In this week’s Dairy FocusAgriland made the trip to meet the Corrigan family on their dairy farm near Boardsmill, Co. Meath.

Eoin farms in partnership with his parents, Sean and Catherine, and his wife Róisín. The family are in their first year of milk production after calving down 200 heifers last spring.

Róisín works full-time as biology, chemistry and science teacher in a secondary school and helps on the farm when possible.

They are aided by a team of staff which includes Marty on a full-time basis, Eimer Leonard as the calf rearer, and a number of relief milkers.

Eoin and Róisín Corrigan with ‘farm manager’ Aura

Changing the operation

Speaking to Eoin about the history of the farm, he said: ”My father had beef and sheep here when I was younger. At one point we had 1,000 sheep on the farm and 400 beef cattle.

“He bought weanlings from the west of Ireland, which he then fattened and sold on.

“In 2002 we opened a quarry on the farm and converted the majority of the rest of the farm into tillage.

“We were making more in a month from the quarry, than a year of farming. It went very well for a few years and then after the downturn in 2008, it never really recovered.

“I love farming, but not enough to do it for free. That ruled out getting back into beef and sheep. Tillage… I did not think we had enough land; you need a large land base for tillage farming to work.

“When you look at profit monitors, dairying is the most profitable sector of them all and we have a suitable sized land block for dairying.”

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Making the switch

Talking to Eoin about making the switch to dairying, he commented: “About five years ago, I started looking at the figures and saw there was the potential to convert the farm to dairying.

“I had never worked on a dairy farm, so I said that I better see if I like it first. I started working for my neighbour Johnny Hatton for a year to get a feel of it. It was only on the weekends because it was the only time I could spare.

“I also did two springs with Mark Cassidy, to understand his systems. I could only do Sundays, but he has been like a mentor to me, I have copied his system as best I can.”

He continued: “After that, the focus has been to start dairy farming. We had been taking back land, doing a lot of drainage work.

“In 2019, we bought 100 heifer calves, continued reseeding and we were getting the farm ready for dairying.

“In 2020, we bought 100 in-calf heifers and bred our own heifers and by Christmas 2020 we were ready to go.”

Continuing to learn

Commenting on his background and his ambition to continue building his knowledge, he stated: “As part of the plan, dad and I set up a farm partnership. To do that I needed to get the Green Cert, along with that I wanted to further educate myself.

“I completed the part-time Green Cert in Ballyhaise Agricultural College in 2015-16; I found that great.

“After it, I would have loved to have completed another course if there was one available – at the time there were no part-time courses, only full-time ones.

“Luckily, this year Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) have introduced its part-time level seven course in Dairy Systems and Agriculture – which I have signed up to.”

Facilities

Commenting on the facilities required to convert to dairying, he said: “We were never going to be able to fit a parlour into any of the pre-existing sheds that we had. It was always going to be a greenfield site.

“I looked around at as many farms that would let me through the gate. We designed something here that suits us.

“Building from a greenfield is great, because you can build what you want. The only catch is you have to pay for it. We have built it in such a way that we can expand if we want to.”

Eoin continued: “We built topless cubicles to start. We had to build everything within a budget and not putting a roof on them helped to kept the cost down.

“Honestly I think they are great and cows do not seem bothered about being outside. But, we will be putting a roof over the cubicles. The problem is rain water and reduced slurry capacity.”

Milking parlour

When deciding on which parlour to install on the farm, Eoin said: “I looked at robots first. They seem very attractive, but I felt they would not work in the system I wanted to operate.

“It was going to be a herringbone or rotary. A rotary would have been great as the herd expands, but due to us being a new entrant we could not make it work in the budget.

“In time it might happen, but not at the moment. We installed a 20-unit DeLaval herringbone parlour; it’s quite a simple parlour.

“I looked at a lot of different parlours. But when it came down to it, back-up service was the most important thing. Peter Brennan, the local DeLaval dealer, installed the parlour for me.

“We have been very happy with the parlour so far. In time we will add the 8-units we have left room for at the front.

“We also plan to install automatic cluster removers (ACRs); currently the parlour has a duo-vac system.”

Cow type

Commenting on the system of production and cow type, Eoin said: “The biggest help to me was joining The Greenfield Academy – it is for start ups and is coordinated by Abigail Ryan.

“I started with a small group of new entrants. We were then amalgamated with a group that had gone through the same process as ourselves.

“Being a part of that has been the biggest addition to my journey. The wealth of knowledge from that group is amazing.

“They have all been through the start-up process and have become top class farmers. It was through one of the members that I sourced the calves and in-calf heifers.

“We are milking a crossbred cow, in a low input, medium output system. Our ideal cow is a 500kg cow, eating 500kg of concentrates and producing over 500kg of milk solids.

“The cows are currently producing 15L at 3.74% protein and 4.91% fat. They are on target to produce 340kg of milk solids in their first lactation.”

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Calving 200 heifers

Spring 2021 was when 200 heifers began calving on the farm. Commenting on this Eoin said: “It was incredibly busy. I knew it was always going to be; we were over two years building towards this and I do not know if we were ever going to be 100% ready.

“It hit us like a wall. We had heard nightmare scenarios about calving 200 heifers, but we had been very good with the stock since they arrived. The stock are very used to us and to be honest, there’s a few pets.

“We were also able to run the heifers though the parlour in January before calving started, so it was not a complete shock to the system.”

Eoin explained: “Around 20% of the heifers caused us some hassle, but it was still one or two in every row. That would slow down the milking, but after a few weeks they had all settled down.

“We had over 80% of the heifers calved by the end of February, but with the bad weather we did not get out grazing until February 23. The target had been the first week in February.

“We had looked at buying some cows, but you are not able to get really good genetics. Cows that are for sale are another farmer’s second choice.

“Although you do not get great production in the first year with all heifers, you are winning after that.”

Why 200?

Commenting on why they did not start at 100 or 120 cows, Eoin said: “The finances; it is a big investment to convert to dairying.

“Although it would have been nice to start at 100 or 120 cows, it would not have paid for the investment we have made.

“The lowest number we could have started with to meet our repayments was 200 cows, the plan is to increase numbers further.”

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Continuing to develop

Eoin added that the biggest success of their first calving season was the staff.

“Marty had never worked on a farm before. He took straight to it and is great with the stock,” Eoin explained.

“Eimer… the closest she had been to cows was looking over the ditch at them. But I knew she would be great with the calves and Eimer has a great work ethic. Eimer did all the calf rearing.

“Our first year in milk took a massive effort from all the family and our staff. The success has been down to our staff and all the work they do.

“Roisin set up an Instagram account ‘Corrigan Dairy Farm‘. Two of our relief milkers got in contact with us through the page.

“They had never milked cows before, but we have found them excellent and very eager to learn.”

Eoin continued: “The plan for next year is to expand the cow numbers and buy in about 60 to 80 in-calf heifers to maximise the milking platform.

“The plan going forward to is to determine how much grass we can grow and match cow numbers to that.

“We want to produce as much milk as possible from the grass as efficiently as possible.”

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