In the short time that Robin Clements has been in milk production, milk price and production costs have changed dramatically, but keeping control of cost and achieving good technical efficiency has helped him to grow his business.

Switching from beef to dairy meant that he had a significant investment in buildings and slurry storage, even though he minimised this with extensions to existing buildings and converting straw houses to cubicle sheds. Robin has no doubt that the most important investment made so far has been in grass reseeding, land improvement and grazing infrastructure on the home block.

Grazed grass is the cheapest feed available to him and he is trying to maximise its use. He is currently milking 150 cows with calving starting at the end of August and finishing in December. High-EBI sires are used for breeding replacements with a focus on fertility and milk components.

The purchase of additional land last year has forced us to look hard at the farm and the options available to us to manage the additional land and meet the repayments for the new block.

Under the Dairylink project, we have investigated a number of options to allow the business to survive and move forward with the new land. Currently, the home farm is 110 acres, which can be fully grazed with the milking herd. The recently purchased land extends to 160 acres in one block approximately two miles from the home farm, so it is not within walking distance of the home block.

While there are about 20 acres of the new farm not very productive and requiring considerable drainage, the remainder of the farm is good land.

In short, we have a number of options for the business with the following two most likely for us:

  • Option one: increase herd size to 220 cows on the home farm and maintain current herd performance and use zero-grazed grass to manage shortages of grass from March to August, taking grass from the new block.
  • Option two: increase herd size to 220 cows split with 120 cows on the home farm, and 100 cows on new farm. The existing 80 cubicles on the new farm can be used to house cows in the autumn/spring, with the remainder of the cows coming back to the home farm in winter months. All calves reared on home farm.

    • Either option requires significant additional capital investment in terms of additional stock, infrastructure and equipment. Option one requires a new zero-grazing machine and a possible extension to the current milking parlour. Option two requires investment in milking facilities and grazing infrastructure on the new farm. Both options will require an investment into the newly purchased land in terms of reseeding, drainage and soil fertility in order to boost grass production from this farm and this work has already started.

    While the financial implications of both options are being considered, other factors like workload and practicality of either option must be considered too.

    Both of my sons work on the farm along with my wife, Heather. It’s very much a family operation so their thoughts and views must be factored into any decision made on the farm. Effectively, one of the options will split the labour between milking on both farms, while the other option allows the herd to be milked in one group but requires labour for zero grazing.

    Ultimately, the financial implications will guide the decision we make but taking on more debt in the current environment is a major concern for me.