Power and machinery costs

Jdunn55

Member
Is there any need to go to 150 cows so quickly when most of the capital costs have been paid? Would it not be best to milk around 80, graze them on your close block until you've got a better feel for what the cows/farm/you can take?
The farm is fine with 150, I should have 3 years with only 90-100 cows which gives me time to set up and get used to the cows before upping to 120 and then 150 in the fourth and fifth. My capital costs wont have been paid for until the fifth year and by that point my overdraft will be looking fairly unhealthy. But I'll be in a position to pay it off quickly then.
 

dairyrow

Member
Do you run all your cows as one group like the high yielder with the others?
No. Just in the spring to open up we have 2 groups and just looked at the diary we seperated to house the highs at night but hoping to keep them out for another 2 weeks then house them full time possibly
 

Dead Rabbits

Member
Location
'Merica
@Jdunn55
You asked what we grow when the ryegrass goes dormant June-September. We plant corn silage on a portion of the ground to chop and feed during winter and when grass slows down. Corn silage is our cheapest stored feed per lb of dry matter. That’s our competitive advantage in this area, it may not be in yours. We also have 50 acres of alfalfa and 40-65 acres of sorghum sudan to graze June, July and August.

Native crabgrass comes up in the ryegrass in June. It has to be kept on a short 10-14 day round or it loses quality fast.
 

Dead Rabbits

Member
Location
'Merica
What protien do you feed to compliment the 🌽 silage? Or do you find enough protien in the grazed "forage" to suffice?
Depends on which herd,stage of lactation and time of year. In spring we feed no protein and very little silage, only enough to carry ground corn for energy. After that it’s either DDG, corn gluten or soybean meal. It’s dependent on prices. We have spreadsheet we put prices in every week or other week to determine what is cost effective and a budget that rule all

If feeding grass silage with the corn silage purchased protein is minimal.

Please note that this is much more complex than just grazing grass. But when you have a drought the economics of a grazing dairy rapidly fall apart. As I’m sure many of you have experienced these past couple years.
 

Jdunn55

Member
@Jdunn55
You asked what we grow when the ryegrass goes dormant June-September. We plant corn silage on a portion of the ground to chop and feed during winter and when grass slows down. Corn silage is our cheapest stored feed per lb of dry matter. That’s our competitive advantage in this area, it may not be in yours. We also have 50 acres of alfalfa and 40-65 acres of sorghum sudan to graze June, July and August.

Native crabgrass comes up in the ryegrass in June. It has to be kept on a short 10-14 day round or it loses quality fast.
Thankyou, our climate has changed and this year was okay but nothing spectacular, currently I think I should be able to adapt to any dryer conditions just with more drought resistant crops in with ryegrass (chicory, red clover, plantain etc) which is what I'm currently planting.
But should it get worse than it currently is I would like to know I could do something!
 
Thankyou, our climate has changed and this year was okay but nothing spectacular, currently I think I should be able to adapt to any dryer conditions just with more drought resistant crops in with ryegrass (chicory, red clover, plantain etc) which is what I'm currently planting.
But should it get worse than it currently is I would like to know I could do something!

If it's just for cutting, red clover would be worth a shout. If it is land that doesn't hang wet, lucerne may be worth a look.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
What pH are you?

Unless it is a field that really hangs wet, it's often ok, it's the establishment phase that would concern me. Once it's actually up and growing and got some root mass it is normally fine.
What pH am I? Anything from 5.4 to 6.4.
Depending on last liming.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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