It’s very much a double act for Liam and Dolores O’Donovan on this developing family-run west Cork business. As the cow numbers grow, so also does the investment in facilities to make the job happen. Recently a 54-unit rotary has been installed to replace the 16-unit herringbone that was still in place when we called.
Progress has been rapid. In 2006 the business milked 90 cows and finished all cattle. By 2015, all the beef cattle were gone and cow numbers were increasing by 30 cows/year until eventually they were milking 17 rows in the 16-unit herringbone. Now milking in the rotary is taking about one hour and 30 minutes.
The cows enter over the slats to the rotary in the open span shed where the 54-unit rotary sits.
Also, two new slurry tanks have also been installed to help increase slurry storage. All this development is taking place while maintaining and replacing some of the older buildings around the yard. An underpass to allow access under the main road that runs right by the farmyard was necessary and neatly brings the total to 90ha available for grazing, with 142ha farmed in total.
The plant washing routine is a detergent wash morning and evening (2.5l/wash) with a hot wash of 70°C every morning. Descaling the plant happens twice per week.
Liam explaining how the rotary works to the judges.
In 2017, the 270 milking cows produced 453kg of milk solids per cow stocked at 3 cows/ha consuming 780 kg of meal and grazed grass. Now that cow numbers have hit 300, the stocking rate is 3.4 cows/ha but the plan is still to maximise grazing between February and November. The ethos of the O’Donovan business is to have cows performing well from good grass, good genetics with good management. The O’Donovan milk quality results have been in the top 1% of Drinagh suppliers for the last six years despite the fact the herd has doubled in size during that time.
The herd are vaccinated for Lepto, IBR, Salmonella and Rotavirus with BVD vaccination dropped five years ago. The breeding policy is the criss-cross Jersey with black and white sires.
It’s very much a double act for Liam and Dolores O’Donovan on this developing family-run west Cork business. As the cow numbers grow, so also does the investment in facilities to make the job happen. Recently a 54-unit rotary has been installed to replace the 16-unit herringbone that was still in place when we called.
Progress has been rapid. In 2006 the business milked 90 cows and finished all cattle. By 2015, all the beef cattle were gone and cow numbers were increasing by 30 cows/year until eventually they were milking 17 rows in the 16-unit herringbone. Now milking in the rotary is taking about one hour and 30 minutes.
The cows enter over the slats to the rotary in the open span shed where the 54-unit rotary sits.
Also, two new slurry tanks have also been installed to help increase slurry storage. All this development is taking place while maintaining and replacing some of the older buildings around the yard. An underpass to allow access under the main road that runs right by the farmyard was necessary and neatly brings the total to 90ha available for grazing, with 142ha farmed in total.
The plant washing routine is a detergent wash morning and evening (2.5l/wash) with a hot wash of 70°C every morning. Descaling the plant happens twice per week.
Liam explaining how the rotary works to the judges.
In 2017, the 270 milking cows produced 453kg of milk solids per cow stocked at 3 cows/ha consuming 780 kg of meal and grazed grass. Now that cow numbers have hit 300, the stocking rate is 3.4 cows/ha but the plan is still to maximise grazing between February and November. The ethos of the O’Donovan business is to have cows performing well from good grass, good genetics with good management. The O’Donovan milk quality results have been in the top 1% of Drinagh suppliers for the last six years despite the fact the herd has doubled in size during that time.
The herd are vaccinated for Lepto, IBR, Salmonella and Rotavirus with BVD vaccination dropped five years ago. The breeding policy is the criss-cross Jersey with black and white sires.
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