The last four years have seen major expansion on the Farrell farm. Cow numbers have increased from 100 cows in 2009 to 140 cows in 2014 and now there are 370 cows being milked.
On top of this, the father and son team of David and Peter Farrell have recently signed a lease on a large second unit.
The speed and scale of expansion like this is unheard of across most of Ireland. The Farrells were fortunate that land became available on their boundary and they took advantage.
A concrete roadway leading to the Farrell farmyard.
In 2008, David was farming on his own. Peter was finishing his engineering degree and the future of the farm was uncertain.
Since then, Peter left engineering to go farming alongside David, his brother-in-law Derek and two other full-time employees have been recruited. For the Farrells, expansion has allowed them to make the pie bigger and more people are now getting a share of that pie.
Peter Farrell, Kilmessan, Co Meath.
David and Peter are the regional winners of the Grassland Farmer of the Year award for 2018. At their open day in Kilmessan, Co Meath, last Tuesday, Peter described how they farm.
Cows
Until this year, the Farrells had a liquid milk contract. As cow numbers increased, the proportion of cows calving in the autumn has been decreasing. No cows are going to calve this autumn as the herd is now 100% spring-calving. The majority of the cows are Holstein Friesian but the Farrells have been crossbreeding for the last number of years.
The cows produced 490kgMS/cow in 2017 and 512kgMS/cow in 2018. However, the amount of supplement fed doubled between the two years.
“We had an overall stocking rate of 2.7 cows/ha last year and we got caught with the late spring and the drought. We fed 750kg of meal per cow in 2017 but that increased to 1,500kg of meal last year and we bought some wholecrop silage too. We got more land and some of the heifers are being contract reared so overall stocking rate will be around 2.4 or 2.5 cows/ha this year,” Peter says.
A section of the crowd at the Grass10 farm walk on Peter Farrell's farm.
Peter was asked if it paid to feed the extra meal.
“The extra meal fed the cows because the grass didn’t grow and something had to feed them. But if we had the grass it wouldn’t have paid to feed the meal.”
His breeding strategy is to produce as much fat and protein in as few litres as possible. Six-week calving rate is 89% and calving interval is 382 days – longer than desired due to the split calving.
Grass
Between 2014 and 2016, the farm grew around 15tDM/ha each year. This increased to 16t/ha in 2017 but then collapsed to 13t/ha last year. As land has been taken on, it has been reseeded. The oldest swards on the farm are now the original 32ha that are owned by the Farrells. Everything else has been reseeded over the past decade.
Peter's current grass wedge.
Peter’s preference is for direct drilling when reseeding with a high proportion of tetraploids.
In 2015, 78% of the farm was at index one and two for phosphorus. Now, only 5% is at index one or two – huge progress. In 2015, 57% of the farm was at index one and two for potassium. Now, 50% is at index one and two – little or no progress. Lime is not required – 90% of the farm is above pH 6.3.
Astroturf placed over the roadway on Peter Farrell's roadway.
The massive increase in phosphorus levels has come about by following the nutrient management plan, availing of the phosphorus allowance in the nitrates directive and applying chemical phosphorus and slurry where it is needed.
As a result of correcting phosphorus levels, Peter’s future allowance for chemical phosphorus will be low.
A concrete slab roadway leading to the farmyard.
Fixing the potash problem will require extra slurry and straight potash in the autumn on all the low fields.
Current situation
Peter did a grass walk on 9 January. His average farm cover was 1,450kg/ha. He put this opening grass cover into his grass budget as he does every year.
Even with normal growth rates, he was never going to get through all the grass he had on the farm then. So late-calving cows that were being milked through the winter and dry cows were turned out to graze in early January.
Between then and now, only eight grazings were missed due to bad weather. Peter got 45% of the farm grazed in February and because growth rates are so much higher than normal, he still has too much grass.
A roadway made from concrete slabs on Peter Farrell's farm.
Average farm cover on the day of the walk was 1,017kg/ha, with a growth rate of 19kg/day. There is a cover of around 1,400kg/ha back on the first grazed paddock.
Peter is currently feeding 3kg of meal but is dropping this back to 2kg now. The farm has got 70 units/acre of nitrogen to date.
Future plans
Peter outlined some of his plans for reducing his environmental footprint. At the moment, he is spreading about 250kgN/ha. He plans to cut this back to 230kgN/ha this year by implementing the following:
Not spreading any fertiliser on 5% of the area near the front of paddocks where cows loaf and hang around gaps and water troughs.Not spreading any slurry on second-cut silage and instead spreading a full round of this slurry on the milking platform with a trailing show, instead of spreading chemical fertiliser. Second-cut silage is fed to dry cows and it doesn’t get slurry to help prevent milk fever after calving.23 units/acre of urea will always be spread in early February, but the next round of fertiliser will be more soil temperature and rainfall-dependent.Nitrogen will be spread at a rate of one unit/day in April and May and 0.7 units/day from June to mid-September.More chemical potash will be spread in the second half of the year to encourage clover.Most of the farm is going to be over-sown with clover this year. Peter doesn’t sow clover at reseeding time as he feels it limits the sprays that he can use to control weeds like docks.He is not going to spread any more CAN. Instead, urea will be spread in the spring and protected urea will be spread in the summer. By reducing the amount of chemical nitrogen being spread, he will reduce costs and become more efficient with nitrogen. Peter was on the Positive Farmers tour to New Zealand in November, where he said he visited farms that reduced their annual nitrogen usage to less than 150kgN/ha without affecting grass growth.
“It’s a different country with a different climate but it just goes to show that it can be done and we should strive to be more efficient with our nutrient use as it benefits our pocket and the environment,” Peter says.
David and Peter Farrell are milking 370 cows at Kilmessan, Co Meath.They grew 16tDM/ha in 2017 but this fell to 13tDM/ha in 2018.Meal feeding doubled to 1,500kg/cow in 2018.Total costs, including family labour and interest, were 28.8c/l in 2018. Read more
Dairy management: dealing with surplus grass
Greenfield Farm: better grazing helps March performance
The last four years have seen major expansion on the Farrell farm. Cow numbers have increased from 100 cows in 2009 to 140 cows in 2014 and now there are 370 cows being milked.
On top of this, the father and son team of David and Peter Farrell have recently signed a lease on a large second unit.
The speed and scale of expansion like this is unheard of across most of Ireland. The Farrells were fortunate that land became available on their boundary and they took advantage.
A concrete roadway leading to the Farrell farmyard.
In 2008, David was farming on his own. Peter was finishing his engineering degree and the future of the farm was uncertain.
Since then, Peter left engineering to go farming alongside David, his brother-in-law Derek and two other full-time employees have been recruited. For the Farrells, expansion has allowed them to make the pie bigger and more people are now getting a share of that pie.
Peter Farrell, Kilmessan, Co Meath.
David and Peter are the regional winners of the Grassland Farmer of the Year award for 2018. At their open day in Kilmessan, Co Meath, last Tuesday, Peter described how they farm.
Cows
Until this year, the Farrells had a liquid milk contract. As cow numbers increased, the proportion of cows calving in the autumn has been decreasing. No cows are going to calve this autumn as the herd is now 100% spring-calving. The majority of the cows are Holstein Friesian but the Farrells have been crossbreeding for the last number of years.
The cows produced 490kgMS/cow in 2017 and 512kgMS/cow in 2018. However, the amount of supplement fed doubled between the two years.
“We had an overall stocking rate of 2.7 cows/ha last year and we got caught with the late spring and the drought. We fed 750kg of meal per cow in 2017 but that increased to 1,500kg of meal last year and we bought some wholecrop silage too. We got more land and some of the heifers are being contract reared so overall stocking rate will be around 2.4 or 2.5 cows/ha this year,” Peter says.
A section of the crowd at the Grass10 farm walk on Peter Farrell's farm.
Peter was asked if it paid to feed the extra meal.
“The extra meal fed the cows because the grass didn’t grow and something had to feed them. But if we had the grass it wouldn’t have paid to feed the meal.”
His breeding strategy is to produce as much fat and protein in as few litres as possible. Six-week calving rate is 89% and calving interval is 382 days – longer than desired due to the split calving.
Grass
Between 2014 and 2016, the farm grew around 15tDM/ha each year. This increased to 16t/ha in 2017 but then collapsed to 13t/ha last year. As land has been taken on, it has been reseeded. The oldest swards on the farm are now the original 32ha that are owned by the Farrells. Everything else has been reseeded over the past decade.
Peter's current grass wedge.
Peter’s preference is for direct drilling when reseeding with a high proportion of tetraploids.
In 2015, 78% of the farm was at index one and two for phosphorus. Now, only 5% is at index one or two – huge progress. In 2015, 57% of the farm was at index one and two for potassium. Now, 50% is at index one and two – little or no progress. Lime is not required – 90% of the farm is above pH 6.3.
Astroturf placed over the roadway on Peter Farrell's roadway.
The massive increase in phosphorus levels has come about by following the nutrient management plan, availing of the phosphorus allowance in the nitrates directive and applying chemical phosphorus and slurry where it is needed.
As a result of correcting phosphorus levels, Peter’s future allowance for chemical phosphorus will be low.
A concrete slab roadway leading to the farmyard.
Fixing the potash problem will require extra slurry and straight potash in the autumn on all the low fields.
Current situation
Peter did a grass walk on 9 January. His average farm cover was 1,450kg/ha. He put this opening grass cover into his grass budget as he does every year.
Even with normal growth rates, he was never going to get through all the grass he had on the farm then. So late-calving cows that were being milked through the winter and dry cows were turned out to graze in early January.
Between then and now, only eight grazings were missed due to bad weather. Peter got 45% of the farm grazed in February and because growth rates are so much higher than normal, he still has too much grass.
A roadway made from concrete slabs on Peter Farrell's farm.
Average farm cover on the day of the walk was 1,017kg/ha, with a growth rate of 19kg/day. There is a cover of around 1,400kg/ha back on the first grazed paddock.
Peter is currently feeding 3kg of meal but is dropping this back to 2kg now. The farm has got 70 units/acre of nitrogen to date.
Future plans
Peter outlined some of his plans for reducing his environmental footprint. At the moment, he is spreading about 250kgN/ha. He plans to cut this back to 230kgN/ha this year by implementing the following:
Not spreading any fertiliser on 5% of the area near the front of paddocks where cows loaf and hang around gaps and water troughs.Not spreading any slurry on second-cut silage and instead spreading a full round of this slurry on the milking platform with a trailing show, instead of spreading chemical fertiliser. Second-cut silage is fed to dry cows and it doesn’t get slurry to help prevent milk fever after calving.23 units/acre of urea will always be spread in early February, but the next round of fertiliser will be more soil temperature and rainfall-dependent.Nitrogen will be spread at a rate of one unit/day in April and May and 0.7 units/day from June to mid-September.More chemical potash will be spread in the second half of the year to encourage clover.Most of the farm is going to be over-sown with clover this year. Peter doesn’t sow clover at reseeding time as he feels it limits the sprays that he can use to control weeds like docks.He is not going to spread any more CAN. Instead, urea will be spread in the spring and protected urea will be spread in the summer. By reducing the amount of chemical nitrogen being spread, he will reduce costs and become more efficient with nitrogen. Peter was on the Positive Farmers tour to New Zealand in November, where he said he visited farms that reduced their annual nitrogen usage to less than 150kgN/ha without affecting grass growth.
“It’s a different country with a different climate but it just goes to show that it can be done and we should strive to be more efficient with our nutrient use as it benefits our pocket and the environment,” Peter says.
David and Peter Farrell are milking 370 cows at Kilmessan, Co Meath.They grew 16tDM/ha in 2017 but this fell to 13tDM/ha in 2018.Meal feeding doubled to 1,500kg/cow in 2018.Total costs, including family labour and interest, were 28.8c/l in 2018. Read more
Dairy management: dealing with surplus grass
Greenfield Farm: better grazing helps March performance
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