The Cannons - Dairy Farm

My name is Jason Rankin and I would like to extend to you a very warm "virtual" welcome to our farm which I farm in partnership with my father. The farm is situated near the top of the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. Being surrounded by water on three sides (to the north Belfast Lough, to the west Strangford Lough and to the east the Irish Sea) the farm has very temperate climate moderated by the gulf stream. Being about as far east as you can get on the Island of Ireland it is also relatively dry with an annual rainfall of only 32 inches (low for Ireland).

Farm Mission Objective: "To maximise profit and lifestyle while maintaining high standards of dairy hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection."

We believe the best way to achieve the above objective is to maximise the use of grazed grass. They say that from space there are two areas on earth that stand out as being green: Ireland and New Zealand. Grass is one of the richest resources of this Island and we believe that its use should be maximised, especially grazed grass. The farm is ideally suited for grazing. Despite a Northerly latitude (52 degrees North) the winters are mild and 24 hour frosts & lying snow are rare (about once or twice a year). Grazed grass is by far the cheapest feed available to us. High dry matter grass silage costs around three times the price of grazed grass. In addition to this high quality spring grass can support over twice the amount of milk that even the best silage can maintain thus saving on concentrate costs which are about 4 to 5 times the price of grazed grass. In addition to this there are additional fixed costs associated with silage and housing. These include additional slurry costs, bedding, labour, machinery, electric and veterinary costs.

This page has recently been updated as well as some of the grazing sub-pages. If you come across any broken links then please let me know.

Below are listed the various aspects of farm policy and management that I currently have on this web site. Also listed are details of our farming environment. More will be added!

• Grazing Management - We view the good management of grazed grass as being crucial to keeping costs down and making a profit in the current depressed economic climate.
• Grass Budgeting - The tools we use to manage our grass.
• Calculate your own ideal grass cover- This page features an interactive program for calculating the ideal cover on your own farm.
• Extended Grazing Performance Statistics - I have received a lot of queries about cow performance at turn out. This research data from the Agricultural Research Institute for Northern Ireland at Hillsborough details their findings on cow performance on extended grazing.
• Code of Conduct for Dairy Farms(Located on the Greenmount website) - We operate under this code of practice which is concerned with animal welfare and dairy hygiene.
• North Down Grassland Management Team - I am a member of this group of local farmers. Formed by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland to help increase yield from forage

  • Patrick Lennon - In February the group went to see the farm of Group Member Patrick Lennon who is operating a NZ Style spring calving system.

  • Special Grazing Workshop 1997 - Details of a special grazing workshop with Senior New Zealand Consultant John Simmons, organised by the Ulster Grassland Society & DANI [This page is on a separate site]
  • September Meeting 1997- At this meeting dry cow management was discussed.

  • Trip to West Meath 1997 - In November the group went to see extended grazing in operation on the farms of Michael Murphy & Kevin Cummins.
    January Meeting 1998 - At this meeting we went to see Carrowreagh Farm. Managed by group member Ivor Lowry. This is one of the largest dairy herds in Northern Ireland.

  • February Meeting 1998 - Visit to the farm of group member Rodney Gray. To see his extended grazing in operation.

  • March Meeting 1998 - Visit to Greenmount College to see the High Forage Herd and to use the computer suite to construct grass budgets.

  • 2nd March Meeting 1998 - Joint meeting with Ardglass grazing group on the farm of Timothy Morrow. Who had all his stock at grass.

  • May Meeting 1998 - Visit to the farm of group member Patrick Lennon. Including a workshop by Leonie Foster.

  • August Meeting 1998 - Visit to the farm of group member Brian McCracken. Who has been able to make substantial savings in fertiliser this year.

  • September Meeting 1998 - Visit to the farm of group member Jay Warden.

  • March Meeting 1999- Special Feature on calf rearing on the farm of Timothy Morrow.
  • Autumn Trip 99- Visit to two farms in Tyrone and Donegal
• New Dairy Unit - In 1997 work was completed on our new dairy unit.
  • New milking parlour This is a 14 / 28 swingover 50 degree herringbone with auto-id, auto feeding and auto milk metering. The first automated herringbone of its type in Europe.
  • Cubicle Shed - New 100 cow cubicle house (known as a Free Stall Barn to Americans). This page details its layout.
  • New dairy & plant room
  • Slatted & covered loafing / collection area for cattle.
• Farm History- This page give a brief description of the history of the farm and the cannons which give it its name.
• Climate - Compared to some of the farms I have had contact with over the net we have a very temperate climate. Further details on temperature and rainfall means can be found here.
• Soil Profile - Our farm is very rocky. Here are details of two soil profiles that were dug on the farm.
• Sward Analysis - This is a compositional analysis of the contents of our grassland swards. It also contains details of our reseeding policy.
• Milk Quotas - We are limited in our production by European Milk Quotas. I have received many questions from Non-Europeans as to how these work. This page is an attempt to answer these questions.

I hope to further develop this page in the future with more detail. Any comments (including criticism) will be more than welcome you can e-mail me at jason@loughries.demon.co.uk. If this is your first visit to my page then please, please do fill in the guest book below.

Links

I have recently set up a separate site full of agricultural links. This is called AgriLaunch. If any one knows of any agriculture related web pages that AgriLaunch could link to then please send me the URL and details of the page to jason@agrilaunch.com. If you wish to link to this page from your own page please feel free to do so. I would appreciate it if you let me know that you have done so..

Greenmount College - This is the web page of the local agricultural college.
Northern Ireland Agriculture On-line - The aim of this site which I run with Michael McAree of Thompsons is to provide a home base for the Northern Ireland Agri-Food Industry.
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland
United Dairy Farmers - The Dairy co-operative to whom we sell our milk
Farm.ie
Agrinet Ireland
John Thompson & Sons - Our meal compounders.
Richardsons Fertilisers - Our fertilizer suppliers.
Fullwood - Our parlour suppliers
Agrisoft - The source of our dairy herd management software
Royal Ulster Agricultural Society - Northern Irelands main agricultural show.
Livestock & Meat Commission for Northern Ireland

Non Agricultural Links

H.H. McNeilly Ltd - In addition to muck and manure my family is also in the retail jewellery business. We have shop in Belfast were we sell fine jewellery and silverware.

Other Dairy Farms

Brian McCracken - Web page based on a talk given to the EDF Congress in Belfast
Brian Hamilton's Page - My New Zealand cousin farms 150 cows near Waiuku.
Farms around the World
Owenlea Holsteins

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Page last updated on 14th February 2000