frazzledhome wrote: » Nothing served here yet. Will let in HE Bulls Xmas week till Jan 20th or so. Did it last year and calves sold like hot buns, last thing I need is another 2 groups of animals on the farm
whelan2 wrote: » Aa bull in cleaning up now. Have another with heifers. Could be glad of money next back end
frazzledhome wrote: » Plan is to go all cows on all ground with no young stock kept at all. They're costing way too much to rear. Lovely simple system
frazzledhome wrote: » Very true, I couldn't believe what guys are paying for He calves. 3 wks ai here next spring and all He Bulls from there. I'd go all Bulls from the start only there would be chaos. Plan is to go all cows on all ground with no young stock kept at all. They're costing way too much to rear. Lovely simple system
whelan2 wrote: » Makes a big difference to calf rearing work
Brown Podzol wrote: » Replacements?
Greengrass1 wrote: » What happens if an opportunity arises? And you have no young stock or god forbid you got hit with a bout of anything?
frazzledhome wrote: » Will get enough with 3 wks ai. I have no problem buying stock once they're calved and from a breeder I knew. I'd buy from you There are a few people on here who's opinions I'd regard so please discuss
frazzledhome wrote: » 3 wks ai here next spring and all He Bulls from there. I'd go all Bulls from the start only there would be chaos.
Brown Podzol wrote: » Are you basing your figures on there being a very good price for He calves over the next no of years? Is it as easy to rear say 100 as 50? One of the reasons I have surplus is that I have a piece of ground rented and I think it is more profitable to rear heifers on it than use it for silage. I can buy the silage cheaper than make it myself and have a twist out of the surplus heifers. I can also make quicker genetic progress in the direction I want to go by being able to choose which cows to keep heifers from. Then you have the disease issues from bought in stock etc. I can see the attraction of keeping all cows if it fits in with your land parcels.
alps wrote: » LWR has Hugo on both sides of his breeding. Last year on 2 occasions AI companies asked me to breed cows to a son as a granson of the cows sire....... Is anyone else uncomfortable with this. ? Or is it my strong Catholic upbringing creating such a sense of guilt?
frazzledhome wrote: It's to do with land blocks and there sizes and my return on capital.
frazzledhome wrote: » Hit the market and pay €1500, put clusters in them that evening. It's costing us that at the moment. I'm not tying that much cash up in young stock for 2 yrs while a cow geazing the same ground can be producing cash. When every one else changes to this system I'll revert
frazzledhome wrote: » Huge. We were faced with building a new calf unit and as you know when building from scratch would cost a fortune. In 2017 the only animals getting dairy ai will be the heifers. We've a full time calf rearer and he's some man to work with the limited housing he has. He's still managed to wean more heifers than we ever could. When all young stock 2014 & 2015 calves are totalled it comes to 70% of the milking cows o the farm.
browned wrote: » Been Ai breeding for 3 weeks the last couple of years. You'll get plenty of replacements and more importantly you'll be breeding off cows that hold first time. Next year I'm going all beef and will purchase replacements from autumn 2017 onwards similar reason to you. Purchase as cheap as one can rear and you can purchase the numbers you require
whelan2 wrote: » Jeeny lads don't be telling everyone. The market will be flooded with beef calves
stretch film wrote: » Where are ye going to get the consistent quality to match your own.
Dawggone wrote: » Stanflt!!
mahoney_j wrote: » He's looking for 1800 to 2 k though so that may price ye out of market!!!!!
Dawggone wrote: » We'll buy from you then! Any special offers? Or will we wait until your January sales?
Milked out wrote: » Would using rented ground for silage ground and heifers reduce the cost as opposed to buying in both?. Stock it up tightly to get 2 cuts in the summer and use that silage ground to keep heifers and weanlings out as long as possible. Maidens should graze ground off relatively well for early cuts of silage off dry ground. If the ground and lease could be found of course. Ground too far away is a balls of a job in terms of time wasted travelling. Having had a poor second cut here totally under my own control has me doubtful good quality grass silage could be bought year on year and I put that down to weather more than any man's abilities. But up East may be a different kettle of fish. On buying in heifers, if a supplier could be found who is regularly selling heifers could indicate he has a long lasting herd as wouldn't need the replacements himself and I guess at a minimum the vaccination programme would want to be the same. Johne's would be a fear given the lack of reliability in the testing for it.
