This expansion has necessitated upgrading and expansion of buildings and the purchase of more milk quota.
For its autumn trip of 1999 the North Down Grassland Management Team went on a cross border venture to the farms of Eric Wilson who farms near Castlederg in County Tyrone and to Malcolm Cooper who farms near Castlefin in County Donegal.
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Eric Wilson farms 81 acres (68 owned and 13 leased) at Fyfin near Castlederg in County Tyrone. The farm has seen a lot of development over the past few years with cow number having expanded from 25 to 67.
This expansion has necessitated upgrading and expansion of buildings and the purchase of more milk quota. |
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Among the investments made in the last two years is a state-of-the-art 10:10 (doubled up) Boumatic Milking Parlour needed to cope with the dramatic increase in cow numbers. |
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All silage is made in big bales. This has several advantages. At a time where capital investment is required elsewhere on the farm this avoids the need to build an expensive silo. Small amounts of silage are cut as grass growth exceeds demand. This means that all silage is very good quality. With no large areas cut at any one time shortages of grass available for grazing are unlikely and grass quality is increased.
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| Extended grazing is practiced with some lactating cows out at grass until Christmas. Weather conditions dictate grazing policy and on/off grazing tends to be practiced as early as January. |  |
| Herd performance is very good. However the last 12 months have seen a down turn in milk from forage per cow due to the very poor weather experienced in the west. What is most remarkable about the farm is the financial performance. Total costs stand at only 9.2 pence per litre. Eric aims to further improve the farm business efficiency to achieve a net margin of 12 ppl and to increase his yield from forage to 4,200. |
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Further information on Eric Wilson can be found on the Greenmount Website at:
http://www.greenmount.ac.uk/fdd/ewilson.htm
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Malcolm Cooper farms at The Steps, Castlefinn in County Donegal. The herd is entirely spring calving and starts on the 1st February with the vast majority of cows calved by the end of April. All non dairy heifer calves are sold. When asked why he was spring calving he said that it eased management as cows could be fed flat rate. This eases management Malcolm told the group that simplicity of system was very important to him. A lot of farmers in the South are going out of winter milk as the creameries are no longer payer adequate winter bonuses. The reason the creameries are not paying good bonuses any longer is that they can get winter milk cheaply from the north. Dairy farmers in the North don't command the same level of winter bonuses as their southern colleagues. |
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| Farm Size | 60 Ha (150 acres) |
| Adjusted | 52 Ha (130 acres) |
| Soil Type | Shallow and dry, subject to drought |
| Stock No's | Cows - 110 In calf heifers - 31 Calves - 26 Others - 8 |
| Stocking Rate | 2.9 LU/Ha. |
| Nitrogen | 367 kg/ha |
| Quota Size | 583,000 litres |
| Yield per cow | 5,300 litres |
| Fat | 3.93% |
| Protein | 3.46% |
| Meal Per Cow | 1998 - 0.5t @ £94/Ton 1999 - 1.1t @ £105/Ton (Due to shortage of silage) |
| Milk Price | 1998 - 22.5 ppl 1999 - 22.7 ppl |
| Total Common Costs | 9.96 pence per litre |
| Extended grazing has been practiced since 1991. The last grazing round starts around the first week in October, the cows come in at night around November 1st and full time December 1st. Each block gets slurry plus 50 kg per Ha of Urea as it is closed. 125 kg of Urea is spread at the earliest opportunity in January, and the aim is to start grazing a few hours by day about the 25th February. The usual winter techniques are used. We would expect to be out full time by March 21st and to have the breeding heifers out by April 1st. |  |
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Malcolm's aim is to breed medium sized fertile cows which will produce maximum protein off grass. Bull type: medium sized, with high protein kg and %. Mainly Pigeonwood, Aldo, Curious, and recently Magley and Spektrum. Malcolm is aware that Moorepark have found difficulties with high index Holsteins within a spring calving system and he is investigating other breeds such as Swedish Red for fertility and health. He is also considering New Zealand Holstein-Friesian |
| All cows are tailpainted on April 7th and heats recorded. On May 1st any not seen are examined by the vet. All cows served as they come on heat. Almost all served friesian except a few very poor ones which get served with Belgian Blue. Test bulls are used on recently calved cows (reduces semen costs). From week 5 to week 10 all cows are served Belgain Blue. Weel 10 to 13 Angus is used. Week 13 to 15 only good young cows are served. |  |
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On May 1st the Heifers are tail painted and served as seen (easy calving Friesian). On day 5 the rest get one injection of estrumate and served on heat. Day 12 an A.A. bull goes in. This year we used two injections of estrumate with fixed time AI with very poor results. Almost all friesian cows are born within four week from the most fertile cows. this also eases management of the calves throughout the year. |
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