Over the last few weeks, we have focused on family partnerships and the important area of succession. The other major element is what Teagasc calls collaborative farming arrangements. Be it partnerships, share-farming or contract rearing, there is growing interest where farmers are coming together for mutual benefit.

This is coming through in the number of farmers contacting Austin Finn of the Land Mobility Service, which was set up to provide information and act as an honest broker. Austin has already sat down with 186 farmers (see figure 1) and talked to many more, and the demand for the service is currently stretching the resources of the pilot project initiated by Macra and supported by FBD and other industry stakeholders. Austin is finding that most landowners still want to farm themselves rather than just lease land, at least initially.

Over the next three weeks, we will look at the different arrangements and talk to farmers who are in them. The farmer partnership we feature this week makes perfect sense for the two farmers involved.

Case Study

“I was milking 80 cows and used casual labour when I needed it. Even then I was fierce busy but could not afford to employ a full-time man,” Tom Casey said.

“My parlour was too small and I was going to have to spend a lot of money putting in a new one,” said James Barrow.

When you start talking to Tom and James, who were farming beside each other in Scarragh, Mallow, Co Cork, you can quickly see why they went into a dairy partnership five years ago. They often helped one another out when they were busy.

“We had very similar systems so knew how each other thought and farmed,” said Tom.

“The more we talked about it, the more it made perfect sense,” said James.

“When you are used to doing things when you want and how you want, going into partnership can be a big change and one that should not be taken lightly. That was probably the hardest part in getting used to working together,” said Tom.

The biggest difficulty at the start was the paperwork but Ben Roche of Teagasc helped them with the partnership element.

“We had to set up a joint bank account and a new milk supplier number, as well as a new herd number. Partnerships were relatively new then and while the same things have to be done, it would be more straightforward now,” said Tom.

“We had the same accountant, James Bryne, who had helped other partnerships come together. Having someone experienced like that was great as he was able to take us through how to divide the assets. We each know what assets were being brought into the partnership. It meant that Tom has a higher equity percentage but I didn’t see that as a problem,” James explained.

“We are paid a wage each month and if we need additional money we can take it out. It is then balanced out at the end of the year when the accounts are finalised. Last year, neither of us took extra money as we were building the new parlour,” he added.

The decision on where to build the new 18-unit parlour was a simple one. It made good business sense to put it in Tom’s yard due to the central location and the fact that he had more buildings and cows cubicles.

The partnership borrowed €100,000 and will pay it back over time.

“There is definitely more profitability to do this by working together. You cut out a lot of duplication. They might be simple things such as washing down the parlour or herd-testing but they all add up,” said Tom.

“I think you also make better decisions with two people as you get different views and angles you would not have thought about,” added James.

They get in touch with their Teagasc adviser Pat Cashman to deal with the things that come up a few times a year.

“Of course we have had arguments over small things but that is just normal. As long as you have respect for each other’s views you will work the issues out,” Tom said

They currently milk 125 cows. When they went into partnership first, they had plans to go to 200 cows on the increased milking platform. Over time, they have refined their plan together.

“After the two bad years in 2012 and 2013, we have decided to settle around 150 cows and focus on performance and improve fertility a bit more. That way the system will not be put under pressure and we do not have to do any major investment in buildings,” Tom explained.

They saw it as a way to reduce risk in the short term for the business. The partnership has definitely given them an improved lifestyle. Working together has taken the pressure off and allowed them to do more of what they enjoy. Tom does grass management and most of the paperwork, while James carries out more of the machinery work.

“Up until this year, one of us would milk on Sunday morning and the other on Sunday evening. This was mainly because milking in the 12 units took so long. Now with the new 18-unit parlour it takes two hours off the day so we will look at working alternative Sundays,” said Tom.

If someone wanted a day off they could always have it,” he added.