Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

@siamsa Sessions definitely drill through as everyone has said, we had a parlour years ago with same troughs as you are putting in, the anchor bolts broke my heart, ended up drilling everything and it's a far superior job

Heard of a lad put a stack of dung on a field before coming up for lease and someone else sensed blood and ran the field up to the heavens on the public auction knowing they couldn't pull out. Only benefit was the money is going to a public religious parish upkeep.

Elsewhere (on Twitter) I see there's still authors involved with Dairy Ireland Inc telling all anyone that'll listen of the millionaires they are from dairy farming. Dairy Ireland Inc are delighted of course. Not to mention those ready to take their money and screw the last cent.

Maybe humility sometimes is the best road forward. It's how all the rest of the farming sectors operate in this country. They don't get the "are you dairy farming?" then when enquiring the cost of something.

I see Aruvio had an article in a paper imploring those exiting dairy farming that that land should stay in milk and not go to drystock, what the farmer's own decision was to do. Drystock farmers on fb got offended by this. But not seeing it what it was. In Dairy Ireland Inc getting worried that their milk pool is shrinking and they've stainless steel to pay for and market orders to fill. The remedy is not to write articles in papers telling farmers what they can and can't do with their land but to increase price paid to the farmer. The farmer's own goal is not to be telling how rich or implore they are rich and then giving it away to someone else in the next cheque and never expecting the rainy day again.

Here ends the 5th lesson.

The most successful have the poor mouth from Michael O Leary to that Keogh fella that makes the crisps. You don't know what their profit monitor is neither.

It's in the paper now it came from Aruvio. A Dairy Ireland Inc meeting ensuring that land stays in milk is what it read as. If a farmer decides to keep drystock it's their own business.

I'm working off plus for dpr/fertility index and at least 150 dollars for dwp, on the American scale, the extreme milk bulls don't score well on the above and aren't going to be cows that last, looking at the wws 2024 catalogue only 3 bulls fit the above criteria out of circa 40...

Parceive is a really promising looking bull that fits all the above criteria, his dam is breeding some amount of sons for ai at the minute

that Keogh fellow gave up the crisps to milk cows too. Sold the brand to tayto. I don’t get where your pessimism re dairy is coming from. If you’re operating in owned land which you are there’s a very good living in it. It can be a slog at times but at least you are your own boss and can work the perks of being sole trader which a PAYE worker doesn’t have

It's coming from there's dairy farmers milking for generations on owned land that are barely making a living wage. And then there's other farmers who listened to the teagasc mantra of keeping new zealand genetics and forgetting of calf quality or even survivability and using facilities to dispose of calves. And these farmers are rewarded by icbf in ebi, rewarded by coops in milk price for constituents, rewarded by teagasc in how other farmers should follow. It stinks to high heaven that these are rewarded for this crap. These same farmers even bragged to each other of learning their practice in New Zealand and thought nothing of putting down bull calves out there. They brought this here to this country then. It's all bs. And load it on to high heaven.

It's an Austrian model of milk farming icbf, coops and teagasc should be financing and promoting. That's how you keep the smaller farmers on the land and the cattle quality for all. Not just all for the few and getting worse as each year goes by. Be holistic in dairy farming. See the bigger picture.

It's just had a conversation with someone in that game recently they were on about Tayto driving everyone mad with pre grading/ washing even? spuds before going into the factory after a golfball got through 2 pick off tables and the wash plant.

Bit like Iverk at Piltown had someone forget they'd hidden their dodgy off label part cans etc from a bordbia inspection in a spud box and forgot until funny coloured spuds came up the grading line.

Agreed the age demographic is the big issue great farmers and farms around me here but there will be no one to take over most of there places .. maybe my own included

Another issue is women, firstly the lack of them, a good few bachelor farmers.

2nd, the coops had free labour for the past century. Most of us growing up, saw our dad's farming away, tractor work, marts, silage but behind it all the wives were around the yard, feeding calves, sows, washing milking equipment, paperwork ect. All free labor that was going unnoticed and unpaid. Those days are past in Most places.

your biggest gripe there is with the calf quality and issue which I agree with you on. That was one of the reasons I moved away from jex.

But if you’re breeding a cow that your main driver is a big bull calf to sell then you may aswell be a suckler farmer. By all means try and breed a good calf but sacrificing the milking cow to do so isn’t the way. We’re farming to make money and the money is in milk not the calf. Ppl were right to follow best practice to be more profitable. I don’t agree with your view on that

Everything I posted about was true. It offended people that have the complete dairy Ireland Inc mantra that it's the greatest thing going. The industry is now back thousands of cows. I could see it happening locally and I still see more sell outs. Maybe if people just admit it rather than thinking they are still in 2016.

I'd make a great speaker at a positive dairy farmers conference. The fact that it's a thing is telling in itself. Or one of the originators is in jail for murder.

the world wants dairy protein and dairy fat. That’s how it has been for a very long time. My father was milking jerseys in the 80s because he was given a better milk price.

thats a fair few years ago now and I and many others have changed our view on calf quality but I still don’t and won’t be sacrificing milking cow genetics for a big bull calf. I’ve no issue selling our calves now. I wouldn’t get top prices like you but I’m happy that I’ll get it the other end from the milk

another question do lads cull low fertily index cows

I've a cow herd ebi was 15 when I got the cert ......she has a calf year in year out. ......... should she be culled . Who knows anymore ebi is just figures on a sheet of paper in my opinion anymore 🤷