Dairy Farming General

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 10:35AM

stanflt wrote: »

ill be putting 150 through 10units here this year and maybe up to 200next

parlour is 3years away-if milk price stays above 32c this year i might start the shed next year as i can afford it

relief lad is a better option than spending 250k at the moment imo

Parlour is definitely not an obstacle for me It doesn't bother me having to spent a few hrs a day milking aa long as I'm making money.
I'll have a yr of hardship. I've had plenty of them.
The way the yard is now makes days alot longer than milking cows

whelan2 · 10-03-2015 10:38AM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Parlour is definitely not an obstacle for me It doesn't bother me having to spent a few hrs a day milking aa long as I'm making money.
I'll have a yr of hardship. I've had plenty of them

i can see where you are coming from, but the time you are in the parlour could be spent doing other stiuff, milked 360 cows through a 8 unit double up parlour while on placement in england , total pain in the butt

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 10:41AM

whelan2 wrote: »

i can see where you are coming from, but the time you are in the parlour could be spent doing other stiuff, milked 360 cows through a 8 unit double up parlour while on placement in england , total pain in the butt

I know a parlour would be lovely but imo it's a toss between that and 60 cubicles and a 150 cow lagoon.
I'm young and able
I'd prefer that than milking cows up in dirty straw beds
dry cows are A1 on straw beds

Muckit · 10-03-2015 11:15AM

frazzledhome wrote: »

Lifestyle is some thing you can only consider when you can afford it. Lifestyle can be very expensive.

A lad would be just hoping he'd get there before donning the wooden anorak

awaywithyou · 10-03-2015 12:45PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I know a parlour would be lovely but imo it's a toss between that and 60 cubicles and a 150 cow lagoon.
I'm young and able
I'd prefer that than milking cows up in dirty straw beds
dry cows are A1 on straw beds

anyone who put in a new parlour never regretted it...... and they usually say it should have been done yrs before it was done....

you might be young and able but cows standin for hrs on end everyday in a collecting yard wont make you money...

frazzledhome · 10-03-2015 12:56PM

Best tool ever bought. Welder genny

keep going · 10-03-2015 01:07PM

Theres alot of talk about the parlour and rightly so but give consideration to doing an under ground concree tank instead of a lagoon, spreading rainwater is the big unseen cost especially is it drawn over a road which in time to come all slurry will be at max stocking rates.leaves alot of options for the future and if you build a square tank can be cost effective

keep going · 10-03-2015 01:08PM

Dawggone wrote: »

Two heifers aborted last night.
Both were about six months incalf.

Im feeling your pain

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 01:50PM

keep going wrote: »

Theres alot of talk about the parlour and rightly so but give consideration to doing an under ground concree tank instead of a lagoon, spreading rainwater is the big unseen cost especially is it drawn over a road which in time to come all slurry will be at max stocking rates.leaves alot of options for the future and if you build a square tank can be cost effective

Had outdoor tank in Old farm. Was brill stuff. As teag advisor said it's only a metre of water
ill still catch water as it'll be outside

Timmaay · 10-03-2015 02:48PM

stanflt wrote: »

relief lad is a better option than spending 250k at the moment imo

250k on a parlour hmmmm. That's 8 years worth of milk relief, at 50 quid for each milking. There is a balance point, I'm happy out with the 40k I've spend on at 14 unit, which I'd have no problem putting 170 cows through (12 rows) if the opportunity ever came up.

mahoney_j · 10-03-2015 03:00PM

keep going wrote: »

Theres alot of talk about the parlour and rightly so but give consideration to doing an under ground concree tank instead of a lagoon, spreading rainwater is the big unseen cost especially is it drawn over a road which in time to come all slurry will be at max stocking rates.leaves alot of options for the future and if you build a square tank can be cost effective

Agree re parlour,gg your young and energetic but milking 110/150 cows through a 6 unit will sicken u long term with the endless hours in parlour.not sustainable to give 4 5 6 hours a day in parlour.u don't need anything fancy 14/16 unit would serve u well.on the lagoon I'd argue u don't need one as they are suited to someone with large nos like greenfield or feazzeld.can also be tricky with local co co to get planning.your young and ambitious back yourself get plans and financial projections together and go have a chat with the bank.dont be scared of debt.no criticisim intended here but you seem to know where u want to get to nos wise but from what I read here you ain't thinking the whole thing through.u need a milk tank ,more parlour units,cubicles slurry storage for a start no poinr loading on more cows without above.also labour requirements with 150 cows will alter unless u want to live in the yard.around here any dairy farmer in the 50 to 130/150 cow herd have near all single labour units with exception of spring/relief milking and contracting .all have invested in there yards so one person can manage most of the time.

jaymla627 · 10-03-2015 03:28PM

The one thing that always amazes about alot of dairy farmers when it comes to parlours is they have absoloutely no problem dropping 60 our 70 k on a tractor but will happily bollock around in a 6 unit parlour 5 to 6 hours a day milking cows cause they reckon they cant justify upgrading the parlour...

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 04:45PM

All points taken lads
have a 4k litre bulk tank coming on Monday
that along with our other 2k litre milk tank will see us through for this yr.
definitely not afraid of debt mj It's bred into me

we'll price everything as regards slurry and which ever works put cheapest will be put in.
Myself and dad have agreed we'll put in kennels for rest of cow accommodation when ever that is
but 60 cubicles if it can be done this yr and rearrange yard a small bit will do an awful lot for amount of work we have to do here during winter.
something will be done this yr and another thing next.
definitely not putting on cows for the sake of it. I want to milk more and get max potential from the farm

Trouble with parlour is all the little niggly things increase price some amount.

Markcheese · 10-03-2015 05:04PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Can't be added on to. Pipes are too small as well as pump. If they weren't I'd push it up no problem but it has to be a whole new job.
27k 2 yrs ago when we priced it feeders nit Inc in that.
I'll be putting 13 through it this yr.
grant is there too which has to be used by august

Possibly a daft suggestion but could you install a second 6 unit cheapo machine ( including vacuum pump, lines , milk pump the lot - ( basically 2, 6 unit machines working in tandem in the one pit )
You'd pick up a basic 6 on done deal for buttons- and it'd do till you get the real deal up and running -

Milked out · 10-03-2015 05:04PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

All points taken lads
have a 4k litre bulk tank coming on Monday
that along with our other 2k litre milk tank will see us through for this yr.
definitely not afraid of debt mj It's bred into me
we'll price everything as regards slurry and which ever works put cheapest will be put in.
Myself and dad have agreed we'll put in kennels for rest of cow accommodation when ever that is
but 60 cubicles if it can be done this yr and rearrange yard a small bit will do an awful lot for amount of work we have to do here during winter.
something will be done this yr and another thing next.
definitely not putting on cows for the sake of it. I want to milk more and get max potential from the farm

Trouble with parlour is all the little niggly things increase price some amount.

That's it gg it all can't be done at once so plan it out and you.ll get there fine, one thing on putting in cubicles if you are putting em in esp next to a wall make sure the bed is long enough and use a headrail/ breast rail to keep them back as they need space to lunge forward to get up. 95% of cows here that get stuck are in the cubicles which have beds which are too short and up against a wall, and if you can design it so you can get the loader up to get out a downer cow. You may know all this anyway but spent half the f*****g morning pulling out a perfectly healthy milker out who got stuck because of that reason, and she still hasn't gotten up in the field.

frazzledhome · 10-03-2015 05:15PM

Markcheese wrote: »

Possibly a daft suggestion but could you install a second 6 unit cheapo machine ( including vacuum pump, lines , milk pump the lot - ( basically 2, 6 unit machines working in tandem in the one pit )
You'd pick up a basic 6 on done deal for buttons- and it'd do till you get the real deal up and running -

Was having same thought. Have seen two 10 done that way

kowtow · 10-03-2015 05:23PM

Milked out wrote: »

That's it gg it all can't be done at once so plan it out and you.ll get there fine, one thing on putting in cubicles if you are putting em in esp next to a wall make sure the bed is long enough and use a headrail/ breast rail to keep them back as they need space to lunge forward to get up. 95% of cows here that get stuck are in the cubicles which have beds which are too short and up against a wall, and if you can design it so you can get the loader up to get out a downer cow. You may know all this anyway but spent half the f*****g morning pulling out a perfectly healthy milker out who got stuck because of that reason, and she still hasn't gotten up in the field.

Thinking of turning our dark, narrow & now roofless cubicle shed (scraper passage in middle) into a single row of cubicles with a decent bed length, with a generous scraper passage and a feed barrier on the other side (where the facing row of beds is at the moment)

Any ideas / thoughts on bed size, passage size, and how to turn the remnants of the cubicles on the top side into a feed stance? Wondering if I am going to have to break them all out - have already done in one breaker hammer on them... I think the lime toughens up the concrete.

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 05:40PM

Markcheese wrote: »

Possibly a daft suggestion but could you install a second 6 unit cheapo machine ( including vacuum pump, lines , milk pump the lot - ( basically 2, 6 unit machines working in tandem in the one pit )
You'd pick up a basic 6 on done deal for buttons- and it'd do till you get the real deal up and running -

That's actually a brilliant idea.

blackdog1 · 10-03-2015 05:43PM

I see there was some very high prices in the ucd auction. The 12 unit went for 28k and the bulk tank for 9.5k quite a lot when you add in auctioneers fees plus delivery and installation.

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 05:44PM

Milked out wrote: »

That's it gg it all can't be done at once so plan it out and you.ll get there fine, one thing on putting in cubicles if you are putting em in esp next to a wall make sure the bed is long enough and use a headrail/ breast rail to keep them back as they need space to lunge forward to get up. 95% of cows here that get stuck are in the cubicles which have beds which are too short and up against a wall, and if you can design it so you can get the loader up to get out a downer cow. You may know all this anyway but spent half the f*****g morning pulling out a perfectly healthy milker out who got stuck because of that reason, and she still hasn't gotten up in the field.

The way I'm thinking of putting cubicles in this shed they will run vertical to the feed passage
2 double rows In middle and single row each side of them be 10 cubicles to a row
15 ft bays so passage will be 6 ft if I put in 8 ft bed.
feed passage would be near 15 ft.
Be hard get a cow out if it got stuck now that I'm thinking of it

Would passages be too small at 6 ft?

Buford T. Justice XIX · 10-03-2015 06:25PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

The way I'm thinking of putting cubicles in this shed they will run vertical to the feed passage
2 double rows In middle and single row each side of them be 10 cubicles to a row
15 ft bays so passage will be 6 ft if I put in 8 ft bed.
feed passage would be near 15 ft.
Be hard get a cow out if it got stuck now that I'm thinking of it

Would passages be too small at 6 ft?

8 foot minimum I would imagine and a good 16 foot at the end to get a tractor up.

I have 12 foot and 8 foot passage and it's only the yard tractor can go up front ways.

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 06:27PM

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

8 foot minimum I would imagine and a good 16 foot at the end to get a tractor up.

I have 12 foot and 8 foot passage and it's only the yard tractor can go up front ways.

that's the only way I can get cubicles into shed properly
was thinking of getting a little small Ford or mf for the job of scraping

trixi2011 · 10-03-2015 07:11PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

that's the only way I can get cubicles into shed properly
was thinking of getting a little small Ford or mf for the job of scraping

have 6 1/2 and 7 ft in a shed here work ok but you wouldn't want the passage ways to long or the slurry being scraped will start to go up on the beds
.On the parlour side of thing worked in a 22 unit a few years ago that was a 12 and a 10 joined together worked well they were 2 completely different makes of parlour and had 2 different type of pulsation was in over 10 years and no problems

Deepsouthwest · 10-03-2015 07:16PM

Markcheese wrote: »

Possibly a daft suggestion but could you install a second 6 unit cheapo machine ( including vacuum pump, lines , milk pump the lot - ( basically 2, 6 unit machines working in tandem in the one pit )
You'd pick up a basic 6 on done deal for buttons- and it'd do till you get the real deal up and running -

Best idea so far, give that man a medal!

Deepsouthwest · 10-03-2015 07:18PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

The way I'm thinking of putting cubicles in this shed they will run vertical to the feed passage
2 double rows In middle and single row each side of them be 10 cubicles to a row
15 ft bays so passage will be 6 ft if I put in 8 ft bed.
feed passage would be near 15 ft.
Be hard get a cow out if it got stuck now that I'm thinking of it

Would passages be too small at 6 ft?

No, have them here no problem

whelan2 · 10-03-2015 07:28PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

The way I'm thinking of putting cubicles in this shed they will run vertical to the feed passage
2 double rows In middle and single row each side of them be 10 cubicles to a row
15 ft bays so passage will be 6 ft if I put in 8 ft bed.
feed passage would be near 15 ft.
Be hard get a cow out if it got stuck now that I'm thinking of it

Would passages be too small at 6 ft?

automatic scrapers aren't that expensive, you can also get the downer cow out by pushing her down with the scraper

Greengrass1 · 10-03-2015 07:30PM

whelan2 wrote: »

automatic scrapers aren't that expensive, you can also get the downer cow out by pushing her down with the scraper

one step at a time as they say. A little scraper tractor would be handy for scraping collecting yard

whelan2 · 10-03-2015 07:53PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

one step at a time as they say. A little scraper tractor would be handy for scraping collecting yard

ye i know but i couldnt live with out them now, you'd get a scraper tractor for the same price as the scrapers

cjpm · 10-03-2015 08:04PM

Milked out wrote: »

That's it gg it all can't be done at once so plan it out and you.ll get there fine, one thing on putting in cubicles if you are putting em in esp next to a wall make sure the bed is long enough and use a headrail/ breast rail to keep them back as they need space to lunge forward to get up. 95% of cows here that get stuck are in the cubicles which have beds which are too short and up against a wall, and if you can design it so you can get the loader up to get out a downer cow. You may know all this anyway but spent half the f*****g morning pulling out a perfectly healthy milker out who got stuck because of that reason, and she still hasn't gotten up in the field.

My heart was broken with cows getting stuck in cubicles. Fella told me about brisket boards, best thing I ever put in. Cows now never lie too far forward on the beds giving plenty of lunge space when they do try to stand up.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 10-03-2015 08:58PM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

that's the only way I can get cubicles into shed properly
was thinking of getting a little small Ford or mf for the job of scraping

Aaah, gotcha now.

That's probably the best compromise alright.

I have a 20yo Ursus with a loader for the fertiliser and lifting bits and bobs. Scraper tractor nearly all year and agitates the overground tank too. I'd be lost without her at times. You'd pick a handy one up for 3-4k or less even.

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