All things Dairy

[som farmer]

Dry cows don’t pay the cow finance I think tends to be the issue

the dry jerseys at Exeter sold pretty well, for no records.
they might not have done, if there were the records with them !!!

l think its the finance that's driving the trade, once someone has a large chunk of approved finance, some seem to want to spend it all at the next sale. logical, except there could be several wanting to do the same................... and with mart-eye, an away bidder, once bought one, needs to fill a lorry up, to make the haulage worth while, and again, could be more than 1 buying.

where you see the biggest difference, is with the 'end' cows, the 'not so good ones', used to be cheap, they are not now, again, filing the lorry, or blowing the cash.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

What did the dry jerseys make?

 

[Milkcow365]

Your name all over it @Jdunn55

 

[Beef farmer]

What did the dry jerseys make?

There all in Yarcombe.

 

[som farmer]

What did the dry jerseys make?

to much £705, including a old dog at £300

son went to wessex mach sale, so watched marteye, @Jdunn55 sold very well, think he said kivells told him £1300 av, pretty well spot on.

 

[TheRanger]

Thanks did OK

5 did really well,

As an average they did just shy of £1350
Take out the bottom 3 and they did £1600

What's the cost to sell them? Do they bill you for lairage and shampoo? Or just the commission?

 

[som farmer]

What's the cost to sell them? Do they bill you for lairage and shampoo? Or just the commission?

lairage, food, shampoo, tools and commission.

we reckon on roughly £100 a cow, with transport.

well worth doing, that shampoo and set, transforms the cow.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

We have been offered some rye straw has anyone used it before? Quite a saving compared to barley straw.

 

[gone up the hill]

to much £705, including a old dog at £300

son went to wessex mach sale, so watched marteye, @Jdunn55 sold very well, think he said kivells told him £1300 av, pretty well spot on.

How come the dairy cow trade is so bad ? £1300 head is nothing these days for cows of that quality, esp when you take into account their cull value and the value of the milk they will produce before that time?

Surely they should be up around at least the £1800/ 2000 head mark?

 

[happycows]

They weren’t doing silly amounts of milk, most had been calved several months/ pd’d back in calf. One heifer and rest were third calvers.
Very few top end cattle at Exeter today and was reflected in trade.
Top price was nice fleck x Holstein second calved at £2000.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

They weren’t doing silly amounts of milk, most had been calved several months/ pd’d back in calf. One heifer and rest were third calvers.
Very few top end cattle at Exeter today and was reflected in trade.
Top price was nice fleck x Holstein second calved at £2000.

I saw that one what a cracker.

 

[som farmer]

We have been offered some rye straw has anyone used it before? Quite a saving compared to barley straw.

we were short one year, and bought some rye straw in the swathe.

little baler, was as slow as you could go, + shear bolts, flat 8 was useless, so a flat 6, bales were a continuous flow.

round baler was 'interesting', to say the least, stop to tie, and about 10/12 foot of swathe would be pulled in, as it tied.

the worst was yet to come, unrolling the fecking things in winter, baled a tad damp, it stuck together, and as the straw was 5/6 foot long.................. evil. Grown for ryvita, crop had to be carefully checked, and remove, ergot, any found post combine, whole field rejected, ergot grows on rye, perhaps putrid has eaten to much rye bread, huge amounts grown in Russia.

never bought any more, l got the blame, as l bought the stuff from a friend. The one bonus, it was a 12ft header.

little bales were all rightish, bit carboardy, but ok.

the straw itself, was fine.

we are toying with the idea of sowing forage rye, behind maize, collect £60ac, spray off in apr, and hope it dries enough to bale, for straw, and hopefully, not 5/6ft tall.

 

[som farmer]

How come the dairy cow trade is so bad ? £1300 head is nothing these days for cows of that quality, esp when you take into account their cull value and the value of the milk they will produce before that time?

Surely they should be up around at least the £1800/ 2000 head mark?

the top prices are for top quality big hol milkers, giving a lot of milk'
and its down hill from there.

any faults, hard knocks. And they were not 'fresh', or giving a lot of milk, and only served, not so many bidders for them, If you removed the worst 3, would have been a lot higher, £850, £1020 and £900, one was faulted. They were good middle of the road cows, so good price on the day.

we sold 66 2 weeks ago, good cows, back in calf, for oct/nov, on the bunch, we had had 4250litres of milk, av £1392. Held back by 10 served only cows, giving a lot of milk.

to get top prices, you have to put something in the ring, that buyers want, just like calves, dead simple. We were happy with our price, reckon we had had about £1700 value of milk out of them

 

[sidjon]

to much £705, including a old dog at £300

son went to wessex mach sale, so watched marteye, @Jdunn55 sold very well, think he said kivells told him £1300 av, pretty well spot on.

Would agree, your mate was going to buy some of the dry ones for me at the right price and Came home with nothing, had some problems with schmallenberg and just need some cheap milk'Ncull cow's

 

[More to life]

How come the dairy cow trade is so bad ? £1300 head is nothing these days for cows of that quality, esp when you take into account their cull value and the value of the milk they will produce before that time?

Surely they should be up around at least the £1800/ 2000 head mark?

Cows are dirt cheap at the moment imo wait till the sun comes out to see the true price.

 

[som farmer]

Cows are dirt cheap at the moment imo wait till the sun comes out to see the true price.

l wouldn't really like to forecast the trade going forward, this year.

milk price will rise, l think/hope, so some will look to up production, that's the plus side.

the downside is the EA and slurry regs, EA are visiting farms, and telling farmers what they have to do, to continue milking, and stay within the rules. And the cost involved in doing so, are rather large, quoted figures £200,000+. Costs are high, because storage has to be built under their specific standards.

or in other words you cannot just extend/dig a bigger, hole, our spat with EA, they had aerial photo's of our lagoon, which didn't match the actual size of it, on the ground. One couldn't admit we had 'grown' it, ever so slightly , as that had been illegal since 1991, unless you had got p/p. That's a bit of a bugger.

so, if your storage is not sufficient, and you need more, it has to be to EA standard, pre-approved by them, and must meet the current EA regs, plus you need planning permission.

if you are a tenant, on a FBT with a set number of years, you have a choice, pay for it yourself, ask the l/lord to do it, which would mean you pay extra rent, or some other agreement, or you cease milking.

The other way, carry on milking, till told to stop. The EA seem to be rather keen on these regs, pushing the blame for 'polluted' rivers, onto farmers, rather than the water boards illegal release of raw sewage, if they concentrated on that, domestic water bills, would rise sharply.

so, come the autumn, could be a lot of cows on the market, all down to the new regs. Or someone sees some sense, and waters it down somewhat. Not sure l would rely on that.

 

[Happy hillbily]

I can be stubborn sometimes.
The calf will drink !

Yes I know it would have been quicker and easier to start the parlour up and feed the calf with an easy feeder.
But she wasn't winning today !!!

 

[sidjon]

Did pass RT yesterday with 2 minors, was over due ( not my fault) ,really didn't want it during calving as to much other stuff going on ,but glad it over til next time

 

[Jdunn55]

I can be stubborn sometimes.
The calf will drink !

View attachment 1178718

Yes I know it would have been quicker and easier to start the parlour up and feed the calf with an easy feeder.
But she wasn't winning today !!!

Love a bit of stubbornness, got told that "you won't possibly be able to milk that thing!"

She wAs going to be sold with a calf at foot as a suckled cow, but now I want to prove a point so...

Gertrude the limo and i are just about to enjoy the first round of milking together, if no one heres from me within the next few hours, assume she won the battle

 

[Grassman247]

Love a bit of stubbornness, got told that "you won't possibly be able to milk that thing!"

She wAs going to be sold with a calf at foot as a suckled cow, but now I want to prove a point so...

Gertrude the limo and i are just about to enjoy the first round of milking together, if no one heres from me within the next few hours, assume she won the battle
View attachment 1178762View attachment 1178763

Your still milking at this time of night?!