Farming Chit Chat

blue5000 · 17-09-2012 06:52PM

Black Smoke wrote: »

In all fairness lads, what is wrong with plain simple cop on instead of all this mumbo jumbo academic diet baloney!
Cow goes in she'd in fairly good condition. No fat not thin. Gets a bit less than ad lib silage of reasonably good quality until month before time up. Then silage cut back by more than fifty percent. Gets hay instead if you have it. Straw if you don't. Mineral bucket as well. She will more than likely calf without help and go back in calf in due course. All feed measurements by eye and experience.
The farm walk I learned that lesson was when I was ten, running around after the old man!
I think all this stuff about trace element boluses and stuff, is merely a way to lighten our pockets!

Ok on some farms where there is no mineral deficiency it might be a waste, but I know from experience what works for me and I'm going to stay using them.

snowman707 · 17-09-2012 07:25PM

Black Smoke wrote: »

In all fairness lads, what is wrong with plain simple cop on instead of all this mumbo jumbo academic diet baloney!
Cow goes in she'd in fairly good condition. No fat not thin. Gets a bit less than ad lib silage of reasonably good quality until month before time up. Then silage cut back by more than fifty percent. Gets hay instead if you have it. Straw if you don't. Mineral bucket as well. She will more than likely calf without help and go back in calf in due course. All feed measurements by eye and experience.
The farm walk I learned that lesson was when I was ten, running around after the old man!
I think all this stuff about trace element boluses and stuff, is merely a way to lighten our pockets!

+1

TG some one else thinks along my lines

bbam · 17-09-2012 07:46PM

Black Smoke wrote: »

In all fairness lads, what is wrong with plain simple cop on instead of all this mumbo jumbo academic diet baloney!
Cow goes in she'd in fairly good condition. No fat not thin. Gets a bit less than ad lib silage of reasonably good quality until month before time up. Then silage cut back by more than fifty percent. Gets hay instead if you have it. Straw if you don't. Mineral bucket as well. She will more than likely calf without help and go back in calf in due course. All feed measurements by eye and experience.
The farm walk I learned that lesson was when I was ten, running around after the old man!
I think all this stuff about trace element boluses and stuff, is merely a way to lighten our pockets!

snowman707 wrote: »

+1

TG some one else thinks along my lines

In fairness lads a balance is what is required..

I agree we can't go round with a prescription pad and a weighing scales every time we feed... Equally I wouldn't like to see every farmer feeding his stock like their fathers did when they were ten, things have to progress...

Like every walk of life.. BALANCE is the key..
There is no harm looking at the most current thinking and ideas and then take from that what is practical to implement.

reilig · 17-09-2012 07:58PM

Black Smoke wrote: »

In all fairness lads, what is wrong with plain simple cop on instead of all this mumbo jumbo academic diet baloney!
Cow goes in she'd in fairly good condition. No fat not thin. Gets a bit less than ad lib silage of reasonably good quality until month before time up. Then silage cut back by more than fifty percent. Gets hay instead if you have it. Straw if you don't. Mineral bucket as well. She will more than likely calf without help and go back in calf in due course. All feed measurements by eye and experience.
The farm walk I learned that lesson was when I was ten, running around after the old man!
I think all this stuff about trace element boluses and stuff, is merely a way to lighten our pockets!

Totally agree. That's how its done around here. I'm just the messenger!
However, I have been using minerals for a few years now and they have vastly improved things on my farm.

pakalasa · 17-09-2012 08:17PM

Cattle don't get the same minerals in their normal grassland, like they did years ago. Back then they had access to all sorts of bushes and shrubs. Put a bit of ivy in front of a cow and she won't be long telling you what she thinks of it...:D

Muckit · 17-09-2012 08:19PM

reilig wrote: »

I'm just the messenger!

+1

me back in my box again

bob charles · 17-09-2012 08:28PM

and how many fellows in the auld times had weanlings going out the gate touching 500kilos under a year old. To stay ahead nowadays everything has to be considered and anything that gives an economic return from using it has to be considered. If you want to eat at the top table you gotta look for something that might give you the edge.

While I also agree that things can be over complicated but if you do something and your happy with the outcome stick with it, dont be chopping and changing.

Black Smoke · 17-09-2012 09:09PM

bob charles wrote: »

and how many fellows in the auld times had weanlings going out the gate touching 500kilos under a year old. To stay ahead nowadays everything has to be considered and anything that gives an economic return from using it has to be considered. If you want to eat at the top table you gotta look for something that might give you the edge.

While I also agree that things can be over complicated but if you do something and your happy with the outcome stick with it, dont be chopping and changing.

Guess I'm talking about feeding suckler cows in the couple of months prior to calving.
Feeding a calf to reach 500kgs at less than 12 months is another story I guess. Well ahead of what I'm achieving to be frank.

rancher · 18-09-2012 06:47AM

Richk2012 wrote: »

Cows in the field have access to Gain Pre Calving buckets and have for the last 6 weeks .
Last year i bought dissolvable pre calver mineral tablets from mayo healthcare that are hung in a net dispenser under the water line of the water trough and replaced weekly.
However i went off to co-op today after getting more information on straw diets and the need for protien to stop "impaction" , and i bought Gain Pre Calver Gold powder along with soya bean meal and will mix it with a small amount of mollasses for energy .

Yea, I never heard it being called ''impaction'' before, just a quote from the net, glad you got more advice, I'm not an advisor, just alerting you, murphys law and all that,I lost a lot of calves due to iodine deficiency in my first calving year and even the ones that live broke my heart before they stood up, but I would agree with other posters to get blood tests before going overboard on minerals

whelan1 · 18-09-2012 08:12AM

went for the cows in our old nissan patrol jeep this morning, cows where in a 30 acre field, jeep ran out of diesel :eek::eek: left yard at 6.20 didnt get back to yard with cows til 7.40... will be no need for a trip to the gym today:cool: have to go back up and rescue jeep after my breakfast, fuel guage doesnt work on it

snowman707 · 18-09-2012 08:35AM

bob charles wrote: »

and how many fellows in the auld times had weanlings going out the gate touching 500kilos under a year old. To stay ahead nowadays everything has to be considered and anything that gives an economic return from using it has to be considered. If you want to eat at the top table you gotta look for something that might give you the edge.

While I also agree that things can be over complicated but if you do something and your happy with the outcome stick with it, dont be chopping and changing.

every farm's situation is different and over the year's you will learn to care for your stock and their requirements

(like rancher with iodine) we obviously had a niggling ibr issue for a few years which didn't show in blood, nasal or milk samples eventually showed in pm

not much good producing a 500kg weanling if you are fecking away some of the profit in the wrong direction

Tipp Man · 18-09-2012 09:12AM

snowman707 wrote: »

not much good producing a 500kg weanling if you are fecking away some of the profit in the wrong direction

This is the key PROFIT

If you are producing 10k litres of milk from a cow or E grade BB weanlings weighing 500kg at 10 months it doesn't matter a damn if your not making money at it

Personally i'd rather produce less at a higher profit - so less inputs - less work - less investment -more money in my pocket

bob charles · 18-09-2012 09:35AM

my point wasnt about the profit on producing the 500kgs weanling, but this didnt happen in the auld days and the only way it has being made possible has been with the advances of technology.

pakalasa · 18-09-2012 02:42PM

Would you believe the total rainfall for this year, January to end August 2012 for Shannon Airport was only 10% more than normal. We got most of it in the summer. Feb, March & May were exceptionally dry, about half of normal .:eek:

http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp?Num=518

Birdnuts · 18-09-2012 03:12PM

pakalasa wrote: »

Would you believe the total rainfall for this year, January to end August 2012 for Shannon Airport was only 10% more than normal. We got most of it in the summer. Feb, March & May were exceptionally dry, about half of normal .:eek:

http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp?Num=518[/QUOTE]

Thats been a trend in recent years over much of the country - I feared as much after the exceptionally dry and mild nature of last winter. Personally i prefer my weather seasonal;)

tkehoe · 18-09-2012 03:54PM

anyone can tell me what time cahir mart starts tomorrow?

snowman707 · 18-09-2012 04:17PM

€112 on magenta direct

vanderbadger wrote: »

anyone buy vexcoxan recently, it was 130 euros in kerry coop there at weekend :eek::eek: jebus it used to be 100 euros not so long ago, is 130 the norm now ?

td5man · 18-09-2012 06:45PM

snowman707 wrote: »

€112 on magenta direct

vanderbadger wrote: »

anyone buy vexcoxan recently, it was 130 euros in kerry coop there at weekend :eek::eek: jebus it used to be 100 euros not so long ago, is 130 the norm now ?

How do you find magenta price wise?
Do many on here buy from them.

Tipp Man · 18-09-2012 07:06PM

tkehoe wrote: »

anyone can tell me what time cahir mart starts tomorrow?

Sale supposed to start at 12.30 - seems to be whenever they feel like it sometimes though. They even have 2 different times on their website - safest to call in the morning i'd say

you from that neck of the woods??

rancher · 18-09-2012 09:38PM

Birdnuts wrote: »

pakalasa wrote: »

Would you believe the total rainfall for this year, January to end August 2012 for Shannon Airport was only 10% more than normal. We got most of it in the summer. Feb, March & May were exceptionally dry, about half of normal .:eek:

http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp?Num=518[/QUOTE]

Thats been a trend in recent years over much of the country - I feared as much after the exceptionally dry and mild nature of last winter. Personally i prefer my weather seasonal;)

We might be in for a good autumn. grass seems to be growing better than the whole year, Jean Byrne RTE said last night that soil temps are 2 degrees higher than normal, weighed the lambs this evening and they are flying, also better than the whole year. maybe there's a change on

reilig · 19-09-2012 09:04AM

I see in yesterday's farming Indo that there is a dealer down south buying a lot of dairy weinlings for export to the uk for finishing. It would be an excellent market to develop as shipping would be so short. Hopefully it will get up and running properly over the next few weeks and put a floor into cattle prices by taking out the lower grade ones.

who the fug · 19-09-2012 09:26AM

reilig wrote: »

I see in yesterday's farming Indo that there is a dealer down south buying a lot of dairy weinlings for export to the uk for finishing. It would be an excellent market to develop as shipping would be so short. Hopefully it will get up and running properly over the next few weeks and put a floor into cattle prices by taking out the lower grade ones.

Will he not run in to problems with the anti live cattle protesters, there was a big fuss about that 10 year ago.

Seem like it is hitting the news again

reilig · 19-09-2012 09:34AM

who the fug wrote: »

Will he not run in to problems with the anti live cattle protesters, there was a big fuss about that 10 year ago.

Seem like it is hitting the news again

That was lamb in the uk.

Irish exporters have been through the mill with exporting facilities and and we have some of the most modern and best facilities in the world - despite the meat factories doing their best to prevent this.

bob charles · 19-09-2012 09:42AM

reilig wrote: »

I see in yesterday's farming Indo that there is a dealer down south buying a lot of dairy weinlings for export to the uk for finishing. It would be an excellent market to develop as shipping would be so short. Hopefully it will get up and running properly over the next few weeks and put a floor into cattle prices by taking out the lower grade ones.

just looking for an O+ 4L irish price would be €3.79 kilo vs UK of €4.22 or 43c per kilo

say a 300kilo carcass would be €130 per head. A nice few quid but I would think it would be quickly eaten into shipping and maybe a reduced price may be offered to slaughter Irish origin cattle in the UK similar to what happens in Ireland with imported animals

Just as a general thing - Considering the state of the country, are we really missing a trick by not adding value to the exported animals for the country as a whole. Say I sell a good weanling for a €1000, to feed this animal on and process in Ireland I assume you would be adding another €1000 if not €2000 to the economy as a whole which we could sure do with. In 2010 we exported 215k animals and if we were to say add a thousand to these animal in value added it would result in 215million quid extra for the country.

I know a very simplistic view and who is to blame anyway for the 215k live animals being exported, that maybe an easy one for some people to answer

bob charles · 19-09-2012 09:44AM

who the fug wrote: »

Will he not run in to problems with the anti live cattle protesters, there was a big fuss about that 10 year ago.

Seem like it is hitting the news again

Read the british forum and get some of the true facts of what actually happened in this case.

who the fug · 19-09-2012 09:51AM

reilig wrote: »

That was lamb in the uk.

Irish exporters have been through the mill with exporting facilities and and we have some of the most modern and best facilities in the world - despite the meat factories doing their best to prevent this.

If you do a google there has been protests about calves, and if they can figure out an angle to get media coverage then they will move on to cattle.

Re exporting facilities
Always gave my father chuckle that the old Cattle boats to England that he was on in the early sixties, were faster and newer than the passenger ferries. They also had orders from the Directors of B&I not to overtake the passenger ferries in daylight

reilig · 19-09-2012 09:51AM

bob charles wrote: »

just looking for an O+ 4L irish price would be €3.79 kilo vs UK of €4.22 or 43c per kilo

say a 300kilo carcass would be €130 per head. A nice few quid but I would think it would be quickly eaten into shipping and maybe a reduced price may be offered to slaughter Irish origin cattle in the UK similar to what happens in Ireland with imported animals

Just as a general thing - Considering the state of the country, are we really missing a trick by not adding value to the exported animals for the country as a whole. Say I sell a good weanling for a €1000, to feed this animal on and process in Ireland I assume you would be adding another €1000 if not €2000 to the economy as a whole which we could sure do with. In 2010 we exported 215k animals and if we were to say add a thousand to these animal in value added it would result in 215million quid extra for the country.

I know a very simplistic view and who is to blame anyway for the 215k live animals being exported, that maybe an easy one for some people to answer

I agree. I'm only quoting the paper. They say that these animals are being bought for feeding as opposed to immediate slaughter. They have a deal done with 2 factories in Wales for slaughter.

However, in times like these (especially in this area), farmers are getting rid of cattle because they just can't afford to keep them because there is no grass and ground is so wet. So anything that can get farmers out of a fix and put a floor into prices is welcome. There are loads of buyers for export quality cattle, but nobody wants to pay for a plain animal that was traditionally bought by Irish finishers. The finishers had it their own way for long enough without reverting back again to selling animals to them at below the cost of production.

All of the indications are there that cattle will be back up at a good price once this fodder/weather crisis is over next spring.

who the fug · 19-09-2012 09:54AM

bob charles wrote: »

Read the british forum and get some of the true facts of what actually happened in this case.

I just asked a question would they run in trouble with the protesters, I did not pass any comment about it, so give the old persecution complex a rest.

bob charles · 19-09-2012 10:00AM

who the fug wrote: »

I just asked a question would they run in trouble with the protesters, I did not pass any comment about it, so give the old persecution complex a rest.

Sorry didnt mean to be poking you, but the facts of what was done by the RSPCA in that case are shocking

bob charles · 19-09-2012 10:04AM

reilig wrote: »

I agree. I'm only quoting the paper. They say that these animals are being bought for feeding as opposed to immediate slaughter. They have a deal done with 2 factories in Wales for slaughter.

However, in times like these (especially in this area), farmers are getting rid of cattle because they just can't afford to keep them because there is no grass and ground is so wet. So anything that can get farmers out of a fix and put a floor into prices is welcome. There are loads of buyers for export quality cattle, but nobody wants to pay for a plain animal that was traditionally bought by Irish finishers. The finishers had it their own way for long enough without reverting back again to selling animals to them at below the cost of production.

All of the indications are there that cattle will be back up at a good price once this fodder/weather crisis is over next spring.

I dont think prices will be up that much in the Spring but there is a serious fodder crisis coming down the line. I think that it is now that those above us should start sorting out some sort of an action plan. From visiting guys is that small farmer with his dozen cows that is the worst affected. Lots of these guy have the calves sold and they are left with there bread and butter which they cant sell otherwise they will have no income next year. Forage collections next spring could be very common to keep these poor guys animals alive,

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