Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

39hrs. Every second weekend on/off.

I could think of worse jobs than milking …especially if facilities are good ..not everyone loves sitting in big shiny machinery

You'll be pulling the pin by the sounds of it in the next couple of months once you use up forage stocks I'm guessing so, with futures for maize grain in the clouds you'll hardly chop this year's crop for cows

I'd milk 20 times before I'd spend an hour on the tractor

Want a job?

Let the land and get the €300 an acre tax free…then pop over here and tog out. Could even stretch the salary a bit.

😁

Downbeat.

But it’s been that way since I’ve been here. Farmers sons/daughters are running a mile from farming. Could you blame them…35hr week, loads of holidays, no weekend work etc, is a lot more attractive than farming, especially dairy.

Poultry and pigs are getting a fair kicking Atm. A neighbor that I do a good bit of business with told me he’s losing €27k a week in pigs. He’s got over 20 staff.

I’m back a serious amount of money on the poultry side…a thousand cows wouldn’t make up the deficit. Swings and roundabouts.

Banks don’t fancy supporting dairy anymore. They don’t see any future in 100 cow herds.

The total French production is staying much the same but the smaller herds are disappearing fast. Dairy will still hold strong in the AOC areas because of the premium that brings.

The latest growth area is ‘French Angus’ with contracts being handed out for 3yrs at €6/kg. There’s a good few dairy farmers opting for that.

Look after yourself for fecks sake!

As my brother keeps telling me…nobody ever said on their deathbed that they wished they’d worked harder.

Farm relief straight away!!

Sorry not intended as one

just you’ve never seemed fond of them and say labour for them is hard to get

if I was in your boots with large acres I doubt I’d be milking cows tbh

id need 5 or 6 times what acres we have currently to have the same output but still wouldn’t create the same income

dairy suits

At the end of the day if/when I offload the cows the farm will lose a huge driver of soil fertility. The one thing that I’ve learned is that mixed farming is the only way…a cow, a sow, and an acre under plough.

I’d only get out while grain prices are good. As soon as they fall again, I’d be back into dairy.

Easily done.

You may have heard of ‘ducking and diving’. 😂

Big divergence locally on when calving starts. I know one had 55 out of 80 calved in January. Cleaning up with great BB calves in the mart every week now. One or two others like that. Others like ourselves are gone the other way only starting now. Happy with the decision to put the start out to the second week Feb. In Kerry you're at the mercy of the Atlantic more than most and grass looks a long way off at the moment again.

Weather gone to pot alright. Last 3 years end of Feb and 2 weeks in March have been shite so I dunno about delaying it too much anymore. Will always aim for the start of Feb anyway. Have 2 paddocks grazed but my cover is lower than most so not worried about 2 much grass anyway.

Must prepare better next year.