Food for thought. The boys seem to be recommending maize over a 3 cut grass silage system. And bales are a rob altogether.
Bearing In mind that a 3 cut silage system is only suited to early/dry ground and is impossible/risky in alot of the country.
They keep presuming everyone does a 2nd cut but they stopped happening around here once bales came in. Time and time again you see lads going for the early 1st cut and chasing silage for the rest of the year due to drought, etc. Risky business.
https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-zdpa7-2e454c05
Heard lately that local big winter milk guys have dropped maize and beet and are multicut grass with wholecrop in the diet now.
should be no issue with fodder supplies now with the max stocking rate now being 2.25 cows/ha. anyone that cut early around here has a serious looking second cut
it’s very hard replace a good crop of maize if you switch ,rolls Royce of forages .you need a good dry fields for it and access to a lot of slurry to grow a good crop..I put winter wheat into my maize ground last year for whole crop ,plan on putting in forage rye after it ,crop silage of it late April and then back to maize .ill try buy in few acres of maize to put in on top of wheat for this winter
Maize is so straightforward to grow in comparasion to wheat ,lot very expensive sprays/fungicides go on wheat
I use there acid and test dip …was using there detergent as well but stopped as think they changed the formulation ….its like water now no substance to it for whatever reason .great company to deal with tbf and nearly always prompt delievery
I was doing 3-4 cuts of high quality silage. Its very expensive to cut and keep indexes right aswell. A neighbour would have a high yielding fr herd does first cut 3 weeks after me but would grow alot of maize and wouldn't be afraid to feed meal. Like everything farms are different and I dont think theres any cheap way of pushing more milk out of cows.
Anyone dose milkers yet? What are ye using?
Different world altogether. No second cuts in this part of the country. Everyone struggling with nitrates now alright.
I'm already on the edge with banding. Another problem.
we ve our own gear so I think it's a no brainer.it makes the process much easier too but it looks like we ll cut every
Dont you get it lad not everyone has high quality land like you some of my neighbours only let cows out 3 weeks ago they ran out of silage there land is crap and there not in derogation or near 170 there great farmers imo
I know well. But not everyone has high rain fall or poor land either. I have 2 friends farming macamore land in north Wexford and into Wicklow. As wet as land as you could get and they cut silage the 1st days of may when that harsh drying wind came. There 2nd and 3rd cut is the milking cow silage. 1st cut is only fit for dry cows, some years it could be growing from the last days of September How do the lads up north manage to make good silage and they have v high rain fall and challenging land
2 other friends are farming in Monaghan and Sligo on heavy land with high rain fall. One with Holsteins other with crossbreeds and Friesans. Cows were out on both there places before may. They wouldn’t be afraid of seeing a bit of earth but they wouldn’t be on for destroying the place either
This is what Ai thinks if you dont believe more of us.
fair enough but still think taking 1 big cut of silage isn’t the answer. I took silage off ground last Monday that wasn’t grazed or zero grazed this year, it’ll be going nowhere near milking cows. Only fit for dry cows
Those rainfall figures are way off for wexford. It'd be 1100 to 1300 mm. I think I was on 1500's for last year.
800 and 900's would be carlow, kildare territory.
Those lads up north run an indoor system. Completely different scenario. Also, those lads you are following i presume are the ones who historically grabbed large tracts of the best land for themselves. I know people on the other side in the north and they are struggling to milk 30 cows.
The northwest had a much better spring this year I believe and best of luck to them. They deserve every bit of weather they can get.
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Lad you seem to have alot of friends around the country my guess is uour all poster boys theres gd land in all counties except leitrim its a pure kip the best land i ever seen in this cointry is in sligo along the coast serious soil.
Made some great friends during my time in macra.
for what it’s worth fully agree with you ..lads all o er the country on not so good land ,hilly land etc and they manage grass to very high standard …and can make early high quality silage …it’s all about mindset ….straight has mentioned over last few days about grass getting away from him and not been interested in baling toppings ..also mentioned been too lazy as been some of reason as to why grass quality has been poor …there’s a lad farming out beside trumps hotel in doonbeg….its as wet as farm. As you’ll get and he’s only ever a few days of shite weather away from housing stock …you’d go a long way to find better lad to graze and manage grass on a farm most lads would probably plant with trees
I've been feeling overwhelmed with work/family recently and grass is not always the top priority. I have held many grass walks here over the years and everybody is always very complimentary.
I've run the place for years with no topper or mower so i didnt always have the luxury of whipping out paddocks or following the cows.
Rest assured that the place here is being run to a high standard but I'd never be up there with the lads on X.
Ya, the lad in Doonbeg is a great farmer. The aerial shots really show off the effort he puts in. He still doesn't have cows out 300 days a year though or cutting silage in early may.
Any sign of a rise in milk price?
NO. Getting a fair price at the moment based on the return is my information. Supply is only starting to reduce now when it would usually have fell much sooner. I think its France and Germany have 30 percent of cows on Europe and they keep pumping out the milk.
there was rises in a couple of coops last month I think 🤔
https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/markets/big-milk-production-moves-in-april/
Ye will be waiting a while for a price rise. Unless grain prices rise.
Even after the heatwave we had here last week, the cows were already starting to mark their paddock last night. Getting a pile of rain by night and the forecast is the pits. Probably going to have to go back in. When we got the heatwave we grew more grass in 1 week than we had done since the previous September. I’ve cousins in Wexford, they’re always getting droughts. If I could move my farm to their neck of the woods it’d be the best farm in the world to grow grass 😂😂
Thats the one I bought at an earlier sale. Won't win any prices but tipping away
Ya, she seems grand like. I often wonder how the cows that people buy fit into their own herds and I presume they just fit into the middle somewhere. There are some lies printed in catalogues and newspapers.
Big sale coming up locally from one of the super herds. I might dip my toe for the first time if the price is right of course.
She wasn't haywire money. Luck is a great currency too. If she went lame or mastitis she'd luck very dear
Who is having that sale?
