Watch: switching to a flying herd in Co Antrim

Several Dairylink farmers in both phases of the programme have bought in replacement heifers or cows at various stages in the development of their farm businesses.

This is often done to increase cow numbers or change herd genetics at faster rates than would be possible with rearing homebred heifers.

There is an increased risk of introducing disease into the herd when buying in stock, so a quarantine protocol for newly purchased stock is needed and herd health plans may need to be updated following advice from a vet.

Dairylink participant James King is going down the route of running a flying herd by buying in all replacements. As outlined below, he is doing this to reduce labour demand, narrow the calving spread, improve herd fertility and increase milk output.

A flying herd means he will have significant replacement costs each year, which could be affected by market prices for dairy stock.

This will be offset by increased calf sales and milk output, as well as improved labour efficiency, but a flying herd requires financial discipline in keeping money set aside for going to market each year to buy replacements.

Rearing homebred heifers as part of a closed herd also has significant costs. Figures from CAFRE’s benchmarking programme indicate that the average cost of rearing a dairy heifer in Northern Ireland is £1,766 (including £293 for the cost of the calf and £351 for family labour).

There are several pros and cons for both types of system.

Rearing homebred heifers is the safest bet from an animal health point of view, but buying in replacements allows faster genetic change in a herd, although, for most farmers, operating a closed herd provides sufficient numbers of replacements and an acceptable rate of genetic improvement.

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There are several factors that were weighed up by Ballymena dairy farmer James King before he decided to change his system to a flying herd. The main factor was labour efficiency, as replacement heifers were previously wintered on two separate outfarms.

This meant a significant amount of time was tied up travelling between yards, as well as feeding, observing heats and serving heifers.

James is the only full-time labour unit on the farm, with other help coming from relief milkers and part-time family labour.

“I want to be able to spend more time in the cubicle shed in the main yard watching heats and getting cows in calf. The idea is to have a specialist dairy unit focused on milk production,” he said.

Selling off maiden heifers and heifer calves will also free up land to allow cow numbers on the King farm to move from 170 at present to close to 200, meaning increased milk sales.

Ongoing heifer sales are also generating cash that will more than cover buying in replacements next year.

All homebred heifers coming into the herd this year have already calved down, so James does not need to buy in replacements to maintain numbers.

However, he would like to buy in some stock to increase herd size this year, if the right heifers or cows were available, but timing is not ideal, as breeding starts this week.

It could be difficult to move stock on to the farm and expect them to go in-calf quickly, so he will most likely hold off upping cow numbers until next year.

Silage stocks are relatively tight this winter, so off-loading replacement stock will reduce demand significantly. This means feed costs will be controlled, as silage stocks will not have to be stretched by feeding additional concentrates or buying in extra fodder.

Improving herd fertility and milk components is a key objective for James in the Dairylink Ireland programme.

He plans to buy in cows with high breeding indices for fertility, butterfat and protein. This will have a much faster impact in the herd than breeding and rearing these heifers himself.

He also wants to establish a compact autumn-calving profile, so cows that are slow to get in calf leave the herd and he gets maximum benefit from winter bonus payments.

Instead of only letting late-calvers leave when he has enough homebred replacements, James will be able to fasttrack this process by buying in more replacement heifers that are calving at the right time of year for his system.

Cons associated with a flying herd mainly relate to the herd being more susceptible to bringing in disease.

A new animal health plan is being developed on the King farm, which will involve a quarantine protocol for new arrivals, as well as an updated vaccination programme.

The threat of bovine TB is a greater concern, as a flying herd is more reliant on getting calves sold early and movement restrictions could put more pressure on shed space and fodder stocks.