The Hurley's farm consists of of 77ha in total with 32ha (adjusted) on the milking platform.

The farmyard is located at 500 feet above sea level and the grazing platform reaches 750 feet at the highest point. The longest distance cows travel to a grazing paddock is one kilometre. The farm is divided into three main blocks, with two owned and one leased.

The main enterprise is a spring calving dairy herd with 72 cows milked in 2014.

The overall stocking rate on the farm is 1.96LU/ha, with a 2.25cows/ha on the milking platform. This might be considered low for the west Cork area, but the altitude of the farm means grass is slower to grow in spring and winter sets in a little faster than on farms closer to sea level.

Work-life balance

Striking a balance between family life and achieving a sustainable farm profit is the most important objective to the Hurleys.

Average butterfat for 2014 was 4.05% with protein at 3.57% leaving total milk solids per cow at 436kgs.

Total cost of production including family labour was 32.3c/l.

Breeding in the dairy herd is influenced by the fact that progeny not suitable for replacements are reared and finished on the farm as beef. The breeding policy is to use Holstein/Friesian AI for the first seven weeks of the breeding season and then introduce a Hereford bull with the cows and a Aberdeen Angus with the heifers.

The herd EBI is €141 while the EBI breakdown is in favour of fertility at €76, with milk contributing €45. The EBI of the heifer calves and incalf heifers is €211 and €186 respectively.

Texts from Lisavaird Co-op are used to monitor SCC from one collection to the next. If there is a marked increase in SCC, all cows are drawn at the next milking to determine the cause. If clinical mastitis is discovered, the cow is treated, a red strap is put on her leg and her milk is withheld from the tank.

  • Milk quality: 2014
  • Average TBC: 8,000
  • Average SCC: 108,000

    • The herd is milk recorded every six weeks: this is used to monitor SCC for breeding purposes and for selection of animals for culling.

    After milk recording any cow with a high cell count is checked with CMT to find the high quarter. This quarter is then treated with mastitis tubes until cured. The cow will again be checked with the CMT to ensure she is cured before her milk is allowed back into the tank. An individual sample is also sent to Carbery for an SCC check. If a quarter is proving difficult to cure, milking that quarter is stopped and it is allowed to dry off naturally without using antibiotics.

    Mastitis cows are milked last and the jars are washed out. The use of colour sprays, markers and a white board demonstrated attention to detail in the Hurley’s milking routine.

    The beef enterprise allows all the land available to be fully utilised. This consists of beef heifers finished at 20 months weighing approximately 270kg carcase. Steers are finished at 24 months averaging 325kg carcase and cull cows from the dairy herd are also finished.

    Attention to detail is not restricted to the dairy herd as proven by the gross margin of €859 per hectare on the beef enterprise.