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Welcome New Members/Old Members - Introduce yourself here!

Tokyo

Welcome to the Farming & Forestry forum! The purpose of this forum is to provide a general forum for discussions of a farming or forestry nature, along with general queries and exchanges of people's experiences. Debate and discussion are part of the natural flow of this forum, as is a certain amount of banter and back and forth from time to time. But remember that youngsters sometimes make their way to this forum, so try to keep that in mind when posting.

On a related note, we would like to thank all posters for their input and their patience in the recent Healthcheck thread, and for working together towards making the F&F forum a better place.

We value all the posters who make this forum what it is by sharing their experience, knowledge (and wit), and we would be delighted to welcome back any posters who have previously contributed to the forum and no longer do so - their contributions would be valued as always.

So, new and not-so-new posters alike, feel free to introduce yourself here. Tell us something about yourself, where you're from, what kind of farming you engage in, whether you are single and have road frontage, or just feel free to say hello.

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gozunda

lillen wrote: »

Hahaha, did not realize that this thread was in Farming & Forestry! So sorry.

Are you handy with a shovel at all?

Charliebull

piebaldskwbald wrote: »

Depends what you define interesting, but veterinary, so I suppose it's interesting :P

Well if you can't tempt a certain limerick man back nothing will,

grazeaway

Mid 30's rebel, boyii!!!

Full time working (early finish today for a change), and part time farming, sucklers and yearlings. Used to be dairy here up to about 10 years ago so was reared in the parlour.

Used to be fierce into the sport as a young lad and was handy enough at the soccer and football but frustrated hurler. Got very pissed off with all after a Bad injury in my late teens and decided to give college a good go and never looked back. Spent most of my 20's studying, drinking, chasing young wanns and working and trying the ol gaa again. Went traveling met the mrs and came back home to chase calves around sheds.

Would like to farm FT but not in a position to do so, cleared the farm debt a few years ago but with building a house and the ring on the middle finger need to day job to pay all that off.

kevthegaff

32 new dairy entrant 6 years ago!! Milking 90 cows but plans of expansion from next year on, play hurling and soccer (ones gota go after this year). Have worked and studied in IT before but wasnt for me. Oh ya girls im not single anymore;-)

trixi2011

late 20s lad here from Roscommon, spent nearly all of my 20s in nz working/managing dairy farms. Moved home recently and trying to decide what to do or were to go to next

. Big interest in everything farming and also like watching sports such as rugby and gaa.

The man in red and black

Mid-20's. From Kilkenny but living out in Canada since 2012. Working as a vet in mixed practice. The father is at home on the farm, used to be dairy, switched fully to sucklers there about 4-5 years ago as a way into semi-retirement.

Don't want to farm full time :eek: but the ideal life would involve having a small amount of land to keep 10-20 sucklers to tinker away at with embryo transfers and a twinning experiment I've been wanting to try for a few years. Controversial I know!

Still managing to play at bit of hurling even in Ontario believe it or not!

Plan to stick around in Ontario for another two years and decide what to do then with regards going home or staying permanently etc.

piebaldskwbald

The man in red and black wrote: »

Mid-20's. From Kilkenny but living out in Canada since 2012. Working as a vet in mixed practice. The father is at home on the farm, used to be dairy, switched fully to sucklers there about 4-5 years ago as a way into semi-retirement.

Don't want to farm full time :eek: but the ideal life would involve having a small amount of land to keep 10-20 sucklers to tinker away at with embryo transfers and a twinning experiment I've been wanting to try for a few years. Controversial I know!

Still managing to play at bit of hurling even in Ontario believe it or not!

Plan to stick around in Ontario for another two years and decide what to do then with regards going home or staying permanently etc.

Another vet, welcome! :P

visatorro

The man in red and black wrote: »

Mid-20's. From Kilkenny but living out in Canada since 2012. Working as a vet in mixed practice. The father is at home on the farm, used to be dairy, switched fully to sucklers there about 4-5 years ago as a way into semi-retirement.

Don't want to farm full time :eek: but the ideal life would involve having a small amount of land to keep 10-20 sucklers to tinker away at with embryo transfers and a twinning experiment I've been wanting to try for a few years. Controversial I know!

Still managing to play at bit of hurling even in Ontario believe it or not!

Plan to stick around in Ontario for another two years and decide what to do then with regards going home or staying permanently etc.

fair play to ya bringing the hurl with ya, whats the standard like??!!

The man in red and black

visatorro wrote: »

fair play to ya bringing the hurl with ya, whats the standard like??!!

Not just one, the climate is quite dry here so I've been going through hurls like they're going out of fashion. Costing a fortune. Breaking hitting the ball the odd time!

Standard is hit and miss. We usually play 9 or 11 aside depending on how many teams can get out. You'd have some lads putting over frees from their own half, sidelines over the bar and then the next guy throwing up the ball and missing it

Great craic and more social hurling really. Some matches would be of the standard of a good Junior B game in Kilkenny. Some would be more relaxed haha

greysides

The man in red and black wrote: »

.... to tinker away at with embryo transfers and a twinning experiment I've been wanting to try for a few years. Controversial I know!

Induced twinning?

The man in red and black

greysides wrote: »

Induced twinning?

Yeah, I did a few repro electives while in UCD and have wanted to try it since then. If you hit them with eCG as the follicle wave emerges you could allow for two dominant follicles to be selected. If you used sexed semen you'd stop the chance of freemartins. Freemartins would be advantageous for beef anyway, you'd still have enough heifer-heifer twins for replacements and the freemartins would have a better growth rate due to the testosterone exposure.

Again some people think it's hardship and asking for dead calves but the USDA have bred cattle selecting for twins and it works out to be more profitable. Yes you will lose some calves but overall you will have more live calves weaned. This is selecting genetically for a 50% twinning rate after 30 years. Slightly different from doing it hormonally as I suggest.

http://usda.biddersauction.com/cattle/index_files/Page347.htm

greysides

Probably an easier method than the previous natural service and embryo implantation method that was tried commercially previously.

The man in red and black

greysides wrote: »

Probably an easier method than the previous natural service and embryo implantation method that was tried commercially previously.

It sounds easy but I suppose the big cost is having to scan cows repeatedly to catch them at the right stage to hit them with eCG. You could just scan once and give eCG to whatever cows happen to be at the right point. Depends how aggressively it is being pursued. Would be a grand hobby for a vet with a scanner on their own cows but not sure would it ever be commercially viable to spend the money repeatedly scanning as if breeding a mare!

Damo810

The man in red and black wrote: »

It sounds easy but I suppose the big cost is having to scan cows repeatedly to catch them at the right stage to hit them with eCG. You could just scan once and give eCG to whatever cows happen to be at the right point. Depends how aggressively it is being pursued. Would be a grand hobby for a vet with a scanner on their own cows but not sure would it ever be commercially viable to spend the money repeatedly scanning as if breeding a mare!

Would extensive breeding of twins not be hard on cows though, surely their production lifespan would be shorter?

The man in red and black

Damo810 wrote: »

Would extensive breeding of twins not be hard on cows though, surely their production lifespan would be shorter?

It would indeed. You'd have higher incidence of retained placenta's, possibly more ketosis if not watching the feed, higher milk yield as a result of increased BST from twin pregnancy and more difficult calvings +/- sections. The majority of the cost of sucklers is in feeding the cow though so if she had two calves sucking her you don't need much extra grass. It has +'s and -'s but I think there is something to it.

PS, we're going badly off topic here, Greysides will have to give us yellow cards if we're not careful

greysides

Greysides is culpable too.

Reggie.

greysides wrote: »

Greysides is culpable too.

Shame on ya

Panch18

kevthegaff wrote: »

32 new dairy entrant 6 years ago!! Milking 90 cows but plans of expansion from next year on, play hurling and soccer (ones gota go after this year). Have worked and studied in IT before but wasnt for me. Oh ya girls im not single anymore;-)

No wonder your not as worried about the quota this year!! Good man!

Bodacious

I've not been on here for months kinda drifted away from it

Suckler farmer in west coast , some suckler to store and this year bulled and sold a few in calf beef Bred heifers.

Looking at AA scheme and organics and GLAS to improve profitability .. Young trained farmer , 36 and open to anything that turns a pound from the land without harming it /annoying neighbours

kay 9

Early 30s from West Galway , working & fightin with the ould fella

at Sucklers and a few sheep so a bit mixed. To sum it up, I'm a struggling farmer and a struggling plumber but what the hell I love it. Tis great to be alive. Health and happiness to you all.

Well you sir

Hi all. I'm from Tipp in early 30s as well. In the dairying game but not in a big way and plenty to learn. Married with two kids. Hopefully can pick up and contribute useful ideas to the forum.

moy83

Well you sir wrote: »

Hi all. I'm from Tipp in early 30s as well. In the dairying game but not in a big way and plenty to learn. Married with two kids. Hopefully can pick up and contribute useful ideas to the forum.

Welcome aboard . I love useful ideas so let fly with them

just do it

Was thinking of starting afresh as Adonis but some other geek beat me to it :rolleyes:

mf240

Well you sir wrote: »

Hi all. I'm from Tipp in early 30s as well. In the dairying game but not in a big way and plenty to learn. Married with two kids. Hopefully can pick up and contribute useful ideas to the forum.

Your not borrisikane/ clochjordan direction by any chance? They all say (you sir ) over there.

Well you sir

No but not a million miles away

jt65

mf240 wrote: »

Your not borrisikane/ clochjordan direction by any chance? They all say (you sir ) over there.

and say "well" instead of hello

answered an ad. on DD and greeting was "well" , tight with the luck penny up that country as well

Reggie.

jt65 wrote: »

and say "well" instead of hello

answered an ad. on DD and greeting was "well" , tight with the luck penny up that country as well

You get the same greeting around here but we ain't as tight with the luck penny

thegreatgonzo

Hi all, Galway woman here, currently part time vet nurse, part time helping parents with small suckler herd. Would like one day to keep some of the rare breeds, dexter, moilie etc. Applied for the distance learning green cert back in July.

piebaldskwbald

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

Hi all, Galway woman here, currently part time vet nurse, part time helping parents with small suckler herd. Would like one day to keep some of the rare breeds, dexter, moilie etc. Applied for the distance learning green cert back in July.

welcome! great to see another lady on here!

Kovu

piebaldskwbald wrote: »

welcome! great to see another lady on here!

We might hit double numbers soon!:P