LOOK BACK AT BEST YEAR SINCE 2000!

• It makes us feel good to look back, particularly in a good year. And, although it is said that we learn more about ourselves when we lose or don’t do well, we can still learn from a good year because it was mainly driven by milk price. Let’s look at the figures from a relatively small number of farmers. They can be used to set your standards when planning for this year and next year.
  • Milk price was 55.8c/L, increased by 10c/L due in greater part, to better markets. Percentage fat (F) increased by 0.07 while percentage protein (P) increased by 0.08. The highest milk price achieved was 62c/L while the lowest was 51.8c/L. On the average yield of a 5,500-litre cow, that was €440/cow.
  • The kilogrammes of milk solids (MS) produced increased by 10kg to 480kg/cow, driven by 15% increase in meal feeding to 2.36kg MS (target is 1kg or less).
  • Cows produced 89% of their body weight (target is 100%+) – up from 86%.
  • Costs are a major issue ranging from 30c/L to 44c/L and farmers are struggling to reduce them.
    • Meal is a huge attitudinal issue; I publish Table 1 (see page 52) to give a planning guide for targets. But the stocking rate (SR) on milking platform (MP) is the issue and should be targeted at 2.8-2.9 cows per hectare (ha) so that cows realise their full potential from grass.
    • Contractor costs have risen substantially in the last two to three years and farmers need to derive efficiencies on their own farms to mitigate same.
  • Vet and animal health costs have also risen a lot – be very conscious of preventative care to reduce these.
  • The total and comparative costs of producing one kilogramme of MS increased from €4.53 and €3.30 to €4.67 and €3.34, respectively. This represents a relatively small increase of 3.1% and 3%, respectively. This suggests that farmers made a big effort to control costs in 2024 – partially due to milk price predictions being low early in the year.
  • Comparative profit per kilogramme of MS increased from €2.54 to €3.39 – an increase of 33.5%.
  • Somatic cell count (SCC) has remained the same but cow cull rate has increased from 21% to 30%. TB has been a big factor as well as farmers reducing cow numbers.
  • Grass utilised decreased by 13% from 9.9 to 8.75 tonnes (t) DM/ha. This was due mainly to poor growth and lower SRs.
  • Interesting, that this group of farmers increased EBI and cow fertility by over €23 and €22, respectively, to €240 and €119 each.
  • Profit/ha is up over 50% to approximately €2,000/ha – remember these are some of the better farmers around.
• A lot of good messages and targets! Address costs, address milk price by increasing % F and P, and cow culling rate must be managed down to 13-14% for a crossbred herd, and 16-17% for a black and white herd, and stocking rate must decrease on milking platforms.
• Compare your costs with your peer and plan to reduce them.

MAKE USE OF PASTUREBASE AND GRASS UTILISED DATA

• Grass grown in 2025 was down one by one tonne DM/ha. Farms on wettish soils were less affected. Let us examine PastureBase data under various headings.
• Number of grazings: The target is 10 and my groups are averaging 7.2 with the best being 9.7.
  • As each grazing gives an extra 1.3t of grass, it is vital to get as near as possible to 10.
  • There are two keys to achieving this; start the second grazing as near to April 1 as possible and don’t start the last grazing until October 8-12. Then stick to a 19-21-day rotation for the main growing season,
• Number of silage cuts: This increased in 2025 to 0.75. Because silage made as bales is very expensive, farmers must plan this and take out a number of paddocks for a main cut from May to June, working on a grazing area per cow of 4-4.5ha, cutting the minimum as bales.
• Tonnes DM/ha: The target is 13-16. The highest I have seen last year is 15.9t. It is crucial to achieve target pre-grazing covers, not forgetting soil fertility etc,
  • Pre-grazing covers per hectare during the year:
    • Spring: 1,460kg DM.
    • Summer: 1,600kg DM.
    • Autumn: 1,800kg DM.
• Winter growth is an interesting piece of information to have but unfortunately too many farmers do not have an end-of-year or an end-of-January measurement to establish that information – it has ranged from 86-375kg DM growth over last winter.

This information can help you decide, based on several years’ data, your closing and opening cover targets.

Overall stocking rate on MP: With this you have the SRs for spring, summer and autumn from which you can easily see whether you are overstocked, as many are, comparing growth rates with demand during each period.

• Opening and closing covers: The average opening cover in 2024 was 900kg DM, pretty close to recommended levels. The closing cover for autumn 2024 was 783kg DM. With winter growth of 250kg DM this year, as per last, that means we should have an opening cover in 2025 of 1,033kg DM/ha on these farms.
• Dates of ‘let-out’ and housing: These tell us the length of the grazing season in days – very useful in telling society the length of time your cows spend at grass by comparison with European cows.
• Grass utilised per hectare: I have a little programme that calculates this. Teagasc has added this to one of its dairy profit monitor reports. The detail it gives my clients is very useful:
  • Grass utilised is one of the KPIs of dairy farming, and from this report you will have the grass utilised on the WHOLE farm (rented and out-farms).
  • You can compare the quantity utilised each year – each additional tonne adds €180+ to farm profit/ha.
  • The target percentage of homegrown grass in a cow’s diet is 90%; this is when optimum profit is generated.
    • A good question related to this is: “What percentage of the farmer’s income comes from photosynthesis?” Ideally, 90%!
  • The grazing season length for the herd is 270 days, which is a function of:
    • Let-out date by day and by night.
    • Housing date by day and by night.
    • The calving pattern of the herd – this has a big influence on days at grass because cows that have not calved will not be let out to eat valuable spring grass.
  • Feed conversion efficiency: It is measured as the kilogramme of MS produced per tonne DM available on farm. The target is 90+ kg MS per tonne of DM. I place great emphasis on this as it tells me, if it is low relative to target, that:
    • Too much meal was fed when grass would have sustained the yield.
    • Excessive meal was fed when the response to meal feeding was low.
    • Meal quality may have been poor.
    • The cows’ genetics wasn’t good enough to deliver a good yield of milk solids.
    • Grass was in short supply; might be due to overstocking or a growth issue.
    • Grass was stemmy – poor feeding value.
    • It could be due to poor BCS, particularly in spring.
    • The age (lactations) of herd will influence it also; for instance, first lactation cows will only yield 83.3% of third-lactation cows.
• Dairy farmers should make 2025 the year of maximising grass in the cow’s diet.
• The targets set in this section will have relevance in achieving this goal.

SPRING GRAZING PLANNING:

• The spring rotation plan is vital and should be followed to the letter of the law.
  • Any farmer not using this is not serious about grazing cows in spring to make €2.80/cow/day profit.
  • Feeding more meal and/or silage will see us revert to where we were 20 years ago.
• Can I guarantee you that if you let out your cows to grass on February 10 that you will have enough grass until early April and not run short?
  • Yes, I can! How?
  • The spring rotation planner does all that for you.
  • Get it from your adviser (PastureBase).
• This planner will show you the area of ground you allocate to your cows each day from let out until the second rotation starts.
  • You must never give more than the specified area of ground; otherwise, you will finish the first rotation too soon. If you do not have enough grass on that area, you must feed meal and/or silage. This will be indicated by the allocated area being ‘skinned’ and the cows looking empty and hungry.
• You must have 30% of the available grazing area grazed by March 1 and 60% by March 17. These dates are 14-20 days later on wettish farms.
• This is because you won’t have enough grass on the second rotation in early April, because for every 1% you are below these targets you will have 14kg DM/ha less grass in April.
  • You need 50 to 60 days from grazing the first paddocks in February to the next time they are grazed in April.
  • The summary is:
    • Graze 30% in February; these paddocks should be dry, closer to the yard, with multiple access points, sheltered, with covers 800-1,000kg DM/ha, recently reseeded, and the quickest growing. If silage is being cut from milking platform due to low stocking rate, then these paddocks/fields should be grazed during this period so that they can be grazed again in early-April.
    • Graze 30% from March 1-17; with heavier covers, greater than 1,200kg DM/ha, further from the yard with many access entrances and pretty dry.
    • Graze the last 40% by April 5; these paddocks will have been grazed last in autumn, have poorer grazing infrastructures, old grass types, and slower growing.
• Good management practices are required to graze land in February:
  • On-off: three hours out grazing is an essential practice. This prevents poaching damage and is most neglected in Ireland.
  • Because of the amount of grass on farms this year, it is certain that farmers must have cows out full-time from very early February – my definition of full-time is two to three hours after both morning and evening milking.
  • Do the morning milking at 7am and the evening milking at 3pm or 4pm bringing the cows back in to very, very little silage from 6pm to 7pm.
  • To graze the 30-35% target, start grazing light covers and then the heavy covers around February 20-25 when a lot of cows are calved, and they have a much-improved appetite.
  • As gut fill is a major cause of poor grazing activity, minimum silage should be fed. In fact, unless you are very short of grass, no silage should be fed – increase meal levels.
• The first rotation should end as near as possible to April 1 because:
  • Moorepark has said that farmers whose first rotation ends around that time grow most grass.
  • It is partly explained by the fact that they also say that each extra grazing rotation results in 1,300kg DM/ha being grown.
• If, because of a wet spell, you fall behind on the area being grazed, you must catch-up by grazing larger areas per day when the weather dries up. Otherwise, you will miss the 30% and 60% targets.
• Because you know, for certain, the area being allocated each day, set up the stakes for seven to 10 days in advance to save labour.
  • Spread the advised N and/or slurry at the end of January/early February and then put up several days with temporary paddocks,
• Associated with this practice is to graze the silage ground twice, if any on milking platform. It will save on meals in early April and give higher yield, higher percentage of F and P and improved body condition score (BCS).

STEPS TO REDUCE NITROGEN

• With N being so expensive, and environmental pressures being so heavy, we need to adopt practices that help us reduce the amount of N (bag) we use. The following suggestions should be practiced:
  • Follow the Teagasc N fertiliser and slurry application plan for the end of January/February (three weeks later for wettish farm).
    • Cattle slurry: Spread 2,000 gallons/acre on 40% of the farm with covers less than 1,000kg DM/ha.
    • Spread no N on the first 15% of the MP to be grazed.
    • Spread 23 units protected urea/acre on the next 15% of the farm to be grazed.
    • Spread 23 units N/acre on next 30% of MP to be grazed.
  • Apply bag N four to six weeks after the first application – the higher the stocking SR, the shorter the period.
  • Replace some of the bag N with slurry for first-cut silage.
  • Make as much first-cut silage as possible as this saves on N – farmers very remiss on this advice.
  • Diluting slurry with soiled water will increase the efficiency of utilisation of N in the slurry.
  • Avoid making a second cut of silage if possible – hence the need to do winter feed budgets early.
  • Plan to build autumn grass cover by extending the rotation from mid-July to late-July.
  • Keep records of quantities and dates of application N on PastureBase – then study the outcomes.
  • White clover has the potential to halve the amount of bag N used – so plan to sow from April to May. But use N on clover swards in February as per normal treatment.
• Remember the following facts (research) on N-use efficiency on grassland. It is:
  • 63% when the pH, the phosphate (P) and potash (K) are optimum.
  • 54% when P is deficient.
  • 57% when K is deficient.
  • 53% when P and K are deficient.
  • 35% when P, K and lime are deficient.
• I hope you can deduce from this that the element having the greatest effect is lime – a 28% reduction in the efficiency of N.
  • All soils have background N (averaging 140 kg/ha) and it won’t be released to its maximum without lime.
  • The message is clear for 2025 – bring ALL fields up to pH 6.5. No excuses about weather, cost, grass cover, silage – plan to make it happen.
  • P and K must be applied based on soil results, now.
• With soil temperatures on January 12 at 7.5 degrees, farmers should be ready at the earliest opportunity to spread slurry and protected urea.
  • Have slurry tanks agitated (with care), use the umbilical system where possible – as cheap as vacuum tanker spreading,
  • Have the required amount of N and 10:10:20 in the yard, obeying appropriate spreading date regulations.

MEAL FEEDING LEVELS ARE OUT OF CONTROL

• Farmers must take active actions to reduce meal feeding from an average of 1,300+ kg/cow/year.
  • The advice is to feed 1kg meal per kg MS, or 0.1kg per L produced.
• Table 1 outlines various levels of meal that can be fed each month depending on your annual meal feeding goal.
  • Nobody, but nobody, stocked at advised SRs on the MP should need to feed more than 800kg meal/cow.
• Why are farmers feeding so much/too much meal annually?
  The usual excuses are:
  • Not enough grass in spring and autumn (controllable).
  • Grass not good enough in summer (controllable).
  • Cows won’t go in calf in May-June (myth).
  • Milk price is great (no logic!).
  • It helps cashflow, particularly, in spring and late autumn (myth).

Table 1: Suggested meal feeding and % protein levels per month to achieve various annual meal feeding targets. Source: Discussion groups.

• Surprising honest reasons arose:
  • Feeder calibration was 20-30% incorrect (controllable).
  • Staff took it on themselves to ‘feed whatever they wished’ (become the boss).
  • Feeders need adjusting for various types of feed (controllable).
  • ‘Look, I never really planned the amounts’ (controllable).
  • Quantity being fed was never adjusted for availability of grass (controllable).
  • Too slow to react when grass became plentiful (controllable).
• Be aware that for every €1 spent on meal the actual cost is €1.40 and the return of meal being fed above recommended is 3-4%. Pathetic waste of money.

SHORT NOTES

• Giving colostrum early is the most important way to prevent calf rearing problems associated with scours and pneumonia and follow the 1, 2, 3 rule.
  • Use colostrum from the first milking for the first calf feed.
  • Give colostrum within two hours from the calf’s birth.
  • Give at least 3L.
  • Give another 2L within the next six hours.
  • A stomach tube (done correctly) alleviates some of the feeding problems. Most farmers now use it as a time saver and it guarantees consumption of 2-3L in that first feed.
  • To check the quality of the colostrum, use a refractometer – many farmers now do!
• Because February is a crucial month to set things up for the year, discussion groups should meet on farm for a quick technical meeting to check what is happening on each other’s farms so as not to make mistakes that are preventable.
  • Stay in touch by using WhatsApp or a Zoom chat to keep advisors well informed.
• Consider using contractors more in 2025 for:
  • Dehorning calves.
  • Feeding out silage and cleaning yards twice per week.
  • Spreading fertilisers in bulk and slurry with the umbilical system (the only way to do it!).
  • Contract rearing of calves and heifers.
  • Contract labour for all or some farm chores (large units).
  • All reseeding work.
  • All lameness preventative care.
  • All capital investment work. Farmers must refrain from this as it is putting huge strain on the labour to run the farm and efficiencies suffer.
• Milk recording is almost a mandatory requirement now because of mastitis treatment benefits and the data to allow you select out the best cows.
• As the bulling heifer weight targets of most heifers on May 1 must be 320+ kg and they are likely to put on 0.8kg/head/day between February 1 and then, they now should weigh at least 250kg.
  • For every kg they are less than that, they must be fed 4-5kg meal. If they are 30kg below target, they must get 120-150kg meal (16-18% P) between now and May 1 or 1.5kg/head/day over whole period or twice that over half the time.
• Cow care - all staff must be aware of its importance.
  • Prevent lameness, mastitis, metritis, ketosis, milk fever, grass tetany, IBR, BVD, being too thin or over-fat.
  • Use your vet wisely to see you through these preventative practices.
  • Associated with this is the need to do once-a-day milking in February to free up time – this is a practice that has economic as well as labour-saving benefits.
• Let cows and R2s out to grass at the earliest opportunity.

Quote for the month

“High achievement always take place in the framework of high expectations" – Charles Ketterin