With 33ha (82 acres) around the milking parlour, Michael Gowen’s platform is bigger than most. But being surrounded by dairy farms, in the heart of cow country overlooking Moorepark in Cork, Michael knew that if he wanted to earn more money, he needed to be as efficient as possible.

A small pig enterprise supplemented the dairy income up to a decade ago. As a consequence, soil fertility is good – most of the farm is at index 4. This is being used well and last year the farm grew 15t of grass. Michael walks the farm at least every week but more regularly if it is growing well.

Numbers

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The milking platform is highly stocked, with 120 cows, so stocking rate is 3.7 cows/ha. Mostly owned outfarms are used for silage and young stock. One outside block of 6ha is excellent quality land – the best there is – and Michael uses this to grow maize. He feeds maize in the spring and autumn to supplement grass but he said maize was no better than high-quality baled silage. He wouldn’t be growing it only that he has the land and can grow it cheap.

In total, Michael is farming 75ha. He keeps 38 replacement calves and 38 in-calf heifers, so overall stocking rate is 2.7 cows/ha. Last year, 380kg of meal was fed and the herd produced 448kg of milk solids per cow. So far this year only 130kg of meal has been fed and Michael hopes to get away without feeding any more meal.

Holstein Friesian and Jersey crossbred cows

The herd is spring-calving and is mostly made up of Holstein Friesian and Jersey crossbred cows. Michael has been crossbreeding for a good number of years. Contractors do most of the machinery work, but Michael spreads fertiliser and does the feeding himself. This year he had a student on the farm for two weeks; after that, it’s just relief milkers.

The system is simple. The cows calve and they go to grass. If grass is tight, they are fed some maize or baled silage along the feed passage and some meal in the parlour.

Profits

What about profit? The total costs last year, before tax and Michael’s labour, was 16.32c/l. Output before subsidies was 34.65c/l. Net profit was 18.33c/l, or just short of €960 per cow.

There is very little debt on the farm, only 7ha are rented and very little hired labour is used. With lower milk prices this year, Michael expects that net profit will be back to 11c/l or 12c/l.

This is a very profitable farm. A simple system, good grassland management, dry land and a well thought out approach to things are the reasons behind it. There are lots of lessons to be learned.

Full report in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.