Bill Brown is one of the highest milk output farmers in the Dairylink Ireland project. How has his business responded and performed under the challenge of low margins in milk production for the 12 months in 2016?

The business received an average of just below 20ppl for all milk produced for 2016. There was 1,510,000 litres sold with milk quality of 3.96% butterfat and 3.18% protein.

In financial terms, the gross output for the farm was £341,952 or 22.64ppl before single farm payment. This was made up from 19.99ppl from milk sales and 2.65ppl from stock sales of both calves and cull cows.

From a cost perspective, the four main costs on the farm are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

Total cash expenditure on the farm, before loan repayments (both capital and interest), personal drawings and taxation have been deducted, totalled £275,129 or 18.21ppl.

If we input a personal drawing of £30,000 for Bill, this moves up to £305,129 or 20.20ppl before taxation and capital and interest repayments on any outstanding bank loans on the business.

Purchased feed continues to be the largest cost on this farm at £87,057. This accounts for all purchased concentrate for the dairy cows, totalling 2,311kg/cow. While the total purchased feed bill is £13,233 lower than last year, it still represents 6.11ppl of the total cost base.

The herd average milk output is 8,389 litres with a feed rate of 0.27kg/litre. Concentrate for replacement heifers and calves accounted for 7% of the total purchased feed bill, which has been reduced significantly from the 2015 figures.

Animal health charges continue to be a significant cost on this farm at 1.31ppl, accounting for all vet call-outs, fertility work, vaccines and medicine.

Fertiliser and lime for the year came in at £17,614 – this includes 75t of lime spread on the farm during 2016 and 215kg/ha of chemical nitrogen. Phosphate and potash were applied using compound fertiliser throughout the year.

What next for Bill Brown?

At the start of 2016, we made the decision to focus on reducing costs in a sustainable manner. For me, this means lowering the costs of production without affecting future output on the farm. If we are going to cut concentrate feeding we must replace it with grass.

This has been the cornerstone of our approach. Not only have we increased grass grown on the farm, we also increased total days at grass with an early turnout at the start of 2016. Improvements made to existing laneways and fencing has helped achieve this and a new bridge this year will improve access to 25 acres close to the parlour.

Herd fertility has been a big issue, with records highlighting a steady decline in the herd’s average calving interval, coupled with a more spread calving period over the past five years. This is a direct result of poorer reproductive performance within the herd (taking longer to get cows back in calf)

While these issues are not easy to solve, we have taken steps to improve the situation. From a genetic viewpoint, all sires are now selected on milk solids and fertility as the primary selection criteria. Fertility management has also improved, with a renewed emphasis on getting cows back in calf faster. This has come about with a focus on heat detection, pre-breeding heat detection, submission and conception rate.

Frustratingly, milk composition continues to be an issue, with a very small 1% of total farm output coming from milk components for the 2016 year. Other Dairylink project farmers receive between 8% and 10% of farm output from butterfat and protein.

To improve milk solids, short-term action includes culling low-milk component cows and replacing with better genetics. High milk solids weanling heifers were added into the replacement stock, which will calve into the herd in February 2018. They are predicted to produce 3.7% protein and 4.5% butterfat.