Power and machinery costs

[Jdunn55]

Be fine go Friday

4 days notice think that I'll have to give it a miss unfortunately

 

[Dead Rabbits]

4 days notice think that I'll have to give it a miss unfortunately

Best get going. Missed my chance to see Beef farmer enterprises

 

[Beef farmer]

Best get going. Missed my chance to see Beef farmer enterprises

Wouldn't say you missed much.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Wouldn't say you missed much.

Would have ruined autumn calving for me anyway. Milking through winter with no mud. Can’t fathom it

 

[jimmer]

I'd just turned 18 when I started up milking on my own ish, I knew it all and didn't need to be told (not insinuating anything in your situation, bear with me)
I lost cows due to incompetence
I ran out of grub due to not using enough fert
I had horrendous fertility due to inexperience
I spent too much on machinery due to being young and naive
I didn't do enough reseeding due to lack of knowledge
And so on and so on
I somehow managed to still have a social life, girlfriends and the odd holiday, but at what expense?? See above

Please don't feel like I'm trying to put you or anyone off because I did it all again 20 years later, and although things aren't perfect now I'm glad I've experience on my side
Taking the reigns on an established dairy unit is a long cry from starting from scratch
The moral to my story is take as many opportunities of gaining in welly experience as possible

 

[pappuller]

4 days notice [emoji51] think that I'll have to give it a miss unfortunately

Why ? Thought you only had 40sucklers and 60 sheep ?
My son spent 2 weeks at @Beef farmer during calving 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gave him an insight into block calving.
An excellent place to get an insight into the job.
The time is now not next year !!

 

[Beef farmer]

Too add to jims pearls of wisdom, start with the smallest most bred cows you can find. They wear well.

 

[Jdunn55]

Why ? Thought you only had 40sucklers and 60 sheep ?
My son spent 2 weeks at @Beef farmer during calving 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gave him an insight into block calving.
An excellent place to get an insight into the job.
The time is now not next year !!

We currently have 150 cows and 150 sheep (which I run almost entirely on my own) I also relief milk 5 times a week on top of doing contracting with our machinery (baling is about to get busy with 3rd cut) and help my friend with CCTV work 2 days a week...
We start calving next week as well and are in the middle of tupping
If I had a months notice I would have leaped at the opportunity but I cant just up and leave like that unfortunately.

 

[Beef farmer]

Why ? Thought you only had 40sucklers and 60 sheep ?
My son spent 2 weeks at @Beef farmer during calving 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gave him an insight into block calving.
An excellent place to get an insight into the job.
The time is now not next year !!

I'm fairly sure your lads take home message was, why calve over 9 weeks when there is 52 weeks in a year!!

 

[Rossymons]

We currently have 150 cows and 150 sheep (which I run almost entirely on my own) I also relief milk 5 times a week on top of doing contracting with our machinery (baling is about to get busy with 3rd cut) and help my friend with CCTV work 2 days a week...
We start calving next week as well and are in the middle of tupping
If I had a months notice I would have leaped at the opportunity but I cant just up and leave like that unfortunately.

I got tired just reading that.

Makes me think of the circus act I saw a couple years ago. The easiest way he kept his plates spinning was having a few as possible.

 

[betweenthelines]

Would you mix that in with silage and feed as a buffer feed?

Why are you so committed to (I would say fixated by) buffer feeding?

You should be aiming to grow and feed as much grass as possible. I can't see the sense in harvesting extra silage to feed in the summer when you should just be feeding that grass (or some Red Clover in your case) Even worse, why plough out grass in one year to grow maize to feed the next year?

KISS is the key. You'll have a hundred cow problems every day, you don't want to add many more!

 

[Jdunn55]

Why are you so committed to (I would say fixated by) buffer feeding?

You should be aiming to grow and feed as much grass as possible. I can't see the sense in harvesting extra silage to feed in the summer when you should just be feeding that grass (or some Red Clover in your case) Even worse, why plough out grass in one year to grow maize to feed the next year?

KISS is the key. You'll have a hundred cow problems every day, you don't want to add many more!

Because there isnt enough grazing ground to grow enough grass. Where I would be growing the grass/maize to buffer feed is 20 minutes away. Anything I can graze I will graze.
My aim is to be able to grow enough grass on the grazing to keep 2 cows/acre on the good ground and 1.5 cows/acre on the poorer ground for grazing.

I genuinly cant think of a way that I can budget any higher than that? I would be doing twice daily fence moves, 50kg of fertiliser/acre/grazing (except on red clover) and a splash of dirty water as well. Plus all seeds would be a maximum of 5 years in the ground.

My only other option is if I cross the road with the cows. But that land is over half a mile away. Is this realistic? To me it seems a massively long way for them to walk every day and will just cause me problems with feet, fertility and lower milk yields. Not to mention the time it would take to walk them there and the fact it's a minimum of a two person job?

My other thought process was that if there is a drought I'm already budgeting on feeding 10-15kg/head/day so it's less of a forage shortage. Plus by buffer feeding the cows have consistent feed all the time that they can rely on whereas grass quality varies depending on weather, ley, time of year etc

What would you do assuming keeping numbers the same?

 

[Jdunn55]

I got tired just reading that.

Makes me think of the circus act I saw a couple years ago. The easiest way he kept his plates spinning was having a few as possible.

I like to be busy my cows and sheep are my life, but they dont pay me so I have to go elsewhere. I love relief milking but I hate leaving them when I'm finished. I only do the CCTV work as a favour to a friend, plus I get paid a bit.

 

[Beef farmer]

What size road? 800m is nowt. If it kills the feet, get cows that can walk

 

[Jdunn55]

What size road? 800m is nowt. If it kills the feet, get cows that can walk

Currently theres a cow track which goes halfway but it's not got any hardcore its just earth so I can expand it easily. What size would be needed?
Or else I could take them up the main driveway which is hardcore and about 20' wide most of the way with stock netting most of the way apart from maybe the last third which is a hedge

They're friesians and generally very good on their feet but you're always going to get the odd one who goes lame, or the old cows who wont appreciate it. would you just keep the slow 2-3 in a paddock and send the rest up their?

If I could graze them that would solve a majority of my problems to be fair. In my mind it's too far. But I learnt on a farm with pedigree holsteins who dotn like walking from the cubicle to the feed barrier let alone half a mile up a track...

 

[Jdunn55]

Currently theres a cow track which goes halfway but it's not got any hardcore its just earth so I can expand it easily. What size would be needed?
Or else I could take them up the main driveway which is hardcore and about 20' wide most of the way with stock netting most of the way apart from maybe the last third which is a hedge

They're friesians and generally very good on their feet but you're always going to get the odd one who goes lame, or the old cows who wont appreciate it. would you just keep the slow 2-3 in a paddock and send the rest up their?

If I could graze them that would solve a majority of my problems to be fair. In my mind it's too far. But I learnt on a farm with pedigree holsteins who dotn like walking from the cubicle to the feed barrier let alone half a mile up a track...

Ignore that I've just measured it on google earth and the main track is 12-15' in width not 20

 

[Beef farmer]

1400m is our last paddock, only go there 1x day.
You've your heart set on fresians, is there a reason for this?
I'd guess cows feet would be better for walking than stood on concrete eating buffer.
I hate buffer feeding with a passion. Ruins grazing.

 

[Jdunn55]

1400m is our last paddock, only go there 1x day.
You've your heart set on fresians, is there a reason for this?
I'd guess cows feet would be better for walking than stood on concrete eating buffer.
I hate buffer feeding with a passion. Ruins grazing.

am I right in thinking that's about 1 mile away?!
Yes friesians suit the farm well, holsteins wouldn't last. I currently milk for the person I'm hoping to buy the cows from so know the cows well.

Plus they are currently buffer fed, albeit hay/silage not maize and get along well with it.

So in theory they should be fine walking to the 34 acres across the road?
If so I could graze them there during the day and then let them graze paddocks close to the yard by night to counteract the length they have to walk during the day?

 

[More to life]

am I right in thinking that's about 1 mile away?!
Yes friesians suit the farm well, holsteins wouldn't last. I currently milk for the person I'm hoping to buy the cows from so know the cows well.

Plus they are currently buffer fed, albeit hay/silage not maize and get along well with it.

So in theory they should be fine walking to the 34 acres across the road?
If so I could graze them there during the day and then let them graze paddocks close to the yard by night to counteract the length they have to walk during the day?

Whats between the road and your extra grazing either side of your dirt track ?

 

[Jdunn55]

Whats between the road and your extra grazing either side of your dirt track ?

How do you mean sorry?
The farm is only 1 field wide and at the edge of the field is a dirt track (only 1 cow wide) leading from the parlour to the second to last field (they go through that field to get to the last one)
On the other side of the track is the hardcore driveway