Finding a work-life balance in dairying

A year spent working on a dairy farm in New Zealand (NZ) taught host farmer Jessica Pollock the importance of finding a work-life balance in dairying.

“I would rather have an intense period of work and be able to take some time off the farm. That was something I learned in NZ,” she told Ulster Grassland Society (UGS) members attending an autumn dairy meeting on the Pollock farm, outside Castlederg on Tuesday.

Jessica, who farms alongside her father Howard, milks around 170 crossbred cows on just under 270 acres, with cows split into two distinct batches – a spring herd that calves in February and March, with an autumn herd calving in October and November.

It has been a busy few weeks working with newborn calves, but once autumn-calving is complete, the farm can get back into a normal routine, with Jessica planning to take a break towards the end of the year.

“I want to have a work-life balance – my dad didn’t have it. It was an issue that did sometimes put me off farming,” said Jessica.

When considering career choices, it was a “last minute decision” to go to Greenmount. However, from there, she went on to complete a Queen’s University PhD at AFBI Hillsborough.

While writing up her research, Jessica began to realise she didn’t want to work in an office environment. She returned to work full-time on the farm three years ago.

System

Despite the desire to keep the system simple, Jessica said she does not intend going fully spring-calving, mainly because there isn’t the housing available to manage all cows calving down in one block.

She has compared the economics of both systems, with the outcome dependent on the grass growing year.

“In good years, spring-calving wins hands down. But one year makes a fool out of the other. I will stick to two batches now,” she said.

Cows on the Pollock farm are a three-way cross between Fleckvieh, Holstein and Norwegian Red, producing an average of 7,300l from 1.85t of concentrate, at 4.1% butterfat and 3.38% protein.

On Tuesday, the spring-calving herd was still at grass and doing little damage to paddocks. The land is free-draining, with significant investment made in grazing infrastructure. Over 700m of new laneways have been installed in the last four years, with plans to add another 300m this winter.

Despite the Fleckvieh cows being “heavier than we thought they would be”, Jessica argued that it does mean higher cull values at slaughter and ultimately it is good infrastructure that is key to grazing at the shoulders of the season.

Grass

There is lots of grass still on farm. However, late slurry applications ahead of the 15 October ban has limited the number of fields actually available to the cows.

“There is another week of grazing left. We do winter graze with sheep. They thicken the sward and keep the weeds down,” said Jessica.

She isn’t convinced about the role for clover in grazing swards and that has not been helped by poor performance of the plant in the first half of 2024. Urea is mostly used as a source of nitrogen for grazing swards, with some protected urea also used.

Investment

Previous uncertainty around a successor in the farm business meant Howard Pollock decided to invest in renewables rather than sheds, etc, with solar panels and a water turbine installed. The parlour was upgraded in 2017. However, it was the first significant on-farm investment done in 10 years.

Jessica told UGS members she intends to upgrade youngstock housing and it is among “a long list of things I want to do”. However, she won’t be expanding cow numbers.

“With any more cows you would end up managing people rather than the cows. Cows are easier to manage than people,” she said.