Farming a few miles outside of Delvin in Co. Westmeath, new entrants to dairy Fintan Cox alongside his father Tom, milk a herd of 52 cows.
The pair, prior to converting to dairy, ran a suckler-to-beef finishing system but in recent years became disheartened with beef prices and the returns they were making from their efforts so they eventually came to the decision to make the change.
Fintan, who works full-time off farm as well, had thought about the move to dairy for a few years and plans had been put in motion to actually make the switch to robotic-milking initially.
However, a change of heart led the the father-and-son team to go with a parlour.
Speaking to Agriland about the move to dairy, Fintan said: “My father and I knew nothing other than sucklers and bringing their progeny and some bought in, whether it be bulls and heifers mainly and in latter years steers to beef.
“But, beef prices were just not good enough to keep going, especially to support two incomes. We had the land around the main yard to make the move and It had been on my mind to take the gamble and go for it.
“I have a young family and they came hugely into my thinking of supporting them. Both my father and I still have a grá for sucklers and always will but we couldn’t justify keep doing what we were doing if we wanted to survive.”
‘Change of heart’
As mentioned, initially the plan was to make the move to robotic-milking with an extension to the existing shed on the farm to incorporate the robots which also saw room left to put in cubicles, having only had slatted housing on the farm up to the point of making the switch to dairy.
Speaking about the change of heart, Fintan said: “We had pretty much made the decision to go with robots.
“I had seen them in action on other farms and we both liked the idea of them and with me working off-farm full time and my father being around the farm during the day, it would have been a good move.
“It was very much last minute that we had a change of heart and went with a parlour. It was a really tough decision, once which really had me mithered in terms of what to do.
“But what was catching us with the robots was we would need to have put in an underpass and there were issues with doing that, getting planning and then money was also a stumbling block.
“For me as well, I’m a cow man, I like knowing my cows and coming from the sucklers where you knew each and every cow, I wanted to know each and every dairy cow, and I felt that was only going to be the case by seeing them in the parlour twice a day.
“I’m only milking since spring but I’d know most of the cows looking at their elders. I’m not knocking robots at all, it just didn’t suit us in our eyes at the time.”
Going greenfield
With the Cox’s opting to go with a parlour, the question was asked about whether to put the parlour in the existing slatted shed on the farm.
The shed consisted of 10 bays, five each side split by a centre passageway that had a crush and holding area at the back of one side of the shed.
Here was where the parlour could have and nearly initially was installed, with up to a 16-unit parlour possibly being able to be fit here.
However, it would have meant loosing one side of the slatted shed completely including the tank and also it would have been a tight squeeze anyway fitting a parlour in.
So, after getting in touch with Aidan Kelly of Agri Design and Planning Services (ADPS), who designed and carried out the planning for the new dairy unit, he advised Fintan to go greenfield and leave the existing shed as be and have it that you can convert it into more cubicles.
This was what Fintan went with, deciding on building the parlour just to the side of the existing slatted shed and newly extended cubicle shed.
A full layout of the new dairy unit can be found (below).
The new dairy unit
The new dairy unit, as can be seen from the layout (above), consists of a 12-unit parlour one side, with handling facilities on the opposite side, with a collecting yard at the rear of the build and a bulk tank, storage room and office at the front of the build.
Looking at the hub of the build, the parlour, Fintan and Tom decided on a 12-unit swing-over arm Dairymaster parlour, with room left to increase it to 20 units in the future.
Fintan went with Switflo bailing, citing a young herd, the key to this decision.
He said: “The Swiftflo bailing is a great job, especially for me, starting with a lot of first and second calvers.
“It gives you great control of the cows in the parlour and prevents cows from being giddy really and kicking off clusters.
“It has been working really well and I couldn’t be without it.
“The only thing is, and this is just for the first row or two of cows, is that you need to control the pace of the cows when they are coming in.
“You will have your dominant cows at the front of the parlour and they are mad to get in and get into the meal. So if you don’t control the cows coming in you, they can come in to quick and not in line up into each of the bails correctly and then your left in a situation where your trying to push cows back to get them into each bail.
“It’s not a major issue and it was only at the start really when I was getting used to the parlour I had this bother. Now when a row of cows are coming in, I stand in the middle of the parlour controlling the back gate where they come in, ensuring that they line up correctly and once you do that, which I always do, it’s never an issue.”
The parlour, which was sourced from Cookstown Dairy Services is equipped with automatic cluster removers, an auto-wash system, batch feeding and a variable speed and vacuum pump, auto entry and exit gates with milk being stored in a 8,500L bulk tank
Switflo Commanders were installed in each unit of the parlour from the outset and so if Fintan wishes he can add on features in time, such as auto ID and feed-to-yield at the flick of a switch.
Speaking about the parlour, Fintan said: “I’m very happy with it. A big thing going with Dairymaster was the back up of service. Having someone there at that end of the phone that you know will pick up and help you if your unsure about something or come out to you is vital.
“The guys in Cookstown Dairy Services have been great with me since starting up. It’s all knew to me, they came the first morning I milked to ensure everything went OK and have been great support since.
“It’s a joy to milk in. Cow flow is very good and cows have settled well into it. I’m milking 52 cows at the minute and it’s taking, including washing up, about an hour.
“At the start, it was taking about 90 minutes but now that both the cows and I are used to the run of it now, all is done in the guts of an hour.
“I’m working off farm, being able to get milking and washing done in that time gives allows me to keep up my job.
“The auto-wash saves about 20-25 minutes and that’s huge and I wouldn’t be without it.
“It’s a nice relaxing environment, when the machine is on and I’m milking, it’s very quiet and cows respond to that by not splashing me with their dung,” Fintan joked.
As mentioned, room, at the front of the parlour, is left to extend it by a further 8-units, which Fintan says the plan is to do but said that even at 100 cows, it’s just over eight rows of cows with the 12 units which he says wouldn’t be an issue doing either.
At the other side of the parlour, once cows finish milking they head down the exit race.
For now, Fintan manually drafts cow, with hopes to install a drafting system in the future. Once cows are drafted they can he held in a large holding pen.
Here, a 360⁰ gate was fitted to give either Fintan or the AI technician greater and easier control when leading cows down the crush.
The front of the crush is angled away from the wall, giving anyone handling an animal the option from working from both sides. A power outlet is located above the front of the crush, which Fintan had just recently made use of when clipping the tails of the cows.
As cows exit the parlour, they make their way down the exit race, where they can be diverted one of two ways. Either straight out or to the side where a footbath, is eventually going to reside where cows will walk through and back out to grass again.
The collecting yard Fintan says will be able to hold the 120 cows or so that he hopes to milk at its peak and if he does upgrade the parlour to 20 units, 40 cows will be able to go straight into the parlour.
There is a gradual rise from the slatted tank up to entrance of the parlour, which makes washing down the yard easy and quick and Fintan added that cows love running up into it.
Cost
The Cox’s were eligible for a 40% grant under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II), which meant they were eligible for a grant of €32,000.
This went some way of paying off the costs of the new dairy unit, which stands at €215,000 plus VAT.
Cost breakdown of the dairy unit:
- Site excavation, concrete, labour: €62,000;
- Shed: €30,000;
- Slats: €5,000;
- Gates and barriers: €6,000;
- Wiring: €13,000;
- 12-unit parlour, 8,500L bulk tank and plumbing: €100,000;
- Total: €216,000 plus VAT.
Mick and Joe Forde completed the excavation of the site and the concrete work.
Liam Smyth of Maintenance Matters stud the shed. Colm Walsh carried out the electrical work.
Speaking about the decision to make the move to dairy, Fintan said: “We are very happy. It’s been a good year to get into milk and although it’s a big investment, in our eyes, it’s a much more secure and stress free way of making a living.
“It used to be tough and disheartening, having a shed full of bulls or heifers that you had put a lot of time into breeding, rearing and finishing and then be told told, by the factory that ‘oh we can only take five’ out of a shed of 80 bulls.
“Now, anymore, milk goes into the tank, it’s taken away and you get your milk cheque at the end of the month and you can go about paying your bills knowing that there’s money coming in at the end of the month.
“It’s completely different lifestyle and work to what we had before.
“It’s very much Monday to Sunday, 7:00am to 7:00pm but I love it and the goal is to settle on a 100 cows, but first we’d like to go to 120 cows and then come back to 100, just as we are new entrants and we want to build up that bit extra cashflow as we have made a big investment but very much worthwhile investment.”
