Drought management, milk solids performance and new nutrient storage requirements took centre stage at the inaugural FarmElevate farm walk on Patrick Fortune’s dairy farm in Adamstown, Co Wexford, on Thursday 6 August.
Patrick is one of eight dairy farm families selected as 'lighthouse farms' as part of Tirlán’s new five-year FarmElevate programme developed with Teagasc to help farmers improve productivity, profitability and sustainability through peer-to-peer learning and knowledge transfer.
Opening the walk, Teagasc regional manager for Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford Ger Shortle highlighted that milk solids within the Tirlán catchment have increased by over two-thirds (65% to 70%) on average since Tirlán started working with Teagasc on joint knowledge transfer programmes 34 years ago.
“It shows you that small incremental changes over time can make a massive difference,” he said.
Patrick’s farm consists of a total of 136.8ha (338 acres) including a milking block of 66ha (163 acres) as seen in Table 1, with the main enterprise being dairy and he grows some maize and barley for feeding and keeps some beef stock, as seen in Table 2.
The cows were doing 22.5l/day, 4.41% butterfat, 3.73% protein and 1.89kg milk solids/cow on 5 August.
The dairy herd is producing about an extra 1,100l of milk and 100kg of milk solids more than the average Tirlán milk supplier, as seen in Table 3.
Climate and sustainability adviser with Teagasc Seamus Kearney highlighted that Patrick is producing 4l/cow/day more than the average Tirlán milk supplier, with 0.05g more protein and an extra 0.09g butterfat.
Putting the farm’s milk production performance in context, the level of milk litres and solids creates an extra €62,100 per 100 cows per year, with milk yield being the main driver in this case.
Saving emissions
Kearney said that Patrick’s 180-cow herd is producing as much milk as an average 220-cow herd, saving 40 extra cows, which has clear knock-on effect in saving emissions on the farm.
Patrick runs a compact six-week calving rate, with 85% of cows calved during this period and half of cows on the farm calved by 4 February in 2025.
This allows Patrick to get more cows in more days of milk, resulting in extra milk overall.
The herd EBI currently stands at €150, standing in the top 10% of dairy herds in Ireland, while the fertility sub-index also falls well within the top 10%.
In terms of calf rearing, there is an automatic calf feeder on the farm which rears about 120 calves and he estimated that the calves receive over 600kg of meal per calf up to 12 months old.
The importance work-life balance was highlighted at the walk, with labour units on the farm standing at 2.75 which includes two full-time workers including Patrick himself and his nephew Seamus also helps out significantly.
Grass and feeding
A grass measurement report from PastureBase was carried out on 4 August for Patrick’s farm, as seen in Table 5.
Uniquely in the southeast, Patrick still has grass to graze on the farm despite the drought conditions, as there was 19 days of grazing ahead on the milking platform on 4 August.
As of 5 August, the cows were receiving 4.5kg/day of meal in the parlour and 4kg DM of silage.
Earlier in the year, Patrick bought in beet and mixed it with maize and soya hulls and put over 100 tonnes in a pit as an extra feed source on the farm.
Senior technical specialist with Tirlán Bryan Harte recommended that every dairy farmer should do this if at all possible as an extra cushion for feeding in cases of late springs and drought, which are becoming more common.
Drought advice
With drought conditions persisting in many areas of the Tirlán catchment area and soil moisture deficits of up to 90mm, Bryan went through a number of key areas farmers should be focusing on to reduce the effects on milk production and fodder supplies.
He urged farmers to sit down and do a fodder budget to put a plan in place to ensure they have sufficient fodder for the coming winter.
“We have to recognise where we are in the year, we're in the first week of August. The year is pushing on with very little or no rain forecast. So, we'll be in the start of September and have very little opportunities to make forage at that stage.”
A fodder budget carried out for Patrick’s farm calculated that he will require 2,218t or 2,440 bales of silage to get through a five-month winter, as seen in Table 6.
If there is still grass available to graze, Harte recommended that a diet of one-third grass, one-third silage and one-third concentrates is fed – in simpler terms, 7kg meal – enough grass for a full daytime grazing and 6kg to 7kg DM silage fed at either side of milkings (3.5 bales per 100 cows).
If grass runs out, he said that silage and concentrates will need to be increased to five bales and 8kg to 9kg respectively.
He also highlighted that a key issue he sees when farmers say milk production is dropping is that the cows do not have enough time to access silage.
If farmers are tight on silage and need to save as much as they can, soya hulls may be introduced into the diet to combat this at about 4kg to 5kg of midday feed, Harte said.
In addition to this, other options include rolled barley and some people are using palm kernel. However, he warned that palm kernel is a high-oil feed and not overly palatable to cows, so he would not recommend it in many cases.
Water access is key
Harte stated that ensuring cows have sufficient access to water is one of the most important factors in maintaining milk volume during drought.
“We actually see it in Tirlán. We think it's actually the biggest thing impacting milk supply in the last little while. We’re after seeing milk in July fall way ahead of what it would have done this time last year and, personally myself, I'd actually blame the amount of water that is available to cows.”
He also encouraged farmers to go on a 30-day rotation even if they have little to no grass and to avoid putting cows in a sacrifice paddock to feed silage, etc, in one location.
He warned that the use of a sacrifice paddock can result in persistent somatic cell count issues, which was seen after the 2018 drought.
In relation to spreading fertiliser, Harte cautioned that farmers should not be rushing out with fertiliser straight away when rain arrives, as grass still mineralises nitrogen during dry conditions.
“We do not have a deficit or a lack of nitrogen in soil – if we go out with fertiliser, it will generally be washed off.”
“The advice that we want to be able to give people is very much allow the rain to come, let it use the natural nitrogen that is sitting there. We'll get grass naturally growing again and then when you start seeing grass actively growing, growing at 40kg to 50kg per day, that's when we'll go out with some fertiliser.”
He also said that farmers must keep buffer feeding for at least 10 days after rain starts to ensure no drop in milk production during the transition back to grass.
“This is not going to be a case where we get rain and then the problem is solved. When we get rain, it's going to be a further 10 days before we actually get any type of grass back into the diet.”
Tirlán names eight dairy farms for new knowledge transfer programme