Milkcow365
Member
- Location
- Sw Scotland
Need about 5 kexxtones keep her right
All things Dairy
- Thread starter Cows 'n grass
- Start date
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
You need a girlfriendmy poor baby
she didnt hav enough to go on the system as apparently they have to be giving atleast 3 litres
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
- Location
- Shropshire
As for not milking aswell I’d imagine your losing vacuum on the milk recording setup we had a switch for milk recording on the old plug in to the milk line system as it dropped so much vaccuum
- Location
- somerset
when they pee about like that, usually blame the milker !Do everyone else's cows milk awfully when they're milk recording?? Did mine for the first time last night and this morning, they have literally never milked as badlydid brilliantly tonight tho!
For instance 1109 us a second calver normally does 30l a day, did 7.5l last night and 6 this morning so 13.5 total, tonight she did 15.6!
221 also a second calver, normally does 40l a day did 24l total whereas tonight she did 22l! Bloody annoying!
On the plus side, dehorned all my calves today and cut 21 acres of grazing ground that got ahead of the cows, and I think I've finally found a relief milkerneeds a lot of training as hes never milked a cow before tonight but hes got the right attitude and the improvement from start to finish was really good
Happy hillbily
Member
- Location
- Uwchaled, North Wales
First cut in the bag today. 50 ish acres done. Always done 1 big cut July time, between the weather and everything else this year never got the fert down. So cut now and start again, and get a 2nd cut later on. The Tw missed out on the usual Massey bashing with the trailer, but I've come to the age where i have decided i can't be everywhere at once, so booked another tractor and trailer for the job.
Happy hillbily
Member
- Location
- Uwchaled, North Wales
Someone did ask me a year or two back for a pic of the forager on one of the steep bits. Doesn't look steep, but it was enough for the wheel on the top side to lose traction and spin round.
Last edited:
- Location
- South West
Quality grass being raked today
- Location
- somerset
just a thought, how much money has been spent, on the machinery above, plus forager, and more trailers etc.
compared to the 'old' tailed foragers, or double chops used 40/50 years ago, and profits were higher then, than now.
Somewhere along the way, we seem to have massively over complicated our farming systems, probably by reps wanting to sell shiny paint, and our desire to do bigger/better
- Location
- South Molton
Two weeks growth.
Maybe a kidd double chop would do the same job for a fraction of the cost?
I was thinking that yesterday as 100's of thousands of pounds worth of equipment, triple mowers on 250hp, 4 rotor rake on 150hp, SPFH, was sat in the field of the digester.
Maybe a kidd double chop would do the same job for a fraction of the cost?
- Location
- South Molton
Mind the manhole cover
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
I think theres 2 other reasons I can see that have a bearing on that, 1 being milk contracts, to get a new one you need atleast 100 cows from what I found when I was starting up (I know theres people on here with contracts with less and I'm VERY jealous of you but theres no way a new producer would be able to get one - I personally would rather milk 50 cows that 500 but that's just me) and ideally all of them want million litre producers, with my friesians I need around 150 to do that realistically. Then because you're bigger you either need 2 things lots of machinery and staff or less staff and bigger more expensive machinery to get it done quicker, then because you have this expensive machinery OR big contractors bills to pay for you need more cows, then land and then even bigger machinery and thus starts the hamster wheel everyone says about
I think if the truth is known theres not that many farmers who want hundreds of cows and most of us would rather have less cows as long as we can still make a living from them which is the difficult part
Happy hillbily
Member
- Location
- Uwchaled, North Wales
Dropping the milking cows into 15 acres reserved for the dry cows. Grass is growing like stink atm, but it's not really a field thats suitable to take a crop of bales off it.
Back in the '70s ,There was probably a farmer standing in a field, holding a scythe and thinking the same about your shiny double chop. Times move on. Contractors are brilliant. They can't over charge or you'll get another. Paying for the machinery is not your problem.
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Got a flyer through the post from our local JD dealer touting special deals on combines. RRP on the biggest model is over £700,000. I know there’s discount blah blah blah but for pity’s sake what planet are they on. In 1983 as I am repeatedly told by my old man he had to give £135 for barley in May, I bought half my barley for this year @£130 delivered! Slightly on a tangent but it brings things into focus. How much would three have cost and two extra men to do the same job then to compare?
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
At what point does it become cheaper to pay 2 people extra and have 2 machines from 20 years ago?! Atleast that way if one breaks down you have a spare!
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
Work better if you used 2 machines from 30 years ago with levers and handles as opposed to primitive electrical systems.