Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

An easy calving Angus would be a better option

Later things go calves tend to be bigger as well, cows dry longer and heifers more grown. Went oad milking this spring, prob stayed at it too long in terms of effecting yield but one main advantage has been cows coming back in heat quickly. Would be worth doing for cows with hard calvings / thin etc. straight away from first milking, esp this time of year

Ya. Any cow that has any trouble goes once a day here. Till things improve. How was your scc up to now?

I still consider myself young but I often taught about AOD being a good option. Don't know much about it. But imagine being free every evening. A low cost, grass based system.

Not mentioning any names but I was surprised that a top IFA spokesman sold his herd of AOD cows lately so maybe it's not all positive

Cell count was actually good, 124 for March, there is a hit in volume but I kept em out as much as possible and solids were up compared to other years. Lad that works with me was out till recently and tbh I was under pressure myself as well so oad was a solution for that, will see how the year goes if I'll be cursing the milk drop or not

Doing it for the year I'd prob want a better herd on terms of solids %, and prob be at a later stage of development here with less debt maybe. But facilities need to be right which is where the system struggle here a small bit with age of buildings and this year the fcuking scrapers broke my heart

I use simental ,Charolais and blues in past but only in first 3/4 weeks of breeding …..never an issue but could be different story in march April calvers ….Hereford bull usually mops up

Fella over the road with near 10 years on you starting into a cubicle shed and 100 cubicles, not sure if he has a successor or not.

Are we not all a bit foolish waiting till 60 before we enjoy life and get more freedom. I had an uncle one time, who was looking forward to his pension. He only drew it two months the poor lad. The big c took him

It's everything. It's a constant battle. Even see in the last few posts discussion of calf size. That follows on to conception rate. Then there's Tb. Pressure to make enough silage. The weather. Nitrates. Viruses and bugs in calves, heifers, cows. Concrete and steel cost. Increased manure capacity required. Pressure from other sectors in farming. Pressure on land leasing. Pressure on calf market. Esb cost. The constant workload. The pricing mechanism of milk, scc, tbc, thermo pressure. The increasing nonsense from coops to look woke and it not benefiting the farmer or paying the farmer to do so.

I'm the same age as some here and younger than others. And even I've been asked by family would I not consider setting the farm and getting another job. This is coming from the land leasing market atm and what's listed above.

Sorry to hear that and Yeadh agree ….see so many lads now constantly chasing there arse ….I’ve no ambition to milk 100s of cows …quite happy at my level now …have relief Milker’s and can get help in spring …big ball of money invested since I took over to keep things as close to 1 man show as possible …..spring is busy and days off in February march practically non existent but I’m done in yard by 6 most days …from April on relief Milker in weekends and days off farm

Nail on the head there Siamsa. I have been the exact same soldier, stuck working with "initiatives". What a dose of tripe to be dealing with.

Would a reliable relief milking job say 6 guaranteed evening/morning milkngs a week not be a better option in your instance then actually having to start up a dairy herd, you'll easily gross 400 euro a week for circa 15 hours, and can tie the whole lot in around your own farm