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Three of the farm businesses that have been participating in the Dairylink Ireland programme since its initiation in 2014 are hosting farm walks during April.
This is the second series of events on the project farms and it aims to provide an update on the development of each business over the past three years, as well as give an outlook for the future.
The six farmers on the project operate a range of dairying systems across different land types and climatic conditions.
However, the objective of the Dairylink Ireland project, which is to optimise the use of on-farm resources to maximise profit from milk production, applies to all participants and can apply to all dairy farmers.
The programme does not focus specifically on expansion or the comparison of different dairying systems.
Themes
Although programme adviser Conail Keown has worked with project farmers to develop many aspects of their businesses, key areas where improvements can make a significant difference to farm profitability are:
These areas will form the basis of the farm walks taking placing in counties Tyrone, Down and Cavan this month.
The events will focus on farmer experience and use of benchmarking and measuring of performance to guide on-farm decision-making.
Each of the three farm walks begins at 11am and concludes at 1pm. Parking is available on each farm and all events are open to the public and are free to attend.
Kevin McGrade
Tuesday 10 April
Aghnamoe Road, Dromore, Tyrone
Although operating an autumn-calving system, Kevin McGrade has a strong emphasis on getting grazed grass into cows’ diets in the autumn and spring. There are 146 cows on the farm at present but there are plans to milk 160 cows this year.
The grazing block is mostly heavy clay-type soils and the farm is in a high rainfall area, so grazing is not straightforward. There has been a strong focus on breeding a robust cow that will perform at grass, as well as developing grazing infrastructure and soil fertility.
Also noteworthy is the herd’s milk components. In 2017, cows averaged 6,653 litres at 4.72% fat and 3.64% protein, equating to 572kg MS/cow or 1,452kg MS/ha on the grazing block. In financial terms, bonuses for milk quality were worth 2.93p/l over all milk produced last year.
Kevin has addressed deficiencies in soil phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in recent years. He has reduced the proportion of the farm at index 1 from 36% P and 61% K in 2015 to 15% P and 16% K in 2018
Bill Brown
Thursday 12 April
Killaughey Road South, Millisle, Down
There are 172 cows milking on Bill Brown’s farm in the Ards Peninsula. Average production last year was 8,210 litres/cow at 4.04% butterfat and 3.28% protein. Concentrate feed levels stood at 2,101kg/cow in 2017, which represents a 29.4% drop since Bill started the programme. However, yield only dropped by 690 litres/cow over the period and milk from forage increased by 55% from 2,284 litres in 2014 to 3,541 last year.
The calving profile has tightened on the farm over the past three years, with 80% of the herd calving down last autumn and plans are in place to have all cows calved before the end of December this year.
A change in breeding policy began two years ago by moving away from breeding purebred Holstein cows to using high-EBI sires with some Friesian genetics. More recently, Bill has introduced Jersey and Kiwi Cross genetics to the herd.
He has been developing grazing infrastructure on the farm by constructing more laneways to give cows better access to paddocks and a bridge was also built over a waterway last year to bring more ground into the milking platform.
Charles Clarke
Thursday 19 April
Crocknahattina, Bailieborough, Co Cavan
Soil type is mixed on Charles Clarke’s 34.2ha milking platform. Around half of the block is good-quality free-draining land and the other half is heavier-type soils. The spring-calving system revolves around producing milk from grazed grass and Charles has invested in purchasing and reclaiming land for the grazing platform, as well as improving soil fertility and grazing infrastructure.
Cow numbers have steadily increased in recent years and Charles will milk 120 cows this year, taking his milking platform stocking rate to 3.5CE/ha. Charles used to calve some cows in the autumn and milk over the winter, but he moved to 100% spring-calving in 2016. Six-week calving rate this year was 93% and all cows will be calved within 11 weeks.
The herd is predominantly Holstein Friesian. However, Charles has used some Jersey sires recently. His ideal cow is around 500kg bodyweight and 25% Jersey.
Extending grazing on heavy soils
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