, the limits of viable milk output from here to year end needs to be looked at more closely. Do we need to reduce cow numbers, is once a day or drying a proprotion of the herd a realistic tool at this stage? I do think that we need to plan the whole way through to May next year, and not just till the next rain comes.. Silage yields from 2nd cuts are dismal, green barley prices are now north of 200€, 2 tonne crops of whole crop cereals might have been the pit filler, but now looks like it could cost an arm and a leg on a kg/DM basis. Buying DM that is too expensive could mean that your farm could be in negative profitability all the way through to summer next year... I can't but think that reducing the demand, will reduce the loss, and may be the outstanding route to turning profit for the rest of that period...
older by the day wrote: » I'm sorry for your situation, I didn't know things were so tight,
Gawddawggonnit wrote: » 3.33 pr. 4.4 bf. 120scc 6 tbc 200 thermo. 31.3 litres. Urea 32. Gave grass another 30mm last week but cows had to come in by day as temps circa 35*. Out by night though. If grass doesn’t crisp I’ll wrap a few paddocks.
Brown Podzol wrote: » Dawg, can you give some guidelines on irrigation. There's a river running around 2/3 of the farm here, so water supply is not a problem. Umbilical slurry system costs c. €110/hour, will pump c. 40,000 gals an hour. Amount of water needed and potential growth expected.
charolais0153 wrote: » 55 per acre for an inch of water...very expensive
