Once a day milking

All this about air gates, milking times etc is really only pricking around, it’s blatantly obvious that cows aren’t for you.

Sell the fu@@kers and be done with it. Doing cows when you like them is 1 thing but doing cows when you hate the job is nothing short of self inflicted torture. There’s plenty of lads that haven’t the balls you have to admit the torture the cows are putting them under

Sell them - I think you know yourself they need to go. You’ve spoken to the father so now he’s aware, you’ve spoken to accountant so you know the finances side, the only thing now is speak to the auctioneer and get them out the door

After that then is entirely up to you, dry stock or contract rearing. Lease the place for tax free income is financially smartest. Tillage could be a great lifestyle and fit with a job.

Once you take you head out from under a cow for 7 hours a day you realise the world is a bigger place and there are options open to ya

As the nice fellas at Nike say “just do it”
 
All this about air gates, milking times etc is really only pricking around, it’s blatantly obvious that cows aren’t for you.

Sell the fu@@kers and be done with it. Doing cows when you like them is 1 thing but doing cows when you hate the job is nothing short of self inflicted torture. There’s plenty of lads that haven’t the balls you have to admit the torture the cows are putting them under

Sell them - I think you know yourself they need to go. You’ve spoken to the father so now he’s aware, you’ve spoken to accountant so you know the finances side, the only thing now is speak to the auctioneer and get them out the door

After that then is entirely up to you, dry stock or contract rearing. Lease the place for tax free income is financially smartest. Tillage could be a great lifestyle and fit with a job.

Once you take you head out from under a cow for 7 hours a day you realise the world is a bigger place and there are options open to ya

As the nice fellas at Nike say “just do it”
The bare hard truth especially after all the advice and everything given over the past 2 years and not a thing has changed may aswell be rid of them before another calving season of hardship and not wanting to face the yard
 
I never liked milking cows. After my father died I milked them on until it came to drying off time and by that time I knew what I was going to do with them.When it came to calving time I sold the best ones and kept the rest and double suckled calves on them.
After I sold the cows I started to do improvments around the yard. The two major ones were the building of another slatted shed and a new silage pit which transformed the yard. As well as that I did improvements on all the existing sheds with the exception of the cubicle house and I can count on one hand the gates hanging in the yard that I didnt move or change during my time here.
I went off and done my green cert as soon as I could and as well as meeting new people that I would still call very close friends I done my three months placement with an excellent beef farmer who I learned about farming and life in general.
I sold the sucklers after an accident in 2014 and concentrated on drystock from then until the present day.
Along the way there has been some dark days and times when I wondered what was I at but I always knew that anything I was doing was for myself and I was never afraid to change things if I wasnt happy with them.
I have more time to enjoy life now than when I started farming and I work my day now with a lot less hassle. I do a bit of work off farm now more so in the past couple of years mostly driving tractors but a variety of things in between.
I suppose what I am trying to say that life is short and theres no use in making life any more difficult. There are times in life when you have to make decisions and do things for yourself. There has been great advice posted in this thread and others but the final say lies with you.
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .
Very easy when you have structure to your day.
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .
Most factory jobs start at 7 Podge, you get used to it after a couple of weeks
 
I'm in bed by 10. My dad does the mats in the evening time and will go to hardware store etc if I need stuff. I've my son around too. Also get local lad who has a garden centre who is idle this time of year to come and do alot of the donkey work 2 mornings a week in the spring. If you have your yard etc set up properly then you can do alot of stuff on your own. Heifers are put in with dry cows and run them all through the parlour once a week before calving. The main reason for getting up early is to get away early in the evening. I couldn't imagine still being in the yard at 8pm every evening unless I had to. Kids will be moved on in a few years and I think it's ultra important to see them doing stuff.
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .
very easy to get up early every day, you just go to bed earlier. especially when you get older and have kids, most of life happens in the evening, not the night so you're not missing out on much after 9pm, but in your current routine you're missing out on all those evenings from 6pm to 8pm.

it's a simple thing to try, don't try making the change during calving, but once you're over calving then just get up one morning at 5:30 and go for it.
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .

They say it takes 20 days, or something like that to build a habit, so for 20 days straight get up early, and finish early. Hit the bed in time to get enough sleep.

1. On heifers, running them thru the parlour before calving helps. After calving if some are still stubborn reduce the space to guide them up and perhaps bring around a cow or two to push em up once they are in.
2. Prevention is better than cure in this case. Any at risk cow have them out in a straw bed instead of cubicle or at least in a shed which a loader can get into. If she is wobbly, don't chance her to the parlour until she is steady, get a mobile milker or leave a calf under her or if that's not safe leave her alone until she is safe to milk. If a cow can't get up in cubicles I have no problem calling the vet, let them try and treat whatever it may be so they may get out on their own. Also don't be afraid to look for help at those times, a neighbour or whoever.
3 in the spring, 99% of the work is calving milking and feeding stock, once all those are done don't worry about other jobs unless they become urgent. Walk the farm and have a few paddocks ready to go for daytime grazing once you have enough calved, cows out a few hours will give the space and time to get shed jobs done in that time.
4. Facilities help big time but can take time to get there, so this is where having a lad in even one day a week is a help, save the 2 man jobs for when he or she is there and do the dosing or whatever on those days.

Plenty don't rise 5 or whenever in the morning but the big benefit you would get is finishing at 5 or 6 in the evening would give you a few hours out of the farm, with the family or go to a match or whatever. You'll have break without racing the hours of the day. At the minute you may be 8 to 8, pull it back to 6 to 6 and you'll have a few hours with others
 
As above .we are training heifers through the parlour at the moment. Have a student and a part timer for the spring. Also bring in a guy to drive tractors as I do all the spring milking myself .get you dad to do the night calving. And go to bed early and start early. We are finished at 6 every evening bar February and March. Finished here now until 4pm all stock fed and herded and some of them are 11 miles away .Tbh I think that you should at least try some of the suggestions otherwise along with wasting your own time your wasting other people's as well
 
What I don't get is like Whelan so you are up at 5.30-6.00 am ,seven days a week is this actually sustaniable ?
Now as ye all know I am not on my own I have my father but if I was I just could see how I could get these things done .
And there is a few other things puzzle me as well like even if I loved farming
1.how do ye get heifers to line up in the parlour on yere own ?
2.how do ye manage if a cow is down or having difficulty on yere own ?
3.how do ye milk cows wash parlour,machine feed calves etc on yere own ?
4.how do ye dose cows on yere own?

I reckon like tipp man said there must be alot of lads on there own going through fair hassle with cows .
Run the heifers through the parlour before calving for a few days with a sprinkle of ration in the troughs. Then run them in with the machine on to get them used to the noise. Milking heifers is a chore but most settle in a few days. If you can, keep a quiet cow to last in the last row and she'll put enough of a squeeze on the heifers until they settle.

Avoid having cows down, it's the biggest drain on time in a busy period. Make sure the nutrition is right and their body condition is correct and be there to supervise them calving and you're 95% of the way there. If any do go down, we use a hip lifter to put them on their feet and get the vet to do a once over for anything we might have missed and painkillers if they're after a hard calving.

16 unit parlour here with acrs so all I have to do is put the clusters on. Make sure they stay clean in the cubicles, quick wipe and draw and put the clusters on. Washing udders is a drain on time so best minimise that time and use it cleaning down cubicles, liming them and keeping passages clean.

Wash the clusters when hanging them, put the machine washing while washing down the parlour. Minimise milking time so cows spend less time in the collection yard and parlour and you'll have much less muck to clean off.

We dose once a year, the day after drying off. I get a lad in for the day to dose and vaccinate the cows and get him in again for any dosing with the cows.

There's always hassle when you have animals but you need to be proactive and find ways to minimise any hassles and time sinks that are going to arose.
 
Another thing is multi tasking. Doing the mats as taking cows out of shed. Not standing at teat feeder waiting for calves to drink it all, bedding the shed or giving out meal instead. Etc

The most important few minutes of any day , is to stand and observe animals eating or drinking . Be it a suck calf weanling or fattening bullock/heifer. Not an hour , but a minute or 2 . You can Spot the off colour animal , before they get really sick . Take note of their number , and if they do it the 2nd time , do something about it .
 
Most factory jobs start at 7 Podge, you get used to it after a couple of weeks

I am on site at 6 am 5 days a week , you get into the habit after 3 or 4 weeks.
I would finish the main job at 2.30 pm, have the evening to do what I want.
 
The most important few minutes of any day , is to stand and observe animals eating or drinking . Be it a suck calf weanling or fattening bullock/heifer. Not an hour , but a minute or 2 . You can Spot the off colour animal , before they get really sick . Take note of their number , and if they do it the 2nd time , do something about it .
You can still watch them if you're bedding them or getting meal. Sure most lads would be on their phone not watching them at all
 
Well the only thing with the factory jobs even if they do start at 7 it's only for 5 days or 3 if doing twelve hour shifts,so sure that's grand .
Compared to 7 days a week.

You have a good thing going there so Whelan loads of help !

So has any 1 heard of this 10 in 7 milking ?
 
Well the only thing with the factory jobs even if they do start at 7 it's only for 5 days or 3 if doing twelve hour shifts,so sure that's grand .
Compared to 7 days a week.

You have a good thing going there so Whelan loads of help !

So has any 1 heard of this 10 in 7 milking ?
I’ve worked in factories since I left school and all through college, the work is mind numbing and you’d get awful sick of it after a few months, the only way the time passes even relatively quickly is if there’s a bit of craic with the gang your working with, which often isn’t the case. There’ll be more bitching going on then you could ever imagine and supervisors that would drive you spare. The 3 twelve hours are 3 awful long days and you’d want a good sleep the day after, you wouldn’t be fit for much in the evenings after it only the bed.
Plenty of factories start before 7 so early mornings will be the norm, factor in a drive and your 8 hour day is a nice bit longer, and day shift wages are usually mane enough you’d want to be on evenings to justify it for line work.
Give it a lash anyways but I’d say you’ll be back at cows before too long, most people in the factories I was in anyways were mad to get out of them
 
No I haven't my mind made up for sure yet but 1 thing I do know is I don't like milking cows twice a day and want to be in a scenario in a couple of years where I have no 1 to do any thing so I would be interested in the 10-7 or OAD ?
I know all of ye are sick of me by now but I was talking to a man yesterday that said I was doing the right thing exploring my options now rather than when I would be on my own .
 
Surely there's someone local would milk a few milkings or whatever. A young person looking for beer money. I don't understand the focus of being on your own, you'll only be on your own if you don't sort out help.
 
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