The Eivers family are milking 300 cows in Roristown, Co Meath. Teagasc recently held a national winter milk event on the farm, which is owned by Willie and Deidre and managed by their son Tadgh.

Tadgh completed a degree in Animal and Crop Production from UCD in 2017. After three years working off farm he returned home to farm in 2020. He is currently managing the farm which is run as a split calving system with one-third of the cows autumn calving.

The farm is located just outside Trim and is typical Meath land according to Tadgh, “good ground that’s neither too wet nor particularly dry”.

Prior to the abolition of quotas in 2015, the Eivers were milking 170 cows. Since then they have grown the herd significantly.

The total area of the farm is 202ha with an 80ha milking platform. Roughly half of the total area farmed is owned with the other half leased. The milking platform is highly stocked at 3.75 cows/ha.

There is 22ha of maize grown on an outblock, with the rest of the outblocks used for silage and rearing heifers.

Milk production

The cows are predominantly Holstein Friesian but the Eivers have dabbled with crossbreeding over the years to improve fat and protein percentages. At present, roughly 10% of the herd have some level of Jersey breeding.

Danish Jerseys have proved a more successful crossbred than the typical grass-based Jersey cross on the farm. They are more suited to the higher output system, according to Tadgh.

In 2024 the herd produced an average of 693kg of milk solids/cow at 4.43% fat and 3.58% protein across both the winter and spring milkers.

In total the cows ate 2.4t/DM of concentrates and a further 600kg/DM of brewer’s grain for 2024. The cows are heavily supplemented and are essentially buffer fed year-round and Tadgh was quick to admit this.

“The feeding levels are high because we’re well stocked and we’re trying to maintain consistency of production throughout the lactation.

The extra feeding is a bit of a fall-back and probably an easy option. We’re not utilising as much grass as we could be as a result” he said.

On average, the milking platform grows 12t DM/ha with utilisation rates around 75%. The land type is relatively free-draining but periods of grass stress in dry weather are few and far between.

The Eivers run a tight calving season on the autumn calvers to maximise the amount of milk that’s produced at the winter milk premium price.

The Tirlan bonus of 12c/l is paid as part of the autumn calving scheme (ACS) and is paid for a total of four months over the winter months.

Autumn calvers

The autumn calvers are currently dry and will start calving from the start of October with the last of them finished up by the end of November. Breeding on this herd will start on the 1 January and is wrapped up in just over eight weeks.

As a result, the herd has quite a high replacement rate, running at 26%. Half of all the heifers that go into the herd go in as autumn calvers. This gives a replacement rate closer to 40% for the 100 autumn-calving cows and 20% for the 200 spring-calving cows.

The spring cows start calving in the middle of January and are bred to a 12-week breeding season. Occasionally autumn cows who don’t go in-calf over the eight weeks of breeding are carried over into the spring.

“We try not to carry over cows but occasionally a good milker will be given another chance in the spring. With our short breeding season, it can be tough to get cow’s in-calf particularly with breeding being done inside,” Tadgh said.

Calving interval is 376 days which is well below the national average of 388, but an area Tadgh is always looking to improve on.

The Eivers have decided to invest in collars for the coming breeding season to try and reduce their empty rates. Up to now, all cows were bred based on visual records.

“It can be difficult to identify cows coming into heat when they are inside. We watch them like hawks but some cows are slower to show signs on a slippy indoor surface” Tadgh said.

He hopes that collars will help improve this identification process and reduce the time they spend observing cows.

It’s already a busy time on the farm as breeding for autumn calvers overlaps with calving in the spring herd, so any time that can be saved would be a major boost.

The Eivers use EBI to guide their breeding decisions. The average EBI of the herd is €180 with the 2025-born heifers having an average EBI of €248.

The targets when selecting bulls are for an even split between milk sub-index and fertility. Preferably bulls will be over €100 for each.

Bulls are selected the same way as they would be for the spring-calvers using the active bull list.

The herd has an average maintenance figure of €8 and an average cow weight of around 630kg.

Sexed semen is used for the first three weeks of the breeding season and beef AI is used for the remainder. All beef calves are sold at three weeks of age.

People

The farm is well-served with a good team of people. Willie is still heavily involved in the day to day running with Tadgh acting as farm manager.

The Eivers have three relief-milkers who have been part of the business for a number of years. They do practically all of the milkings in a week through a 20-unit DeLaval parlour.

The relief milkers have been invaluable to the farm over the years as they can rely on them to turn up and do the job well every day.

This has allowed Tadgh and Willie time to observe cows for breeding, manage grass and carry out the administrative tasks.

Outside of the relief milkers there is currently one full-time student and every winter to ease the workload at calving, two Polish workers join the team. They live on site and work from October to March.

Tadgh values the loyalty of his team and is keen to point out how much easier they make the job of managing the farm business.

Investment

This year has been a good year on the Eivers farm as it has been on the majority of farms across the country. It’s given farmers the potential to invest in areas that can make the system easier.

The Eivers are currently looking at some different options. The first investment they have committed to for 2026 is the heat-detection collars. The collars will be trialled on the autumn calvers first and if successful they will invest for the whole herd.

The Eivers are also looking at the potential of constructing a rotary parlour. It would be difficult to extend the current parlour with space being limited. More than 20 units would also make it difficult for one person to milk alone. This is an important factor as the relief milkers usually milk alone on alternating days. One-person milkings would still be possible in a 40-unit rotary for most of the season.

The roadways on the farm were developed at the end of last year. The primary road that runs through the middle of the farm was widened and astro-turf was laid on one side of it.

“Cow-flow is much better now; they are far more content walking to and from the parlour.

The astro has been a total game changer for us, cows would be almost fighting to get onto it. We’ve had less instances of lameness too which is another bonus,” Tadgh said.

Comment

The Eivers have placed a strong emphasis on improving genetics and tightening up the calving season in the last number of years.

They are reaping the rewards with 693kg of milk solids sold per cow in 2024. While the production is strong, the meal-feeding levels are high on the farm.

There’s certainly potential for the Eivers to cut back a couple of hundred kilos worth of supplement if they can get more grass into cows. The grass is there but as Tadgh admitted it’s being under-utilised.

More grass in the diet would significantly reduce their costs of production and boost the overall farm profitability.