Partnership

On finishing his Advanced Certificate in Dairy Herd Management at Clonakilty Agricultural College, 20-year-old Bryan Moore of Ballyspillane, Midleton, Co Cork plans to enter into a dairy partnership with his parents. “We’ve been expanding over the past few years.” His parents, David and Ann, have grown the herd and will milk 230 cows this summer. They have expanded facilities, including putting in additional slurry storage capacity. “We’ll have to do some more work yet.” The family is supplying Dairygold.

Bryan says he has gained a lot from work experience on other dairy farms. “I’ll be trying to apply what I learned when I go home.” Under the partnership arrangement he will be able to benefit from his parents’ experience in running a dairy operation, he says.

He sees his future in milk as grass-based and low-cost. “Hopefully milk price will rise. We’re being warned to expect prices to go up and down from now on.”

Farm manager

Milk will always be in demand right across the world, for processing and liquid milk. So says 20-year-old Evelyn Condon from Dungourney in Co Cork. She grew up helping out on her uncle’s farm, which started her interest in dairy farming.

“I hope to get into the Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management course in Teagasc Moorepark next year.” That two-year course will open up two paths for her, she believes. “My first option is to become a farm manager on a dairy farm. Alternately, it could open the door to me to a Level 8 agricultural science course in Waterford Institute of Technology and to farm advisory work.”

On the ending of quotas: “We are getting into a scary time. Nobody knows what’s coming. Yes there’s a lot of expansion taking place. Not all farmers will stay in milk. But most farmers have sensible heads on them!”

Measuring grass

Kevin Keane is not from a farming background. However, the Ballyduff, Co Kerry, native has developed a keen interest in milk production and is “mad into” grass measurement. The Clonakilty course has been very good and he hopes to go on to do the Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management Course run by Teagasc Moorepark. “After that I may travel. I’m interested in going to New Zealand to see farms running high cow numbers on grass. It’s relevant with quotas ending here.”

All going well, he plans to then return home and to manage a dairy farm. “I’m following the dairy markets and milk prices. If I go working for a farmer he’ll need a decent price to be able to pay me!”

As part of his course he is measuring grass. But he has made up a quadrant and bought his own shears and weighing scales to record grass growth and soil temperatures at other locations, out of interest. “I’ve recorded 7-8kg of dry matter growth in my own area of north Kerry last week with the Prograss Rotation app. That compares with 22-23kg in Moorepark and Clonakilty, where there’s very good management. That’s big variation.”

Converting

After he finishes in Clonakilty, 19-year-old Robert Dillon hopes to do the Professional Farm Managers course in Moorepark – and then return home to run a new milking operation. The family farm is in Cooraclare, Co Clare.

“We’re suckler farmers but we’re converting to milk. We’ve bought 58 Jersey Friesian heifer calves (average EBI 200).” The family is planning to apply to the TAMS II scheme when it opens and hope to have a milking machine installed by the end of the year. The target is to be milking 70 cows in five years.

“The reason I want to do the Moorepark course is that I think I don’t have enough experience behind me. I want to work on other dairy farms and bring that experience home, to avoid mistakes.” Herd health is probably the big challenge for a startup operation, he reckons.

Robert did a six-month work placement in New Zealand on the 900-cow farm of Kieran and Leonie Guiney. “I saw the value of Jersey cows there – they’re low cost and hardy.”

He sees a good future in milk. Ending of milk quotas is a great opportunity for him, he says. “My family bought a 60-acre farm in the 1980s but couldn’t get milk quota. You’d have had to pay a fortune.” The family plans to supply Kerry. “There are two suppliers already on the road so collection won’t be a problem.” The lorry driver has already called to look at the entrance and turning area.