Farming Chit Chat

whelan1 · 11-03-2012 07:38PM

johngalway wrote: »

Get a great word score in Scrabble with it though.

just as long as the kids dont have to learn it for their spellings:)

Dupont · 11-03-2012 07:46PM

pakalasa wrote: »

Would you believe it's the same stuff used in non-stick frying pans. PTFE - also known as teflon. Developed by Du Pont.

well i dont like taking all the credit;)

stanflt · 11-03-2012 08:05PM

what a rollercoaster of a week

last sunday my favourite cow went down with milk fever- she had been making progress but today she broke her hip:mad: knackery collecting her in the morning

was milking this evening and noticed a cow had just aborted- dried her off straight away. no room for problem cows in the herd.

now on a more positive note 19cows calved with 17heifers and two bulls:)

and finally milked my first FLT heifer this week(milked my second soon after)

annoyed over losing two great cows but joyous over calvings

Finno59 · 11-03-2012 08:16PM

sorry to hear about for your milk fever cow, was this the same cow that would'nt stand and we thought had paralysis
Thats a great heifer to bull ratio were you using advantaged straws?

stanflt · 11-03-2012 08:28PM

Finno59 wrote: »

sorry to hear about for your milk fever cow, was this the same cow that would'nt stand and we thought had paralysis
Thats a great heifer to bull ratio were you using advantaged straws?

no just good semen

dont use sexed semen-poor conception rates

just do it · 11-03-2012 08:45PM

Richk2012 wrote: »

Thats a pure sickner , last year one of my best cows , a blue cross simmental went 2 weeks over her due date carrying an easy calving A.I belgian blue calf. One of the toughest jackings iv done on a cow and was seriously regretting having taken on the job when i got him to the shoulders but too late then. Eventually got him out , alive . lay in the straw for 3 hours balling and despite everything i tried he wouldnt try to get up or suck and didnt have the will to live. Died shortly after.
Left with a dry cow over the summer . Despite the harsh calving she was back in heat quite quickly because no calf on her . I AI'd her myself to an easy calving Blonde (Kilmoney Bruce) . This year she has calved a month premature with a pair of dead twin calves bull and heifer .. :mad:
The following day i noticed her extremely stiff and not much movement in her back legs . Very bad case of mastitis . Stripped her out on bad quarter , put 2 tubes in her and 50ml of pen-strep . That evening i returned to find her in a paralised state . The vet arrived examined her and treated with several different drugs to treat her "Gangrenous Mastitis" and gave her little chance of survival . True enough the next morning I had to call my local Knackery .
Moral of the story : in 2 years = 3 dead calves , 1 dead cow . a knackery bill and a hefty vet bill

Sorry to hear it, but some of them are just bad luck!

keep going · 11-03-2012 09:23PM

just do it wrote: »

Yeah the recovery is getting longer and longer alright. And isn't even related to sport - do you notice niggles just don't seem to disappear anymore?! I lightly sprained an ankle about 5 months ago on some rough ground down the farm. The fecken ankle still niggles me every so often:rolleyes:. The clutch in the tractor seems to aggrevate it:(

your right about that,when you were younger you fell you got up and on you go ,now you fall its feels like everything is broke.only ever got injured once in thirty odd years of football(probaly because i never played against myself;))tore medial ligaments but now i get pains in places i never knew i injured

whelan1 · 12-03-2012 12:10PM

clear test:D let 6 sucklers and their calves out , great to see them tearing round the field

alderdeer · 12-03-2012 02:54PM

Hey guys I'm posting from a phone and I couldn't start a new thread for some reason so ill ask the question here.
Do ye think a 16 mth old bull is good enough to serve around 40 cows.
It will probably extend over 10 weeks or so

redzerologhlen · 12-03-2012 03:00PM

alderdeer wrote: »

Hey guys I'm posting from a phone and I couldn't start a new thread for some reason so ill ask the question here.
Do ye think a 16 mth old bull is good enough to serve around 40 cows.
It will probably extend over 10 weeks or so

Nope, 10 cows would be enough to break in a bull of 16 months I would think. Letting him off with 40 is asking for trouble!!

blue5000 · 12-03-2012 03:00PM

Ya but depends on the breed, whether he was pampered with meal and is he physically big enough.

alderdeer · 12-03-2012 03:18PM

blue5000 wrote: »

Ya but depends on the breed, whether he was pampered with meal and is he physically big enough.

I'm looking at Limousin mainly and I'm getting mixed advice depending on who I talk to,.
I myself had thought I'd need at least a 2 ye old but they don't seem to be out there in too big of numbers it seems to be mainly under 18 nth. And yes there is older bulls out there but I'm a bit cautious about buying a 3-4 yr old. Are lads not just selling them because they don't like the calves they produced or troublesome

Kovu · 12-03-2012 03:24PM

alderdeer wrote: »

I'm looking at Limousin mainly and I'm getting mixed advice depending on who I talk to,.
I myself had thought I'd need at least a 2 ye old but they don't seem to be out there in too big of numbers it seems to be mainly under 18 nth. And yes there is older bulls out there but I'm a bit cautious about buying a 3-4 yr old. Are lads not just selling them because they don't like the calves they produced or troublesome

Not always. It's usually because a bull would be serving at 2 years old, then any replacement heifers kept on would be hassle to keep out of the herd and away from him.

whelan1 · 12-03-2012 03:35PM

we sell around 10 bulls a year, mostly 14-16months old mainly go to heifers first and then clean up cows...

alderdeer · 12-03-2012 04:02PM

whelan1 wrote: »

we sell around 10 bulls a year, mostly 14-16months old mainly go to heifers first and then clean up cows...[/Quote

I have 12 heifers that I was going to AI but maybe I could look at buying a second bull and devide them into 2 groups and off load him later in the year.

bbam · 12-03-2012 08:43PM

Feeding up earlier and noticed a few heifers in a pen with the first signs of ringworm...Didn't have any imravol so we jumped them into the chute and painted it with burnt oil..
Mad... Up to last year we had been clear for about 15-20 years, I know there was allot about on many farms last year.... Funny the way it came back..

Will need to get the Imravol and wash them ASAP to keep it at bay...
Thing is, there is 8 in the pen and 25 in total in the shed... Shared drinkers, open barriers.... I was planning on drenching any with visible signs and then only drenching the heads of the rest... Should be enough.. Another few weeks till they get out..

whelan1 · 12-03-2012 09:31PM

vet told us today its a waste of time putting oil on them now as what ever was in the oil before, that kills the ringworm is no longer in it

Bodacious · 12-03-2012 09:42PM

bbam wrote: »

Feeding up earlier and noticed a few heifers in a pen with the first signs of ringworm...Didn't have any imravol so we jumped them into the chute and painted it with burnt oil..
Mad... Up to last year we had been clear for about 15-20 years, I know there was allot about on many farms last year.... Funny the way it came back..

Will need to get the Imravol and wash them ASAP to keep it at bay...
Thing is, there is 8 in the pen and 25 in total in the shed... Shared drinkers, open barriers.... I was planning on drenching any with visible signs and then only drenching the heads of the rest... Should be enough.. Another few weeks till they get out..

hi bbam,

it's a complete pain alright. I'd get a couple of bottles Imaverol e22 a bottle in coop in Monaghan, my vet was more like 30/32 and a knapsack and spray the lot of them... and disinfect the hell out of barriers/ pens etc

snowman707 · 12-03-2012 09:43PM

alderdeer wrote: »

I'm looking at Limousin mainly and I'm getting mixed advice depending on who I talk to,.
I myself had thought I'd need at least a 2 ye old but they don't seem to be out there in too big of numbers it seems to be mainly under 18 nth. And yes there is older bulls out there but I'm a bit cautious about buying a 3-4 yr old. Are lads not just selling them because they don't like the calves they produced or troublesome

we sell a few lm bulls each year, I wouldn't recommend a bull under 20 months for 40 cows , also would advise not letting the bull run with them for the first 2 weeks, .. let him in to serve and then remove

1chippy · 12-03-2012 10:36PM

bbam wrote: »

Feeding up earlier and noticed a few heifers in a pen with the first signs of ringworm...Didn't have any imravol so we jumped them into the chute and painted it with burnt oil..
Mad... Up to last year we had been clear for about 15-20 years, I know there was allot about on many farms last year.... Funny the way it came back..

Will need to get the Imravol and wash them ASAP to keep it at bay...
Thing is, there is 8 in the pen and 25 in total in the shed... Shared drinkers, open barriers.... I was planning on drenching any with visible signs and then only drenching the heads of the rest... Should be enough.. Another few weeks till they get out..

Had the same a few weeks back. i went to the vet and he knew the ones i was talking about. he said just to leave them. he said it can depend a lot on the age and condition of the animal. it didnt spread outside the one pen (unusually) and all cleared up ok. let them out last week so at least that will hopefully clear up any chance of it spreading. they all seem grand now.

alderdeer · 12-03-2012 10:51PM

we sell a few lm bulls each year, I wouldn't recommend a bull under 20 months for 40 cows , also would advise not letting the bull run with them for the first 2 weeks, .. let him in to serve and then remove[/Quote]

Its turning out to be a right pain tbh. I had intended letting a young bull with about half of them and using ai on the best of them with the heifers but personal circumstances have changed that make it imposible for me to watch them myself and my ould lad can't turn them in and out so that's why there's the bull dilema

snowman707 · 12-03-2012 11:47PM

moved a couple of loads of ewes and lambs to the out farm to day, anyone in sheep will know loading ewes with young lambs at foot is not an easy task

over the winter we narrowed & extended the loading race and installed a backing gate with different anchor points in the handling unit, it worked a dream, took me over 35 years but i think i have got right at last

johngalway · 13-03-2012 07:57AM

snowman707 wrote: »

moved a couple of loads of ewes and lambs to the out farm to day, anyone in sheep will know loading ewes with young lambs at foot is not an easy task

over the winter we narrowed & extended the loading race and installed a backing gate with different anchor points in the handling unit, it worked a dream, took me over 35 years but i think i have got right at last

Herding mice at a crossroads comes to mind

whelan1 · 13-03-2012 08:55AM

snowman707 wrote: »

moved a couple of loads of ewes and lambs to the out farm to day, anyone in sheep will know loading ewes with young lambs at foot is not an easy task

over the winter we narrowed & extended the loading race and installed a backing gate with different anchor points in the handling unit, it worked a dream, took me over 35 years but i think i have got right at last

kind of the same yesterday letting out sukler cows up the road, could have done with an extra pair of hands as 2 of the calves could only walk backwards:cool:

pakalasa · 13-03-2012 09:56AM

I spent nearly 40 mins yesterday trying to get a cows head through the chute gate. In the end I had to give up before one of got a heartattack. I wanted to dose her with Zanil. You'd think I was trying to kill her. I did them all last July with it , no problem.
Anyone got any tips? It's an old style gate like those on a calving gate, not the automatic type. I tried lifting her tail and everything. Even poured some zanil on her feed. She wouldn't eat it because of the smell. Christ I had sweat pouring out of me for a finish. A red limmy, very quiet but stubborn.

JOAT · 13-03-2012 10:31AM

pakalasa wrote: »

I spent nearly 40 mins yesterday trying to get a cows head through the chute gate. In the end I had to give up before one of got a heartattack. I wanted to dose her with Zanil. You'd think I was trying to kill her. I did them all last July with it , no problem.
Anyone got any tips? It's an old style gate like those on a calving gate, not the automatic type. I tried lifting her tail and everything. Even poured some zanil on her feed. She wouldn't eat it because of the smell. Christ I had sweat pouring out of me for a finish. A red limmy, very quiet but stubborn.

If you put her in again for a few days and give her some feeding at the head of the crush. She will get used to it and come in no bother. when you think shes happy with the situation move the nuts outside the crush gate so as she will have to put her head out to get them. You will have to be quick with closing the gate though. if she realizes what you are doing and gets her head back out, you'll never again catch her. Especially if she is one of the older smarter cows!! Worked a dream for us before

leg wax · 13-03-2012 12:31PM

anyone looking for the big wheely bins for storage they are on dd now under other farming.

whelan1 · 13-03-2012 12:33PM

pakalasa wrote: »

I spent nearly 40 mins yesterday trying to get a cows head through the chute gate. In the end I had to give up before one of got a heartattack. I wanted to dose her with Zanil. You'd think I was trying to kill her. I did them all last July with it , no problem.
Anyone got any tips? It's an old style gate like those on a calving gate, not the automatic type. I tried lifting her tail and everything. Even poured some zanil on her feed. She wouldn't eat it because of the smell. Christ I had sweat pouring out of me for a finish. A red limmy, very quiet but stubborn.

put a bar behind her, put a halter or nose piece on her and pull her through... and stay calm:rolleyes: other think would be to give her a jab of a needle or prod of something in the butt

pakalasa · 13-03-2012 01:05PM

Thanks guys,
I have tried a bit of meal just outside the gate but no go. Maybe I will have to try her over a few days. I had the bar behind her too and prodded her aswell. I think a halter and pull her through might be the easiest.
A lot to be said for these pour-ons eh? :mad:

LostCovey · 13-03-2012 04:24PM

whelan1 wrote: »

vet told us today its a waste of time putting oil on them now as what ever was in the oil before, that kills the ringworm is no longer in it

Lead

Farming Chit Chat

Comments