what's the best thing you learnt on boards.ie Farming

Not sure if 'the best' is the right words to use but I realise that I'm not the only one prone to feel a bit down/fed up/whatever word you want to use.

Also learned that reggie likes posting bits on here.:)

On actual farming, putting tub of dry cow minerals in shed rather than shaking on silage works a treat

The fostering bucket. Great thing and saves the tying up of ewes. I think they take to lams quicker as they are not demented with being constrict in a small space. Had two this year and worked a treat. Left it on them for a week and no trouble now.

bonaparte2 wrote: »

the geared electric reel

Expensive the first day but priceless after that. A God send for a one man band trying to work with cattle.

The real difference between milk recorded yields and milk delivered per cow and what it indicates about your management. Concentrated my mind on a number of husbandry areas I probably neglected before.

Same as whelan above. Everything I now know about handling cattle and welfare of cattle I learned from boards. The folks on it ain't bad either


Well some of ye

Learnt everything I know about farming on here...... This time 3 yrs ago was a townie with absolutely no interest what-so-ever in farming - unfortunately the untimely passing of an uncle (age 60) turned our lives upside down & inside out.

Ran a family business with my OH for my Dad & another uncle, tried to do both until last December - life was a crazy. We don't live on the farm, OH went to the farm at 5.30 am to do the days farming & back for 9am when we would both go to work for the day after dropping the child to school, after work both out to the farm if anything needed to be done, Saturday & Sunday spent farming, couldn't keep it all going, no quality of life. Closed business last December due to my dads ill health & both my Dad (69) & uncle (74) retired. Best thing ever.

Now OH farms full time & takes care of child and I am working full time on a 9mth contract & loving it, can forget the job once I walk out the door. Hubby even has dinner on the table when I come home most evenings. Our evenings are free & if OH needs a hand we can get it done at weekends or an hr in the evening. We have a life again.

Learnt about soil testing, spreading lime, reseeding, growing grass, silage, bought a grass Harrow (reggie's reccomendations) was able to advise OH to put a temp elec fence across field to get cattle to eat the grass off better rather than having the run of a 5 acre field straight off (now I see he has most paddocks set up this way) learnt about spraying, ended up buying a sprayer, (OH in middle of sprayer course) fencing, dosing & the list goes on & still a lot to learn.... Thanks everyone

Oh ya & calves... Now have 20 calves, 10 weaned, 8 in process of being weaned & 2 on OAD for another little while... Reggie again....

It like a discussion group in my pocket.

Learned a little bit about everything from here - particularly like seeing pics of other peoples setups too, and has given me some great insight over the past couple of years.

bonaparte2 wrote: »

the geared electric reel

Case in point - ordered one of these for the old man about half an hour ago, thanks to this thread.

P_Cash wrote: »

What's a geared real, versus my standard one

Standard reel - one turn of the crank gives one turn of the spool.

Geared reel - one turn of the crank gives 3-4 turns of the spool, depending on how it's geared.

Reggie. wrote: »

You had to look that up :P

Well I did, earlier today, when I saw it posted here Had a fair idea what it was from the name though

I hadn't seen them before, and the old man isn't getting any younger and still works a lot on his own. Figured for the price of it, it would make his life a bit easier.

I've always been a quiet chap in school etc, using my ears as intended learning from questions other ppl ask rarely askin them.
So even though I'm not firing questions out im listening...in this case reading

What I've learned...each farm has it's own problems(and pluses)
Everyone has their own way of fixing those problems.
Not many ppl like sheep(as neighbours)
Sometimes it's better to plough on before the ducks are lined up

And I expect to have a steep learning curve with these calves

learned that advice is only any good if you take it and put it into practice for you.
very diverse group, old lads like Pudsey and rangler throw a great spin on things from the life experience.
greengrass's youthful energy is contagious.
perfectionists like Mahoney, fraz and stan are great to watch.
pictures of cows calving on the burren or in "winterage" is something to behold.
AP is the only fella miaking money on beef!!!
reggie smells of diesel or exhaust fumes!
the farming woman would make any man look useless.
im not the only one that ever felt a little low from time to time
they are more militant in france.
nekar is a great lad for sticking a yoke together and a great knowledge of machinery.
prob forgetting most of what iv learned but there's someone there for every question or problem just just a nice comment when its needed