Dairy Focus: Crossbred genetics delivering for Wexford farm

For this week’s Dairy Focus, Agriland made the trip to the Model County to meet with Eamonn and Deirdre Crean on their dairy farm near Davidstown.

Like many other farms in the southeast, it was, and still is, a mixed enterprise. Originally the farm would have had tillage, sugar beet and 14 cows, back when Eamonn’s father held the reins.

More of a focus was placed on the dairy enterprise after the purchase of 80 heifer calves in 1978 and the tillage enterprise was phased out. It has since been replaced with a successful fruit business.

Although Eamonn grew up on a dairy farm, his mother’s family had focussed on soft fruit since the 1940s.

Now, a herd of 125 Jersey-cross cows are currently being milked on the farm, which is down from over 180 cows last year.

Production from the herd is excellent, with 481kg of milk solids sold to the co-op in 2022, and an average milk price of 67.5c/L.

This is well ahead of the Tirlán average of 58.7c/L and ahead of the top 10% of herds in the co-op with 63.3c/L.

Jersey cross

A Holstein Friesian herd was originally on the farm, but 15 years ago Eamonn decided to the change the system and purchased in the best New Zealand Friesian genetics that he could find in the country.

The decision to cross-breed was a very simple one to make according to Eamonn, with ease of management being a major factor.

The fruit business takes up most of Eamonn’s time, so the herd is managed by two staff members. Because of this, it was important to him to have a herd that is easily managed and that people were willing to work with, Eamonn said.

Eamonn credits this decision to cross-breed to good advice from consultants that have worked with the farm over the last numbers of years.

Although many people moved away from crossbred cows, Eamonn decided to stick with them – which he believes has paid off.

He believes that they are highly efficient and work well within the system being operated on his farm.

Breeding

The herd is now made up of cows with about one third of Jersey genetics and two thirds of New Zealand Friesian genetics.

Only proven LIC bulls have been used for the last 15 years, with Eamonn believing this has made the herd very consistent.

Average cow weight is between 500-530kg, with the cows generally producing their weight in milk solids.

Commenting on using proven bulls, Eamonn said: “Everyone knows the cost of heifers and you want to be sure what you are backing two years down the line is going to come in.”

Eamonn continues to use proven bulls that are selected with the help of his consultants, describing himself as “a poor gambling man”.

Discussing some of the reasons for selecting to go the crossbred route, Eamonn said: “It has worked really well for us, the farm is not dry and the farm is not wet, but going out with the lighter cows does make a difference.

“This type of cow can shine in a low-cost system, it is a very efficient animal.

“Nobody knows what the price of milk is going to be going forward, so having a cow that can suit both systems, I think makes sense.”

Within Tirlán the herd ranks five-stars for fat and protein (kg/cow), fat percentage, protein percentage and average milk price.

A six-week calving rate of 87% was achieved on the farm last year and is consistently achieved on the farm. The average herd economic breeding index (EBI) is €187.

Selling heifers

When quotas were removed there were 120 cows being milked on the farm, and this then increased to around 200 cows.

However, the loss of 60ac from the milking platform has meant that herd size has decreased once again to about 125 cows.

Eamonn plans to sell all his freshly calved heifers along with some select second calvers.

On Tuesday (April 4) he will be selling 50 animals at Carnew Mart in a clearance sale of the heifers.

“Every heifer in the place is moving out and there is 15 years of proven genetics behind them,” he said.

Although land has been lost from the milking platform a good out-block means that Eamonn plans to sell heifers on a yearly basis.

Zero-grazing would be an option too, but instead of complicating the system Eamonn has decided to go the route of selling.

“The plan here is to take advantage of high fertility and use sexed semen on the cows for one round, then move to continental beef sires,” he said.

Along with the plan to start selling heifers on a yearly basis, Eamonn does hope to return cow numbers to around the 180 mark as he said the farm has been set-up to handle that number of cows.

He also noted that 180 cows is ideal for the two labour units currently working on the farm.