Phase two participants in Dairylink Ireland have completed another year working with programme adviser Aidan Cushnahan. The farms span a range of dairying systems, geographic locations, soil types and climatic conditions.

The overall aim of the programme is to optimise the use of on-farm resources to maximise profits from milk production. Here are some key lessons from the past 12 months of Dairylink:

Grass ups and downs

The 2020 grazing season varied widely depending where you were farming. Grass growth figures for the Dairylink group show that Richard Marshall in Co Tyrone and John Oliver in Co Derry had above average growth rates in May and June. However, they both slipped below average during August when weather deteriorated, plus ground conditions also got tricky at that time.

The opposite was seen on Stephen and Hazel Wallace’s farm in Co Down, and with Frank Goodman in Co Monaghan. Dry conditions in the early summer held back grass growth significantly, but growth rates recovered as rain arrived from July onwards.

Gaining from extra milk

Good herd fertility and effective feed planning are essential for getting an adequate milk yield response from feeding extra concentrates. James Martin in Co Armagh successfully chased these “marginal litres” in his high-output Holstein herd this year.

His feed rate of 0.39kg/l is not as good as the Northern Ireland average of 0.33kg/l. However, his margin over concentrate benchmark, which is effectively milk cheque minus meal bill, stood at £1,616/cow, compared to the Northern Ireland average of £1,540/cow.

This indicates that the cost of feeding extra meal was more than covered by the resultant milk output.

Healthy calves grow better

Richard Marshall is well on top of calf health and this is paying dividends in terms of calf growth rates. Regular weighing has shown that his calves were hitting target weights up to weaning and beyond this autumn. Average growth rates across all groups in the calf shed exceeded 0.75kg/day.

During a virtual farm tour in November, Richard demonstrated best practice in calf rearing. This included feeding adequate colostrum quickly, keeping disease burdens low in the calf shed and having a vaccination plan.

Importance of planning

John Oliver took a big jump this year by deciding to gradually switch from autumn to spring calving. He did a lot of planning around the move, including a cashflow budget. This was important because milk sales were down when he milked stale cows for longer and gave most cows a longer dry period.

It also required careful planning around dry cow feeding and regular condition scoring, to make sure cows did not become overfat during the four-month dry period. He is now planning to delay breeding again this winter to take another step towards a spring calving block.

Grazing infrastructure pays

Investments made on David Brady’s farm in Co Cavan during phase one of Dairylink are continuing to pay off. When we caught up with him again in September, there had been plenty of rain, but his cows were grazing paddocks that were once considered the wettest part of the farm. The ground had been gravel mole ploughed and these are now his go-to paddocks in a wet period.

Socially distanced discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that the Dairylink group could not meet up as much as we would have liked this year. However, regular meetings via conference call, as well as in a WhatsApp group chat, meant there was still plenty of discussion between the six farmers. In a year where everyone had to keep apart, staying in touch seemed more important than ever.

Investment never stops

Another phase one Dairylink participant was re-visited in September. Charles Clarke is making plans to build a new 20-unit milking parlour and collecting yard, with extra slurry storage and cow cubicles too. It takes 19 rows to milk the 148-cow herd in the current eight-a-side parlour. The new parlour will be a significant labour-saving investment when it is completed.

Selective dry cow therapy

Good records of all mastitis cases in his herd, coupled with regular milk recording, allow Frank Goodman to use selective dry cow therapy on his farm in Co Monaghan. He forecasts that over 70% of the cows in his spring-calving herd will only require a teat sealer at drying off this winter.

Cows in the Goodman herd do not receive antibiotic tubes at drying off if they have a somatic cell count under 150,000 cells/ml, or if they had only one minor case of mastitis during the lactation.

Grass measuring rewards

James King got into the swing of grass measuring on his farm in Co Antrim this year. His weekly grazing platform walk and resultant grass cover figures proved invaluable in managing grass throughout the year.

The figures gave him confidence to make bales when a surplus emerged and to slow down the grazing round when supply was tight. James notes that he grew more better-quality grass in 2020. Overall, grass yields stood at 11.8t DM/ha on the King farm this year, the second highest across the Dairylink group.

Fodder issues rectified

As mentioned earlier, the dry spell in early summer raised significant issues with grass growth in the east of the country. First- and second-cut silage yields were worryingly low on Stephen and Hazel Wallace’s farm in Co Down.

A fodder budget in July identified a potential winter feed shortfall of 125t, which allowed time to rectify the issue. Extra fodder was purchased, a larger area was mowed for third-cut and Stephen used his weekly grass measuring figures to bale as much surplus grass as possible. It meant the farm is now projected to carry a slight surplus of around 60t of silage this winter.