Farming Chit Chat III

C0N0R · 21-11-2013 09:03PM

whelan1 wrote: »

yup, cant wait for tomorrow....:cool:

If tomorrow never comes?

Just got a bit of rain here last night, great job to freshen everything up, it's amazing how wet the legs can get in A short space of time with no waterproof trousers on.

jersey101 · 21-11-2013 09:12PM

Friend is back from nz next week after 5 months out there. Kinda sickened i didnt go for another calving season out there after seeing all his photos

jomoloney · 21-11-2013 09:17PM

reilig wrote: »

Each to their own experience I suppose. It's just what I find with my own cattle. Different breeding / feeding / farming produces different results

not much point in quoting fancy prices if you not making a profit ( I'm not aiming that comment at you personally BTW )

we have the same situation in the milk and beef tracker threads ,
very few are willing to list their TRUE production costs

at the end of the day that's all that matters , in my book any how

we have found more profit in finishing r and o hereford cattle than producing prize winning BB's

as you correctly state each farming situation produces different outcome

C0N0R · 21-11-2013 09:26PM

jersey101 wrote: »

Friend is back from nz next week after 5 months out there. Kinda sickened i didnt go for another calving season out there after seeing all his photos

When were you out here and where? It's a great experience, was a handy enough calving this year to which made it all the more enjoyable!

jersey101 · 21-11-2013 09:37PM

C0N0R wrote: »

When were you out here and where? It's a great experience, was a handy enough calving this year to which made it all the more enjoyable!

i was 40 min away from ashburton. 850 cows in a 50 bale rotary. Loved every bit of it. Went out in sept last year. Bit late but still got a bit of calving in. Came back in feb

Damo810 · 21-11-2013 09:58PM

Think I found the dream job. Driving that TM around the broccali fields of Kildare seems handy enough.

reilig · 21-11-2013 10:05PM

jomoloney wrote: »

not much point in quoting fancy prices if you not making a profit ( I'm not aiming that comment at you personally BTW )

we have the same situation in the milk and beef tracker threads ,
very few are willing to list their TRUE production costs

at the end of the day that's all that matters , in my book any how

we have found more profit in finishing r and o hereford cattle than producing prize winning BB's

as you correctly state each farming situation produces different outcome

I have listed my costs on a number of occasions includiing the cost of meal fed to the weinling!

We finished angus cattle for years. There just wasn't anything out of it.

It doesn't suit the land that we have and we are unable to grow any crops other than grass (and rushes)

Robson99 · 21-11-2013 10:08PM

reilig wrote: »

You are right though - you have to breed to your cows strengths. My CHX, LMX and BBX cows are all put in calf to the CH stock bull. Only the black cows get BB. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, but this year i had trouble picking them out and several of the black cows went to a LIm stock bull. I'll have no more than 5 Bb's on the ground next year!

Good crosses there Reilig. Were at the sucklers up to a few years ago. We always liked to have a Red Lim cow and used AI Char & BB straws. Always produced R+ & U grade. Black cows might have more milk but have a poorer grade calf IMO.

Got out of the cows and now buy heifers for fattening. Find the orange/ yellow Char the best for weight gain and kill out. [Red Lim/ Char X ]
Red Lim kill out well but are a bit slower with weight gain.
White Char are hard to finish unless they have a small frame.
BB always grade well and kill out well but its hard to get fat cover on them. They can also be a bit soft in the feet. Just my take on it.

Good prices by the way. Nice to be rewarded for breeding quality stock.

I think more suckler farmers need to take a look at what they are breeding. Its as easy to breed a good one as a bad one and costs the same to feed them

TUBBY · 21-11-2013 11:11PM

reilig wrote: »

I have listed my costs on a number of occasions includiing the cost of meal fed to the weinling!

We finished angus cattle for years. There just wasn't anything out of it.

It doesn't suit the land that we have and we are unable to grow any crops other than grass (and rushes)

why did angus not suit if you have rushy land reilig. Would have thought the smaller frame finishing at lower weight was suited more to wetter land like midlands and west (including my own land on this as well, it not meant as offensive)

C0N0R · 21-11-2013 11:46PM

jersey101 wrote: »

i was 40 min away from ashburton. 850 cows in a 50 bale rotary. Loved every bit of it. Went out in sept last year. Bit late but still got a bit of calving in. Came back in feb

40 mins in land? Some lads seem to come out and hate it, not weaned off the mother yet in a lot of circumstances. You would have been out at a good time, calving mating and summer. Nice handy sized farm by the sounds of it to.

jersey101 · 22-11-2013 12:05AM

C0N0R wrote: »

40 mins in land? Some lads seem to come out and hate it, not weaned off the mother yet in a lot of circumstances. You would have been out at a good time, calving mating and summer. Nice handy sized farm by the sounds of it to.

Near enough to mount cook, i was told the mountain was. The farm was grand but accommodation not great but i lived. Friend who was close to me had 1200 cows. Where abouts in nz are you?

C0N0R · 22-11-2013 12:10AM

jersey101 wrote: »

Near enough to mount cook, i was told the mountain was. The farm was grand but accommodation not great but i lived. Friend who was close to me had 1200 cows. Where abouts in nz are you?

Darfield, about 50 mins north of ashburton, not to far from Rakaia if u know it. Only a baby 550 cow farm with a 54 bail

jersey101 · 22-11-2013 12:17AM

C0N0R wrote: »

Darfield, about 50 mins north of ashburton, not to far from Rakaia if u know it. Only a baby 550 cow farm with a 54 bail

you out for long? I will probably go back for a holiday sometime, ive relations that used yo own half the land Christchurch is built on over there

Still you wont experience any thing like that in ireland.

simx · 22-11-2013 12:50AM

jomoloney wrote: »

not much point in quoting fancy prices if you not making a profit ( I'm not aiming that comment at you personally BTW )

we have the same situation in the milk and beef tracker threads ,
very few are willing to list their TRUE production costs

at the end of the day that's all that matters , in my book any how

we have found more profit in finishing r and o hereford cattle than producing prize winning BB's

as you correctly state each farming situation produces different outcome

id have no problem believing that as i myself have found more profit finishing p and o grade cattle towards suckling, never bred anything really fancy but shapey limmys, now no more calving, no more looking at nice cattle, but my bank acc. looks a 'bit' better

C0N0R · 22-11-2013 07:10AM

jersey101 wrote: »

you out for long? I will probably go back for a holiday sometime, ive relations that used yo own half the land Christchurch is built on over there
Still you wont experience any thing like that in ireland.

Been out just over three years, but looking at coming home in may. The city centre is built on bog so they wouldn't be missing out on much if that's what they sold!!

rancher · 22-11-2013 08:58AM

Anyone see item on Tara mines on the news, coincidentally a friend brought me down in the mine for a short tour (3 - 4 hours) last sunday.
Drove down to 1000 metres in a Hilux...machinery was unreal, loading shovels that cost half millon had remote control for digging in dangerous places.
They got £6/hr bonus every week in 1978 if they hit targets in production, on top of a huge salary.
Had a friend working in the bank in navan when they opened, she said it was like a gold rush

reilig · 22-11-2013 10:26AM

TUBBY wrote: »

why did angus not suit if you have rushy land reilig. Would have thought the smaller frame finishing at lower weight was suited more to wetter land like midlands and west (including my own land on this as well, it not meant as offensive)

It was costing too much to finish them. With the type of land we have, animals have to be housed for 6 months of the year. Silage alone is not enough to finish them. We have no land suitable for growing grain - so all had to be bought in. In comparison to others who could feed cattle on grass for 9 or 10 months of the year, costs for us made it unprofitable.

With weanlings, we can calve them in October before we house them, and let them to grass in the end of April - then they will have till september before we sell them - they'll get between €70 and €100 of meal (depending on the weather). Spring born calves will be kept till october or november and fed approx €50 worth of meal. We have good numbers and fairly good facilities so we have the cost of keeping the cow down well below the quoted average cost.

We don't produce "show calves". Like anyone else, we try to have them as heavy as we can - forward grazing ahead of the cows through creep gates, and creep meal for 2 to 3 months before sale helps a lot. Most of the weight comes from breeding - we don't buy in cows, but keep all our own replacements bred from the cows that consistently produce the best calves.

It works for us, it may not work for other people. Looking at pedigree bulls that i am finishing and weighing up the costs associated with feeding them to 20 months, I can't see where we could make more money by finishing cattle on our farm than we do on selling weanlings.

At the end of the year, we're still in business - that's the most important thing!

whelan1 · 22-11-2013 10:27AM

i have 4 cross scrapers which scrape into the feeding passage this has one long scraper. Yesterday evening the ram on long scraper wouldnt do full stroke, tried adjusting pressure on pump and couldnt see any obstruction under the bar. Got scraper up and down using a shovel against the scraper. Scraper man came out this morning it took him a good while to figure out the problem, 2 brackets gone underneath the bar.When they work right they are great when they dont work right its a total pain.

freedominacup · 22-11-2013 10:50AM

I met a baler on the way back from dropping the kids to school, knowing the guy on it something was recently or is about to be baled:eek:. We've all made silage in Nov at some point I'd say but in this cold I can't imagine there's enough sugar there for fermentation/preservation.

Timmaay · 22-11-2013 10:57AM

freedominacup wrote: »

I met a baler on the way back from dropping the kids to school, knowing the guy on it something was recently or is about to be baled:eek:. We've all made silage in Nov at some point I'd say but in this cold I can't imagine there's enough sugar there for fermentation/preservation.

ZG the bales maybe?

Whelan, what make, and how old are the scrapers? We have dairypower ones, at least 15yrs old now. Brackets have never gone on them, or even been checked to be honest, but I'm noticing more lateral play in the rail this year, 1/4 of an inch each way now.

bob charles · 22-11-2013 11:11AM

freedominacup wrote: »

I met a baler on the way back from dropping the kids to school, knowing the guy on it something was recently or is about to be baled:eek:. We've all made silage in Nov at some point I'd say but in this cold I can't imagine there's enough sugar there for fermentation/preservation.

Man rang me selling silage on the stem yesterday. Maybe my worst move this year by not buying it! who knows. Saved my bacon last year. Finished the silage here yesterday

bbam · 22-11-2013 11:13AM

whelan1 wrote: »

i have 4 cross scrapers which scrape into the feeding passage this has one long scraper. Yesterday evening the ram on long scraper wouldnt do full stroke, tried adjusting pressure on pump and couldnt see any obstruction under the bar. Got scraper up and down using a shovel against the scraper. Scraper man came out this morning it took him a good while to figure out the problem, 2 brackets gone underneath the bar.When they work right they are great when they dont work right its a total pain.

Ya... and a pain to fix too.. Usually by the time you're called out the damn scaraper hasnt been working for a day or two and everything is ****e from top to toe...

jersey101 · 22-11-2013 11:17AM

bob charles wrote: »

Man rang me selling silage on the stem yesterday. Maybe my worst move this year by not buying it! who knows. Saved my bacon last year. Finished the silage here yesterday

what will you do now without silage?

simx · 22-11-2013 11:19AM

freedominacup wrote: »

I met a baler on the way back from dropping the kids to school, knowing the guy on it something was recently or is about to be baled:eek:. We've all made silage in Nov at some point I'd say but in this cold I can't imagine there's enough sugar there for fermentation/preservation.

Lad up the road was flat out baling all day yesterday, kinda lad people would say is capable for anything, he spreads much joy giving the parish many topics to talk about

freedominacup · 22-11-2013 11:28AM

bbam wrote: »

Ya... and a pain to fix too.. Usually by the time you're called out the damn scaraper hasnt been working for a day or two and everything is ****e from top to toe...

With everything having to have planning now it should be a reg. that all new cubicle housing have all passages accessible to a conventional tractor/loader. Only some of ours are and if the wheels come off in any of the others it's murder to do anything in them.

Sharpshooter82 · 22-11-2013 11:30AM

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

The light at the end of the tunnel is the on coming train eh Bob

Or someone with a flashlight bringing more work

Timmaay · 22-11-2013 12:15PM

Fooking quad starts bellowing out smoke, and smell of an electrical fire. I stopped and pulled off the seat, few flames licking out the wiring loom! Tried to blow it out ha, wasn't working at all, was too close to the carb and fuel tank also, i ended up yanking off the battery wire. Would have gone up in smoke quickly otherwise I say. New bloody winter project for me now, find a new wiring loom and fit it.

vanderbadger · 22-11-2013 12:19PM

Timmaay wrote: »

Fooking quad starts bellowing out smoke, and smell of an electrical fire. I stopped and pulled off the seat, few flames licking out the wiring loom! Tried to blow it out ha, wasn't working at all, was too close to the carb and fuel tank also, i ended up yanking off the battery wire. Would have gone up in smoke quickly otherwise I say. New bloody winter project for me now, find a new wiring loom and fit it.

lucky you werent roasting your chestnuts on the fire

whelan1 · 22-11-2013 12:42PM

Timmaay wrote: »

ZG the bales maybe?

Whelan, what make, and how old are the scrapers? We have dairypower ones, at least 15yrs old now. Brackets have never gone on them, or even been checked to be honest, but I'm noticing more lateral play in the rail this year, 1/4 of an inch each way now.

Dairypower

jersey101 · 22-11-2013 12:54PM

Mother was in chemists in town there this morning and left here phone on the while she got a prescription. Went to pick up phone, phone gone. She only bought it 2 weeks ago.

Farming Chit Chat III

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