Fertilizer and Frost

muckymanor said:
I'm only at the shed every second day so its not really feseable to feed daily unless I pay someone to do it, so that would only add to the expense. I liked the idea of the beet that I could just drop it in front of them on top of the silage and just let them at it.
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Honestly they will soon get a taste for it

Mine took about 10 days to get fully on it
They used to pick them out and carry them about the yard!!
I used to pick them up and quick wash and back in feeder, once they had the taste they would eat them off the floor in the shit!
 
headcase said:
Honestly they will soon get a taste for it

Mine took about 10 days to get fully on it
They used to pick them out and carry them about the yard!!
I used to pick them up and quick wash and back in feeder, once they had the taste they would eat them off the floor in the shit!
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I'm new to beet so excuse my questions. I was given the option of washed or loaded with a cleaner loader. Which would be the better option? Do they need to be washed?
 
muckymanor said:
I'm new to beet so excuse my questions. I was given the option of washed or loaded with a cleaner loader. Which would be the better option? Do they need to be washed?
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I would get washed as a first preference but as long as its not too dirty its.ok
Stuff im using now is just lifted
I'll get a pic in the morning
 
muckymanor said:
I'm new to beet so excuse my questions. I was given the option of washed or loaded with a cleaner loader. Which would be the better option? Do they need to be washed?
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Definitely wash it dirty beet is a waste of time feeding it.
Local price around here is around 40 euros/ton washed and delivered into the yard.
It's a great tool to put condition on cattle but you need to be very careful starting them off on it and regulating it to cattle.
As said you need to be well set up machinery wise to handle beet efficiency,forking beet would break your heart.
You will need a high phosphorus mineral to balance it aswell.
The beet wouldn't last long washed so you need to feed it fast. If you bought the hay and feed it to your cows and kept the silage for the cattle it would work out better I reckon.
 
Blackwater boy said:
You cannot just load chopped beet in front of them tho, as for the whole beet idea I'm not so convinced as it runs away from them and they may push it all into the passage within an hour...
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The diet feeder is a great tool for mixing the beet and meal together and regulating it out to them. I don't think I would bother with beet if I wasn't using one.
 
Peter said:
The diet feeder is a great tool for mixing the beet and meal together and regulating it out to them. I don't think I would bother with beet if I wasn't using one.
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Why?
I got on fine just tipping some in ring feeders the first time i used it,i wasnt going to spend on a chopper if it didnt work
 
headcase said:
Why?
I got on fine just tipping some in ring feeders the first time i used it,i wasnt going to spend on a chopper if it didnt work
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There's just to much hardship with beet if your not set up right. My father had a trailed hi spec beet washer chopper back in the day and there was a lot of work drawing water from the river with the tanker to wash beet and then one time a concrete block went up underneath the elevator chain and destroyed all before it.:sad2: Changing bearings due to water damage was another regular occurrence.:sad2: No weighing scales so drunk cattle was a regular occurrence and trying work it in the feeding passage around blocks of silage was another hurdle to overcome.
We sold her on the farmers journal and we got the same amount in euros as my father gave in pounds for her 15 years beforehand but repairs and running costs were just to high.
I might be a bit unfair on the machine but bear in mind we had a few other nightmare machines , we had an agitator mounted on a chassis with all manual controls it had to be winched in and out of the tank and any move took at least 20 mins.:sad2:Another one was the jf muckspreader:sad2: and let's not forget the jf 245 drum mower.:sad2:
These days feeding beet is very little hassel for me. The free standing beet chopper chops beet as fast as I'm fit to load it in her. In running costs a packet of shearbolts is my biggest bill. I buy the beet washed now and I can load it into the diet feeder and feed it out without any manual labour and know exactly how much their eating every day.

Somehow I had managed to put it all behind me but your question tonight brought it all flooding back to me.:cry:
 
Peter said:
There's just to much hardship with beet if your not set up right. My father had a trailed hi spec beet washer chopper back in the day and there was a lot of work drawing water from the river with the tanker to wash beet and then one time a concrete block went up underneath the elevator chain and destroyed all before it.:sad2: Changing bearings due to water damage was another regular occurrence.:sad2: No weighing scales so drunk cattle was a regular occurrence and trying work it in the feeding passage around blocks of silage was another hurdle to overcome.
We sold her on the farmers journal and we got the same amount in euros as my father gave in pounds for her 15 years beforehand but repairs and running costs were just to high.
I might be a bit unfair on the machine but bear in mind we had a few other nightmare machines , we had an agitator mounted on a chassis with all manual controls it had to be winched in and out of the tank and any move took at least 20 mins.:sad2:Another one was the jf muckspreader:sad2: and let's not forget the jf 245 drum mower.:sad2:
These days feeding beet is very little hassel for me. The free standing beet chopper chops beet as fast as I'm fit to load it in her. In running costs a packet of shearbolts is my biggest bill. I buy the beet washed now and I can load it into the diet feeder and feed it out without any manual labour and know exactly how much their eating every day.

Somehow I had managed to put it all behind me but your question tonight brought it all flooding back to me.:cry:
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:lol:a few years ago when i tried beet first because i was short on silage
All i did was buy washed beet and had it tipped in the yard.
I'd put a grab of silage in the ring feeders and get the scoop on and just hold the scoop over the feeder and rake some out.
Started off with just a few in each ring and sliced them with a spade to expose the flesh
I just increased the ammount untill they were on about 5kg a day (guessed against a ton bucket full)
No hardship really at all
I bought a chopper bucket the next year as im feeding rolled barled as well now with it
 
headcase said:
Are you using a passage or feeders
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Passages. But split bales. I could drop the beet on the slab and then split the bale of silage on top of it and just push it in for them so as to stop them from pushing it away from themselves. It would mix it nicely with the silage. Can't justify a chopper yet at this stage, but if it works out this year, who knows what we'll do. Was thinking that I might just start off with a jeep trailer load of washed beet (2.5 ton) and drop it on the slab in front of the shed. That way i could just push a corner of it in with the silage pusher every time I was putting in a bale.
 
muckymanor said:
Passages. But split bales. I could drop the beet on the slab and then split the bale of silage on top of it and just push it in for them so as to stop them from pushing it away from themselves. It would mix it nicely with the silage. Can't justify a chopper yet at this stage, but if it works out this year, who knows what we'll do. Was thinking that I might just start off with a jeep trailer load of washed beet (2.5 ton) and drop it on the slab in front of the shed. That way i could just push a corner of it in with the silage pusher every time I was putting in a bale.
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Loads of choppers about, There is one here you can have on trial with option to buy of a few hundred :lol:. Goes on the back of the tractor and if your chopping stone free beet would put through 10t an hour and last for years

Like this little one https://www.donedeal.ie/tractors-for-sale/beet-chopper/11638185
 
muckymanor said:
Lord god man, it's less work I want, not more. :scared:
I'd have to load that thing by hand.
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Do you not have a front loader?

If thats the case why not go to molasses. not sure of the current price but say €190 delivered for 10t @ 73%DM its probably cheaper than beet, and hasnt got a use by date. Make up some sort of box to carry on the tractor and a tap and just pour it ontop of the silage. Did I mention I also have a 12t tank I would sell :sneaky:, probably wouldnt

http://www.premiermolasses.ie/index.php/farm-products
 
headcase said:
I would get washed as a first preference but as long as its not too dirty its.ok
Stuff im using now is just lifted
I'll get a pic in the morning
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Ooops forgot this
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@muckymanor
 
Have many of ye got fertilizer out lads?
There's a few reasonably warm days promised this week (up to 11 degrees) and very little amounts of rain. I was thinking about putting a bag of CAN to the acre on the drier grazing ground, but still I'm nervous of it. A dairy lad beside us has his out 2 weeks now and it's going a darker green already. But there's not a stir from anyone else. I'll have no choice but to get some of the lighter cattle out in 3 weeks time. I have grass for them for 2 weeks from last year, but I need to build enough of a grass block to be able to move them on by the first week in April.
 
muckymanor said:
Have many of ye got fertilizer out lads?
There's a few reasonably warm days promised this week (up to 11 degrees) and very little amounts of rain. I was thinking about putting a bag of CAN to the acre on the drier grazing ground, but still I'm nervous of it. A dairy lad beside us has his out 2 weeks now and it's going a darker green already. But there's not a stir from anyone else. I'll have no choice but to get some of the lighter cattle out in 3 weeks time. I have grass for them for 2 weeks from last year, but I need to build enough of a grass block to be able to move them on by the first week in April.
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would be time to get urea out now
 
Lash out 30 units later in the week mucky. Spread near 30 units 3 weeks ago here, best response I've ever seen the January fert as weather was ideal.
Drive on
 
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