Irish Grassland Association going to Westmeath

This year, the Irish Grassland Association is off to Westmeath on its summer dairy tour on Tuesday, 23 July.

The host farmers are Robert English, who is milking 257 cows and Peter Hamm, who is milking 106 cows near Moate. Both are relatively new entrants to dairy.

Up until 2013, Peter was farming 25 suckler cows on 24 ha of land, of which 16 ha was owned.

He previously had his own construction business, employing eight people, but the economic downturn meant that Peter had to change careers. Dairying was the only enterprise that offered him the opportunity to create a farm secure income and improved lifestyle.

A loan of €40,000 was secured to establish the farm as a dairy farm. Costings for the conversion were:

The sale of his suckler herd funded the purchase of 30 in-calf heifers across the autumn and winter. He purchased milk quota and began supplying Aurivo in February 2014. The herd size increased steadily and by 2017 Peter was milking 50 cows. Between 2018 and 2019 a total of 32 ha parcel of good quality land, and a slatted shed adjoining his milking platform was taken on a long-term lease. Peter has increased the size of dairy herd to the current 109 cows.

Underpinning the development of this farm is a high level of performance of the herd. In 2018 the Hamms produced 539 kg milk solids per cow (4.26% fat; 3.49% protein; SCC 119,000 cells/ml) with 521 kg milk solids sold per cow. Replacement heifers are mainly reared on the out farms, with surplus grass harvested for pit silage. Overall stocking rate this year is 2.3 LU/ha, with the milking platform stocked at 2.2 cows/ha.

The herd

The original dairy cows on the Hamm farm were purchased from three well established dairy farmers in the local area, and the current herd is of a Holstein Friesian background. The EBI of the cows is €120 and the EBI of this years’ calves is €171.

Last spring, 77% of the 107 cows and heifers calved in the first six weeks and the calving interval was 363 days. Median calving date this year was 23rd February, with half of the herd calved in 19 days. The empty rate at the end of 2018 was 8%.

This breeding season, the 3-week submission rate was 88% and 94% for the cows and replacement heifers respectively. The maiden heifers were AI bred on the milking platform and then ran with a stock bull on one of the outside blocks.

Accommodation on the Hamm farm consists of 78 cubicles in two sheds; the second 50 cubicle shed constructed in 2017. Later calving cows are wintered on matted slats on the leased farm, which is close to the Hamms’ own farm. An estimated 20 weeks of slurry storage is available on the farm for all animals wintered. The milking parlour was extended in 2018 and is now an 11 unit 2’6” herringbone parlour located in the main farmyard.

Physical performance

A summary of the physical performance of the Hamm farm in the 2014 to 2018 period is presented in Table 1.

The data in Table 1 show the physical transformation of the Hamm farm over the past 5 years, as it intensified and the dairy enterprise became larger (increasing by 49%) and more specialised.

Milk production per cow has increased by 17% per cow and farm milk sales have increased by 73%. Stocking rate fell slightly in 2018 as more land was leased in, but will increase to an estimated 2.5 LU/ha again in 2019.

Whole farm net profit

The 2018 financial performance of the Hamm farm is presented in Table 2 on a per hectare farmed basis.

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