Owen O’Brien is farming at Cashelbeg, Enniskeane, just outside of Bandon in west Cork. In 2014 he milked 62 cows and supplied 331,000 litres to Bandon Co-op and this year he is milking 64 cows in a spring-calving operation.

Measurement is a big issue for Owen and he milk records every six weeks, measures grass every week, and is a member of the Bandon Profit Group. For the last number of years Owen has been developing his paddocks and farm roadways and it means he hasn’t been able to spend big money on the parlour up to now.

Recently the water system to the paddocks was upgraded to allow for three grazings per paddocks and to ensure they have sufficient water supply. He has no fancy technology so cows that are high in cell count are kept out of the parlour and milked last. If they do sneak in before the last row of cows, the cluster is washed in water and ClusterX.

Disposable gloves are worn at each milking – as Owen said: “Like a lot of my friends we started out wearing gloves to keep our hands clean for Saturday night and now we wouldn’t hardly milk without them.”

After milking all cows are sprayed with Nanodual using a spray can. Bovaclox milking tube is used if a cow has a touch of mastitis and Noroclox is used at dry-off.

Sometimes it’s the small things that stand out like the fact that cow tails are trimmed twice per year. Owen will take faecal samples twice per year to check fluke and worm burdens to minimise stress when a cow is in the dry period. Measurement is the key.

Factfile

Farming system: In 2014 Owen milked 62 cows and in 2015 he is milking 64 cows in spring milk production supplying Bandon Co-op. In total, Owen is farming 38ha (94 acres) and milk delivered in 2014 was 5,340 litres per cow at 4.03% fat and 3.50% protein.

Parlour: Eight-unit herringbone.

SCC results: Average 85,000 for 2014.

TBC results: Average 7,000 for 2014