Beef General Thread

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Would you mind telling that to Teagasc, Farmers Journal etc etc. It drives me nuts. Quoted a figure of €850 /Ha for suckler farmer in this weeks journal. Gross marhin of course. No mention of net margin. Talk about creative accounting. :mad:
Every time they do an article on Dairying, it's net margin. Why oh why is that?

because they want to convince all that suckler and beef men are hobby farmers not depending on it to make a crust and guess who that PR suits.As Pat Short would say.." that's riiiight" that endangered species, the factory owners,:mad:

Greengrass1 wrote: »

http://www.agriland.ie/news/drystock-farmers-focus-can-control/#
How many would agree with this?

He's spotted the emperor has no clothes on

agree.

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Not all my farm is reseeded either and I immediately see it in the milk tank when cows go from old grass to new graas or vice versa.

Out of interest does it affect yield, P, F or all 3? At a guess what kind of % difference?

Greengrass1 wrote: »

If I kept my calves on tge same old field all yr id half to calve at 3yr old whuch we were doing.
Suckling is no different.

Agree. Weight gain of calves still on cows not great here for last few years. This year for the first time they've gone into reseeds post weaning and the thrive is unreal in comparison. We're on old swards till weaning. Trying to practice in at 10-12cm and out at 4 cm as much as possible.

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Have not seen it until now. However I generally agree. Grassland managment leaves a lot to be desired on a lot of beef farmers. It is often down to the thinking to suit someone else. The amount of people that i made the point to and there answer aws that the silage contractor would be giving out cutting smaller paddocks etc. Lads complain about cost as well even though putting a water trough in the middle of the field and 20 pigtails and a few reels of electric fence would sort the issue.

However we also have to remember that beef farms cannot supplement at grass like dairy farmers. During this summer I came across a few dairy farmers complaining about the amount of nuts they fed and having to open silage. I made the point to one that did he not consider letting covers build and grazing heavier covers due to drouth. While he made the point about it being against the grain he accepted that it would have been better than feeding silage.

I don't understand your point on building covers. When drought starts to bite is always around the time second cut is being taken. Grass is growing strongly until it isn't. Last year and this we fed bales within a fortnight of baling the last paddock surpluses.

He's wrong about the high covers also. We decided not to bale two large paddocks in early July and graze them instead, huge mistake they're not right since. Covers built in the back end remain leafy there's no imperative within the plants physiology for it to do anything else. In early/mid summer as soon as the plant is stressed it starts to head and once that happens utilisation plummets. Stressed paddocks can start to head out at covers well under 1000kg. If I'm ever in that situation again I'll be baling regardless of drought or forecasts.

Its alright to build covers for this time of year but on farms like ours that are typically wet if the weather gets bad it will be walked into the ground and ran out their arses . Its also not an option to let them strip graze for a few hours and back to the shed to avoid poaching like a dairy farmer as I'm just not around .

Would it be tearing the arse out of it to leave the calf say 11 months sucking the cow ? Or are they better off standing on their own two feet early and getting everything they need from grass .
The father rang the last day to say one of the cows calfed but her "weanling " was still sucking her ! When I went down to separate them her calf and last calf sucking her from either side and there didn't seem to be any loss on the newborn ( just hoping the bainne bui was good enough for him ) or the cow either but she is a milky aa x .
Just wondering do ye find better weight gain in early weaned calfs that get a bit of nuts or lads that are left on the cow a good 8/9 months if not longer

Bullocks wrote: »

Its alright to build covers for this time of year but on farms like ours that are typically wet if the weather gets bad it will be walked into the ground and ran out their arses . Its also not an option to let them strip graze for a few hours and back to the shed to avoid poaching like a dairy farmer as I'm just not around .

a few dairy farmers i know switched from strip grazing to 24 or 36 hr paddock with separate entry and exit points a few years ago to combat poaching on black ground, as well it ended the problem of grass at end of large fields being strip grazed, being just that much too strong for quality milk production. as well when i switched from dairying i found that when checking for bulling the problem of cows expecting fresh grass 2 or 3 times daily was was eliminated along with the trampled grass just behind strip wire. i haven't converted to scrapping the topper or baling surplus paddocks yet(need practice at admiring scrawny grass),as surrounded by dairymen. however the practice of shopkeepers and successful business men buying farms with surplus cash and putting it as costs against their business to dodge tax imo and regarding it as money in bank for future is not confined to midlands and city suburbs and may well be the subject of some of the newspapers remarks.

sandydan wrote: »

a few cows i checked, their milk is like water imo at this stage anyway

Stands to reason. On the grass vs silage thread the dairy boys note milk solids drop back on autumn grass and cows need supplementation to keep up milk quality.

freedominacup wrote: »

I don't understand your point on building covers. When drought starts to bite is always around the time second cut is being taken. Grass is growing strongly until it isn't. Last year and this we fed bales within a fortnight of baling the last paddock surpluses.

He's wrong about the high covers also. We decided not to bale two large paddocks in early July and graze them instead, huge mistake they're not right since. Covers built in the back end remain leafy there's no imperative within the plants physiology for it to do anything else. In early/mid summer as soon as the plant is stressed it starts to head and once that happens utilisation plummets. Stressed paddocks can start to head out at covers well under 1000kg. If I'm ever in that situation again I'll be baling regardless of drought or forecasts.

In dairying that is grand as milk produced off ration is still profitable. However with beef any weighted gained by ration in general is not profitable. That is not to say that targeted meal feeding is not a good idea as it may allow you to increase grade or target a higher price. However beef farmers cannot make money by supplementing if grass runs out.

My point to the dairy farmers was if your grass is tight and you are considering feeding silage due to drouth might it not be an option to lenghten the rotation. Yes grass will be a bit more stemmy but your costs may be lower. This year might not have been the year to try as a strong milk price made it more viable to produce milk at any cost. However if milk goes sub 30c/L for a while the viability might change.

Generally this summer I lenghtened rotation as if I did not I would have ran out of grass and had to feed meal and silage which is not profitable in a beef situtation.

Charliebull wrote: »

anyone going to have a go at the Teagasc Beef Free Liver Fluke Testing

Yep.