Manufacturers and suppliers of milking equipment report continued strong demand. Despite the headwinds of coronavirus and Brexit, demand for farmers to build new and upgrade existing milking equipment shows no signs of slowing down.

The last decade has seen record investment on Irish dairy farms. The midway point saw the removal of milk quotas and this was the catalyst for most of the investment. In most cases, farmers have been rewarded for their speculation as dairy farming continues to be the most profitable pasture-based enterprise in Irish agriculture.

We have seen many farmers move from other sectors into dairy. Farmer James Taylor is an example of someone making a big investment in milking facilities with the installation of a 50-point rotary on his farm on the north Antrim coast.

The contribution of the TAMS II grants scheme for farmers to upgrade and install new milking equipment has been huge, with over €24m paid out in the Dairy Equipment Scheme up to the end of 2018.

Considering the scheme is open until the end of 2020, the final figure could be double this.

As the deadline for the end of TAMS II looms, thoughts are turning to what is going to replace it. We detail the different options under TAMS and the potential pitfalls to avoid.

While milking equipment is usually a good investment, the best advice is to decide in advance what you need and stick to your guns as salespeople are trained to sell. Talk to plenty of people who have built new facilities recently and get their opinion on the investment options.