Thanks - your Google skills are better than mine.
Also found the following on the IFJ website: €16m worth of beef went to China from Jan to August this year.
In the same period, €1.7b was exported in total. That makes the Chinese market around 0.1% if my maths are right.
2 issues stick with me .1 if we needed to increase area.its a big job and 2 I'd like to have it roofed and circular doesn't lend it self to easy covering
Yes I use one regularly. About 24m diameter. Yard slopes to the centre. Backing gates are built in 3 dimensions for strength. Gate is water powered, probably about 10 bar, high volume wash down pump. There are 2 taps on the gate depending on whether you are going forwards or backwards. There is a scraper on the gate so cleans yard.
Excellent cow flow, but think rectangular can be just as good, if done right. Circular is useful if you have 2 mobs of cows. One disadvantage is it's a much bigger job to make it bigger, if ever needed. With a circular yard you can always see the backing gate from the pit, which is useful, less chance of hitting a cow(s) with the gate.
If you want it roofed I'd say stick with a slatted rectangular yard and use it to buffer feed if possible
Or can always square roof a circular pen and use the wasted space for storage or ly back for calves etc
IMO Using the wasted space for calves likely to affect cow flow. Also calves wouldn't want to be sharing the same air space as cows.
Latest Kerry Fixed price 39.2 up from 38.5 last time.
Are/have you signed up to any?
Are you say to put calves in the corner of a collecting yard.not something I d be a fan of
No
A long narrow yard is a better job if it suits the farmyard layout. As long as cows enter the far end…
If for some reason the cows are walking up past the parlour before turning 180 degrees to enter then a semi circular yard is definitely more suited.
Big advatage of circular yards is that they offer an easier option to have the milking parlour exiting towards the fields..
Sure couldnt you face a parlour anyway u want and collecting yard behind
I have a couple of two year old bulls. Very quiet together. I put in a few 9mt old bucket fed weanlings with them, like I do every year. But this year the bulls have gone mad, bulling them, not fighting but actually jumping on them. They spent 5 hours at it till I took the poor fellows out.
It was like an American prison film.
Will I have to throw the two bulls out for the winter. Very annoying
Buy a roll a wire and insulators and tie up the wire with a good shock
Have you a spot to put them out for the winter? They would prob do well out if you did
Put the wire's up a bit and hang single lengths of electrical fence string 18-20'' down off them with lead as a weight. Reduces the risk of the wire being pulled down.
They are quite. But it's a balls to have them out in the mud. Taught they would quieten down. Unfortunately not
Someone on here said vinegar on their backs, dont know if it works
apple cider vinegar don't spare it and it works very well
Thanks. I have often mixed cattle. I don't mind a bit of fighting. But they are chasing the Friesian bullocks around the house trying to bull them. IL try the vinegar
Are they fr bulls.if they are behaving that way they can be dangerous f##kers
You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
Make it out that they are gay and you'd prob get money to build a new shed for em lol
Bi sexual I would think. Once they like girls for two months a year that will suit me. They are a nuisance for the winter but easier than buying next April.
I have them left out, they would have killed the little weanlings. Do anyone know when turnout date for 2024 is? Already sick of the winter
Same here - sick of the muck and silage already. And the 1st of March seems a long way off.
The only consolation is that we're getting used to it!
And I see in the IFJ this week some prof reckons wetter and milder weather will be the norm now. Maybe more will turn to winter milk like Kevin O'Hanlon in Wexford - he was getting cows out in January and feeding silage every June, so it made sense to switch to winter milk.
It was wet and mild for years lately, we were just spoilt this last 2 or 3 summers with heatwaves. Usually balances out over a 10 year period. So wet and mild is nothing new.
Generally you know what a person says on past form. So if you want a message spread you pay or interview a person you agree with.
There's a thing called solar cycles. These are 21 years but it's popularised into 11 year cycles. Our 09 and 10 winters were the result of a lull in solar activity. The winter of 44/45 was one the coldest in european history ties in with the cycle.
Anyway solar activity is dropping back. Not what it was in the 60's. When we get to 2030 it'll be the low in the cycle again similar to 09.
You'd be very foolish to proclaim wetter and milder will be the norm now.
Historical solar cycles | Solar activity | SpaceWeatherLive.com
If you were to farm like him with the 60 cows you’re talking of milking you’d need 130 acres of land unlike the 70 you said you’ll have available, I admire a lot of his work but a huge land base helps a lot with the organic way he is implementing.
Cheers folks - I’ll keep my foolish comments to myself from now on 😂
Sorry if I mentioned a touchy subject.
