ANyone else's milk urea low? Mine is down at 10. Cows on 6kgs and out by day and in with zero grazed grass at night. Went from an 18% gain to 14% fertility primer ten days ago. Cows in great condition.
Lacking protein. Grass probably not as rich as it could be.
I know where is a nice hereford bull
They're expensive. Nice animals though.
I know where there is one too. I'm slow getting rid of my fresian. Nothing beats keeping the calving pattern tight like a strong fresian.
Ya I understand that it's a protein deficiency but i have very few tools in the locker to fight it at the minute. Notenough headspace for an out of parlour feed.
Sulphur would be an obvious choice if anyone is not foliar feeding. Not really foliar feeding atm here but there's sulphur gone out in fert spreader. Milk urea 20. On the 14 nut too now.
A good farmer told me too if you want high protein silage and want to win awards for grass silage then make sure and have sulphur applied.
2 rounds of fertiliser out and sulphur in both. I have been finishing 1st round grass and that could be a lot of the problem. Growing all winter etc. Couldn't afford to mow it, Couldn't afford not to......
Funck 2024 is all I say.
36 units of S on some ground here and 21 units of S on other grazing ground here /acre.
How much did you apply?
lack of sun and lack of growth causing low protein in grass causing it …non punch in grass either (energy)badly need sun and heat
I feel inadequate now with my little 12 units.
😂 I was thinking it was a small amount.
There's been an awful amount of rain. It's going to take a good bit applied to get soil amounts back where they should be as well as the bit extra for the extra protein.
What product did you use to get out that much Sulphuralready?
You’re kinda short on options.
Maybe try a high protein dairy nut.
there’s a clear lack of advice from advisory bodies now when it comes to what we’ve gone through last 6/8 months and know …up the nuts ….3 hour grazing throw in some silage …..feed a bit of pk …..very simplistic but cows and land currently need bit more tailored advice atm
You better never try and farm in the north west that weather is standard.
What would you suggest for advice to farmers
Are you happy with what they're producing?
The above is exactly how to get through this, unless you can't pull off a part of it, like you can't graze and you're out of silage. What kind of ideas have you in mind? We're going to set ourselves up differently next spring but from where we are right now, the above seems the right plan of attack.
If the pattern presists, the reality is their probably needs to be 2-3 ton plus of dm in the form of maize/beet/concentrates and proper high quality silage, accounted for and made to keep cows properly feed and negate the effects of a year like last year and so far this spring…
But in fairness what the above does to profitability on your avergage farm producing 470-500kgs of ms a cow it destroys it, the margin simply isnt their to have to spend 700 a cow extra on forage/nuts, on top of the 1 ton been feed annually and the 4 months of grass silage been made on farm for the winter
Dropped from 29 litres at 3.5p and 4.1bf to 26.5 at 3.35p and 4.1bf.
Fat never fell. Protein and litres did.
TThat's a fair accurate assessement. The 700 euro would have to be reduced though and might be through marginally reduced grass silage requirement and a reduction in prolongued in parlour feeding.
You would question, at the end of the day, are reduced cow numbers the answer?...It's going to be a fierce shock to the industry (some running 14% behind day on day at the moment).
Got washed out of it here yesterday, finishing the first rotation today and started breeding also. Cows are coming up in yield but need sun on their backs. Hopefully the second rotation now and a bit of sun and I'll get them up over 2KgMS. Bit to go at the moment. 26.5 litres, 4% fat, 3.4% protein.
The reality is milk price will have to increase or there just will be no dairy in Ireland. We have European costs and regulations and world market price, something has to change. Lots of rumours going around of lads packing it in after this year. A few lads planning on not putting cows in calf this year, going to finish out the year and then sell the lot. Tillage is f,,,,d as well. The European farming model is broken across all sectors.
The milk production year is f**ked to put it mildly on a nice % of farms after the last week, if we had got a kind week this week cows might of recovered and hit some kind of respectable peak but thats not going to happen now
Youll see a few smaller co-ops in the next decade be taken over by the big 3, if kerrys processing was to be mothballed and dairygold/tirlin take over that milk pool it would be saving grace re processing actually been utilised for these two, but if the derogation is pulled for 2026 all bets are off, you could be looking at a 25% plus drop in milk supply
those of you that have cow heat detection systems in and are serving OAD
Are ye serving early cows (ones that come bulling in the morning) twice or are you leaving them till the following morning ?
I’ve been just serving those cows the morning they’ve come bulling and leaving it at that but yesterday I had 14 bulling and 9 of those are still in the zone for ai this morning, I’ve 10 in the crush for ai this morning and 3 have only started bulling this morning
should I be serving these cows a second time or should I be doing them the following morning ?
Pre collars we only ever served OAD in the AM and what ever was on was served and that was it, and we got decent conception rates
I didn’t get a good conception rate to 1st serve last year and I’m wondering could this be sone of the reason
The forecast for next week is good. Silage harvesters will fire up.
Hasn’t it given all the farmers on traditional dry land a taste of what it’s like to have to contend with 5+ month winters and maybe now they might have an appreciation for the shite heavy land forces you to deal with and adapt for every spring not just one in every five. If we didn’t have at least 5 months silage in the yard here come the 1st of November you’d be selling out every spring, adds significantly to costs but that’s the cards you’re dealt.
No chance of doing the 3 bulling in the eve? Going by the breeding window charts here and what annoys me is scenarios where this morning is deemed too early and tomorrow morning too late, so getting AI man twice a day if necessary.
Another conundrum for me is vet tells me later the better and AI man tells me earlier the better.
I'm not AIing much 2 fellas in DG said the just ai at 10 in the morning whatever shows up in previous 24 hours. Even if she's only just on the app. Both using sexed semen and conventional beef straw. 2 good lads would be no bullshit with them, both said they got on fine
