- Location
- southern riverina Australia
All things Dairy
- Thread starter Cows 'n grass
- Start date
- Location
- South Molton
Glad I am not on light soils....well I have some but they are quite steep
- Location
- South Molton
Know that feeling being only 500m outside the money money money zone!
- Location
- South Molton
Pivots still being put in ten to the dozen then?
Or is ground water getting scarce?
I know salinity is a concern for some parts, place I worked way down south, on SA Vic border, they put in a pivot and were concerned about drawing water in from the sea 1/2 mile away.
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
Glad I asked on here really as don't want anyone to think I was taking the pee by not paying enough, it's a shame because I only charged myself out at £10/hour for the past 4 years self employed and i like to think i was fairly good at it
Anyway I've let my relief go as it's not fair for me to pay him less than market price as such and I cant afford to pay anyone £30+/hour so well and truly on my own now
- Location
- somerset
farming has never been easy, and is a very demanding boss.Glad I asked on here really as don't want anyone to think I was taking the pee by not paying enough, it's a shame because I only charged myself out at £10/hour for the past 4 years self employed and i like to think i was fairly good at it
Anyway I've let my relief go as it's not fair for me to pay him less than market price as such and I cant afford to pay anyone £30+/hour so well and truly on my own now
at least you had a relief milker, around here, they are like hens teeth, last one got offered, and took, an HGV driving job, before starting, at over £20 hr
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
Majority of our water comes from surface water from the upper Murray storages. A lot of irrigators went in when the government were buying back water for the environment. They were paying above the going rate at the time and the deal was you gave up x amount of water in exchange for money for efficiency projects.
Salinity was a concern here in the eighties. Since then district drainage schemes have gone in and we also haven't had the wet winters like we did then.
Biggest thing here has been the constant droughts. (Proper friggen droughts...)
We had 3 years of zero water allocations and temporary prices were up to $650/ meg. And of course, hay and silage and grain were ridiculously expensive as well. It hasnt been much fun the last 15 years or so......
Whitewalker
Member
Here’s a thought if you had enough mains pressure fit one or two spinners to the tank lid and attach mains water , then you could rinse the tank independently, apply a cleaning chemical then close the lid and rinse the tank again without any risk of spray etc also lid down, closed environment
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
Bit of footage from the home farm this afternoon.
Edit: readjusting video... be back soon
Ok. Back up.
Will look very different in 3 months time.
Edit: readjusting video... be back soon
Ok. Back up.
Will look very different in 3 months time.
Last edited:
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Have your milk prices caught up a bit now? It seemed a few years ago that Australian farm gate prices were way behind NZ, US and European prices.
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
This year they are up due to supply and demand. Hopefully the worm has finally turned in the farmers favor.... been hoping it would eventually get to this point post deregulation 20 years ago. Only time will tell if it continues. But yes, it's a reasonably good year price wise.
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
Your bonkers why let someone go even if your paying below market value surely it’s up to them.Glad I asked on here really as don't want anyone to think I was taking the pee by not paying enough, it's a shame because I only charged myself out at £10/hour for the past 4 years self employed and i like to think i was fairly good at it
Anyway I've let my relief go as it's not fair for me to pay him less than market price as such and I cant afford to pay anyone £30+/hour so well and truly on my own now
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Glad I asked on here really as don't want anyone to think I was taking the pee by not paying enough, it's a shame because I only charged myself out at £10/hour for the past 4 years self employed and i like to think i was fairly good at it
Anyway I've let my relief go as it's not fair for me to pay him less than market price as such and I cant afford to pay anyone £30+/hour so well and truly on my own now
I would put money that the majority of relief milkers around the country are on £10/12/hr.
Spudley
Member
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
We pay ours £12.
Has your farm been laser levelled for the irrigation?Bit of footage from the home farm this afternoon.
Edit: readjusting video... be back soon
Ok. Back up.
Will look very different in 3 months time.
Martyn
Member
- Location
- South west
Lovely drop of 
Holsteinfriesian90
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
Goonhilly Joseph 2nd calver with her peartree georgeson heifer calf
Fodder beet are looking well seeing as they went in late.
Fodder beet are looking well seeing as they went in late.
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Whole herd PD session today. 7.8% empty outside an 80 day breeding period with zero intervention. Thanks cows, I'll take that.
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
Yes. 99% of it has been done by ourselves. Only had a few paddocks done by contractors with big gear. And out of that 99% I have done 90%. Dad started hiring the bucket in 1985 and I would take over whilst he was having lunch or doing other stuff. You couldn't afford to stop then as you had to book the bucket months in advance and you might only have it for 2 weeks. I was 14 at the time. Been doing it completely on my own (we have never used a surveyor , nor farm plan , always done it by guesswork as to determining the fall.) Since I was 17. Gone through 5 tractors on the same bucket (we still have the last 4 tractors. They just get retired from laser duties).
The bucket that we hired has probably done half of the district where we are, over its hire life....Eventually it was sold a few times and I then bought it at a clearing sale. Ironically the sale was on the latest farm we bought, but a good 20 years before.