Once a day milking

Look to be honest I don't think I have the love for cows to make any changes regards yard set up .my father even said to the grasteck guy sure that is crazy.
But maybe that was the answer I was looking for all along and should just quit while I am ahead now before any more expense .
Like ye have said you would really want a passion for it to stay in 1st of all not to mind going spending big money on it .

I know ye have given great advice there again but this is the truth of it .
I sopose they were looking to do the drawings and planning application too?? To come in and say what you have is useless and put up a new unit is complete boll## tbh. I am sure a more practical eye would be more of a help to you. But if it's not for you at the moment it's not and I think that seems to be the message I am getting from you this past while.
 
A lad near here got them to do the plans for his new entrant set up. I was building my shed and I paid half of what he paid for drawings and getting planning. They never went for planning for their build and it was still crazy money.
 
Dad and his brothers had an 'expert" in to look round when they were milking.
He obsessed about the fact that the oldest cubicle shed was at a different angle to the newer sheds so had to be pulled down and re built......
He had no figures as to the reward in this in terms of milk, or even time, but it would make the place look better!
Point is some experts are experts because they can't get their head round doing the job themselves, and get blinded by big infrastructure being the only way.

The man was given some word of wisdom on the way out of the yard!
 
Where was that farm then MID CORK ?
Well I am hoping when grasstec come out they might scare him into getting out of cows and I suppose I would use that as an excuse to exit .
Going well there TIM by the sounds of it .
So I had grasstec out and he told me my yard was up there with the top 5 most difficult yards he has ever seen (he wasn't lying either ) so to cut to the chase he said I would more or less have to go on a greenfield site with cubicles and parlour under 1 roof,cost €350,000 +
Lads, the grasstec man came out and did what he was paid to do.
 
Dad and his brothers had an 'expert" in to look round when they were milking.
He obsessed about the fact that the oldest cubicle shed was at a different angle to the newer sheds so had to be pulled down and re built......
He had no figures as to the reward in this in terms of milk, or even time, but it would make the place look better!
Point is some experts are experts because they can't get their head round doing the job themselves, and get blinded by big infrastructure being the only way.

The man was given some word of wisdom on the way out of the yard!
Alot of these " experts " mighten just know as much about their chosen skills if they actually worked for awhile at it.
Anyways an expert is usually " a well dressed man or woman carrying a brief case or now a laptop and 100 mile from home "
Also known as bull sh..ers
 
Look to be honest I don't think I have the love for cows to make any changes regards yard set up .my father even said to the grasteck guy sure that is crazy.
But maybe that was the answer I was looking for all along and should just quit while I am ahead now before any more expense .
Like ye have said you would really want a passion for it to stay in 1st of all not to mind going spending big money on it .

I know ye have given great advice there again but this is the truth of it .
You seriously need to sit down with your Father and have a proper discussion about things going forward.I assume you have the cows nearly all dried off at this stage?…A good time to take stock of things and make some hard decisions.If you don’t it’ll be February before you know it and you’ll be up to your neck in calving and won’t have time to consider your options going forward and the cycle will continue.
 
Op, I don't know how your coping with all that's been levelled your way on this thread. Much of it may well be true,personally think it would only mess with anyone's head.

I'd suggest taking a break from this one for now at least & see if you can conclude something from it positively that is for yourself.
 
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Alot of these " experts " mighten just know as much about their chosen skills if they actually worked for awhile at it.
Anyways an expert is usually " a well dressed man or woman carrying a brief case or now a laptop and 100 mile from home "
Also known as bull sh..ers
I have heard a phrase about experts.. an ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure............
 
Dad and his brothers had an 'expert" in to look round when they were milking.
He obsessed about the fact that the oldest cubicle shed was at a different angle to the newer sheds so had to be pulled down and re built......
He had no figures as to the reward in this in terms of milk, or even time, but it would make the place look better!
Point is some experts are experts because they can't get their head round doing the job themselves, and get blinded by big infrastructure being the only way.

The man was given some word of wisdom on the way out of the yard!
Like the one that came here years ago, "if you pull that building down you can get from one yard to the other without going on the road make life much easier. What do you use that building for?" it's the milking parlour 🤦
 
To be fair to grasstec .The plans they draw up are on a different level compared to what you need to just get planning . They will supply you with working drawing`s . A lot more detail involved finished levels of every part of your build quantities of concrete , stone needed etc . They might be drastic in there suggestions but they want to give you the best option first . There is an awful lot of shed`s built in yard`s because the farmer or builder thought they would fit in grand but in reality there a ball`s of a job .
 
Well f ck that to spending 350k given where your love for all this is. My yards are abit of a mess, 60 cubicles and 40 straw bedded one yard, another 30 bad cubicles and 60 straw bedded in a 2nd yard 400m away, so cows always split across both yards the winter, never enough cubicles for milkers oct nov or mid feb onwards, I could easily go spend 180k on 90 cubicles in the home yard, and it wouldn't be the worst of spends, but simple as is I haven't needed them yet, the straw bedding has done the job fine. Going back to what I said before, milk out the gate is all that matters for putting profit on the table and I cannot see how spending 350k will in anyway help your whole predicament.
 
per unit how much does a very basic no frills herringbone cost these days ?

6 or 7 k ?
Just the milking machine, 1800e per unit for a barebones. Feed system 8k (including meal bin). Building work can vary wildly, 4.5ft wide pit, low roof and no sides you'll do that for 10k, put in a fancy double width fully enclosed shed with cattle crush and holding pens the other side, you'll sink 50k+, dairy washings tank 10k, 10k bulk tank 20k, dairy building 10k.

I cheaped out about 6yrs ago and built a 14unit with acrs, auto washer, 11k tank (in the old dairy), pig feeders, had a 10kgallons dairy washings tank already, cost me about 80k all in, and I got about 20k back, so something like 4k per unit.
 
Not really Whelan
To keep it short I have a few practical options
1.cut back cow number by 12 cows maybe so (84).keep calves and in calf heifers as usual.
2.just keep cows and get heifers contract reared,only I don't probably have enough heifers to go down that road .
3.sell the lot and get into heifer rearing (part time job)
 
Not really Whelan
To keep it short I have a few practical options
1.cut back cow number by 12 cows maybe so (84).keep calves and in calf heifers as usual.
2.just keep cows and get heifers contract reared,only I don't probably have enough heifers to go down that road .
3.sell the lot and get into heifer rearing (part time job)
Cutting back cow numbers won’t make much of a difference at all whats an extra row anyway the cows arent where the work is its everything else calves heifers different groups of stock everywhere and trying to look after everything.
Contract rear your heifers could work would be a help on the system although could just run a flying herd either and it could work out cheaper even.
3rd option is a great option really. You have paddocks and wintering facilities and the experience of it all. Your in cork so should have alot of big herds who would be interested in you contract rearing their heifers , even to just rear 50 of someone elses heifers thatd be 50 calves and 50 yearlings and have 20 calves and 20yearlings of your own to top up your income at the end of the year or just always to be in stock yourself, you’ll find yourself liking farming again easier work consistent work move grass during summer and be able to go off for the day or do what you want and maybe in time when your children get older your parlour is always there you could get back into milking a few once youd have a break from the whole system.
 
I'm not in the dairy game but from what I've seen of it from afar, it seems akin to a vocation to join the priesthood. If you have ability to keep 84 milking cows, some calves, plus in calf heifers, then I'm making the assumption that you've got a decent plot(s) of land to start with.

I agree with @Mf310 that option 1 is not giving you any tangible benefit - there is no step change from where you are now. So, you can rule that one out.
You've already ruled out option 2 yourself. How many heifers would you have so a second opinion can be given on this? Would this plus OAD milking give you any relief?
3rd option is a decent one.

If you opted for the 3rd option could you run anything alongside it? Would you get sufficient number of heifers to fully utilise your land? A nice mix would be to get a part time job, some heifers to contract raise and maybe do some round bales to sell on later in year and a few drystock of your own to keep the cashflow coming in throughout the year. You could still even do some relief milking out and about to keep the hand in and get experience with other systems in order to see if you hate milking or hate your setup!

If you went P/T do you have any type of job/career in your mind that you want to do or are qualified to do?

I'd avoid renting as it is a nuclear option and from anyone I've seen who done it not another member of the family owned a hoof on the land again.


Edit: I should add to this, are you able to determine the difference in income if you were to reduce numbers, drop milking or start contract rearing? Would it be viable? I would have thought that folk on here could give an estimate of the income available for contract rearing heifers.

Thinking about this a bit more, if this was me, and I appreciate that it is not, I would work on a sliding scale of changes until I reached a suitable balance.
i.e.

1. Maintain current herd and switch to OAD
2. No improvement. Reduce herd to a smaller number of milking cows and contract heifers. Maintain OAD (depending on successfulness within step 1.)
3. Still not happy. Exit milk production and enter contract rearing, plus sideline activities to bridge income shortfall

Might take a bit of time to get to your balance point, but no point going all in on something without trying all the options. Sometimes just changing something can give you a bit of heart and renewed vigour for it all.
 
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Ya Mf310 you would think there would be no bother getting a customer to contract rear heifer alright,but I dunno I have heard nothing yet anyway .

Yes RED POWER you could describe it as similar to the priest hood alright !
15 heifers is what I would have .
To be honest the OAD is a non runner for me I would lose too much production and mastitis would ruin them.
 
Well I suppose the I do like the idea of doing some thing part time like work in a warehouse or factory or what ever just not to be stuck to the farm 7 days a week .don't know if i contracted reared out my own heifers would this allow me work off farm or not ? Or is the 3rd option the only 1 that would allow me do that ..
 
Would there not be minimal workload in the 15 heifers daily so sending them out to pay someone else would not give you sufficient time off-farm for another job?
 
What is consuming your time? Is it the actual twice daily milking or where is the time being consumed?
Have you found out how much you could get for contract rearing? I presume you have stalls etc, so the farmer would be getting them back trained for stalls already which would be good for them.
 
Yes milking twice a day is the big 1 I suppose.
I think from what I can gather that to rear 70 calves and 70 yearlings I would get some where around 28k I could be wrong maybe some else on here has a better idea ..
No I wouldn't be training them just rearing them to 2 months before calving.


If I had just cows say 80 and my heifers contract reared would I have time for a part time job do ye reckon from say (April to Dec) or am I only fooling my self ?
 
forget about milking and working part-time podge.its an igits game.those that are doing it , most have some family help at home.grand if your young for a short while but you'd have no life.if you spent a few quid in the yard and if you could get someone to milk 2 or 3 evenings a week it would make a difference
 
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