I farm in north Longford in partnership with my father, milking 35 spring-calving cows and keeping a similar number of autumn-calving suckler cows.All replacements are kept on the farm. We bring non-replacement dairy calves to beef and sell our suckler progeny as store cattle.
I farm in north Longford in partnership with my father, milking 35 spring-calving cows and keeping a similar number of autumn-calving suckler cows.
All replacements are kept on the farm. We bring non-replacement dairy calves to beef and sell our suckler progeny as store cattle.
In terms of land blocks, the outfarm comprises 85 acres and is located 17 miles away, on the Westmeath border. It has very little infrastructure in terms of sheds and facilities.
About 100 acres is farmed at home on the Cavan/Leitrim border. This land is half owned, half rented.
Currently the suckler cows and calves leave the home farm en masse for the outfarm in spring, along with some yearlings. They spend the the summer there before returning home for winter housing.
So, after some consideration, I have taken the first steps on the road to milking on the outfarm, commencing in spring 2021. I have bought 30 Friesian heifer calves and I hope to start milking 50 cows in two years, growing to 70 in the subsequent few years.
It is basically a greenfield site, so there is a requirement to build all sheds. There are some roadways but more are required, as is an improvement to the water infrastructure and some land drainage work.
I am focusing on purchasing high EBI Friesian calves. I am aiming to stick with Friesian genetics, as we will continue with a calf-to-beef system and a Jersey bull just wouldn’t fit into the system.
Some might wonder how I will manage to milk cows while living 17 miles away, and I also work off farm as a Teagasc dairy adviser.
I plan to milk the cows through an automatic milking system (AMS), or milking robot, as is the colloquial, operating an ABC grazing system. Basically this means setting up three grazing blocks of land, with the cows moving from one area, through the robot for milking, to the next area.
I am also in the process of planning a house here, which I feel is mandatory in running any farming enterprise well.
It is a shame that the only option is to expand milk production on to the outfarm and not be able to justify building a suckler cow shed and run a profitable beef enterprise.
I am excited about dairying on the outfarm and, even if beef had been more profitable, I would still have made the decision to expand the dairy herd. Still though, it would have been nice to have had the option.
Exciting and expensive times ahead.
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