With milk price constantly on the rise, farmers may be tempted to avoid drying off the late calvers and milk them on through the winter.
With prices holding for the minute, it might be worthwhile to milk the cows on, as in many scenarios, it can be shame to dry off a cow who still has another month’s worth of milking left in her.
Although late calvers are often perceived as costly for this reason and are associated with fertility issues, milking the few in the herd over the winter months may keep money coming in and pay off bills.
However, there are a number of questions a farmer may ask before opting to milk on, as turning on the milking parlour once-a-day for a handful of cows is not worth it.
Drying off
Outlined below, is a farm where there were 20 cows calved in March and 10 in April, and the potential extra margin a farmer would receive for milking them on over the winter at a milk price of 65c/L.
The example of a compact calving pattern, and extra margin over feed/forage and overheads as per Teagasc, is as follows:
Month of calving Number of cows Extra milk sales (L) Extra milk sales Feed, forage and overheads Extra margin March 20 9,760 €6,344 €1,581 €4,763 April 10 8,780 €5,707 €1581 €4,126 Total 30 18,540 €12,051 €3,162 €8,889
By milking on these 30 cows, the farm will receive an extra margin of €8,889, which may be a huge help for the winter months to pay off bills.
While this may seem brilliant, it is only as good as the staff and personnel you have on the farm to milk these cows on, while allowing staff a break over the next few weeks and over the Christmas period.
A farmers needs to ask himself the following before milking on these cows:
- Who will milk the cows?;
- Do you and the employees need a break?;
- Do you fancy milking on Christmas day?;
- Are there other tasks that could be done to make spring 2025 more profitable?;
- Do these cows need an extra break to build up condition?
If there is farm help available to you and you are happy enough to be able to take the little bit of extra work for the winter months, milking on the extra few cows can be beneficial and help with cash flow over the last few weeks of the year.
Milking on Christmas day for many, doesn’t actually feel like a chore – in fact, many consider it a great opportunity to get out of the house and get some fresh air.