What’s the cost of compliance with the nitrates directive?

As reported in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, the additional costs for dairy farmers complying with the nitrates directive are going to be huge.

At next January’s Irish Grassland Association (IGA) dairy conference, ifac’s Noreen Lacey is going to go through the full costs of compliance, between lower stocking rates and extra investment in slurry storage and soiled water storage.

Noreen’s analysis will look at the cost for a typical farm of either reducing stocking rate to comply with both banding and the reduction in maximum stocking rate from 250kg to 220kg/ha. It will also look at the implications of sourcing additional land just to comply with the new rules.

“We will model the outcome by looking through the income and expenditure of the various scenarios. This will help us to look at the impact of the new rules and help to identify the best options for farmers to overcome them,” Noreen says.

Those worst affected by the new measures will be those that are classed as being in the high band for milk yield per cow, so Noreen’s analysis will clearly state that farmers who are currently in the middle band, but close to the top band, will need to take action to remain in the middle band.

On the farm side, Laois dairy farmer and Nuffield scholar David Fennelly is going to outline what he plans to do to comply with new environmental restrictions.

David and his father Tom will be milking 300 cows next year on a 124ha milking platform near Emo in Co Laois. The herd has been growing for the last number of years, with 260 cows milked in 2022. About 40% of the land being farmed is leased.

Despite the milking platform being stocked at 2.42 cows/ha, David will still be affected by the changes to the nitrates derogation.

“We’re at the upper end of the middle band in terms of nitrogen banding. Because the herd has been growing, we have been bringing in more heifers each year so that has kept the average milk yield low, but we could easily creep up into the higher band in the next few years if we’re not careful.

“We’ll be OK if the derogation stays at 250kg N/ha, but if or when it goes to 220kg N/ha, we’d have to reduce stock numbers. But if we end up in the high band, we’d have to drastically reduce stock numbers,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal. David has been sowing multispecies swards for the past two years, but continues to reseed with grass and clover swards also.

Overall chemical nitrogen use this season was around 150kg N/ha across the farm, but David says the stocking rate was lower this year anyway. That said, less nitrogen is still applied on the multispecies swards compared to the grass and clover swards.

Last year, the farm grew 13.75t DM/ha, but David reckons this will be back in 2022 due to summer drought.

“We’ve had a period of low growth rate every year since 2018, when we’ve had to feed cows for six weeks or so every summer. We fed a total of 950kg of meal per cow in 2021 and we won’t be that much over that this year,” he says. In terms of breeding, the Fennellys haven’t used any Jersey on their herd and so are looking to continue to breed viable bull calves for sale, but at the same time, improve milk composition and the maintenance figures on the cow side.

Herd average fat and protein is reasonably good for a black and white herd at 3.7% protein and 4.5% fat.

The top cows in the herd will be identified for sexed semen and the rest will get beef AI.

Because the herd has been growing, sexed semen hasn’t been used up to now and David says even the ability to be more selective with what cows to breed from should improve herd performance. The cows have an EBI of €216 and produced 519kg MS/cow in 2022.

Role of technology

Also speaking at the IGA event is Francis Nolan, a 150 cow dairy farmer from Castlecomer in Co Kilkenny. Francis is farming a total of 70ha with all the land in one block and all the heifers reared on-farm.

He is speaking about the role that technology has played on his farm. With just some part-time labour, the majority of the work is carried out by Francis, helped by his mother Kathleen and wife Anne.

Francis says he has invested in technology to reduce workload and make life easier. He got into dairying in 2013, having previously been a suckler and sheep farmer.

Significant investment was made in 2020 when he constructed a new cubicle shed, installed a robotic scraper and invested in automated heat and health detection aids and a drafting gate.

Francis says the collars have been a massive help in reducing the workload in the late spring and early summer period.

“It’s one less job to worry about and it’s much less stress on both the farmer and the cow, because the automatic drafting gate is connected to the collars so it drafts the cows that are ready for AI. It means I don’t have to be around at every milking during the breeding season and yet it means that the correct cows will be picked out for AI. That said, the collars won’t put the cow in calf, so it’s important to keep on top of the information from the app,” Francis says.

The robotic scraper is a collector type model, meaning it sucks up the slurry as it travels. Francis says it does a super job at keeping the shed clean, looking after four full length passages (two solid floors, two slatted floors) and three cross-overs between cubicles.

“I can do a lot of the routine servicing to it such as changing the blades and wheels on a yearly basis and a battery every two years or so. Annual service cost is about €800. There is never a build-up of slurry. I feel the cows are cleaner, so this is contributing to less mastitis and lameness while in the house,” he says.