Suckler farmers anonymous

Mac Taylor · 27-06-2021 8:55pm #1

Hi all, I feel the time is right to set up a help group for suckler farmers. This thread could become a source of support for some of us in a our ongoing addiction to suckler cows.

I’ll start.

I’m a part time suckler farmer with a mix of LM and LMx cows bred to a mix of ai and stock bull. I’ve tried numerous times to cut down on the numbers but I can’t.
I just don’t get the same buzz from looking at dairy cross breeds....any help or advice appreciated.

Dunedin · 27-06-2021 8:59pm

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Hi all, I feel the time is right to set up a help group for suckler farmers. This thread could become a source of support for some of us in a our ongoing addiction to suckler cows.

I’ll start.

I’m a part time suckler farmer with a mix of LM and LMx cows bred to a mix of ai and stock bull. I’ve tried numerous times to cut down on the numbers but I can’t.
I just don’t get the same buzz from looking at dairy cross breeds....any help or advice appreciated.

Hello everyone. My name is Dunedin and I’m a sucklerholic.

893bet · 27-06-2021 9:07pm

It’s two weeks since I last calved. Hard to get away from calving all year round.

emaherx · 27-06-2021 9:08pm

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Hi all, I feel the time is right to set up a help group for suckler farmers. This thread could become a source of support for some of us in a our ongoing addiction to suckler cows.

I’ll start.

I’m a part time suckler farmer with a mix of LM and LMx cows bred to a mix of ai and stock bull. I’ve tried numerous times to cut down on the numbers but I can’t.
I just don’t get the same buzz from looking at dairy cross breeds....any help or advice appreciated.

I'm Emaherx and I have a problem, AA/HEX are my vice.

curiousinvestor · 27-06-2021 10:37pm

Hi I'm P.
I calve all year round. If I go more than a few weeks without a calving I go into withdrawal.
Every single heifer is diagnosed at extreme length as to the prospect to keep for a cow. Usually involves discussion about their grandmother being a great cow with a tough of blue. I've only had 5 blues ever and only 1 survived calving.
The amount of time spent reviewing the AI book is crazy,
I've to stop now , I've to check to see if there's anything bulling

blue5000 · 27-06-2021 10:41pm

My name is blue and I'm a sucklerolic. Just got a quote of 3.50 for O grade cows. I'm only selling a few culls to buy a bull.:cool:

MIKEKC · 27-06-2021 10:47pm

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Hi all, I feel the time is right to set up a help group for suckler farmers. This thread could become a source of support for some of us in a our ongoing addiction to suckler cows.

I’ll start.

I’m a part time suckler farmer with a mix of LM and LMx cows bred to a mix of ai and stock bull. I’ve tried numerous times to cut down on the numbers but I can’t.
I just don’t get the same buzz from looking at dairy cross breeds....any help or advice appreciated.

Glad you are enjoying your sucklers, but I hope you are not expecting others to get a cut in their entitlements to give you another coupled payment like Derek Deane. He is getting e55,000 according to DAFM and wants others to suffer so he gets more

Anto_Meath · 27-06-2021 11:54pm

My name is Anto & I am a sucklerhollic too. I was going ok calving wise this year until I was looking at the local mart on my phone as herself watched Fair City, seen a nice SMx incalf heifer only making €1050, so I say she is surely worth €20 more, finished up with her @ €1110 and now watching her to calf before the 1st July so I get €80 back from Charlie McConalogue....

893bet · 27-06-2021 11:58pm

Anto_Meath wrote: »

My name is Anto & I am a sucklerhollic too. I was going ok calving wise this year until I was looking at the local mart on my phone as herself watched Fair City, seen a nice SMx incalf heifer only making €1050, so I say she is surely worth €20 more, finished up with her @ €1110 and now watching her to calf before the 1st July so I get €80 back from Charlie McConalogue....

A side question but is that all an in calf smx was making? Sounds like value.

Anto_Meath · 28-06-2021 12:03am

893bet wrote: »

A side question but is that all an in calf smx was making? Sounds like value.

Ye it was, the week before there was about 30 in the mart & they made from €1400 - €2000. ( They were well advertised on Done Deal before hand) All nice animals in fairness. Then the following week there was only about 5 and a few cows with calves at foot. The 5 heifers all made in around the €1100 mark. After the first two were sold I said I would try the third 1. She is a nice heifer & I am very happy with her.

ABlur · 28-06-2021 8:56am

Can I join? I've a weakness for buying suckler bred stock for summer grazing. They cost more than dairy bred but I like looking at them! Particularly red limos and the occasional grey Charlaois!

valtra2 · 28-06-2021 10:53am

My name is valtra and I have a problem. I have a full time job and I have 60 sucklers calfing down every year. Every year about the middle of February I hate the sight of the fu**era, but the the summer comes and I just can't let them go. Ppl tell me to go milking but I would rather lose my manhood that have to milk cows 7 days a week.

patsy_mccabe · 28-06-2021 11:32am

Hi, I'm Patsy. I thought I had a problem until I hit the hard stuff - pedigree breeding. It started with one pedigree heifer and escalated from there. I wasn't even drunk at the time and no peer pressure whatsoever.

I was up and out at 5am this morning to check a cow calving. It's a new low for me, as she's not even my cow. I sold her to a young relative of mine and he's living away, so I said I'd check her. She calved first in November about 5 years ago and now in June. That's the purest form. No Columbian hut in the forest could match that.

I know I have to stop, but just can't make the first move. I tried looking at FR crosses but got the shakes.

28-06-2021 11:43am

valtra2 wrote: »

My name is valtra and I have a problem. I have a full time job and I have 60 sucklers calfing down every year. Every year about the middle of February I hate the sight of the fu**era, but the the summer comes and I just can't let them go. Ppl tell me to go milking but I would rather lose my manhood that have to milk cows 7 days a week.

Hard to explain it to people that we spend half (sometimes more) our free time from work farming.

Then I see fellows getting excited about golf / rattling on about holidays in Spain where "you cant give money away" and I nearly feel justified having cattle.

Dozer1 · 28-06-2021 1:30pm

Fellow sufferer here,
my symptoms started with weanling heifers "she's lovely marking" or "she's off a great line"

calving over 30 now in total this year autumn and spring calving, still one to go, I've tried to stop especially when I saw the cost of last shed etc but the I couldn't stop myself.

Base price · 28-06-2021 1:48pm

I thought I was cured having quit sucklers about 15 years ago. I turned to the dark side and started rearing dairy bred stock but I couldn't stop looking and admiring other farmers suckler cattle.

Three years ago I bit the bullet and bought myself two pbr shorhorn heifers. I now have eighteen cows of various breeds and a stock bull. Herding is so much more enjoyable now looking at nice stock.

Grueller · 28-06-2021 2:10pm

My name is Grueller.

I am proof that you can beat this addiction. Unlike valtra, I went milking. It was tough. Selling the nice weanling heifers that would have made cows was the first step.
I reached my lowest point of my addiction in 2019 when I brought 13 weanling heifers to the mart and had to bring 7 home. I started to tackle the addiction after that. Selling those heifers was the hardest part. I halved the suckler herd from 80 to 42 then to make way for milking cows.
I swore I would keep on the 42 on an out farm, just for an interest like. I still have them, but they will calve this autumn and be sold in the spring. I stumbled on a miraculous cure for the addiction. I didn't even have to go to Lourdes, it came in the post with a glanbia logo on the envelope. It was a milk cheque. This support in beating my addiction has been continuous since April 2020, this milk cheque arrives every month and after all bills are paid I even have a little bit of it left.

I no longer struggle with this addiction.

ABlur · 28-06-2021 3:52pm

Anyone with this affliction would do well to avoid Co. Clare for their staycation! Field across the road from the Poulnabrone renowned dolmen full of golden lovelies with their white offspring lying out in the sun today. Hard to spend quality time with your family with this type of temptation!

893bet · 28-06-2021 3:56pm

Can we add a poll?

Do people prefer to have a breeding season:

12 months long
Or
52 weeks long

K.G. · 28-06-2021 5:36pm

If yer happy at it,what about it.if yer not happy,life is too short to be b#ll#xing around with them

Mac Taylor · 28-06-2021 5:37pm

First off.............for all of ye that have replied.........remember admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

Base Price...........you have my utmost sympathies for relapsing after such a long time..........as you have proven the addiction runs deep.

Patsy.............you really are in the deep end of addiction......you have all of our sympathies as not only are you calving your cows but also someone elses.

To Grueller...........for some of us you have shown us there is a different path...one paved with gold sorry milk.

Ablur........you are on a dangerous path..........for many this is how they have become addicted........you need to revaluate your options NOW before it it too late. You have been warned! (see Dozer's comments)

For everyone else..........there is help coming........take every day as it comes.

Remember we are here for each other. Mac. (I have to go now to see if there is anything bulling this evening. God bless All)

Jb1989 · 28-06-2021 6:47pm

K.G. wrote: »

If yer happy at it,what about it.if yer not happy,life is too short to be b#ll#xing around with them

Agreed,

I took over the sucklers, as a teenager, and I'm Slowly but surely looseing interest in them this last few years.

The toil with them is getting monotonous at this stage due to not haveing a second person, to call on in times of trouble.

I haven't replaced in ages and soon will be happy with a handful of young dry stock to claim the payments.

Enjoy the help of a second person if you have them, even occasionally, because you'll miss them if they are gone.

josephsoap · 28-06-2021 7:01pm

Jb1989 wrote: »

Agreed,

I took over the sucklers, as a teenager, and I'm Slowly but surely looseing interest in them this last few years.

The toil with them is getting monotonous at this stage due to not haveing a second person, to call on in times of trouble.

I haven't replaced in ages and soon will be happy with a handful of young dry stock to claim the payments.

Enjoy the help of a second person if you have them, even occasionally, because you'll miss them if they are gone.

Are you full time at them?

Jb1989 · 28-06-2021 7:19pm

josephsoap wrote: »

Are you full time at them?

Nearly. Small sideline job that can leave me away, up to one day a week to 3 or 4 days, depending on the luck of the day.
Have to stay near home to keep eye on family.

jimini0 · 28-06-2021 8:45pm

Ex suckler farmer here. Went from 30 cows down to 5 in the last 15 years. Fell out of love with them. Working full time so hard to get to see them in heat. Sold the final 2 cows last October to a neighbour. Scanned in calf to a blue bull. Every day I pass them and see the nicest coloured calves we ever produced. One blue with speckled white on her underside. The other heifer orange with speckled white on underside. I'm seriously thinking of buying the calves off him. The addiction is real

28-06-2021 9:05pm

So many contributions, no wonder, I hear there's a dealer in most towns and villages now.

SuperTortoise · 28-06-2021 9:10pm

Suckler numbers for last 4 years, 27, 25, 22, 19

Oh and i have 7 heifers kept this year...

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SuperTortoise · 28-06-2021 9:13pm

893bet wrote: »

Can we add a poll?

Do people prefer to have a breeding season:

12 months long
Or
52 weeks long

I have mine at 365 days a year.
Works out great, i get a day off every 4th year!

Mac Taylor · 28-06-2021 9:50pm

Deleted User wrote: »

So many contributions, no wonder, I hear there's a dealer in most towns and villages now.

Don’t forget the meth sorry meat factories aswell. The drug sorry meat barons are making so much out of all our collected misery.

Personally the road to recovery for me has passed but I am warning anyone that will listen of the dangers of this addiction.

I can’t add anymore to this and will leave it with ‘Let’s be careful out there’

50HX · 28-06-2021 9:57pm

Always around the 30 mark here

Changed in last 2 years

Down now to 13 with 3 replacements calving down Sept

Kept the weanlings till circumstances 16 months, easier life as working full time but more importantly keeping them to that age leaves a better margin at end if year v calving 30 odd and selling weanlings

There are worse vices in life and sometimes it's not all about money

Plenty of people do d 3 foreign hols, piss it up against a wall or hoover it up the nose

Hard to let go if you a long bloodline in the herd I think

mallethead2 · 28-06-2021 10:08pm

Hi my name is mallethead
i have an affliction ,its suckler cows the bigger the better
the more colors the better
I don't care if i don't make money i just have to have cows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i don't want help because no-one understands me like the cows

Suckler farmers anonymous

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