Dairy farmers gathered on the Greenfield Kilkenny farm on Wednesday to hear messages from researchers and advisers on performance to date. In this article Jack Kennedy highlights the nine numbers that stood out

2.8c/l Value of increase in milk solids

Milk protein percentage has increased from 3.54% (2010) to 3.87% (2015) and milk fat percentage has increased from 4.28% (2010) to 4.64% (2015). The message on Wednesday was that increase is worth 3.4 c/litre when base milk price is at 29c/litre and 2.8c/litre when milk price is 23c/litre.

8% return on Investment

Return on investment ranges from 6% to 11% from year two to year six and has been 10%, 11% and 8% over the last three years. The return on equity has been higher given the proportion of borrowings, so the return on equity has been 21%, 21% and 12% respectively for the last three years. Return on equity will drop as debt is paid down. At the moment the farm owes about €600,000 in debt which will all be repaid over the next seven years.

37c/l farm costs (2015)

Costs have been higher than projected on the Kilkenny farm for a number of items including infrastructure, heifer rearing, fertiliser and maintenance. In 2015 the cost of production when you include all the costs was 37c/litre. What has saved the farm is that the milk price budgeted at the start of the development is a good bit higher than planned at the start.

Key number

300kg Milk solids delivered, (heifers)

The first-lactation cows in Kilkenny are only producing about 3,500kg, but the concentrations of fat and protein are very high. The fat percentage is about 4.76% and the protein 3.82% so the net result is they are delivering about 300kg of milk solids. At the other end the mature cows are producing about 5,600kg at 4.17% fat and 3.63% protein, so they are delivering about 450kg of milk solids per cow. Remember, on this farm the meal fed per cow is about 300kg to 600kg per cow per year, with most of the milk produced from grazed grass. Milk solids sold per hectare has increased from 970kg/ha in 2011 to 1,090kg/ha in 2015. Replacement rate has been high for the last three years, mainly due to lameness, somatic cell count and infertility.

13t of grass grown per hectare

The farm has grown over 13t of grass for the last two years. Rainfall was 930mm in 2014 and 830 in 2015. In terms of fertiliser, the farm spreads the maximum allowable nitrogen (250kg/ha) but has considerably increased the amount of potash spread. In 2014, 88kg of potash was spread per hectare and 70kg/ha in 2015. Sulphur has also been increased, with about 30kg/ha spread every year from April to June particularly. Very little winter forage was purchased for the last two years as a result of the higher volumes of grass grown.

100% AI only

There are not many farms in the country doing it, but artificial insemination only is the policy in Kilkenny. As farmers visiting the open day will have seen, vasectomised bulls are used to help heat detection from week four of the breeding season on. Other than that, it’s up to the staff to read tail paint at each milking. This year, just short of 90% of the herd were submitted in the first 23 days of breeding. In 2015 there were 14 cows from 334 bred not in calf.

6years amount of time Tom Lyng has been working on the farm

Tom Lyng started on the farm in 2010 as second in command to the then farm manager Michael Long. When Michael left to go home farming in 2013, Tom was promoted to farm manager and remains in that role. Now Tom is assisted by Eoghan Finneran. Tom and Eoghan are full-time employees and they are helped by either a student or relief worker which effectively means they can have every second weekend off. All machinery work is contracted out, so the focus of Tom and Eoghan is the milking herd and grassland management. Key number – Tom Lyng on farm seven years

€80/cow value of fixed milk price scheme

Moorepark researcher Laurence Shalloo summarised the financial effect of the Glanbia Fixed milk price scheme for the farm. Since the first Glanbia scheme started in 2010, between 15% and 25% of the annual farm supply has been locked in annually. Projections show that the fixed price schemes will be worth 1.9c/litre to the farm finances this year (2016). So, while base price including the milk solids premium this year will be around 28 c/litre, the fixed price element will be around 35 c/litre. The net result for the farm will be a cheque for €26,000 over and above if the farm hadn’t entered any milk in the fixed price schemes.

40% of contractors’ time spent at silage

One of the boards showed the proportion of time the contractors spent at each of the various operations on the farm. Silage cutting and baling etc takes up 40% of the machinery hours, fertiliser 19%, feeding cows in winter 16% and then slurry 12%. Last winter cleaning out the calf sheds on a regular basis was initiated and farm staff feel it really helped in keeping the calves clean and dry during the spring and forced them to keep fresh straw under newborn calves.

4 months into the seventh year

The Greenfield Kilkenny farm started milking for the first time in January 2010. The herd is now almost four months into production of year seven. The objective of the farm is to show the full setup and running costs of a large-scale dairy farm and the challenges to operation for the investment made. The farm is not a research farm and it is run as a commercial farm with the value of the output the only income to the farm.