Dairy Chit Chat- Please read Mod note in post #1

freedominacup · 20-03-2016 10:49PM

Base price wrote: »

When we were feeding factory bulls/cows we would use either wheaten or oaten straw in the diet feeder for roughage. Both are cheap sources of roughage but I would not recommend them for young stock/calves.

We aren't feeding any hay/straw to calves for the past couple of years. New thinking seems to be that they don't do anything for rumen development and actually are slightly negative for overall development of the calf. When they are being weaned we introduce some first cut silage. They'll be eating 1.5kg + of crunch at that stage. Silage will only be in with spring calves if we can't turn them out. Haven't got a link to the research mentioned. I know I had when we first changed away. No bloats or colic but never had much of an issue with them anyway.

Edit to say we won't feed nuts to anything even if they were coming for free. You have no notion what is in them.

Base price · 20-03-2016 10:53PM

Timmaay wrote: »

What age do yas change calves over from the likes of gains startcalf ration to a nut? Early Feb born, eating the best part of a kg/day of it now.

About 10/12 days after arriving on site. Some calves would be the minimum of 10 days but most would be up on 14 days on arrival.
Always mix pencils with crunch for a few days and increase the amount of pencils over a week until they are eating it. Sometimes ye get the odd calf that doesn't go with the plan and continues to eat the crunch and ignores the pencils. Draft that calf off to a younger batch and keep and eye on him.

mahoney_j · 20-03-2016 11:02PM

kevthegaff wrote: »

Is the z grazers fella with a class and new z grazers j,how are u finding it? Increase in yield/solids?

That the man Kev ,massively impressed ,huge intakes of grass milk up over 1.5 ltrs no solids results this week .cutting field of Italian with red clover then drawing me back his own grass .no silage for last 9 days .geazed grass by day and z grass by night .cows can go out to lie down if they wish .cruically it's buying me extra days on first rotation ,good job as growth is pratically zero

pedigree 6 · 21-03-2016 12:12AM

freedominacup wrote: »

Edit to say we won't feed nuts to anything even if they were coming for free. You have no notion what is in them.

Shame on you freedom. There is a list on the delivery docket that comes with the load of nuts giving analytical constituents, composition,vitamins and compounds of trace elements, batch no of load, instructions for use, driver name, mill, UFAS no, etc, etc.
Every mill has their facilities inspected and the feed can be tested anytime.
I trust the makers to have what they print on the docket to be in the nut.

I know what your saying you'd have full control in mixing your own feed/ration but not everyone has the facilities and space or feeders to make up their own ration plus i'm a lazy fecker and I like to get the nut blown into the bin and augered into the parlour.
The shame on you part was tongue in cheek. You get them for free and give them to me.:D

visatorro · 21-03-2016 10:23AM

mahoney_j wrote: »

That the man Kev ,massively impressed ,huge intakes of grass milk up over 1.5 ltrs no solids results this week .cutting field of Italian with red clover then drawing me back his own grass .no silage for last 9 days .geazed grass by day and z grass by night .cows can go out to lie down if they wish .cruically it's buying me extra days on first rotation ,good job as growth is pratically zero

Is this going to be your plan in years to come or just a once off?

freedominacup · 21-03-2016 11:17AM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Shame on you freedom. There is a list on the delivery docket that comes with the load of nuts giving analytical constituents, composition,vitamins and compounds of trace elements, batch no of load, instructions for use, driver name, mill, UFAS no, etc, etc.
Every mill has their facilities inspected and the feed can be tested anytime.
I trust the makers to have what they print on the docket to be in the nut.

I know what your saying you'd have full control in mixing your own feed/ration but not everyone has the facilities and space or feeders to make up their own ration plus i'm a lazy fecker and I like to get the nut blown into the bin and augered into the parlour.
The shame on you part was tongue in cheek. You get them for free and give them to me.:D

We buy the crunch/muesli. Used to make out own but the toasted ingredients in the crunch seem to be much more palatable.

Milked out · 21-03-2016 11:36AM

Milked out wrote: »

What would ye make of this for grass.
Maize 23%
Barley 20%
Sugar beet pulp 20%
Maize distillers 20
Hipro soya 8%
Molasses 3%
Vit and min 6%
Would come to 14.5% p 30% starch and an NDF of 31.2%
Would be feeding 4kgs,, no quotes yet.

First quote in at 268 for a nut, do many of ye feed coarse thru parlour feeders? Would be worried about ingredients separating and extra dust in parlour aside from augurs blocking?

kowtow · 21-03-2016 11:41AM

Base price wrote: »

mix pencils with crunch for a few days and increase the amount of pencils over a week until they are eating it.

Ah f**k now I get it the pencils are for eating.

Guy in the creamery asked me did I want pencils for the calves the other day along with the crunch and I told him they were barely sucking a teat let alone learning to read and write.

I feel much better now, I thought mine were behind.

RightTurnClyde · 21-03-2016 11:58AM

Milked out wrote: »

First quote in at 268 for a nut, do many of ye feed coarse thru parlour feeders? Would be worried about ingredients separating and extra dust in parlour aside from augurs blocking?

Ration with 2.5-3% molasses did work in the feeders here but there can be a bit of separation, with the feeders earlier on the auger ending up with the finer ingredients and the feeders further up the auger getting the courser material. What I'd be concerned this time of the year is over/under feeding calmag depending on which feeder a cows ends up at.

Dawggone · 21-03-2016 12:57PM

jaymla627 wrote: »

Give mine lucerne here, get the horsey stuff in local co-op really high in fibre and palatable too they go mad for it

I try to hold back on the Lucerne hay because they will shun all other fibre once they get the taste of it.

Would be excellent for calves with digestive trouble.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 21-03-2016 02:52PM

We had a C-section last saturday on a dairy heifer, bit smaller than I'd like but a very big calf. All went well, heifer sore but recovering but the bull calf has a cleft palate:(

Anyone have anything similar, how will they thrive inside?

He won't be able to graze with half the pad on top missing:(

jack o shea · 21-03-2016 02:58PM

Lads is there any one shot only thing to give calves with that bloody rota virus,? Cows were vaccinated but calves are he'll to feed so bloody slow.differant one sick every 2nd day.

jaymla627 · 21-03-2016 03:08PM

jack o shea wrote: »

Lads is there any one shot only thing to give calves with that bloody rota virus,? Cows were vaccinated but calves are he'll to feed so bloody slow.differant one sick every 2nd day.

Nope it's a viral infection, so your wasting your time, unless calf gets a secondary infection then go with marbycial...
Only after getting over a bout of it here had 30 heifer calves down with it last week, vaccinated aswell and all where 4 weeks plus...
Switched calves on to once a day here and then in the evening gave them a feed of life aid across all the pens for the couple of days they where getting over it, with bad cases getting effidiral tablets at midday....
Wonder was their a bad batch of vaccine this year as hearing alot of lads are having trouble with it too and have vaccinated aswell

Brown Podzol · 21-03-2016 03:09PM

Milked out wrote: »

First quote in at 268 for a nut, do many of ye feed coarse thru parlour feeders? Would be worried about ingredients separating and extra dust in parlour aside from augurs blocking?

If it were me I would take out the distillers and up the maize and beet pulp, would drop protein to c.12%, but that's just me. Tell them you will give them the price of a litre of milk for a kilo of that.€240. Still just break even for the average cow, 1kg meal produces 1 litre of milk.
There's a balance when adding molasses. Too much and it will bridge in the bin, too little and the degree of separation is too much. The only ingredient that caused problems for the augers here was Spanish beet pulp nuts. Big and hard.

freedominacup · 21-03-2016 03:23PM

Brown Podzol wrote: »

If it were me I would take out the distillers and up the maize and beet pulp, would drop protein to c.12%, but that's just me. Tell them you will give them the price of a litre of milk for a kilo of that.€240. Still just break even for the average cow, 1kg meal produces 1 litre of milk.
There's a balance when adding molasses. Too much and it will bridge in the bin, too little and the degree of separation is too much. The only ingredient that caused problems for the augers here was Spanish beet pulp nuts. Big and hard.

What milk urea have you atm and would it colour your thinking about pr %? Running in the low twenties here on a 16% ration. Sticking with the 16% for this load. Will look again in a fortnight. Getting a price on a 50/50 mix of soya hulls and barley for start of second round if fr don't improve. Will stick with the 16% in that case at 3-4kilos and use the hulls/barley mix at 3-5kg to bridge the gap. Plenty of decent 2014 first cut left. 76/78dmd but I think at that point there'll be issued getting them to put away 10kg dm of it.

Was asked about bales for sale in co-op today. A good neighbour so I told him to get what he needed. Be glad to see some of them gone tbh. Good quality but soft. I wouldn't fancy their chances of being in good order by next autumn. If I got nothing for them he'll sort me some other way some other time. They'll be going out at a loss no matter what with what's available atm.

blue5000 · 21-03-2016 05:19PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

Calm it down ,we had 4 months of constant rain and 10 days of dry but cold weather and we're still giving out.a couple of nice soft mild days in late March early April will transform the place .you could end up growing more grass in a week than the rest of March and Feb included .my first round has been extended to 07/04 through z grazing back Italian and red clover sward .cows get full whack grass at day and z grass with straw at night .no silage a week now and cows are absolutely flying .2 rounds of fert out (bag of urea and 2.5 bags 18 6 12 with s)and 2500/3 k gallons slurry .cows peeling the place and perfectly set up for a growth burst ..saying that I know Lots with first round ending within a week ton10 days who should be slowing rotation fast as they could end up feeding very heavy for 10/14 days due to not been flexible and reacting to afc and growth rates quicker

Any problems grazing the red clover? Grass tight here too, could graze RC, but there would be a bit of fencing to do first.....

Brown Podzol · 22-03-2016 01:04PM

freedominacup wrote: »

What milk urea have you atm and would it colour your thinking about pr %? Running in the low twenties here on a 16% ration. Sticking with the 16% for this load. Will look again in a fortnight. Getting a price on a 50/50 mix of soya hulls and barley for start of second round if fr don't improve. Will stick with the 16% in that case at 3-4kilos and use the hulls/barley mix at 3-5kg to bridge the gap. Plenty of decent 2014 first cut left. 76/78dmd but I think at that point there'll be issued getting them to put away 10kg dm of it.

Was asked about bales for sale in co-op today. A good neighbour so I told him to get what he needed. Be glad to see some of them gone tbh. Good quality but soft. I wouldn't fancy their chances of being in good order by next autumn. If I got nothing for them he'll sort me some other way some other time. They'll be going out at a loss no matter what with what's available atm.

Dg don't do urea test, would it colour my thinking, I don't know but I keep a very close eye on p%. Dropped to 3.1 from 3.5 just before we got out full time, back up to 3.3 now with cows doing over 30lts on 5.5kg 18% and grass only.I'll stay on the 18% until I finish first round, may have to stretch that to 10th April with maize/beet,looking at forecasted temps. Grass is like a coiled spring now ready to explode if we get a warm week so if I see that coming I let tthe brakes off. Stocking rate at the moment is 3.6.The ration I'm thinking of from the second round on is a low p,high energy similar to Milked Out but without the distillars,the aim to hold BC with one eye on the breeding season. Something someone told me sometime is that a cow doing 25l uses the same amount of energy as a human running the marathon,every day. Doing that and going in calf at the same time requires a lot of energy. Especially in wet weather in May/June with high nitrogen,low dm grass and cows are going to struggle to get enough energy. I need a ration I can up a few kg's for those days.

3 the square · 22-03-2016 02:02PM

any one sell fr bull calves lately ?
what way are they going in the marts iv a few to sell .

Timmaay · 22-03-2016 02:13PM

Spreading 2kgls per acre on the 1st cut silage ground at the sec, I'm going to estimate that as something like 9-7-40 (some water in it definitely). If I'm to go for a high dmd light crop of bales on some of this ground in early may what should be my balance of nitrogen? Will the likes of 60units of urea do?

Buford T. Justice XIX · 22-03-2016 02:42PM

Just finished with a mini-digger here. He cleared a blockage in the septic tank and then I took him with the rock breaker for an hour to set end stakes.

The JCB 8030 is a seriously nifty little machine, she broke the limestone down to 3 feet and drove the stakes and filled in after. Then on his way home he levelled a rock outcrop into the silage yard that I had forgotten to ask him to do.

Off now to the last bit of heavy ground with a bit of Urea.

Tomorrow is tidying day:( but have the kids so should be done quickly:D

whelan2 · 22-03-2016 03:09PM

3 the square wrote: »

any one sell fr bull calves lately ?
what way are they going in the marts iv a few to sell .

80 euro out of yard 7-10 days old

Morris Moss · 22-03-2016 03:24PM

3 the square wrote: »

any one sell fr bull calves lately ?
what way are they going in the marts iv a few to sell .

Sold 5 out of the yard for 750 last week, all between 1 and 3 weeks old, also sold 7 in kilkenny mart 2 weeks ago got from 110 to 160 for them.

Base price · 22-03-2016 03:29PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Shame on you freedom. There is a list on the delivery docket that comes with the load of nuts giving analytical constituents, composition,vitamins and compounds of trace elements, batch no of load, instructions for use, driver name, mill, UFAS no, etc, etc.
Every mill has their facilities inspected and the feed can be tested anytime.
I trust the makers to have what they print on the docket to be in the nut.

I know what your saying you'd have full control in mixing your own feed/ration but not everyone has the facilities and space or feeders to make up their own ration plus i'm a lazy fecker and I like to get the nut blown into the bin and augered into the parlour.
The shame on you part was tongue in cheek. You get them for free and give them to me.:D

I wonder:http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/36-of-animal-feed-tested-not-up-to-departments-standards/

Milked out · 22-03-2016 07:36PM

Balls of a day here. Got cows into parlour and turned down heifer that was after calving as well. Closed the gates went to dairy to set up and there was the heifer down at back of yard. 20 mins of messing and watering the concrete and she gets up just as i bring loader to yard. Turn her back in to pen with calf and milk on. A touch of paralysis I'd say. Herd test today so finished milking and locked back dries in cubicle shed in order to hold milkers ahead of crush for for testing, come down to parlour yard and let the cows up and another cow down this time one bulling. Manage to get her into bucket of loader and out to field. Got vet to give her a shot as we tested her. Worked away thru cattle going fine and had 22 yearlings in outside yard only to arrive yo find they broke out to 30 acres of grass so spent another half hour rounding them up. Cow in field still down vet reckons torn muscle by the way leg is thrown. And to top it off another pen of calves starting to scour just as i thought i was clear of it. By fcuk if we go down Fri I'll become the devil incarnate

whelan2 · 22-03-2016 07:48PM

Milked out wrote: »

Balls of a day here. Got cows into parlour and turned down heifer that was after calving as well. Closed the gates went to dairy to set up and there was the heifer down at back of yard. 20 mins of messing and watering the concrete and she gets up just as i bring loader to yard. Turn her back in to pen with calf and milk on. A touch of paralysis I'd say. Herd test today so finished milking and locked back dries in cubicle shed in order to hold milkers ahead of crush for for testing, come down to parlour yard and let the cows up and another cow down this time one bulling. Manage to get her into bucket of loader and out to field. Got vet to give her a shot as we tested her. Worked away thru cattle going fine and had 22 yearlings in outside yard only to arrive yo find they broke out to 30 acres of grass so spent another half hour rounding them up. Cow in field still down vet reckons torn muscle by the way leg is thrown. And to top it off another pen of calves starting to scour just as i thought i was clear of it. By fcuk if we go down Fri I'll become the devil incarnate

thought we were bad here dry cows broke out, first taste of freedom , took an hour to round them up, plenty of fooks.

Milked out · 22-03-2016 08:51PM

Milked out wrote: »

Balls of a day here. Got cows into parlour and turned down heifer that was after calving as well. Closed the gates went to dairy to set up and there was the heifer down at back of yard. 20 mins of messing and watering the concrete and she gets up just as i bring loader to yard. Turn her back in to pen with calf and milk on. A touch of paralysis I'd say. Herd test today so finished milking and locked back dries in cubicle shed in order to hold milkers ahead of crush for for testing, come down to parlour yard and let the cows up and another cow down this time one bulling. Manage to get her into bucket of loader and out to field. Got vet to give her a shot as we tested her. Worked away thru cattle going fine and had 22 yearlings in outside yard only to arrive yo find they broke out to 30 acres of grass so spent another half hour rounding them up. Cow in field still down vet reckons torn muscle by the way leg is thrown. And to top it off another pen of calves starting to scour just as i thought i was clear of it. By fcuk if we go down Fri I'll become the devil incarnate

Day just got better, phone call there feckin nitrates inspection thurs....

mahoney_j · 22-03-2016 10:13PM

Sounds like a right Cnut of a day milked out ,had a dead calf here and lad from knackerery called with 5 cows in trailer all out of same yard ,urea poisoning ..urea spilt in yard and cows took into it .

visatorro · 22-03-2016 11:08PM

Having a bad run here with different things, once it's outside the front door let it go to fook

whelan2 · 23-03-2016 10:55AM

put eprinex pour on a couple of milking heifers on monday, 1 of them is gone right back in her milk, is this normal?

whelan2 · 23-03-2016 10:56AM

visatorro wrote: »

Having a bad run here with different things, once it's outside the front door let it go to fook

Booked to go away at the end of may for a few days with the kids, when things are crap- which is alot lately:cool:- I think of myself away relaxing, the countdown is on

Dairy Chit Chat- Please read Mod note in post #1

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