Farming just outside Moate, Co. Westmeath, Peter Hamm is a new dairy entrant who, up until 2013, was operating a suckler enterprise along with running his own construction business.

However, in 2009 the recession hit which meant the end of his construction business and the beginning of a new chapter for Peter and his family.

In 2012, he began to contemplate a career in dairying and upon deciding this was the only way he was going make a viable income from the farm, he purchased 30 in-calf heifers and began supplying Aurivo in February, 2014.

However, the journey from then until now wasn’t easy for Peter. When he started he had only 16ha around the yard – with an additional 8ha on an out-farm – minimum facilities available and very little knowledge about dairy cows.

Nevertheless, that didn’t stop him. Since he started milking in 2014, Peter has increased his herd size to 106 cows and he has taken on more land – increasing the milking platform to 48ha – while on a very tight budget.

Peter and his wife Caroline also recently hosted the Irish Grassland Association’s (IGA) Dairy Summer Tour event.

“I had options; I could have went and gotten a job in a factory and worked nine to five, but that’s not who I am. I like what I do, so that’s why I wanted to do this,” explained Peter.

Getting started

To get up and running a loan of €40,000 was secured by Peter, which meant sticking to budgets was a must – which Peter succeeded in doing.

“Cows were the first priority; I wanted to get this as right as I could. The next building block was grassland management. They are the two big things; once you get those two right, a lot of the rest will fit in,” said Peter.

The sale of his suckler herd helped Peter establish his current herd – through the purchase of 30 Holstein-Friesian in-calf heifers.

Touching on how he went about sourcing stock, he said: “I went to my Teagasc advisor for help and we approached a few local farmers and in the end we got them from three different farmers.

“EBI at that stage meant nothing to me; I may as well have been looking into a bunch of nettles. But you would know by the farmer whether or not they were doing a good job.”

Peter, who went on to discuss the facilities that were on the farm at the time, said: “We had only one little road; that was it. The rest of the roads had to be put in. It wasn’t just done in the first year either because in those early years a reel was an investment.

“Back then, I had only one roll of a half-inch Hydrodare pipe. I heard lads saying they had to move paddock; but I had to move paddock; the water trough; the reel; the lot,” joked Peter.

In terms of the milking facilities, everything was purchased second-hand. A six-unit parlour – which has since been extended to a 10-unit – was purchased for €9,000.

“You would like to have new things but it just wasn’t feasible at the time. I just wanted to get milk into the tank and grass into the cows,” he said.

Cow type and performance

The herd is made up of Holstein-Friesian genetics with an average EBI of €120. Through seeking advice from the right people, Peter was able to lay a good foundation for his herd.

“The purchase of those fertile animals at the start really did stand to me. When the business is young you want that cow to stay in the herd; you don’t want to have a high replacement rate.

“If she leaves in year one she has made you nothing; it is only in year two that she is making you money,” explained Peter.

In both 2015 and 2016, a 2% empty rate was achieved, with an empty rate of 8% achieved last year. The fertility of the herd along with Peter’s close attention to heat detection helped him achieve these results.

“During the breeding season, I got help from a Garda down the road who would help me with the evening milking. He would stand in the yard and pick up any in heat on their way in and I would go for the cows and pick up any in the field,” explained Peter.

The output of the herd is excellent. Last year, the herd produced 539kg of MS/cow from 1,200kg of meal, but in a normal year the herd is fed between 700kg and 800kg of meal. In 2017, the herd produced 523kg of MS/cow.

Going forward, Peter plans to continue “focusing on fertility and on bringing more milk solids to the herd”.

Answering the question on whether or not he would consider crossbreeding, he said: “It doesn’t matter whether you sell milk or matches, but sell enough of it. I like a drop of milk.”

Grassland management

The inclusion of grass in his herd’s diet has had a huge part to play in trying to keep costs down in the business as well as in achieving such a high level of performance from the herd.

On the day of the visit, the average farm cover was 713kg DM/ha; the cover per cow was 230kg DM/cow and rotation length was 22 days.

The farm area consists of 44ha of which 28ha are leased. As the leased land was taken on it was reseeded. He is stocked at 2.3 cows/ha on the milking platform.

There is nothing complicated about Peter’s approach to grass measuring.

Explaining it, he said: “I walk into the paddock, I take up a handful of grass and each fistful is 400kg of DM. If you’re 100 or 200 out it is not the end of the world; at least you have an idea.

With grass measuring, it is a decision for a week; it is not for the year. If you get it wrong one week, you’re wrong for about four or five days; that’s it, you will get it right the next time.

Peter admits that he had no choice but to neglect the soil fertility on his own farm for the first few years because the money just wasn’t there. It is only now that he is getting around to addressing it.

Currently, 80% of the owned land is optimum for pH, 20% is optimum for phosphorous (P) and 100% is optimum for potassium (K).

Costings and future

To get up and running wasn’t easy for Peter. Cash was tight and he was relying on his wife Caroline to support the family a lot of the time.

Despite this, Peter still did his best to focus on what was important for the business, such as the breeding of his cows and the growing of the grass.

Costings for the conversion:
  • Milking parlour, collecting yard and slatted/soiled water tank – €15,000;
  • Purchase and fitting of a six-unit parlour, 2,500L bulk tank and feeders/bin – €10,000;
  • Suckler shed conversion to a 28-cubicle shed – €9,000;
  • Milking platform infrastructure – €6,000;
  • Water, fencing, ESB and reseeding – €11,000.

Commenting on the future of the farm, he said: “I would like to get up to around 130 cows and maybe look into contract rearing.

“I have priced a 20-unit parlour and I hope to put it in at the end of the year. We are looking into converting a shed to cubicles too.”