Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

jaymla627 · 21-01-2026 10:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169012#Comment_124169012

His original excuse was using irish genetics destroyed the herd and he couldnt get the yields, plus the polish parlour workers were never up to scratch, he then got the robots in and bought-in 100's of thousand of euros worth of fancy cows, that didnt work out either and he pulled the pin...

He burnt through some money at the above, hadnt a good word to say about the robots either from memory

yewdairy · 21-01-2026 10:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169012#Comment_124169012

I use to follow him on twitter. You knew it wasn't to be taken seriously as a commercial farm when they spent a couple of hundred thousand on an underpass and the next year fully housed the cows

Danny healy ray · 21-01-2026 10:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169041#Comment_124169041

i wouldn't test till i have to fair chance you could fail thing to do with the calves is have them in good order and they will be farmers interested and they will make as much the calves that can be exported id even say that the exporters have some way round getting them calves exported

jaymla627 · 21-01-2026 10:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169041#Comment_124169041

You have to test every 6 months after you get two clear 60 day interval tests, in my situation, i had to test in september after getting a second clear test in february, and im meant to test again in March but ill be putting it off to may if i can, in my case i was restricted from any movements in aug for a few weeks as i had went past the 6 month interval...

You have to pay then for the test aswell for breaching the 6 month rule

degetme · 21-01-2026 11:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169098#Comment_124169098

Not up on the export but that wouldn't be surprising if there able to work around it.

visatorro · 22-01-2026 12:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169052#Comment_124169052

I spoke to him a few years ago when I was thinking about robots. I remember asking why he went Delaval instead of lely. He said the deal was done with lely and then he said they were walking around the yard like they owned the place. He ran them and gave Delaval the shout. I dont know a whole pile about Delaval robots, heard 3rd hand a places that weren't happy with them. Iv no evidence to back that up. Someone tried to explain to me that preselection doesn't work for indoor herds. Can't remember the reasoning behind that theory.

daiymann 5 · 22-01-2026 12:11AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169364#Comment_124169364

Well if i was putting in robots id give lely the run of the place to get them working id rather have doing that than not caring anyway if cows are housed full time robots are a no brainer

green daries · 22-01-2026 12:16AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169364#Comment_124169364

I think the newer Delaval robots are grand but they're was a lot of issues with the older models know of two yards where they were taken out..... one lad got out was a new entrant. other farmers got a Delaval parlour fitted. Do font know what the deal was but they were bought up by Delaval

Castlekeeper · 22-01-2026 08:58AM

I often wondered what the story was with all those robots that get thrown out, does the farmer take a massive loss?

I'm assuming that they only sell new ones here (?) and that the 2nd hand ones are offloaded out to the continent where there's a well developed market and support infrastructure around them?

There's plenty places where people seem very haply with them too.

22-01-2026 09:46AM

yes the farmer takes a big hit on them

TinyMuffin · 22-01-2026 09:56AM

the local Putin is taking out 6 lely robots and putting in an rotary parlour. Gave €2 million for 100 acres just before Christmas and the workers had to wait for 3 weeks for wages to come over the Xmas. He won’t employ Irish.

whelan2 · 22-01-2026 10:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169364#Comment_124169364

How's your robot going? What's the back up service like?

Siamsa Sessions · 22-01-2026 12:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169719#Comment_124169719

He's exactly the type of cut-throat businessman that "the industry" loves!

Get the IFJ around there quick for an interview and pictures to educate the rest of us slow-learners.

whelan2 · 22-01-2026 02:02PM

I'd live to know where the financing is coming from

jaymla627 · 22-01-2026 02:13PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124170332#Comment_124170332

Outside money in most cases, local digger man here done roadways/parlour/reclamination foundations etc for a chap, on a greenfield site conversion, that was recently purchased land, and it was been bank-rolled by the aboves father in-law who is in the quarrying business...

They"re will be well over 4 million plus spent in the case before its completed, was doing a job here mid summer and i said it was approaching 6 figures for work he had done on this project

visatorro · 22-01-2026 05:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169736#Comment_124169736

Going well atm. Cable had to be replaced before Christmas. Back up is good tbf. If I was in trouble normally you'd have someone in a couple of hours.

visatorro · 22-01-2026 08:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169620#Comment_124169620

There seems to be a good market for 2nd hand lely robots in Ireland. The older Delaval are very hard to sell apparently.

There has to be a big hit on anything that gets thrown out. If a parlour went in and for whatever reason was no longer wanted there'd be a big hit on it aswell

ftm2023 · 22-01-2026 08:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124169098#Comment_124169098

Last year at the start the calves here couldn’t go for export for the same reason. They seemed to end up making the exact same money as everyone else’s calves that were able to go for export. We’d never be keeping them a long time, it’s not that they’d of been great versus anyone else’s or anything.

Siamsa Sessions · 23-01-2026 12:04PM

Wet day here and nothing calving so I'm catching up on admin, phone calls etc.

Does anyone have a recommendation for cubicle auto-scrapers in the south-east of the country?

older by the day · 23-01-2026 02:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124172641#Comment_124172641

I thought you were not going to spend any money this year 🤔

Cubicle autoscraper. Is that another word for a wife

dmakc · 23-01-2026 03:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124172641#Comment_124172641

If you're starting from the point of no agent I'd just ring the scraper company I'm interested in and they'll provide you with the most local one

whelan2 · 23-01-2026 03:55PM

You might pick up a second hand one on done deal

green daries · 23-01-2026 04:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124173214#Comment_124173214

Absolutely 💯 unnecessary discretionary spending....... go stand in the corner 😬😁

Sacrolyte · 23-01-2026 04:17PM

Rope or ratchet ?

Siamsa Sessions · 23-01-2026 07:26PM

I’m only looking for a few prices at the moment and trying to figure out the cost to stay in the game.

I spoke to the local FRS an hour ago. No price mentioned but he was very much pushing the rope system. I’ve 2 spans beside each other and fairly short distances - one is 20m and the other is 24m from the back to the feed barrier including the 14-6 slat.

I know the pros of the rope system after talking to him but are there any major cons?

Wildsurfer · 23-01-2026 07:35PM

In my experience the Dairypower ratchet system with analogue control unit is the most trouble free if you're not trying to do anything fancy like putting a backing gate on it at some stage. I would have thought rope systems were more for longer runs?

davidk1394 · 23-01-2026 07:47PM

Rope is for longer runs and less passage ways. The pully wheels would want to be greased once a month at least, rope scrapers work best if there is a tank at either end.

Ratchet scrapers are more common if the passage ways are short but theres a couple of them. Gave the last while looking into them, the dairy power are the best. Simple to maintain and last a long time. Alfco are ok but the tongue on scraper that works on the track is fond of wearing or breaking after a few years.

mike3215 · 23-01-2026 07:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174054#Comment_124174054

Maintenance cost is serious if rope needs replacing. Especially on long runs. Pulleys need greasing weekly too or your into substantial expense too. Overall a more positive experience than their hydraulic counterparts in another shed though

green daries · 23-01-2026 07:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174054#Comment_124174054

I don't like dairy power rachet ones anyway they cause a world of trouble i presume he's talking about alfco rope ones I've dairy master here for 35, 20, and 10 years storth once upon a time were the bees knees.

green daries · 23-01-2026 07:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174137#Comment_124174137

Sometimes you can get a second hand analog box with new. Track and saddle

Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

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