Patrick Fortune is maintaining strong farm performance figures despite the current drought conditions in Co. Wexford.

Fortune, who is milking 185 cows just outside Adamstown, is a Lighthouse farmer under Tirlán's new FarmElevate programme.

The Wexford farmer hosted a large group of farmers during the week for the inaugural FarmElevate farm walk, discussing what actions he has undertaken to survive the drought and prepare the farm for the coming winter.

Farm performance

Fortune is producing an average of 6,453L of milk/cow at 4.52% fat and 3.86% protein, equating to 545kg of milk solids (MS).

The Tirlán average stands at 5,361L/cow at 4.41% fat and 3.63% protein, coming to 444kg/MS.

The increased performance saw Fortune achieve an average milk price of 50.5c/L between 2023 and 2025.

This was 1.3c/L higher than the Tirlán average of 49.2c/L, which ends up leaving Fortune with an output of €621/cow/year higher than the Tirlán average.

As of Friday, August 7, Fortune's herd is delivering 1.89kg/MS a day from 22.5L/cow/day, at 4.41% fat and 3.73% protein, off 4.5kg of meal, 4kg of silage, and grass.

According to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), the average milk production across the 941-herd who milk recorded between July 28 and August 7 stood at 1.66kg/MS.

Herds recorded an average production level of 21.57kg/milk at 4.6% fat and 3.55% protein during that window.

Fortune's Economic Breeding Index averages €150 across the herd, with all of his replacement heifers being artifically insemination (AI)-bred, and 97% of heifers calves calving down between 22-26 months-of-age.

He has a median calving date of February 4, with 85% of the herd calved down in six weeks.

This allowed him to have cows in milk for an average of 292 days/year, and at grass for 255 days, which all helps to push production.

The grass around Fortune's farm is still relatively green despite the current drought conditions.

With droughts becoming increasingly common in the region, the Wexford farmer brought high covers into July in a bid to safeguard the farm's grass availability.

This has enabled him to maintain an average farm cover of 524kg of dry matter (DM)/ha as of Friday, August 7.

The platform, which is stocked at 2.73 livestock units (LU)/ha, was growing 22kg of DM/ha during the week, while demand sat at 27kg of DM/ha.

Fortune is still achieving a pre-grazing yield of 1,300kg DM/ha this weekend with a 34-day rotation length.

However, there is a big gap in the budget quickly approaching as there are only six paddocks floating around the 1,000kg DM/ha mark, three between 600-800kg DM/ha, and 19 below 600kg DM/ha.

Given the current situation, Fortune is now aiming to safeguard his winter fodder by drawing up a fodder budget.

For the 185 milking cows, 135 weanlings including beef stock, and 41 yearlings, the fodder budget suggests he will need 2,218t of silage for a five-month winter, which is the equivalent of 2,440 bales.

When it comes to managing droughts on the farm, water availability is a must as each of the cow's water intake can climb well above 100L/cow/day.

Fortune recently invested in a new water system, installing a 10,000L tank alongside a booster pump to ensure troughs stay filled post-milking when the herd demands large volumes, and alleviating the pressure from the farm's well.

FarmElevate

Tirlán's FarmElevate programme, which was launched last month in conjunction with Teagasc, is designed as a farmer-led knowledge transfer programme.

The programme focuses on profitability, grassland management, herd performance, soil fertility, nutrient efficiency, sustainability, farm resilience, and milk soilds.

It has eight demonstration farms, otherwise known as 'lighthouse farms', one of which is Patrick Fortune.

It also consists of 200 development farms, which will be called Elevate farms.

The programmes inaugural farm walk saw attendees receive advice from specialists on array of topics at the forefront of every farm right now.

From drought management and diet adjustments, to slurry storage and buffer zones.