The interest in smaller rotaries is on the rise, as the labour situation on farms worsens, and to combat this farmers are looking to improve on what they have already.
This is what Paul Geaney, sales manager for Waikato, told Agriland at the National Ploughing Championships (NPC) in Ratheniska, Co. Laois last week.
Speaking to Agriland, Geaney said: “It’s been a great year for milk prices, and we have seen at here [at the NPC] and we’ve had a number of people coming in asking us about price of stuff and if there’s big changes.
“The big thing we have noticed over the few days [is] people coming into us enquiring about smaller rotaries. There’s been a massive increase in interest around them.”
Geaney believes that labour has a large part to play in this trend.
“The biggest issue out there at the moment is getting labour on farms,” he continued.
“At the minute, many are weighing up what to do with the price of everything gone up, but with the milk prices being positive, in the next year or so we feel, sales will improve.
“There’s a shortage of labour out there, especially skilled labour and it’s becoming a massive issue.
“This has led to an even greater uptake in technology. Over the few days at the NPC, there’s been farmers looking for prices on upgrades such as milk meters, herd management systems, feed-to-yield.
“Farmers want to know what they’re cows are doing when they off-farm themselves.
“Before, the only customers we would have seen for the larger projects would have been commercial farms with two or three herds.
“But at the NPC we have seen an uptake in a lot of family farms coming in, with herds in size of 150 cows, where they are a bit tired of milking cows and can’t get help and just want a bit of a break from it.
“The smaller rotaries are definitely growing in interest. The walking is a big thing for farmers, up and down a pit and cows standing around a yard for too long.
“Most will price the highest-spec rotary, but depending on their budget, it might not suit and as a result will start basic and gradually add on to it in the future.
“In terms of sizes of rotaries 40-50 bail ones would be the most common in Ireland.
“For a herd of 150 cows say, a 34-36 bail rotary would be the most common and back to a 30-bail, which we are seeing a lot of moving.
“At the minute, with TAMS [Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme] running out, farmers are trying to maximise what they have, because the last few years, the availability of these grants has been huge and brilliant.
“But now they are looking down the line in five years’ time what will future potential grants entail and if they will consist of such as upgrades in milking technology for example.
“Expansion seems to have levelled and farmers are now looking more towards how they can make their lives easier.”