Once a day milking

Redpower
Maybe,well I know some form of a hobby or regular social outing will do no harm anyway .
There is always 2 of us milking just the way it is and if I am missing I get a young lad now and again but not as much as I would like .
I dunno I k now a man that rears 200 heifers and works full time .

Jf850
To be totally honest no I haven't been satisfied with farming not for a long time now.
The last 8 years I have been thinking like this .
Yes I have got a lad out from grasstec to look at the yard.

Agreid
I would have headspace for 60 cows 70 if I contract reared the heifers .

Jf850
I sleep ok apart from my 1 year old waking me !!
But yes I do often think what if ..

Rusty
True but I am at the point now where I am wondering should I bother doing any more improvements or spend any more money in the yard because how will having a shiney new parlour make me like it any more ...
You don't need a shiny new parlour, just examine your work routine to identify jobs that aren't needed or should be made simpler. Then take steps to sort them.

No offence meant here but sorting the milking and dry cows into 2 separate groups is a not insurmountable job, tbh.

But you've got to want to make changes to try to make life more tolerable at least, if not enjoyable. And I'm not getting that want or desire from your posts?
 
I think this tread has reached its point of usefulness. It's gone a full 360. There has been some great advice and offers of help, to help reduce workload and improve lifestyle it seems to be falling on Def ears. I am with @whelan1 on this, the tread is starting to wear abit now esp when non of the advice is taken on board. @podge 23 I strongly advise you to talk to someone sooner rather than later at get your head straightened out as I don't feel it possible to be making decisions what ever road you go until you do so. And for god sake talk to your dad about things. I wish you the best for the future.
 
Redpower
Maybe,well I know some form of a hobby or regular social outing will do no harm anyway .
There is always 2 of us milking just the way it is and if I am missing I get a young lad now and again but not as much as I would like .
I dunno I k now a man that rears 200 heifers and works full time .
Do you ever get time to go on a break with your family or just out on a date night with your wife?
What about a gym or something like that? Do your wife have any activities that you could join in or do together?

We work off-farm with only a small herd and coming home in the evening to go out and feed 20 cattle on a winters evening after a day's work is no fun, not sure what it would be like with 70 or 140 to feed. So, I don't see how it would make your life any better.

Do you get a say in what happens or does your father still call the shots?
 
Sorry I didn't reply to you Whelan and yes you/ye are right ye have given me great advice and asked loads of questions which I appreciate,I suppose I just feel I am done with farming and yes ye are right all yere advice I don't do much with it because I say why bother,and I agree small changes might help but I am still going to be doing the same thing .
 
Sorry I didn't reply to you Whelan and yes you/ye are right ye have given me great advice and asked loads of questions which I appreciate,I suppose I just feel I am done with farming and yes ye are right all yere advice I don't do much with it because I say why bother,and I agree small changes might help but I am still going to be doing the same thing .
If it's not for you then it's not for you, there's no shame in that. You aren't the first to decide that and you won't be the last.
 
We have asked loads of questions , given loads of advice - alot of it very helpful imo- lads have offered to call to the op. Apart from getting grasstec out nothing has changed from what I can see. I assume the cows are dry and farming will continue the same as all the other years. This thread really grates on me as it's the same questions and no change. Alot of people would give their eye teeth to have what the op has. Good herd of cows, nice farm, parents there, now a wife and
Sorry I didn't reply to you Whelan and yes you/ye are right ye have given me great advice and asked loads of questions which I appreciate,I suppose I just feel I am done with farming and yes ye are right all yere advice I don't do much with it because I say why bother,and I agree small changes might help but I am still going to be doing the same thing .
Sit down with your father tommorow after milking,tell him you have something very important to discuss with him,get it off your chest,you need to tell him.I think this is weighing very heavily on you.He might be more understanding then you were expecting! There’s no point in you facing into another calving season feeling like this,you’ll end up making yourself sick,you could have a mental breakdown.Please do something now for the good of your health.
 
I have spoken to my father about getting out of cows and that is a bit of a relief too,he probably would be a bit dissipointed but he is getting the pension now so it won't bother him too much that way .
I do think some times I should try make a go of this which I have been doing all the time neway but then most of the time I am like this is not for me there is more to life than all this surley .
Maybe if I got out of cows for 1 year anyway and see what it's like to work in 1 of these places I am on about ..
 
8 years is along time to not like doing what you're at. So is that this year you're going to go out of cows? Or plod along indefinitely unhappy....alot of your posts are what if, just go and do it.
 
I have spoken to my father about getting out of cows and that is a bit of a relief too,he probably would be a bit dissipointed but he is getting the pension now so it won't bother him too much that way .
I do think some times I should try make a go of this which I have been doing all the time neway but then most of the time I am like this is not for me there is more to life than all this surley .
Maybe if I got out of cows for 1 year anyway and see what it's like to work in 1 of these places I am on about ..
Maybe get a farm manager or share farmer in for a year or two while you work off farm so if the off farm job does not suit you you still have the cows to fall back on. As regards Grasstec there 350,000k figure is probably for a full revamp of farmyard. Rome was not build in a day and maybe spending 100k for now would do a lot to sort out dry cows from milking cows and make life a lot easier. We all have projects to do in our farmyards but most spend a little every year.
 
I think you need to have a love and interest in farming to be at, particularly dairy farming.
Podge doesnt have this afaics, and the drudgery of it all (Some of which is been caused by his lack of interest in it or enthusiasm to make changes) is bringing him down.
I dont see the point in pursuing it any further, especially when his mental health is suffering
Sell the cows, rent out the farm and a handy enough job should make up the difference in income
He can always return to it if he chooses.
Life is too short to be at a job you dont like, and Dairy farming is no exception.
 
I'd say Podge, as mentioned above, make an appointment with the doctor even just to get a referral for someone to talk to in professional capacity. You are in a mental hole so to speak more than a job one. A lot of us have been there and years can dissappear like that.
Just because things have been done such a way on the farm doesn't mean they have to stay that way but its hard to see it unless you can get your head right.
That young lad you get in see if you can get him every Saturday or whatever day suits him for the day, and strike off with the wife and child or even on your own for a walk or something. Forget about the cost of it just do it. Let that be the first thing you do on farm. And ring the the doctor
 
l know Whelan you were saying make a list of 5 things all I can think of is to put air gates at back of milking parlour to make it easier for me or who ever to milk the cows. Well that is what I am thinking of getting out of cows this year .
That would be the ideal situation alright to get a manager of share milker in, THE FARMINGLAD, but to do that is easier said that done .

True mike .

I have seen a doctor and am on meds so that is done .
The question now is if I am going to actually do this what do I do with the farm
I have inquired into contract rearing but heard nothing yet neway .
Lease farm is last option really.
Dry cattle mm
 
l know Whelan you were saying make a list of 5 things all I can think of is to put air gates at back of milking parlour to make it easier for me or who ever to milk the cows. Well that is what I am thinking of getting out of cows this year .
That would be the ideal situation alright to get a manager of share milker in, THE FARMINGLAD, but to do that is easier said that done .

True mike .

I have seen a doctor and am on meds so that is done .
The question now is if I am going to actually do this what do I do with the farm
I have inquired into contract rearing but heard nothing yet neway .
Lease farm is last option really.
Dry cattle mm
I know if I said to my dad I wasn't happy, he'd help me put a plan in place to do what I wanted. He always felt sorry for lads forced to stay st home and keep on the farming tradition if they didn't want to be there.
On the list. Just put a date down and say by this date I'll have enquired about an off farm job, will have spoken to someone about leasing the cows or selling them whatever. Just have a date to work towards.
When I open a new pack of milk socks,I say by the time this pack is finished I'll have x done
 
No I didn't change milking times. What are your times keverland and Whelan again ?I have inquired about an off farm job .l have spoken to my accountant about selling the cows too.
 
Milk at 6.45 am at the moment only 6 rows 15 unit parlour, done by 8. Milk at 3.30pm And in house by 5. In summer out of house at 6am. Back in by 8.45. Milk at 3 in the evening in the summer out the gate to kids activities by 5 normally
Are you split calving @whelan1 ?Autumn and spring.
 
l know Whelan you were saying make a list of 5 things all I can think of is to put air gates at back of milking parlour to make it easier for me or who ever to milk the cows. Well that is what I am thinking of getting out of cows this year .
That would be the ideal situation alright to get a manager of share milker in, THE FARMINGLAD, but to do that is easier said that done .

True mike .

I have seen a doctor and am on meds so that is done .
The question now is if I am going to actually do this what do I do with the farm
I have inquired into contract rearing but heard nothing yet neway .
Lease farm is last option really.
Dry cattle mm
So what did your dad have to say @podge 23 ? Does he see that you are not happy? It’s good he knows anyway and it looks like you are making steps to do something about things fair play to you.I’m sure it was very hard for you but you are making progress.
 
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