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<blockquote data-quote="Jdunn55" data-source="post: 7952648" data-attributes="member: 81760"><p>Have you ever milked cows? If not go and do it for 6 months and see how you get on</p><p></p><p>Milking cows is not for everyone, you have to absolutely love it or be completely nuts (I'm lucky enough to meet both of those qualifications) for it to be worthwhile doing. </p><p></p><p>I started up 9 months ago, and my god its been a hell of a struggle (just read the thread all things dairy and lookout for my posts complaining about yet another disaster if you want proof!)</p><p>As [USER=44958]@cows sh#t me to tears[/USER] has said, there is absolutely zero chance of dairy cows reducing the workload. BUT, there is every reason they could improve cashflow and pay more than sucklers/sheep/arable but it has to be done right and you need to want it for the right reasons. The cows are phenomenol and I'd be lost without mine, but they do half test your patience and I've spent more time perched with my head on one of their backs in tears this year than I care to remember.</p><p></p><p>If you're serious about it, find out if you can get a contract (this will make or break this idea), if you can with who, there's better and worse companies out there.</p><p>Then for budgeting purposes:</p><p>£1500 for cows (this will vary slightly depending on the quality of stock you buy)</p><p>Robots are around £100,000 each currently (brand new) and can milk 50-60 cows at a time depending on how many litres they're doing</p><p>A 15:30 herringbone parlour is £100,000</p><p>Sheds are currently £6 per square foot excluding election (can probably add £2 per foot for that)</p><p>Concrete is £2 per square foot I think including laying it</p><p>Then it will be a case of bulk tank, cubicles, slurry storage? Silage pits? Cow tracks (if you go down the robot route this needs very careful planning if you want to graze) water access etc</p><p></p><p>From what you've said so far, and assuming you can get a contract, I would be looking at autumn calving so that they're dry over the summer when you said you're prone to scorching. Milking 200 cows through a herringbone parlour with a good track system and grazing as much as possible in the autumn and spring. Grow maize and some corn in rotation on the 160 acres 1km down the road and rear heifers here. Could even use fodder beet as a break crop around the yard to graze over the winter</p><p></p><p>Good luck <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="👍" title="Thumbs up :thumbsup:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/6.5/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png" data-shortname=":thumbsup:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jdunn55, post: 7952648, member: 81760"] Have you ever milked cows? If not go and do it for 6 months and see how you get on Milking cows is not for everyone, you have to absolutely love it or be completely nuts (I'm lucky enough to meet both of those qualifications) for it to be worthwhile doing. I started up 9 months ago, and my god its been a hell of a struggle (just read the thread all things dairy and lookout for my posts complaining about yet another disaster if you want proof!) As [USER=44958]@cows sh#t me to tears[/USER] has said, there is absolutely zero chance of dairy cows reducing the workload. BUT, there is every reason they could improve cashflow and pay more than sucklers/sheep/arable but it has to be done right and you need to want it for the right reasons. The cows are phenomenol and I'd be lost without mine, but they do half test your patience and I've spent more time perched with my head on one of their backs in tears this year than I care to remember. If you're serious about it, find out if you can get a contract (this will make or break this idea), if you can with who, there's better and worse companies out there. Then for budgeting purposes: £1500 for cows (this will vary slightly depending on the quality of stock you buy) Robots are around £100,000 each currently (brand new) and can milk 50-60 cows at a time depending on how many litres they're doing A 15:30 herringbone parlour is £100,000 Sheds are currently £6 per square foot excluding election (can probably add £2 per foot for that) Concrete is £2 per square foot I think including laying it Then it will be a case of bulk tank, cubicles, slurry storage? Silage pits? Cow tracks (if you go down the robot route this needs very careful planning if you want to graze) water access etc From what you've said so far, and assuming you can get a contract, I would be looking at autumn calving so that they're dry over the summer when you said you're prone to scorching. Milking 200 cows through a herringbone parlour with a good track system and grazing as much as possible in the autumn and spring. Grow maize and some corn in rotation on the 160 acres 1km down the road and rear heifers here. Could even use fodder beet as a break crop around the yard to graze over the winter Good luck 👍 [/QUOTE]
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