stanflt wrote: » Anyone do it? How does it feed Costly Here's my thinking Pit beet in march- washed chopped and mixed with citrus pulp Was also thinking of pitting it with maize and brewers so I would have 1kg dm of maize/beet/brewers/citrus to have as a buffer feed for the shoulders and cut down on silage growing and stock the block at 4.5 Maybe just maybe even consider getting out of winter milk all together I reckon I can deliver 600kg ms per cow on a spring calving system Am I mad
Panch18 wrote: » Where you going to get beet in March? If its a hard winter beet will need to be out of the field early the idea of pitting with maize etc is definitely a goer though If you wanted to try the maize/beet 50:50 mix for a winter there is a guy in Kildare who was selling lorry loads of it of donedeal last winter. I'd say its rocketfuel
stanflt wrote: » this is all ive found so far
Cow Porter wrote: » "The cows are very happy" Is it the ethanol? Lol Is there beet locally or will you grow it? Do you intend clamping in march still and use maize already ensilled? Put a price on it?
Timmaay wrote: » I remember that, 65quid a ton delivered was abit steep, as maize is worth 55/t and beet only 40ish. Surely with grain quite cheap this year, and pits full all over the country, the price of beet and maize will fall also?
trixi2011 wrote: » You could graze it
Miname wrote: » would spuds be an option. i had a lad ask me would i be able to get rid of 300 ton of them next week. he wants 30 a ton for 1st grrade spuds he needs out of the cold storage. says the country is full of them this year.
farmer10 wrote: » Think it was €50/t delivered
farmer10 wrote: » Cows love them go mad for them once you give it to them but need to Buffer they can get acidosis if not getting digestable fibre in the diet
stanflt wrote: » might grow some next year and ensile in october was offered beet in march this year for 35ton chopped and washed if grown myself approx 40ton excluding wash and chop
Brown Podzol wrote: » Say an outside farm to maximise feed grown and utilise slurry a rotation of one third beet and two thirds Rvp. This on land not suitable for maize or to take the inconsistency out of growing maize and minimise the amount of tilling needed. Would that be a runner.
Timmaay wrote: » Different chap so, at 50quid delivered I'd have got it definitely.
Brown Podzol wrote: » It's the sustainability of the system. It's not every year that the feed you are talking about is abundant and relatively cheap. Buffer feeding that feed will need good facilities, adequate feed space so all can eat together, and extra work as cows will have to be brought in earlier to allow them time to eat buffer as against feeding meal in the parlour. Good quality silage bales work better as you are not opening and closing a pit as you need buffer and you don't need as much feeding space in my experience, you can milk away as cows are feeding and when half are milked shoo the rest into the collecting yard and leave the milked ones to eat the silage or return to paddock. 4.5, every thing needs to be right, price and weather, I would take a chance on the weather if the price was right. I was ready to stock at 4.5 this year but sold heifers as the price will be wrong. If the weather is wrong at a high stocking rate you will be buying the milk from the last livestock unit. Spring calving and milking all cows to within 45 days of calving, even without a winter bonus, has been very profitable for me in the past. It comes down to milk/feed price ratio and the milkiness of the cows, response to meal feeding. 12 kg dry matter silage cost is going to be incurred whether the cow is milking or dry. Is the 6/8 kg meal cost going to be covered by the ltrs produced and leave a profit and leave the cow in the condition you want her to calve in?. Say meal cost this year, 8 kg x 25c -€2, 15 lts@ 35 -€5.
freedominacup wrote: » Unless you contract out the beet growing it would be hard to recommend it to a novice. Beet is a hard enough crop to get right. The inputs are very high and you need to get good crops to make it pay. Maize is a lot easier to manage but the right site is harder to come by. If you know what you are about nothing will beat beet for dm yield.
keep going wrote: » you touched on something interesting , the now changed economics of milking cows a bit later or longer due to quotas going .while the margin in that milk is lower it will pay many years and feeding cows for qthe winter is just cost.i am thinking of growing wholecrop wheat or barley on rented ground using it to stretch autumn grass and milk on.while I suspect the economics of growing it might be tight it suits the ground if it comes this year as its rented year to year and is in stubble.
Brown Podzol wrote: » If possible undersow with a cheap grass seed mix. Harvest wholecrop as low as possible, the crop will be easier to pit and more stable with the grass. Also you could get a couple of grazings later in the year otherwise your field is idle from July.
stanflt wrote: » Grew whole crop here before- never again Doesn't feed like its suppose to and not as good as 78dmd silage
