Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

You'd be aswell go new at that money it's very strong unless your getting a nice few extras like air gates, good feeders, stalls and Troughs in really good nick etc plus acrs/auto wash

Milk urea last test gone to 50!!

Now they're getting 3kgs of 14% pr meal. But zero fertiliser or foliar minerals these past few rounds. Still at 44 units so far on the grazing ground.

The milk urea is 100% the result of soil nitrogen mineralisation or another way of putting it is soil biology exploding with the heat and with the bit of rain it's the nitrogen from their dead bodies being released in the soil and being taken up by the grass roots.

Solution.. this evening I'm going in with humic powder (carbon) in their troughs to soak up any excess nitrates in their system and bring down the milk urea.

I had this bought before now and I was lazy in not going yet. Truth though I thought it'd do harm before now. But my hand is forced now.

It's dry but it's not drought dry. Grass never stopped growing. No silage fed. But it's still flying on the edge.

I might as well go further with my biological hat. I've a big feeling protected urea is forcing people into drought faster. I've seen it here in 2018 after I spread basalt dust I went into drought faster than my neighbours. That was because of any imbalance from sodium chloride in the soil. That harms the biology. But it is flushable.

No but I wouldn't advise spreading on it's own. Mix with compost or fym.

It was after that I was able drop minerals.

Heard second hand of others further east have been feeding silage for the past six weeks. That'd be some kicker.

I think I must be getting more rain than you but the ground would be deeper here too.

Although the father tells me a few fields away it looks like someone has stopped spreading fert and growth has stopped dead and gone yellow. I'm not praising myself but the farm used to be in that position here if I did the same. These oul quare ways of years ago must be having some effect here now.

If you're passing have a look over the hedge at that field with the thistles before the village. There's been no fert nor foliar feed on that for about 40 days. Grazed every 15 days or so. By right and it would have been years ago by now it would be yellow.

Plans to expand here, have to invest here regardless of cows increasing or not but extra cows will be needed to pay for it as there is existing debt. How this pans out re these new emission targets for the sector will have to see yet. Most I now are or have been consolidating, a couple leasing blocks but would be in the minority.

Just on the figures, the main issue can be not when things are in the way up, but in the way down. The price of milk will most likely head south faster than any costs and its at that point the show need to be able to survive

quality over quantity here. keeping the same number maybe even dropping a row depending on the fall out from the emissions. I wouldn't make any judgements based on this years figures before the quotas went the price of milk fell from 38 cent to 25 cent in one year.

Looking at becoming a new entrant for springs 2024 with glanbia,hope to have shares to get me in but rep tells me it looks like they will be looking for more producers once the cheese plant is finished

I’m in the same boat as you, we both even talking about switching a few years ago. It’s niggling away at me 80% of the time! Couple of projects on at the moment that would need to finish before I’d be in a position to approach a bank, so that’s at least a couple of years away. God knows how things will be then. Like now, I’ll probably be thinking why didn’t I make the change a few years ago!

What problems are the robots causing? Local man here installed two of them this year due to ill health. If they don't work for him, he will quit milking.

Horses for courses really, I’ve made home here fairly simple and could make it simpler again if required. Have 3 ppl looking for milking/few days work here and there and haven’t the work for them

there’s also the fact if we could milk extra my wife could be involved more and wouldn’t have a 2 hr trip to and from work 3 days a week and we’d be able to mind the kids ourselves between us and crèche/school. It’s more than just wanting to milk extra for the sake if it

Having help of parents is massive ….I had it for few years when I took over ….once it stopped it left a huge gap …Tegasc and various others shoved and shoved more cows and second /third units without thinking of the consequences …there late to the party now and shy on anything concrete …clovers /prot urea’s ..mss awards and that bullshit n banding they had a huge hand in will only do so much …long and short of it there will have to be a cull of the national herd to achieve the 25% cut …talking to various different people in the know we were extremely lucky to get the 25% we got ….ag has very few friends in the corridor of power in Dublin ….there’s a cut in upper dero limit on way and reliably informed a cap on a sr on a block of land is next