stanflt wrote: » Grazed grass closer to 8 c per kg dm Rent or land charge 200 Fert 180 Water and electric 20 Road mainainence 40 Spray 30 One topping or pre mowing or silage cut per year 20 At 15ton grown per ha it's 8.1c per kg dm At 12tom grown it's 10.1 c per kg dm
stanflt wrote: » No just grown- wastage with all crops
FarmerDougal wrote: » 80% utilized pushes cost to 10c/kgdm 15t/ha I presume is above average performance too Your maize begins to look even better?
stanflt wrote: » Maize only complements excellent grass and silage imo Maize low in protein but high in energy 76-80 dmd silage 16% protein and 35plus % dm Grass 85 dmd 22% prot but only 12-18 % dm In an ideal world all my cows would calve in October or November and I could push serious amount of high quality feed into them till April- when grass is plentiful you could nearly cut out all meal and they would still milk extremely well till dry off Need more liquid quota
Dawggone wrote: » Very good point. That is essentially what we do here. When on grass in mar/apr/may we get what we call "free" milk. To me the main problem with maize is to balance it. Soya is the product of choice which at around €400/ton adds a lot of cost. Whereas to balance a high protein diet is significantly cheaper as maize grain is around half that of soya.
stanflt wrote: » Any soya grown near you dawg I'd have thought you'd have the climate
Dawggone wrote: » Agree, if you need to get somewhere there is always hardship. Did enough of it myself... Any chance the conversation could be steered back to costs? Can Irish farmers produce the cheapest milk in the world?
mahoney_j wrote: » Cost here is 30 inc drawings .always hardship to reach end goal ,but not long term sustainable .any expansion ,money spent here is fully thought out ,proably why I'm one who constantly questions things here ,make no apologies for it.i try and fully think out things ,barriers ,pitfalls u name it .extra storage and extra facilities combined with extra nos combined .my time is fully valued and I refuse to trudge around in ****e or sub standard facilities just to milk more cows .im a one man show with relief milker,contractor help and help in spring .cows are my passion not machinery,nor milking an ass load of cows with hassle of employees etc . I never slatted anybofvthe guys mentioned here over last few days ,simply asked questions and outlined potential pitfalls there was some ridiculous stuff threw out like fook the dept and sfp etc etc most of us here wouldn't survive without European money anyway I'm thick skinned ,I've been here a few years and plan on sticking around a few more .often thought about closing my account but love the debates ,warts and all and there's loads to be learned here .
Deepsouthwest wrote: » Fair enough mj, we accept ur apology and we'll move on!
Dawggone wrote: » So. Grazed grass = 8c/kg dm. Grass silage = 13.5c/kg dm Maize silage (Ireland) = 13c/kg dm Maize silage (France) inc. land = 3.5c/kg dm. Considering that grass alone is only good for 3.5 - 4.5k litres of milk, from the figures above, the obvious conclusion must be that there is a place for forage maize in Irish dairy.... For my own operation I should be planting maize in grazing ground.
yosemitesam1 wrote: » Would you reckon feeding out/slurry adds much to the cost of maize/silage
mahoney_j wrote: » Who said anything about an appology !!!!
Deepsouthwest wrote: » Oh come mj, ur last post were the words of a broken man, dripping with guilt, angst and remorse., some of Shakespeare's tragedies had brighter endings than it! Like I said, don't worry about it, move on. We all over step the mark sometimes!
kowtow wrote: » Anyone want to estimate zg as alternative to bales? also pit. . Best discussion I have seen in a long time. It would be well worth keeping the consensus figures on a sticky or something. 'Feed cost including land' really is the only sensible starting point for any business model discussion. Great stuff.
mf240 wrote: » Beet is another feed id like to see costed. Dont know about zero grazers. It would probably suit here as i have a lot of mowable ground away from yard. Its something i considered . Went and talked to a couple of lads using them ( my teagasc advisor brought me to one place mahoney!!@!!!) I dont know the lads using them were happy but i didnt like the idea of being tied to it and im not really a machinery man. Think id prefer the bales route.
mf240 wrote: » To feed ...or not to feed...that is the question.
mahoney_j wrote: » Neighbour here has one milking 110 on 50 acres but I think he is a slave to it ..if he ain't cutting grass he is at slurry and ground he z grazes is gone very worn out looking despite lots of n p and k.new 130 hp new Holland every 3 years and tyres do be completely bald some days cuts 4 loads
mf240 wrote: » Ya thats what id be afraid of . That it would turn into one big hamster wheel.
kevthegaff wrote: » Friend has one 150 cows on 70 acres, v good farmer might build grassbon home farm before holidays etc, but lots of slurry, z grazing, guy fulltime! Id love to see z grazing costs compared to conventional grazing
jaymla627 wrote: » With it taking nearly 3 litres of milk to buy a litre of diseal all your doing instead of paying for nuts is writing cheques to the local oil company
stanflt wrote: » silage system growing 15ton dm per hectare 3 cuts silage and two grazings fert for silage 155 acre land charge 200 spray 20 baling wraping and wrap 170 tedding 50 mow 60 transport and stacking 30 total 685acre 15 bales per acre at 37.5%dm 45.66per bales bale weighs 900kg so 337kg dm/bale 5062kg dm per acre at 685 equals 13.5cent per kg dm maize land 200 contractor 240 seed plastic and spray 250 fert 155 total 845ac avg crop 20ton acre at 33%dm so 6600kg dm per acre equals 12.8cent per kilo dm last year i avg 27ton so that left it at 8.5cent per kg dm
Panch18 wrote: » If I remember correctly MF240 you have a calf to beef operation on your outside blocks? You're not considering getting rid of that to get into more cows are you?
