Drying out, again!

Cows 'n grass · Sep 5, 2018

celtis man said:
Just a quick question...
What is everyone doing about re seeding ,we have spring barley stubble that we would normally plough but I wonder with it being so dry do we rip with a cultivator and so into that ?

I've taken to copying @Ducati899 by going in with the shakeaerator then power harrow to establish grass after cereals. I've had great success with this and it means we can keep re-seeding in house and not be waiting on a contractor to come in with a plough.

celtis man · Sep 5, 2018

I have had a message from Dom our spray man and he said igr could be established in this manner my guess is clover lays could not because there may well be spray residue left ☺

dinderleat · Sep 5, 2018

We went in with a simba xspress ring rolled and then combi drilled irg twice finished with ring roll did this end of July trying to reduce moisture loss worked a treat and should cut end of September.

Clay52 · Sep 5, 2018

Cows 'n grass said:
I'm guessing that you can irrigate most of the farm?

Is there much water left in the Murray?

Depends. Some places are at 0% allocation and others around 50%. You can buy water but it’s expensive. I saw crappy round bale hay advertised at $750 a ton the other day. Going to be an interesting year.

The Agrarian · Sep 5, 2018

Cows 'n grass said:
I've taken to copying @Ducati899 by going in with the shakeaerator then power harrow to establish grass after cereals. I've had great success with this and it means we can keep re-seeding in house and not be waiting on a contractor to come in with a plough.

No stones down your way then?

cows sh#t me to tears · Sep 6, 2018

Clay52 said:
Depends. Some places are at 0% allocation and others around 50%. You can buy water but it’s expensive. I saw crappy round bale hay advertised at $750 a ton the other day. Going to be an interesting year.

So which are you? I'm the big fat zero side. Not the 71% side. And it's more like 12 months now, not 9

Probably close to 8 inches since October last year all up.

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

In the pit said:
That's more a drought .we worry here if it's dry for a week

Been dry here since 26th April. Difference between here and Oz is that were not used to it, and not stocked at 1 cow to 20ha. Clay52 is in irrigated country, so can make and store forage. Water might be expensive, but it's still cheaper than having none.

Clay52 · Sep 6, 2018

Beef farmer said:
Been dry here since 26th April. Difference between here and Oz is that were not used to it, and not stocked at 1 cow to 20ha. Clay52 is in irrigated country, so can make and store forage. Water might be expensive, but it's still cheaper than having none.

Not 1 cow to 20ha in dairy country or even close. More in the range of 2.5 cows to the ha depending on the amount of purchased forage.

Yep irrigated country but some places are on zero allocation.

With the low milk price, high water, grain and hay price not many farmers in the irrigation areas are making money this year. Lots of farms going on the market and cows being culled.

The forward thinking farmers had extra silage made last year and brought water last season. That hasn’t been easy for most because our milk prices never came up after the drop in 2016.

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

Clay52 said:
Not 1 cow to 20ha in dairy country or even close. More in the range of 2.5 cows to the ha depending on the amount of purchased forage.

Yep irrigated country but some places are on zero allocation.

With the low milk price, high water, grain and hay price not many farmers in the irrigation areas are making money this year. Lots of farms going on the market and cows being culled.

The forward thinking farmers had extra silage made last year and brought water last season. That hasn’t been easy for most because our milk prices never came up after the drop in 2016.

Theres farmers over here culling cows, making money this year is on the back burner for many, survival is forefront of most minds.

Most farmers had extra silage made here too, but the spring sucked all the surplus out the system.

cornishfarmer · Sep 6, 2018

@Clay52 what’s average price you get paid and do you get paid on bf and pr like us?

jondear · Sep 6, 2018

Beef farmer said:
Theres farmers over here culling cows, making money this year is on the back burner for many, survival is forefront of most minds.

Most farmers had extra silage made here too, but the spring sucked all the surplus out the system.

We did make extra last year late spring and drought summer has used all that up heading into winter . Going to cull hard !

Spear · Sep 6, 2018

Was to wet here last year to make our usual amount of silage. Had some fields ready for 2nd cut in July we never got back into until 1st week of may this year.

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

After doing forage budget version 47, I need to make 680kg of forage per cow to see me through a worst case scenario of a 150 day winter. That's with pushing 1kg more cake than i would like to and 2 kg of molasses. Both these extras will be a cost that wasn't there last winter, an extra 64p cow a day....roughly 2 liters. The problem is, I suspect the cows will milk slightly less this winter than last, as quality forage is still king.

How short are others?

Let's hope to still be grazing xmas day and back out valentines day.

The Agrarian · Sep 6, 2018

I've spent 71p/cow/day for the last 11 months in a bid to deal with forage deficit from last year's poor season, although there was a milk response which was hard to quantify. I had hoped that I could rebuild reserves this summer, but the weather hasn't permitted that to happen. I expect to continue spending this winter, probably at a lesser rate, in order to stretch silage and make a headstart on rebuilding stocks next summer. The success of that will depend on how kind it is as a season, and how long the herd remains closed with tb. Hopefully land will carry heifers well spread out until well into November, and turnout 1st April.

jondear · Sep 6, 2018

Well this weekends rain has evaporated for the southwest again!

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

The Agrarian said:
I've spent 71p/cow/day for the last 11 months in a bid to deal with forage deficit from last year's poor season, although there was a milk response which was hard to quantify. I had hoped that I could rebuild reserves this summer, but the weather hasn't permitted that to happen. I expect to continue spending this winter, probably at a lesser rate, in order to stretch silage and make a headstart on rebuilding stocks next summer. The success of that will depend on how kind it is as a season, and how long the herd remains closed with tb. Hopefully land will carry heifers well spread out until well into November, and turnout 1st April.

Your cutting silage on here all the time this year. Still cant make enough?

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

jondear said:
Well this weekends rain has evaporated for the southwest again!

That's why version 47 was drafted today. Version 46 was make 2000ton of silage in 3 weeks. But needed sats rain for that to happen

lazy farmer · Sep 6, 2018

Beef farmer said:
Your cutting silage on here all the time this year. Still cant make enough?

he is feeding it 24/7

Beef farmer · Sep 6, 2018

lazy farmer said:
he is feeding it 24/7

More that do the better

Cows 'n grass · Sep 6, 2018

Beef farmer said:
After doing forage budget version 47, I need to make 680kg of forage per cow to see me through a worst case scenario of a 150 day winter. That's with pushing 1kg more cake than i would like to and 2 kg of molasses. Both these extras will be a cost that wasn't there last winter, an extra 64p cow a day....roughly 2 liters. The problem is, I suspect the cows will milk slightly less this winter than last, as quality forage is still king.

How short are others?

Let's hope to still be grazing xmas day and back out valentines day.

Haven't done a budget but I always seem to scrape through.

I need 300 decent bales on hand at the start of calving so if I get down to that before mid Feb then I'll dry off the last of the late calvers and feed whatever I can find. I've bought lots of hay and barely straw to feed to drys and when we need start feeding again it will be a 50:50 pke/silage mix upto Christmas.

It'll be fine....

....unless it snows in march again, whereupon you'll find me hiding under a table crying.

Drying out, again!

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

Share this page