Spring 2020..... 1.5m Dairy calves.... discuss.

well at least the 28 day rule will force lads to register their calves the day they are born, stop the messing.

Forgot my hole.

Chose to ignore the issue as they were balls deep pushing the jerseys as a solution to all our problems

Trust won't matter.

They are the only entity capable of delivering a scientific solution to a 25% reduction in emissions.

They will be exported as veal I would expect

Talking to a relation of mine yesterday and he was telling me he averaged €1,400 a few weeks back for his 11 month old bulls from his suckler herd.

I know sucklers will never be even a close relation to dairying when it comes to profit but it’s not all doom and gloom in sucklers either.

There's lads in my parish taking calves a few weeks before they're born.

We've reached peak irish farmer internet implosion.

Ffs lads grow barley, make beer. Sell beer to China.

You're completly right, but what you've developed, you've largely learned through your own investigations and what works and what doesn't.

I'd guess that you could not write a textbook for your system to be replicated across the country.

What chances that government would take your suggestions as the route or plan for emissions reductions?

My point is, that no matter what your view is on whether teagasc are right or wrong, its their scientific results that will be taken into account....no one elses.

Fair play, and I reckon you're out the gap of fertiliser reductions being a limitation to your operation, but for anyone to try and follow your route, its a most confusing road, lined with snake oil salesmen and no real tutor.

Teagasc's weakness (or one of them) is that whatever template they put in place, it needs to be easily teachable and transferable. They can't touch complication.

Our best bet here, is to watch and understand what teagasc are leaning towards, and get ahead of that, by another more effective route if that's possible.

You've moved far ahead here, but I wonder how many students could you bring on behind you....I'd certainly love to be one..

That's fine if you are getting paid for your efforts. Iirc I think mj you said you had north of 100 sucklers at one stage. You know how poor the returns are.

I have side tracked the thread here maybe.

@alps if you're ever in wexford again send me on a message and I'll show you what I'm doing, it's far from rocket science.

It sounds complicated because it's new.

I've the simplest system going. I nearly have it pinned down but I still have more ideas to improve it.

Bought a GPS lately and I was informed that there was a meeting of a Dutch user sharing knowledge to Irish dairy farmers in the Obama centre, tipp. How many farmers were at that compared to johnstown castle. Trouble is it wasn't advertised. Farmers themselves want to keep ownership of it. You can't really blame them.

But the offer is there Alps.

Always dairy here and kept all calves ….once quotas went I slowly went up in cows and back to no cattle for first time this year …just kept them to weanlings or stores and all they left was a cheque with little to no profit

Cheers Say...

Heading for Bunclody w/e pretty soon....would really love to take you up on that one...👍👍👍

Wouldn't it he great if someone like yourself was selected for some form of farm demo by the likes of teagasc. Even if mainstream ag bodies don't buy into what your doing its up to everyone to make up there own minds when results are demonstrated. Seen your posts for the past while find it fascinating what your trying but alot ofnit goes way over.my head. Would be great to see these alternative practices in the flesh.

No.. 😂

I wouldn't mind a few coming in but not Joe public and his mother.

If anyone has heard of the Danu group they're all into foliar too.

And that's the trouble too they don't publicise who's in it or what they're doing. All you'll get is info from (I'll call them vegan till proven otherwise in their rhetoric) enviros is N efficiency from the likes of Danu. It's not shared with mainstream farmers. Enviros have the show run and twist things then to suit their own arguments/agendas.

Anyway..🙈🤣

I have 20 suckler cows & rear 20 dairy x calves, AAx, Hex, BBx and good Frs, I buy the Frs from a local farmer who has Br/Ho Fr cows, others I buy in the Mart. As I can pick up what I like in the mart. I can see the Jex is destroying dairy beef. I also buy another 20 odd stores so that I have 60+ beef animals to sell any year. My sucklers are a bit of a passion, alot of thought has gone into them over the years & I am now getting a good return on what I am selling. They are leaving money. The bought in stores are leaving money to, put being part time, its hard to get time to go to the Mart to buy the stores I like. The bucket fed calves would be actually the least profitable & if I counted my time, heating water runs to the vets ect it would be worse. My brother buy 60 calves every year off 2 farmers. Brings them to beef, both these lads have started to introduce xbreds & this year my brother really noticed it on his kills sheets. Good AAs €1,800 back to just over €1,200 for to bad ones, but all would have more or less cost him the same to rear. He is going to be more picky next year buying the calves off them & leave them with the **** calves.

Great post and insight and yet lads hardly notice they would rather be on here bitching about their neighbours calves. The mind boggles.