John Sexton is in his fourth season milking at Gurteen Farm on the outskirts of Bandon. Gurteen Farm was developed by Shinagh Estates Ltd as a dairy farm. It was formerly used as a heifer contract-rearing unit for their other 230-cow dairy farm at Shinagh. Shinagh is owned by the West Cork Co-ops.In 2014, the decision was made that they were going to convert Gurteen Farm to dairy, but with the following goals:
John Sexton is in his fourth season milking at Gurteen Farm on the outskirts of Bandon. Gurteen Farm was developed by Shinagh Estates Ltd as a dairy farm. It was formerly used as a heifer contract-rearing unit for their other 230-cow dairy farm at Shinagh. Shinagh is owned by the West Cork Co-ops.
In 2014, the decision was made that they were going to convert Gurteen Farm to dairy, but with the following goals:
To support the entry of young people into the dairy industry by providing an opportunity for a young person to go sharemilking.To demonstrate a way for older farmers to take a step back from hands-on dairy farming without completely retiring from farming.To demonstrate the conversion of a drystock farm to dairy.Conversion began in late 2015. Prior to conversion, there was nothing on the farm only a cattle crush. New roadways, water, fencing, milking parlour and topless cubicles were built for 100 cows at a total cost of €260,528 or just over €2,600 per cow, excluding the cost of the cow. Shinagh paid for all of this.
The milking parlour at Gurteen Farm, Bandon.
As a sharemilker, John pays for some of the costs and gets a share of the milk cheque. He provides all the cows. The split agreed between John and Shinagh is a 60:40 split – whereby John gets 60% of the milk cheque and pays 60% of some costs and either zero or 100% of other costs. Shinagh gets 40% of the milk cheque and pays 40% of some costs and either zero or 100% of other costs.
“It was a great experience and I learned loads and made loads of contacts in the industry which was great,” John said.
John is now working as a sales representative for Inspect 4, the mobile turn-over crate manufacturers. He has a person employed milking the cows and the herd will start to be sold in September.
Was it big enough for me? The answer is no. But it did allow me to build up equity and build up a reputation
Gurteen Farm comprises 34ha and 100 cows, giving a stocking rate of 2.94 cows/ha. Performance of the herd is good, with the cows expected to produce 480kg of milk solids in 2019. Just 5% of the herd were not in calf last year.
Asked if the farm was big enough for sharemilking, John said it depends on individual situations.
“Was it big enough for me? The answer is no. But it did allow me to build up equity and build up a reputation. I was lucky in that I had other sources of income, without which I would have been tight for cash at times.”
John Sexton's herd grazing at Gurteen Farm, Bandon.
John says the biggest lesson for him was moving from an employee to being self-employed.
“I thought I managed farms before but I never did it all. There’s a huge difference in the level of responsibility between being a manager and being the owner of the business. The biggest thing is building of contacts such as for contractors and builders or repair men. It takes time to develop those relationships.”
Shinagh Estates Ltd are currently advertising for someone to take over as sharemilker in the 2020 season.
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