A crowd of over 500 people made their way to the farm of Kieran, Catherine and Cathal O'Sullivan in Dunmanus today. Situated on the Mizen peninsula in what would be described locally as west, west Cork, the farm consists of 102ha in total farm (80ha owned, 22ha rented). Of this, 30ha are rough hill ground and 14ha are wet land.
Billy Kelleher, Regional Advisory Manager, Teagasc (photo below), gave an overview of the farm highlighting some of the challenges the O Sullivan's have to overcome.
He said while it was beautiful on a sunny day, the Atlantic and surrounding high ground can provide issues like salt burn over winter and early spring and heavier rainfall. He hoped other farmers would learn from the O’Sullivans’ experiences in relation to milk quality: they use the available information to make the right decisions and carry out the necessary actions to remedy any problems that arise.
He also reminded farmers that they were responsible for the margin on their own farms. Keeping on top of costs in times of low milk price as a priority was his principal point.
Attention to detail
The rough land type also meant the milking platform was much smaller when land was adjusted.
Despite this, the enthusiasm and attention to detail displayed by the family was second to none. This was plain to see throughout the event and was especially evident in Cathal O’Sullivan's presentation on the last stand (photo below). This was an excellent example of what was possible in a land type that the majority of dairy farmers would turn their noses up at.
Milk is supplied to Drinagh Co-op and for 2015 had an average TBC of 6,000 and an SCC of 72,000. This focus on milk quality earned the O'Sullivans €3,860 or €29/cow in milk quality bonuses last year. Currently, TBC is running at 3,000 and they have a SCC of 40,000.
358kg MS per cow
The herd consists of 150 British Friesian cows averageing 4,584l at 4.02% fat and 3.56% protein, providing solids of 358kgs per cow for 2015. Including labour, costs for 2015 came to 29.17c/l.
To conclude the day, there was a forum held on farm with farmer Kieran O’Sullivan, Zoe Kavanagh of the National Dairy Council, Tom O’Dwyer of Teagasc and Joe O’Sullivan of Drinagh Co-op participating.
Read the full report in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal