Managing milk price volatility, people, grass and cows to succeed in dairy

Milk price volatility is a key feature of dairy farming today, and this is likely to continue as the world market responds to changes in product supply and demand.

Resilience denotes the capacity of a system to absorb shocks and thrive in a changing and uncertain production environment.

Laurence Shalloo says: “Irish dairy farm businesses have increased their business resilience through a reduction in debt levels per unit of output, the use of market-based fixed milk pricing schemes have made substantial productivity gains in the last decade through increased grass utilisation and genetic improvement, while substantially growing their herds.”

Major investment decisions

Farmers can ensure their business remains resilient during expansion by undertaking all major investment decisions based on a comprehensive business plan and budget, maintaining cash reserves, availing of fixed price options and ensuring the debt levels and structure are appropriate. Brendan Horan says “simple, labour-efficient systems based on increased grass growth and utilisation, minimising supplementary feeding and the use of only high-EBI/crossbred genetics are the engine behind growth in the herd.

"Investments that give high returns should be prioritised over significant investments in depreciating assets.”

People first

The most important resource available to any industry is its people. Hence, it is crucial for the success of Irish dairy farming that there is an adequate supply of highly skilled people to inherit, manage and work on dairy farms in the future.

Recent rapid expansion has created a new and growing demand for people. Páidí Kelly of Teagasc says: “There is a requirement for initiatives around promoting dairying as an attractive career.

"We also need to provide excellent formal and informal training to improve the skills of all people in Irish dairying.

"Increased herd size requires an increased focus on labour-efficient practices at farm level, while farmers must aim to become employers with a reputation for retaining and developing employees. "New career pathways for those that wish to progress from employee to farm business owner are emerging and these need to be supported.”

Skill level

In addition, the skill level required to manage larger herd sizes is substantially greater.

Padraig French says: “As the dairy industry expands, there will be a greater requirement for highly skilled people.

"Some of these will be required to sustain existing dairy farm operations where the owner wants to step back, via either employing a farm manager or entering collaborative farming arrangements. "Equally, there will be a requirement for a much greater supply of seasonal labour to cope with the additional workload during calving and breeding.”

Feeding the modern cow at pasture

Dairy farmers planning to increase stocking rate and output profitably must increase both grass production and utilisation.

Genetic selection based on the EBI has resulted in cows that produce more milk solids, have a greater capacity to eat pasture and maintain a higher body condition score especially in early lactation.

In well-managed pasture-based systems, the response to supplements is not profitable at low milk price.

Supplementation will only benefit milk production and reproduction when cows do not have sufficient pasture (ie grazing residuals are less than 4cm).

Michael O’Donovan says that “in order to increase stocking rates, dairy farmers must ensure a closing cover of >600 kg DM/ha on 1 December; finish first grazing rotation in spring in early April; and maintain a pre-grazing herbage mass during the mid-season of 1,300 to 1,600 kg DM/ha grazing to a residual of <4cm".

Both PastureBase Ireland and the Pasture Profit Index are two key tools used by dairy farmers to increase productivity from grassland.

Michael Egan outlined the benefits of carrying out weekly grass measurements in conjunction with PastureBase Ireland to determine a weekly feed budget.

Michael says: ‘‘Dairy farmers using Pasture Base Ireland weekly are growing over 4tDM/ha of grass more than the average.’’

The perfect cow

The perfect cow is one that efficiently produces a large quantity of high-value dairy products predominantly off grass, throughout her long lifetime with minimal intervention required. . The EBI is achieving continuous and cumulative gains in milk solids output per cow through:

Donagh Berry says: “EBI has proven itself to be an effective, efficient and rapid strategy to achieve gains in a range of performance traits concurrently.”

A wide range of alternative analyses and experiments at Teagasc have clearly demonstrated that higher EBI animals are more profitable than their lower EBI counterparts.

Stephen Butler says: “High-EBI fertility sub-index will reduce the number of cows that require treatments for anoestrous and endometritis, as well as shorten the interval to pregnancy establishment after the start of the breeding period.”

Additionally, Frank Buckley says that “greater benefits in profitability are achievable by exploiting crossbreeding strategies with high-EBI sires of different breeds”.

Grazing demo

The application of best grazing management technology at farm level depends on weekly measuring and budgeting of farm grass supply. This will be displayed at the Open Day on already prepared demonstration plots.

Teagasc advisers as well as practicing dairy farmers will be available to assist attendees on how best to implement best grazing management practices.

This will include the estimation of both pre-grazing covers and post-grazing residuals and implementation of best grazing management practices.

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