A wise neighbour once told me that too many groups of animals can have more of an effect on grass availability than the number of animals. He’s right of course, as there are so many fields, or bits of fields, being grazed at the same time that it reduces grass growing time

It became obvious that certain jobs were covering their cost as opposed to generating a profit

After last autumn I can confirm the number of groups needing different care and feeding regimes can have more impact on time management than number of animals.

My numbers were already up due to the TB restriction and time was at a premium as I had been short staffed since September. While searching for part-time help, I was forced to prioritise my work schedule.

It became obvious that certain jobs were covering their cost as opposed to generating a profit. I had already moved to selling all culls to a finisher, and selling the autumn-born bulls as calves and the spring ones as weanlings.

The other fat in the system is keeping too many replacements. Teagasc figures show a cost of around €1,500 to bring a heifer into the milking herd. While individual cows may make that sale price, I have rarely achieved it for a complete bunch. It may appear to be as easy to run a big group of calves or heifers, but the costs are still there.

Split calving v winter bonus

Of course, there is one part of my enterprise that has effectively doubled my number of groups and that’s splitting calving into autumn and spring.

The split has worked well in spreading the workload and has allowed me stock the grazing platform higher as the autumn calvers dry off when grass slows in late summer.

The trouble is that the winter bonus hasn’t kept pace with input inflation and I have been finding it difficult to hit volume targets. Tightening my calving pattern allowed me to drop September and January calvings, but that has stopped me hitting October and February requirements.

Big decision

It has been a big decision but ultimately an easy one. The AI flask has stayed closed so there’ll be nothing calving here next autumn.

While I see many commentators saying it is better to diversify and spread business risk, it is only worthwhile taking on extra jobs if it consistently pays better than the core business.

I’m simplifying the system for labour. I’ll sink or swim with spring calving.