Cappoquin farm -

0utput and costs rise

Calving started in earnest last weekend for Daniel and Amy O Donnell and so far they have 16 cows calved from a total of 84 animals due to calve this spring.

Breeding records suggest there are about 47 cows (56% of herd) due to calve in February.

This February calving percentage is down slightly on 2010 as poor weanling heifer thrive, over the 2010/11 winter, meant Daniel had underweight bulling heifers last May which delayed breeding.

The impact of this is being realised this spring with heifers calving in February, March and April. He also had five out of 24 heifers which didn't go in calf.

Daniel's first goal for 2012 is to improve this and he hopes at least 30 of his 38 weanling heifers, this year, will reach target weight for breeding in May. If breeding goes well this could result in 20 of the 30 heifers going in calf in the first three weeks of the breeding season and calving down next February.

Earlier calving heifers deliver more milk to the tank and have a better chance of staying in the herd for longer.

The plan is on track and Daniel is feeding 1kg to 2kg of meal to his weanlings this winter and will aim to get them out to grass as soon as ground conditions allow so they are fit for bulling for early May.

The other good news for this Cappoquin farm is it passed a second clear TB test last week so stock movement can return to normal.

When I talked to Daniel this week he was outside reeling out wires to get the freshly calved cows out of the shed. Some of the fields on his farm are saturated, but he has some paddocks where cows can graze and they are not marking the field. Daniel recorded 34 mm (1.5 inches) of rain last weekend which many farms didn't get so it makes his situation even more difficult.

Daniel has plenty of silage in stock - he has almost 60% of a pit of silage still untouched so he has plenty of feed on the farm but really his aim will be to hold this and get grazed grass into calved cows rather than feed silage to calved cows.

His other main goal for 2012 is to improve soil fertility so he can grow more grass to better feed his increasing number of animals. Remember this is the core aim of Daniels participation in this post quota project; he is aiming to increase cow numbers from 60 to 110 cows milked, which in turn means a higher number of young stock, so this means a higher requirement for feed.

Daniel aims to grow more feed on his land base to cater for the higher stock numbers rather than buy in more concentrate and silage.

So far Daniel only has 10 acres spread with 3,000 gallons of slurry per acre, but he is aiming to get some slurry and bag nitrogen out this weekend. If ground conditions allow he will get 2,000 gallons of slurry and a half bag of nitrogen per acre to kick start spring growth. The 37 hectares are open for grazing so stocking rate is very low at this time of the year.

Figure 1 shows the dairy detailed profit monitor results for 2011. Included is the cent per litre figures in descending order of cost. In terms of stock numbers, last year Daniel milked 74 cows and he carried 24 bulling heifers and 38 heifer calves. On the income side the herd produced 363,480 litres in total which is up almost 90,000 litres on 2010 as Daniel milked 13 more cows in 2011 (from 61 to 74).

Production per cow was 4,912 litres at 3.59% protein and 4.33% fat or 401kg MS/cow.

Milk delivered was 348,480 litres or €132,422 (38.0c/litre which is up 5.5 c/litre from 2010) with somatic cell count averaging 198,000 cells/ml. The Friesian bull calves were sold locally at two to three weeks of age and made approximately €1,750 in total. In the autumn Daniel sold cull cows amounting to €13,300. Milk sales provided 90% of the output with culls and calves the balance.

Variable costs well up

On the costs side Figure 1 shows the variable and fixed costs for 2011. Purchased feed costs are Daniel's highest expense as he struggles to get his farm firing on all cylinders.

Last year he ran out of grass a few times and he had to feed meal to fill the gap. This pushed his purchased concentrate bill to €12,466. The poor winter performance of his weanling heifers also meant he had to feed meal to these animals to push them along last spring.

Remember, last year Daniel reseeded 22 acres, and 12 acres the previous year (2010). This year he soil sampled the whole farm in January and most of his paddocks are in Index 1 and 2 for Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K).

His intention is to spread more compound fertilizer this year so he can expect his fertilizer bill to increase further. Last year it came to 3.3 c/litre or €9,823 for fertilizer and €2,155 for lime. To lower his feed cost for 2012 he is planning to replace the purchased meal with good quality round bales if he needs to fill a feed gap and grow more grass on the farm.

Daniel realises you can't just push a button and grow more grass when you expand numbers. Daniel has been investing in this farm for the last three years in terms of drainage, improved varieties and improving soil fertility. He is on the ladder to growing more feed but there are costs along the way.

His other big variable cost is contractor at €9,074 (2.5c/litre) but this is mainly for silage making and reseeding.

Daniel spent €5,430 on vet and medicines (€73 per cow milked) which is a whopper of a bill and in total his vet & med bill was €7,558 when you include the costs associated to the young stock.

Of this approximately €3,000 was for vet calls and TB testing (40%) and the rest is for vaccinations and vet goods which include boluses and minerals etc.

When young stock numbers go up then vet & med costs go up. If you have a problem then costs increase substantially more.

Last year Daniel had blood scour in the calves (Coccidiosis) and he spent almost €1,000 on lectades and scour treatments alone.

Fixed costs steady

There is little or no hired labour on this family run farm and only the basic farm machinery.

Machinery running is only €1,528 (0.42c/litre) and hired labour is the very same. Agri contractors carry out most of the big jobs, hence the higher variable costs. The trio of car, ESB and phone came in at €5,595 in total which is up slightly from the previous year with ESB at €2,744 up from €2,660 and phone up from €520 to €1,087. In total fixed costs come to €11,714 excluding land lease charges, tax, loan interest, depreciation, and a charge for own labour.

Summary 2011

If gross output is €147,467 for this 74 cow family dairy farm and total variables costs amounted to €54,980, and total common fixed costs were €11,714, it means the net margin for 2011 is approximately €80,773 (22.9 c/l). This is used to pay for any bank loans, land lease, tax and own labour input.

If we assume a €30,000 fee for own labour it essentially means there is €50,000 left to repay bank loans, land lease fees, tax, and future farm development. The previous year (2010) there was little or nothing left to repay loans or for the development of the farm. Fixed costs are expected to rise as farmyard development is next on the shopping list for investment

It is clear that variable costs rise when stock numbers go up as there is more preventative medicine required and there are higher feed costs when feed gaps develop.

Long term Daniel is still in the development phase (drainage/reseeding/P&K etc.) on this farm to get it to grow more grass.

Daniel and Amy's strategic plan for the next five years is to grow cow numbers from 63 cows in 2010 (1.5 cows/hectare) to 110 cows by 2015 (2.6 cows/hectare).

His involvement with the Greenfield project allows him the quota to carry out this plan.

Daniel and Amy O Donnell are farming near CAPPOQUIN, Co Waterford. This farm is one of the two commercial family farms in the Greenfield Dairy Programme. The figures detailed in this article are a review of Profit Monitor figures for 2011. This farm is located at an altitude of 700 feet in the foot hills of the Knockmealdown Mountains close to Mount Melleray. Soils are heavy in an area of high rainfall.