Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Say my name · 25-07-2020 12:48pm

cjpm wrote: »

When i'm milking i usually wear waterproof trousers and a short sleeve jacket.

Too damn hot and sweaty during the summer though....

Would prefer a long apron for the warm evenings, however most aprons I've seen don't seem to cover the back of your shirt and trousers.

Any better aprons available?? That actually wrap around the wearer??

Opinions appreciated

I wear a Guy Cotton long coat in the parlour.
I have it then anyway if it's raining outside.
The hood is handy if it's needed in the parlour too.
At least you're guarranteed clean after milking.
And no leggings.

https://www.chmarine.com/guy-cotten-isofarmer-longcoat/

straight · 25-07-2020 12:56pm

K.G. wrote: »

You wouldnt mind going through the economics of maize versus leafy bales.by my reckoning leafy balrs come in at close to the same price as ration.we ll say the grass is costing 8cent a kilo to grow.mow bale wrap move and stack could come to 15 e and more a bale at 4 or5 bales to acre which at 200 kg dm a bale is another 8 cent.technally to compare properly you should allow a land charge as i presume the maize is on rented ground or at least like for like with ration as extra feed bought in.so if you take 10 ton dm grass at rent of 200 an acre you could add another couple of cent.now balance the cost of heifer rearing in the equation.these are only a figures to think about and can be easily disputed

The labour cost would be higher with the bales than the maize i'd imagine

whelan2 · 25-07-2020 1:04pm

Say my name wrote: »

I wear a Guy Cotton long coat in the parlour.
I have it then anyway if it's raining outside.
The hood is handy if it's needed in the parlour too.
At least you're guarranteed clean after milking.
And no leggings.

https://www.chmarine.com/guy-cotten-isofarmer-longcoat/

You'd be roasted in that. T shirt and waterproof trousers here for milking in summer. Hoodie and waterproof trousers in winter. Find if I dont wear the water proof trousers my knees get wet. Getting old now ....

Say my name · 25-07-2020 1:13pm

whelan2 wrote: »

You'd be roasted in that. T shirt and waterproof trousers here for milking in summer. Hoodie and waterproof trousers in winter. Find if I dont wear the water proof trousers my knees get wet. Getting old now ....

I find it no bother. On and off in 2 seconds.
I couldn't wear waterproof trousers. :pac:

GrasstoMilk · 25-07-2020 1:13pm

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

The Dairy Edge podcast from Teagasc did a special on organic milk recently. I’m no Teagasc fan but that podcast is well worth a listen.

Most organic suppliers have winter and liquid milk contracts. Price is 50-60c for that milk but organic meal is roughly twice the price of conventional stuff, so growing your own would be attractive. Summer price is up to 40c.

Very few suppliers in Ireland, and herd size varies from 20-200. Some lads are once-a-day too.

Biggest emphasis seems to be on growing the market though. It’ll be interesting to see if the EU puts money where it’s mouth is when it talks about 25% organic and makes marketing or advertising money available to promote organic milk, yogurt, and cheese

Consumers dont want to pay more for food, as little as possible infact.
How would organic products command a premium if 25% of the milk was organic and the demand isnt there and shoppers dont want to pay more for food.
You'll just end up with conventional price with a heap more regulations and less milk going out the gate because you would have to keep less cows

GrasstoMilk · 25-07-2020 1:18pm

Mooooo wrote: »

If buying in forage, maize is up there value wise definitely prob better value than grass silage.
If lads are getting young stock contract reared, What stocking rate do ye run the home farm without having to buy in forage? Assuming heifers come back a month before calving

2.5 over all 4 around the parlour next year.
We grow lots of grass over winter so no issue on that front for the first round, no problem pushing in feed in the yard too at the start of the lactaton if we are tight as it sets them up well for the year.
Keeping them out into November might be hard do without feeding hard in the yard but we'll see how things go

dar31 · 25-07-2020 2:23pm

Mooooo wrote: »

If buying in forage, maize is up there value wise definitely prob better value than grass silage.
If lads are getting young stock contract reared, What stocking rate do ye run the home farm without having to buy in forage? Assuming heifers come back a month before calving

Ave for the year 2.8lu/ha. Next year planning to stock main grazing season at 3.2 Ave and sell off empties oct/nov before the require silage instead of milking them through the winter this will bring me back to ave of about 2.8 for the year.
Only cows and few bull here for last 5 years, looking to do away with bulls for next year.
Can make enough silage for herd but will buy any forage offered to me for a reserve. 7ac mz this year, rather look at it than for it.
In a bad milk price year or poor grass growth ill reduce s/r accordingly
Aim is to match s/r to grass growth for the year

Edit. Farm is all one block no other ground feeding into it.

Timmaay · 25-07-2020 2:51pm

K.G. wrote: »

You wouldnt mind going through the economics of maize versus leafy bales.by my reckoning leafy balrs come in at close to the same price as ration.we ll say the grass is costing 8cent a kilo to grow.mow bale wrap move and stack could come to 15 e and more a bale at 4 or5 bales to acre which at 200 kg dm a bale is another 8 cent.technally to compare properly you should allow a land charge as i presume the maize is on rented ground or at least like for like with ration as extra feed bought in.so if you take 10 ton dm grass at rent of 200 an acre you could add another couple of cent.now balance the cost of heifer rearing in the equation.these are only a figures to think about and can be easily disputed

32e/ton wet without land change, 40e with a 200e/ac land change, assuming 23t/ac yield wet, them are my rough all in costs. The aim would be 30 30 dm and starch, I much prefer growing it myself despite the extra workload, because I have full control of the seed and the harvest dates (both of which will have huge impact on maize quality, a contractor will favour high yeilding low dm early cut maize because he can sell more tons of it, but that's a compete disadvantage to the farmer in terms of cost/dm). Anyways 40e/ton at 30dm works out at 12c/kgdm, so similar price to 1st cut. In terms of paddock bales, there is no point me not putting a land charge because I'd be purposely making less drycow silage to have more leafy silage, so would either be renting more land for drycow silage, or be pricing in that land rental into bought in standing crops.

Birdnuts · 25-07-2020 4:41pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Consumers dont want to pay more for food, as little as possible infact.
How would organic products command a premium if 25% of the milk was organic and the demand isnt there and shoppers dont want to pay more for food.
You'll just end up with conventional price with a heap more regulations and less milk going out the gate because you would have to keep less cows

Well its not as black and white as that - sure a large segment of the population is happy to consume any old muck that they can fit into their mouth, but their of little benefit to most Irish farming anyway as they will be supplied by the lowest margin, lowest rung of the ladder, much of which will be imported(Think Thai chickens, Cheap SA mince etc.). However there is a growing food educated segment more interested in a healthy wholesome diet that is sustaineably produced and they are prepared to pay at least a bit more for it. Tis why even the likes of ALDI/LIDL have a growing range of organic dairy produce including Milk, Cheese and Yogurt etc. Sadly most of it is currently imported from the likes of NI but thats more a reflection of DAFM, Teagasc.Bord Bia etc. being behind the curve on such matters. In any case rightly or wrongly intensive conventional Dairy is now seen as the bad boy of Irish farming in terms of its environmental impacts and so will have to up its game in the area of sustaineability - especcially in light of ever growing pressure from the EU in terms of mandatory directives on these matters that apply to all farmers(including those not in the CAP SFP system).

mahoney_j · 25-07-2020 5:23pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Well its not as black and white as that - sure a large segment of the population is happy to consume any old muck that they can fit into their mouth, but their of little benefit to most Irish farming anyway as they will be supplied by the lowest margin, lowest rung of the ladder, much of which will be imported(Think Thai chickens, Cheap SA mince etc.). However there is a growing food educated segment more interested in a healthy wholesome diet that is sustaineably produced and they are prepared to pay at least a bit more for it. Tis why even the likes of ALDI/LIDL have a growing range of organic dairy produce including Milk, Cheese and Yogurt etc. Sadly most of it is currently imported from the likes of NI but thats more a reflection of DAFM, Teagasc.Bord Bia etc. being behind the curve on such matters. In any case rightly or wrongly intensive conventional Dairy is now seen as the bad boy of Irish farming in terms of its environmental impacts and so will have to up its game in the area of sustaineability - especcially in light of ever growing pressure from the EU in terms of mandatory directives on these matters that apply to all farmers(including those not in the CAP SFP system).

I think you’ll find dairying here is far from the bad boy u think we are leasing the change on environmental issues sustainability etc were adopting the prot ureas less ,fencing of waterways creating wildlife belts planting trees sowing hedges

K.G. · 25-07-2020 6:29pm

Timmaay wrote: »

32e/ton wet without land change, 40e with a 200e/ac land change, assuming 23t/ac yield wet, them are my rough all in costs. The aim would be 30 30 dm and starch, I much prefer growing it myself despite the extra workload, because I have full control of the seed and the harvest dates (both of which will have huge impact on maize quality, a contractor will favour high yeilding low dm early cut maize because he can sell more tons of it, but that's a compete disadvantage to the farmer in terms of cost/dm). Anyways 40e/ton at 30dm works out at 12c/kgdm, so similar price to 1st cut. In terms of paddock bales, there is no point me not putting a land charge because I'd be purposely making less drycow silage to have more leafy silage, so would either be renting more land for drycow silage, or be pricing in that land rental into bought in standing crops.

I could see down the line with nitrates that lads could be entering arrangements exporting slurry for feed and mai ze is an easy fit for alot of lads.its just im not sure that lqeafy bales are much cheaper than ration

mahoney_j · 25-07-2020 7:10pm

K.G. wrote: »

I could see down the line with nitrates that lads could be entering arrangements exporting slurry for feed and mai ze is an easy fit for alot of lads.its just im not sure that lqeafy bales are much cheaper than ration

And leafy ishhhhh bales from surplus paddocks are no where near the rocket fuel some think they are.theyll most likely be high in n and ****e from dung pads come in as well.the real quality silage come from ryegrass/clover swards growing for 30/40’days max depending on growth

Timmaay · 25-07-2020 7:19pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

And leafy ishhhhh bales from surplus paddocks are no where near the rocket fuel some think they are.theyll most likely be high in n and ****e from dung pads come in as well.the real quality silage come from ryegrass/clover swards growing for 30/40’days max depending on growth

Very good point, there are some paddock bales that you make purely for the sake of removing steamy grass from the field, in particular in mid June this year when the drought was at it's worst. I usually aim to use up them bales in Dec when cows are drying off anyways. However you can get very good quality silage off paddocks of clean swards that simply got ahead of you, I'd even call 40 days too long in this case.

K.G. · 25-07-2020 8:26pm

Which is the most profitable/resilient/strategic
Cows hiefers home reared some silage but most from outblocks and average ration use.
More Cows only at home some silage bales but most from outside heifers reared off farm and average ration use
More cows no silage at home ration fed when grass tight instead of surplus bales so higher ration.all winter feed coming from outside and could be beet or maize bought in

straight · 25-07-2020 8:58pm

K.G. wrote: »

Which is the most profitable/resilient/strategic
Cows hiefers home reared some silage but most from outblocks and average ration use.
More Cows only at home some silage bales but most from outside heifers reared off farm and average ration use
More cows no silage at home ration fed when grass tight instead of surplus bales so higher ration.all winter feed coming from outside and could be beet or maize bought in

Well I wouldn't say any system is particularly profitable if you take into account the amount of labour involved. I like to keep a closed herd here and I like to breed my own replacements. I'm still naive enough to think that I can breed one of the best herds in the country although i know it's not easy. So I'd say it's all down to personal preference. For example alot of lads seem to be numbers men now so if that's what a fella wants then pile them high.

Water John · 25-07-2020 9:16pm

The race of price to the bottom is largely a myth. It's a myth that suits many who make their margin in the middle. They take their margin anyway.
If we were that price sensitive then we'd all have beef and no lamb. We'd eat white meat instead of either.

GrasstoMilk · 26-07-2020 8:48pm

https://youtu.be/FJ8O2y01CmY

Very well thought out rotary parlour. A credit to them

trixi2011 · 27-07-2020 7:43am

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

https://youtu.be/FJ8O2y01CmY

Very well thought out rotary parlour. A credit to them

Very impressive alright but to me it does seem a little over the top. You would wonder how many cent a litre that parlour is costing each year .

mahoney_j · 27-07-2020 9:24am

trixi2011 wrote: »

Very impressive alright but to me it does seem a little over the top. You would wonder how many cent a litre that parlour is costing each year .

Disagree it’s a savage job ,a lad would be happy rocking up to work there every day and you’d be proud to own it everything seems to flow well as regards stock and easy move and desperate stock etc cost a few quid granted but some just don’t want misery and hardship more power to them for going ahead with it obviously a big financial commitment but I’m sure they have there figures done

Panch18 · 27-07-2020 9:34am

Grueller wrote: »

At the mention of contract rearing. I have an outfarm that I am keeping sucklers on at the moment. I am looking for an exit strategy from sucklers and have an idea of contract rearing. The only snag is that I would want to batch them with my own heifers. I have plenty grass and housing for up to 45 on top of my own heifers. Would mixing the heifers be a deal breaker?

Wouldn't it be easier to ditch the sucklers and rear on some of your own bull calves to 18 months - they're doing a good trade in the marts.

Don't have to worry about anybody else then

cosatron · 27-07-2020 10:13am

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

https://youtu.be/FJ8O2y01CmY

Very well thought out rotary parlour. A credit to them

is there another man washing the udder or has he the automatic arm for that.

jaymla627 · 27-07-2020 10:17am

mahoney_j wrote: »

Disagree it’s a savage job ,a lad would be happy rocking up to work there every day and you’d be proud to own it everything seems to flow well as regards stock and easy move and desperate stock etc cost a few quid granted but some just don’t want misery and hardship more power to them for going ahead with it obviously a big financial commitment but I’m sure they have there figures done

If current cow numbers stayed the same, and with the rotary in, the milking process has to really become a one man operation to justify the investment in that milker gets in cows, does milking and shuts them back out, time savings wouldn’t be huge over the current set-up, where one man goes for cows, sets paddock up and another lad starts milking, would lose over half a hour here easily on long walks going for cows setting strip wire and sitting time behind cows walking them in, another 15 minutes plus extra for washing uptime with the rotary....
Its a savage set-up, but its very hard to see how its justifiable unless a full time Labour unit is been replaced by parlour

Grueller · 27-07-2020 10:29am

Panch18 wrote: »

Wouldn't it be easier to ditch the sucklers and rear on some of your own bull calves to 18 months - they're doing a good trade in the marts.

Don't have to worry about anybody else then

Tis away from the volatility of beef I am trying to get. That type of cattle are the first to take a hit always. Having said all of that, that's what will happen most likely.

Panch18 · 27-07-2020 10:33am

Grueller wrote: »

Tis away from the volatility of beef I am trying to get. That type of cattle are the first to take a hit always. Having said all of that, that's what will happen most likely.

Get yourself a good hereford or angus bull and you won't need to worry about price volatility.

Saw reasonably nice WH bullocks (nothing to flash now) last week - 425 kg, €940. You'd be hard pushed to beat that doing anything else

awaywithyou · 27-07-2020 11:22am

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

https://youtu.be/FJ8O2y01CmY

Very well thought out rotary parlour. A credit to them

i wouldnt say its perfect... whole building is in the wrong place imo

Panch18 · 27-07-2020 11:37am

awaywithyou wrote: »

i wouldnt say its perfect... whole building is in the wrong place imo

how do you mean?

Say my name · 27-07-2020 11:44am

Panch18 wrote: »

how do you mean?

He means it should be located in my yard.

straight · 27-07-2020 11:44am

Grueller wrote: »

Tis away from the volatility of beef I am trying to get. That type of cattle are the first to take a hit always. Having said all of that, that's what will happen most likely.

At least you will get paid. Alot of dairy heros not very good to pay their Bill's by all accounts. Contract rearing could get messy for both parties.

straight · 27-07-2020 11:47am

jaymla627 wrote: »

If current cow numbers stayed the same, and with the rotary in, the milking process has to really become a one man operation to justify the investment in that milker gets in cows, does milking and shuts them back out, time savings wouldn’t be huge over the current set-up, where one man goes for cows, sets paddock up and another lad starts milking, would lose over half a hour here easily on long walks going for cows setting strip wire and sitting time behind cows walking them in, another 15 minutes plus extra for washing uptime with the rotary....
Its a savage set-up, but its very hard to see how its justifiable unless a full time Labour unit is been replaced by parlour

I'm only a small setup by today's standards and it's taking me an hour to get the cows in in the mornings these days.

trixi2011 · 27-07-2020 12:23pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Disagree it’s a savage job ,a lad would be happy rocking up to work there every day and you’d be proud to own it everything seems to flow well as regards stock and easy move and desperate stock etc cost a few quid granted but some just don’t want misery and hardship more power to them for going ahead with it obviously a big financial commitment but I’m sure they have there figures done

I don't disagree at all with you that it's a savage job probably one of the best I've seen but for the number of cows it is going to be a huge expense going forward . Alot of people talk about the labour saving element of rotarys bit don't know if there really is that much of a saving .

Mooooo · 27-07-2020 12:33pm

That gap timer thing some lads use is supposed to be good

jaymla627 · 27-07-2020 12:40pm

trixi2011 wrote: »

I don't disagree at all with you that it's a savage job probably one of the best I've seen but for the number of cows it is going to be a huge expense going forward . Alot of people talk about the labour saving element of rotarys bit don't know if there really is that much of a saving .

The worst aspect of a rotary is washing the thing, used to always dread the end of milking and facing into stopping down and up for 15 minutes and folding down the trays and cupping up 50 plus sets of clusters

Buford T. Justice XIX · 27-07-2020 1:09pm

straight wrote: »

I'm only a small setup by today's standards and it's taking me an hour to get the cows in in the mornings these days.

The biggest problem we have at the minute is to get the feckers standing up to bring them in. The cows were in a paddock near the yard yesterday evening so I walked down for them. Gave up and walked back for the tractor to get them standing up.:rolleyes:

GrasstoMilk · 27-07-2020 1:15pm

How many cows do you need to justify a 50 point rotary

GrasstoMilk · 27-07-2020 1:17pm

straight wrote: »

At least you will get paid. Alot of dairy heros not very good to pay their Bill's by all accounts. Contract rearing could get messy for both parties.

If you dont get paid you just land back the heifers to there owner

straight · 27-07-2020 1:20pm

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

The biggest problem we have at the minute is to get the feckers standing up to bring them in. The cows were in a paddock near the yard yesterday evening so I walked down for them. Gave up and walked back for the tractor to get them standing up.:rolleyes:

Glad it's not just me. Pleading with them to get them in for a full hour these mornings. I always read about milking only taking lads an hour when it takes me 2 - 3 hours to get mine in, milked, washed up and gap closed on them again.

straight · 27-07-2020 1:24pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

If you dont get paid you just land back the heifers to there owner

Your still down money. I know a fella contract rearing and he's delighted with the money he's making. He wasn't feeding any ration which is fine as long as he hits the targets but it's not as easy as dry cattle. Getting them all to calve in 6 weeks is big responsibility to take on.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 27-07-2020 1:27pm

straight wrote: »

Glad it's not just me. Pleading with them to get them in for a full hour these mornings. I always read about milking only taking lads an hour when it takes me 2 - 3 hours to get mine in, milked, washed up and gap closed on them again.

Mine were on 2kgs up till recently to keep the grass growing ahead of them. Covers are very good ahead of them atm so dropped back to 0.5kgs and they're on a go-slow in protest:pac:

jaymla627 · 27-07-2020 1:31pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How many cows do you need to justify a 50 point rotary

Much better measure would be liters produced per year, properly costed I’d say you would want to be sending 2.5 million liters a year to justify it

whelan2 · 27-07-2020 1:35pm

Young lad brings in cows here and I start milking. It's now getting to the stage that I'm on the 6th row now before he has them all in. Getting them out of the parlour is hardship too, not helped by the dog standing at top of parlour with a mineral bucket lid waiting for you to throw it for her. She wont let cows by until you throw it

Siamsa Sessions · 27-07-2020 1:35pm

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

The biggest problem we have at the minute is to get the feckers standing up to bring them in. The cows were in a paddock near the yard yesterday evening so I walked down for them. Gave up and walked back for the tractor to get them standing up.:rolleyes:

Have you no dog???

Fella I milked for years ago had what I thought was a right useless oul fool of a shep. He'd lie around the shed and bark if a car came into the yard, but that seemed about as much as he did.

Then I walked out for the cows one morning with him and the dog came with us. Same as yourself, the cows were lazy and slow to stand up. Next thing, the farmer said, "Speak up Bob", and the dog started barking. All the cows started standing up and walking towards the gap. I never questioned the dog's job after that!

mahoney_j · 27-07-2020 1:43pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How many cows do you need to justify a 50 point rotary

4/500 I’d say and a strong current account !!!!

Buford T. Justice XIX · 27-07-2020 1:44pm

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Have you no dog???

Fella I milked for years ago had what I thought was a right useless oul fool of a shep. He'd lie around the shed and bark if a car came into the yard, but that seemed about as much as he did.

Then I walked out for the cows one morning with him and the dog came with us. Same as yourself, the cows were lazy and slow to stand up. Next thing, the farmer said, "Speak up Bob", and the dog started barking. All the cows started standing up and walking towards the gap. I never questioned the dog's job after that!

No dog here with a good number of years, sadly. Still heartbroken over the last one but I'm looking at getting a pup soon if I can find one I like.

The last one used bring the cows for me in the morning and evening while I was setting up the parlour. The first would be coming in the gate by the time I'd be sorted and she wouldn't come back until all the cattle were in. The neighbours cattle across the river not coming in for me to milk used bother her too, though:D

I'm half thinking of a quad as well for later in the year when fences need moving and ground gets sticky for going into with the tractor.

whelan2 · 27-07-2020 1:44pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

4/500 I’d say and a strong current account !!!!

And a nice bank manager

Castlekeeper · 27-07-2020 2:41pm

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Have you no dog???

Fella I milked for years ago had what I thought was a right useless oul fool of a shep. He'd lie around the shed and bark if a car came into the yard, but that seemed about as much as he did.

Then I walked out for the cows one morning with him and the dog came with us. Same as yourself, the cows were lazy and slow to stand up. Next thing, the farmer said, "Speak up Bob", and the dog started barking. All the cows started standing up and walking towards the gap. I never questioned the dog's job after that!

I've a pretty useless old dog like that as well, but equally so, she'll bark and hunt when I give her the nod and her favourite pass time of chasing swallows and martins takes her in and out through them so they're moving in no time. There would be a fair scatter if she was at sheep though!

Mooooo · 27-07-2020 2:44pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How many cows do you need to justify a 50 point rotary

Depends on what position you are 're development really. If you have the land accommodation and cow's right I'd imagine it's whatever level of debt you are comfortable carrying really. Anything much beyond 24 units in a herringnone would need 2 people to stay efficient, so over 240 cows would be 10 rows, wouldn't want to go beyond that myself. That rotary could be a one man show for most of the year.
Have a lot to do here so I'll be staying with the 14 unit for a number of years yet

Castlekeeper · 27-07-2020 2:51pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

How many cows do you need to justify a 50 point rotary

In the IGA thingy, that Henry Walsh was saying 320 and you wouldn't want any less without a lot of spare cash. Hard to see it justifiable even at thathe imho.
The farmers of the UK twitter account this week were milking 470 cows with one 24 unit, and they just built another 24 unit and one person milks in each! I must read more to see how it works on the land based etc.

Castlekeeper · 27-07-2020 2:58pm

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

No dog here with a good number of years, sadly. Still heartbroken over the last one but I'm looking at getting a pup soon if I can find one I like.

The last one used bring the cows for me in the morning and evening while I was setting up the parlour. The first would be coming in the gate by the time I'd be sorted and she wouldn't come back until all the cattle were in. The neighbours cattle across the river not coming in for me to milk used bother her too, though:D

I'm half thinking of a quad as well for later in the year when fences need moving and ground gets sticky for going into with the tractor.

Is it fair to ask how does a tractor help?
Between getting up and down off it opening gaps and marking fields I couldn't imagine it being of much use.
I used to take a hurley and a two tennis balls. Between missing and having to find the ball and the few that'd hit the target, they'd get moving, I'd stay moving and the time would pass quick enough.
If you'd a dog that wouldnt herd you could at least train it to bring back the ball!
#toptip

Wildsurfer · 27-07-2020 3:06pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

https://youtu.be/FJ8O2y01CmY

Very well thought out rotary parlour. A credit to them

Wouldn't agree with his decision to use split drain instead of slats for exit race though. Imagine the amount of sh1t that will be in that race by the time 340 cows will be gone through it. If it was slatted most will be gone down through and you would have remainder washed off very quickly, and if it was a busy day you wouldn't even need to wash it. I think he over thought that one.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 27-07-2020 3:24pm

Castlekeeper wrote: »

Is it fair to ask how does a tractor help?
Between getting up and down off it opening gaps and marking fields I couldn't imagine it being of much use.
I used to take a hurley and a two tennis balls. Between missing and having to find the ball and the few that'd hit the target, they'd get moving, I'd stay moving and the time would pass quick enough.
If you'd a dog that wouldnt herd you could at least train it to bring back the ball!
#toptip

We never lock them in, if they have enough to eat, they'll stay in the field so drive straight into the field without opening and closing gaps. Our biggest problem here was the ground being too dry so there was no chance of driving back over the bit of ridging made in the spring.

Tractor comes in and the first few stand up, drive around the outside and back again and the most of them are walking towards the gap.

Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

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