All things Dairy

[Beef farmer]

the southern bretheren do seem to be catching more rain than us norvern boys

South East yes. South West no.

 

[lazy farmer]

South East yes. South West no.

Central southern too.
23ml here since Thursday.Potential for a vintage yr increasing again.

 

[pine_guy]

I’ll put my cake up for scrutiny if it helps @Jdunn55 maybe even myself. This was £290 end of may. It’s 20% and we are mixing it 60:40 with SBP (super flow) to make it 16%. Seemed to be working well but we’ve lost grass quality so hard to tell. Oh and it’s double rate mins and 1.5 rate mag as we were worried about palatability

 

[Barmyfarmer]

£350 a ton is ridiculous, £250 will get you plenty good enough cake to compliment grass

 

[Princess Pooper]

That's what I mean, I've seen plenty of idiots with twin beacons driving around and dont need the stress, if I did I'd be better off doing it myself. I just meant that should I find one week in the summer is quieter for some reason theres no reason I couldnt take half a dozen loads out each day, whereas if I didnt have the tanker I wouldnt have that option

If you find one week in the summer that's quieter, take some time off the farm and do something completely different.

 

[NoParticularPattern]

Just had an afternoon scroll and thought I’d also join in the cake scrutiny. We pay £271/t for this. Quite like it, cows do well on it. Changed to this about 12 months back from a 21% and can’t say we’ve noticed a difference anywhere other than price. We’ve now just swapped to this same cake but with milker minerals already added in an effort to make our lives easier knowing that they’re definitely getting what they should. Plus the usual about waste and paying extra for convenience. Can’t remember what that’s costing now which probably means it’s so expensive I’ve blocked it out

 

[NoParticularPattern]

Should add that we don’t graze mind. So somewhat easier for us to find what works off the back of a couple of silage analyses really.

 

[LTH]

I should say, I do have a business plan but it really wasnt worth doing for anything other than being able to get a loan. I think half the reason it isnt any good is because I had help from a company to write it and they wouldnt let me use my own figures and convinced me to use theirs, I wanted to budget 300/t for cake for instance, they convinced me 250 would be enough whereas I'm actually feeding a 350/t one instead

350/t and your not organic although probably feeding a lot less per cow than me.

 

[Fools Gold]

I’m not having a dig but when I started running a spring calving herd the first thing we did was sell machinery and put the money into cows, and then got people in (a New Zealander) to teach us how to grass the best we could ,then discussion groups to carry that on

Whether he can be an out and out spring calver will depend largely on any stipulations in his milk contract, many processors don’t want any more spring milk than they already have, although I do realise that he does farm in Cornwall which has a favourable climate and long growing season suited to grazing cows.
We had various “New Zealanders” arrive here in the wet west of “Auld Scotia” in the late 90’s to set up new units and tell us all our systems were crap and we were doomed in the new world market, were still here they all left pretty quickly after a few horrendous summers. Yes they brought some new ideas but the no compromise, this is the way to do it approach was wholly unsuited to our area It’s all about finding a system that suits your farm, climate and milk contract.

 

[Jdunn55]

Just had a look and it was £310 for the cake, through 3 counties, the £350 was for a blend from a rival company which is much better considering 18% including megalac and it's there top dairy cake (moved from second best which had too much palm kernel in for my liking)

 

[LTH]

350/t and your not organic although probably feeding a lot less per cow than me.

Just read the rest of the thread think you’ve had enough stick sorry

 

[Llmmm]

We did the same and found no difference in growth, just 10k cheaper without it.

There is serious compaction with trailing shoe compared to splash plate you have extra weight and are driving closer together with extra tracks.Plus its slower so u use more diesel slurry has to be watery so more time and diesel used i wonder if these enviromentalist ever took these things into consideration.

 

[sidjon]

Just had a look and it was £310 for the cake, through 3 counties, the £350 was for a blend from a rival company which is much better considering 18% including megalac and it's there top dairy cake (moved from second best which had too much palm kernel in for my liking)

For that money there shouldn't be any PKE in the cake to cheapen it, thought our was bad at 232 for mostly rolled maize with soy hulls, we find 3 countries 10 to 15 pounds dear a ton for the same ingredients.

 

[sidjon]

There is serious compaction with trailing shoe compared to splash plate you have extra weight and are driving closer together with extra tracks.Plus its slower so u use more diesel slurry has to be watery so more time and diesel used i wonder if these enviromentalist ever took these things into consideration.

We've cut up my dribbble bar for the umbilical and turned it back into a splash plate ,

 

[betweenthelines]

Just had a look and it was £310 for the cake, through 3 counties, the £350 was for a blend from a rival company which is much better considering 18% including megalac and it's there top dairy cake (moved from second best which had too much palm kernel in for my liking)

Your cows will tell you how good the cake is. Also take a look at the thread @Cows 'n grass started about feeding extra to make the most of price rises, you could just be depressing grass intake!

As for buying a tanker-don't! If you really feel the urge to use one, hire it. It'll cost you less in a week than a bought tanker will lose value over the same time!

 

[bigw]

Your cows will tell you how good the cake is. Also take a look at the thread @Cows 'n grass started about feeding extra to make the most of price rises, you could just be depressing grass intake!

As for buying a tanker-don't! If you really feel the urge to use one, hire it. It'll cost you less in a week than a bought tanker will lose value over the same time!

Flip side to that, we bought a tanker 3 years ago and find it very handy to be able to choose when we go with slurry behind the cows. We struggle to have enough to do between milkings at this time of year so it actually works out well and there would be little depreciation on it in the last 3 years given the price rises.

 

[betweenthelines]

Flip side to that, we bought a tanker 3 years ago and find it very handy to be able to choose when we go with slurry behind the cows. We struggle to have enough to do between milkings at this time of year so it actually works out well and there would be little depreciation on it in the last 3 years given the price rises.

Presume you had the cash to spend, having been in business for a few years. @Jdunn55 needs to look after his cash for a few years until he's in a better position.

 

[LTH]

Your cows will tell you how good the cake is. Also take a look at the thread @Cows 'n grass started about feeding extra to make the most of price rises, you could just be depressing grass intake!

As for buying a tanker-don't! If you really feel the urge to use one, hire it. It'll cost you less in a week than a bought tanker will lose value over the same time!

The point of buying a tanker is so he’s not contaminating his land with diseases from other farms.

 

[som farmer]

Your cows will tell you how good the cake is. Also take a look at the thread @Cows 'n grass started about feeding extra to make the most of price rises, you could just be depressing grass intake!

As for buying a tanker-don't! If you really feel the urge to use one, hire it. It'll cost you less in a week than a bought tanker will lose value over the same time!

young lad started a contracting business, borrowed to much, and it folded, He now hires out his large tanker, £100/day, and is astounded by the money coming in, the only out goings, is the taxman.
On the subject of cake, we use the advice of an independent, after being stung by a very nice rep, who had our best interests at heart, certainly had me fooled, not easy. Milk shot up, cake bill shot down, the only little bags we use now, are minerals and urea, with occasional micro sorb, if she thinks there's a problem, none last winter.
For @Jdunn55 , he has some lessons, perhaps best learnt by experience, but the best advice, is to remember a rep earns his living, on the commission he gets by selling stuff. He can always try a 1 off load from another miller, soon makes his normal rep get a bit keener. We tried 3counties, yes we found them a trifle expensive too. Perhaps he should realise he's getting a lot of good advice, from farmers that wish him well, that have made all the same errors, they hope he can avoid.

 

[s line]

It's the longest day today, so biked to work this morning.