Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

straight · 22-08-2020 09:16AM

I've never done the profit monitor. I used to think once I get the farm set up I'd do it as the figures would be more realistic but now I can see it's just used as a stick to beat is with. It has a cost of production of 22c which is totally unrealistic. Greenfield had a cop of 30c but you never hear 30 cent being quoted as the cost, always the 22. My cows have dropped back to 20 litres between power cuts, rain, etc. Its about the same as they were milking last year. I've loads of grass so I'm letting them eat as much as they can and dungs are fairly solid. Still on 2kg hoping the rain will stop and if it doesn't I've no problem rising to 3. Usually do that around mid Sept.

straight · 22-08-2020 09:19AM

Has anybody any advice re generators. Portable or static? Buying one soon. I see every second person is selling mecc alte of the shelf now but what about service.

Tonynewholland · 22-08-2020 09:29AM

straight wrote: »

Has anybody any advice re generators. Portable or static? Buying one soon. I see every second person is selling mecc alte of the shelf now but what about service.

Bolt it down to get the vat back. Bradley here. Seems well made

Injuryprone · 22-08-2020 12:17PM

straight wrote: »

Has anybody any advice re generators. Portable or static? Buying one soon. I see every second person is selling mecc alte of the shelf now but what about service.

Whereabouts are you in the country?

straight · 22-08-2020 12:44PM

Injuryprone wrote: »

Whereabouts are you in the country?

Limerick

blackdog1 · 22-08-2020 02:09PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

Don’t do pm don’t see the point missing too much relevant info lads that do them (not all)use it to blow smoke out there arse then u have others who believe it all and wonder what there doing wrong .its all about the grass and little mention of the cow lads fretting about feeding more than 2 kg meal atm and wondering if they should throw out silage .....jaysus sometimes your better plough you’re own furrow and take what ever small relevant nuggets of info from all the hype u can that might be relevant

I think this perception of feeding silage reduces yield and solids is holding alot of people back when in fact if you feed at the right time it does the opposite. I'm feeding good 2nd cut bales atm in this atrocious weather and cows are holding well and fat is 4.24 and pr is 3.76 without it my cows would be miserable.

mahoney_j · 22-08-2020 02:36PM

blackdog1 wrote: »

I think this perception of feeding silage reduces yield and solids is holding alot of people back when in fact if you feed at the right time it does the opposite. I'm feeding good 2nd cut bales atm in this atrocious weather and cows are holding well and fat is 4.24 and pr is 3.76 without it my cows would be miserable.

Exactly and all summer everyone and his mother talking about all these rocket fuel bales there in the stack for spells of weather like this wether it’s June or October no point leaving it too late (when milk has crashed)to put it in as it’s too late then

Injuryprone · 22-08-2020 04:05PM

straight wrote: »

Limerick

Pm sent

green daries · 22-08-2020 07:11PM

straight wrote: »

Limerick

PTO generators are trouble free when properly installed indoors dry and used a few times a year

Bradley's seems to be the best on the market reliability wise

Birdnuts · 22-08-2020 08:49PM

straight wrote: »

I've never done the profit monitor. I used to think once I get the farm set up I'd do it as the figures would be more realistic but now I can see it's just used as a stick to beat is with. It has a cost of production of 22c which is totally unrealistic. Greenfield had a cop of 30c but you never hear 30 cent being quoted as the cost, always the 22. My cows have dropped back to 20 litres between power cuts, rain, etc. Its about the same as they were milking last year. I've loads of grass so I'm letting them eat as much as they can and dungs are fairly solid. Still on 2kg hoping the rain will stop and if it doesn't I've no problem rising to 3. Usually do that around mid Sept.

Shure what are you complaining about?? - the hoi polloi in Teagasc would have us beleive that 5 cows/Ha(as reported in the IFJ last week) is where its at:rolleyes::pac:

jaymla627 · 23-08-2020 08:34AM

One of the driers turned of in Belview already for the year, as milk simply isn't their, what's pocessing glanbia to build the two new cheese plants is beyond me, the money been tied up in stainless steel that's only running at 50% capacity our less for over half the year is crazy, no wonder the co-ops wanted the ppi index processing charges increased

straight · 23-08-2020 09:09AM

jaymla627 wrote: »

One of the driers turned of in Belview already for the year, as milk simply isn't their, what's pocessing glanbia to build the two new cheese plants is beyond me, the money been tied up in stainless steel that's only running at 50% capacity our less for over half the year is crazy, no wonder the co-ops wanted the ppi index processing charges increased

That was gas. What about our own costs, there's something new every day like chlorine free, LESS, bigger tractors, more slurry storage, higher feed costs, higher taxes, etc. The list goes on and on.

K.G. · 23-08-2020 09:14AM

jaymla627 wrote: »

One of the driers turned of in Belview already for the year, as milk simply isn't their, what's pocessing glanbia to build the two new cheese plants is beyond me, the money been tied up in stainless steel that's only running at 50% capacity our less for over half the year is crazy, no wonder the co-ops wanted the ppi index processing charges increased

On the plus side it means there is now a degree of flexibility in milk processing to deal with covid for the next 6 months

awaywithyou · 23-08-2020 10:16AM

jaymla627 wrote: »

One of the driers turned of in Belview already for the year, as milk simply isn't their, what's pocessing glanbia to build the two new cheese plants is beyond me, the money been tied up in stainless steel that's only running at 50% capacity our less for over half the year is crazy, no wonder the co-ops wanted the ppi index processing charges increased

given the weather conditions this month and more of the same to come this week thats not really surprising...... remember august last year milk went thru the floor when rain arrived... i know lads that cows dried off in october even tho they werrent calving til feb as yields had crashed so much it just wasnt worth milking em... this year will be the same......

mf240 · 23-08-2020 10:39AM

Feeding a good shot of meal here . Grass is very plentiful but dm and utilisation is not great.

Feed the shyte out of them and dont mind anyone

kevthegaff · 23-08-2020 11:17AM

mf240 wrote: »

Feeding a good shot of meal here . Grass is very plentiful but dm and utilisation is not great.

Feed the shyte out of them and dont mind anyonya fead e

Ya fed a few bales the other day, but got sick of it as it's a long enough winter, upped the meal cos I'm lazy

jaymla627 · 23-08-2020 12:00PM

mf240 wrote: »

Feeding a good shot of meal here . Grass is very plentiful but dm and utilisation is not great.

Feed the shyte out of them and dont mind anyone

But sure that's marginal milk don't yeah know, very hard to see grass providing much more then maintenance plus 7 litres at the minute and then you'll have lads whinging about cow yields dropping a few litres in a week when they reckon 2kgs of meal should be plenty to hold them...

GrasstoMilk · 23-08-2020 05:12PM

We may rename this thread ' we all hate teagasc'

Downtown123 · 23-08-2020 05:16PM

Acquiescence wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of both Herdwatch and Herdapp?

I've been procrastinating on which one to go for for a few years at this stage.

The next Herdwatch Next Gen App seems like it has a better UI and I'm considering just pulling the trigger.

Would I be right in saying the ICBF sync isn't as frequent with Herdwatch?

If dairy farming herdapp is the only way to go. I’m with Herdwatch atm and switching asap. Herdwatch only links to ICBF. Herdapp displays the data on its own app in a better format especially for milk recording and fertility

jaymla627 · 23-08-2020 05:24PM

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We may rename this thread ' we all hate teagasc'

Given recent developments re the icbf/teagasc and all the spin that they have had lads swallow re high ebi and its merits, they have really lost their credibility, I'm just waiting to see if they manage to butcher the ebi proofs re fertility for international bulls which they shouldn't as they are rock solid, but I reckon to save face they will as you couldnt have a active bull list that would have a good number of international bulls near the top wouldn't be good for business...

Acquiescence · 23-08-2020 05:25PM

Downtown123 wrote: »

If dairy farming herdapp is the only way to go. I’m with Herdwatch atm and switching asap. Herdwatch only links to ICBF. Herdapp displays the data on its own app in a better format especially for milk recording and fertility

Thanks for that. Have you been using the new Herdwatch app?

I use the ICBF app for accessing milk recording details and breeding etc. and had only intended getting one of the others for Registering calves, ordering tags and Bord Bia Records.

The Next Gen Herdwatch app really sold me when I was navigating through their Demo Herd. It's probably just shiny thing syndrome.

Keepgrowing · 23-08-2020 05:40PM

jaymla627 wrote: »

Given recent developments re the icbf/teagasc and all the spin that they have had lads swallow re high ebi and its merits, they have really lost their credibility, I'm just waiting to see if they manage to butcher the ebi proofs re fertility for international bulls which they shouldn't as they are rock solid, but I reckon to save face they will as you couldnt have a active bull list that would have a good number of international bulls near the top wouldn't be good for business...

You mention latest developments in ICBF, I’m aware of them but what developments in Teagasc have I missed?

Buford T. Justice XIX · 23-08-2020 05:59PM

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We may rename this thread ' we all hate teagasc'

I think Stan might have misrepresented Teagasc a bit in his post. I've never come across a piece of Teagasc advice saying to not feed cows so I'd be interested in seeing it.

What Teagasc have advised is to grow and utilise more grass before going down a heavy feeding route. The average grass grown in Ireland is something like 7t DM/ha and utilised is nearer 6t. Beef, on average, would be below that and Dairy probably nearer 8t and utilising around 7t.

That's why they're promoting the Grass10 project, to get farmers growing 10t DM/ha and moving the number of grazings up towards 10/paddock/year.

I'd say for over 80% of farmers, the direction would be the right one, replacing expensive bought in feeds with cheaper homegrown feeds of similar or better quality with all the equipment needed to do that already in place on farms.

jaymla627 · 23-08-2020 06:05PM

Keepgrowing wrote: »

You mention latest developments in ICBF, I’m aware of them but what developments in Teagasc have I missed?

They have championed the cause re ebi and pushing nothing else but irish genetics on their clients this past 15 years, without so much as questioning our speaking ill of the flaws of it, on top of numerous research herds and studies built around promoting it...

GrasstoMilk · 23-08-2020 06:15PM

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

I think Stan might have misrepresented Teagasc a bit in his post. I've never come across a piece of Teagasc advice saying to not feed cows so I'd be interested in seeing it.

What Teagasc have advised is to grow and utilise more grass before going down a heavy feeding route. The average grass grown in Ireland is something like 7t DM/ha and utilised is nearer 6t. Beef, on average, would be below that and Dairy probably nearer 8t and utilising around 7t.

That's why they're promoting the Grass10 project, to get farmers growing 10t DM/ha and moving the number of grazings up towards 10/paddock/year.

I'd say for over 80% of farmers, the direction would be the right one, replacing expensive bought in feeds with cheaper homegrown feeds of similar or better quality with all the equipment needed to do that already in place on farms.

100% agree with you there Buford. I'd have nothing but good stuff to say about teagasc.
It's like all advice, you take on what suits you.
I dont agree with all thats posted on here but I still read it and maybe some of it might be applicable some time

GrasstoMilk · 23-08-2020 06:20PM

jaymla627 wrote: »

They have championed the cause re ebi and pushing nothing else but irish genetics on their clients this past 15 years, without so much as questioning our speaking ill of the flaws of it, on top of numerous research herds and studies built around promoting it...

And how far has the national herd came on in the last 15 years through the research done by teagasc and icbf? Alot through management aswell as genetics
Our competitive advantage in this country is grass
Mainland europe and america for them its maize and protein crops due to the vast tracts of land.and climate
You play the card you're dealt and you maximize it fully.

Majority of farmers I know dont want to be tied to feeding cows in the yard 365 days a year and most dont want to manage a high maintenance cow, therefore the grass based system suits

mahoney_j · 23-08-2020 06:31PM

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

And how far has the national herd came on in the last 15 years through the research done by teagasc and icbf? Alot through management aswell as genetics
Our competitive advantage in this country is grass
Mainland europe and america for them its maize and protein crops due to the vast tracts of land.and climate
You play the card you're dealt and you maximize it fully.

Majority of farmers I know dont want to be tied to feeding cows in the yard 365 days a year and most dont want to manage a high maintenance cow, therefore the grass based system suits

Our competitive advantage aInt
Worth a ****e tho wHen it comes to paying for our milk,one of lowest prices in the world

cosatron · 23-08-2020 06:34PM

In all fairness, yes we have made improvements the last 10 years through management and through genetics around the start of the 00s when icbf were promoting bulls with a nice balance like lbo, ruud, Oman and his sons but for the last 3 or 4 years the top rated ebi bulls are poor and teagasc as a research centre should be examining a better spread of cow types as examples to young farmers. It was nice to see lyons farm coming on board but yet they only feed high output levels to high ebi bulls when they should be using a mix of international bulls as guidance and research

jaymla627 · 23-08-2020 06:42PM

cosatron wrote: »

In all fairness, yes we have made improvements the last 10 years through management and through genetics around the start of the 00s when icbf were promoting bulls with a nice balance like lbo, ruud, Oman and his sons but for the last 3 or 4 years the top rated ebi bulls are poor and teagasc as a research centre should be examining a better spread of cow types as examples to young farmers. It was nice to see lyons farm coming on board but yet they only feed high output levels to high ebi bulls when they should be using a mix of international bulls as guidance and research

Questioned the professor over the Lyons herd re not using international bulls and his excuse was their ebi wasn't high enough, well given what we know now that the system is flawed they really shouldn't have any issue going forward as international bulls ebi should be on par with the top Irish bulls ebis after October

blackdog1 · 23-08-2020 06:46PM

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

And how far has the national herd came on in the last 15 years through the research done by teagasc and icbf? Alot through management aswell as genetics
Our competitive advantage in this country is grass
Mainland europe and america for them its maize and protein crops due to the vast tracts of land.and climate
You play the card you're dealt and you maximize it fully.

Majority of farmers I know dont want to be tied to feeding cows in the yard 365 days a year and most dont want to manage a high maintenance cow, therefore the grass based system suits

I remember reading a teagasc booklet in my advisors office and it was about breeding the perfect cow. In each scenario they had the cows on 300 kg meal. So they have been advocating this for feeding cows very little for years and as a result these type of cows don't respond to feeding in hard weather conditions. I don't think many people want to be feeding cows all year round at all. I know I don't god I was sick of the diet feeder after the drought in 2018 but my cows responded and pulled me through. Grass is a great cheap protein source and we should have cows that utilise this no doubt but not cows that won't respond to feed.... I want a low maintenance cow that Milks well on 1-1.2 tonne but if things get hairy I can increase this and get a response.

Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

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