Speaking at the Dairy Open Day 2021 at Moorepark in Co. Cork, Dr. Joe Patton, the new head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer with Teagasc, focused on how to farm more environmentally sustainable, while also being economically sustainable.
The Moorepark Dairy Open Day 2021 is being held over three days this week, with this year’s theme – delivering sustainability.
Economic sustainability
Dr. Patton stated: “Even though margins have increased significantly on farms since pre-expansion, from €773/ha to €1,429/ha, about 60% of the improved margin has come from technical improvements and not just numbers.
“Getting better has been more important than getting bigger, and that is likely to continue into the future.”
Evolution of Irish dairy sector:
Pre-expansion Current Target Milk solids (ms)/cow kg 343 417 480 Herd economic breeding index (EBI) (€) 8.1 90 150 Six-week calving rate (%) 52 62 90 Stocking rate (LU/ha) 1.84 2.1 2.7 Herbage utilised (t DM/ha) 7.0 8.1 12.9 Concentrate per cow (kg) 875 1,176 <500 Fertiliser nitrogen (N) usage (kg/ha) 148 184 150 Net margin at 29c/L base price (€/ha) 773 519 2,452
Pasture utilised
Dr. Patton explained how grass utilisation is going to be key for continued improvements in family farm margins, and how grass utilised is an important first step to determine what will drive a farm’s profitability over the next few years.
He explained that grass utilised is often misunderstood and it is not as simple as grazing tight paddock by paddock which Dr. Patton stated “This is quite a simplistic measure of grass utilised”.
Grass utilisation incorporates:
- Grass grown;
- How well you graze that grass;
- Stocking rate;
- Milk soilds/cow;
- Maintenance feed cost/cow;
- Feed supplement bought in.
“It is a complex measure that brings together these big items – in terms of describing the dairy farm. So it is not really a surprise how important it is.”
In terms of predictability of a farm’s profitability, grass utilised accounts for between 50-60%, according to Dr. Patton.
He stated: “This trend is not limited to dry land, it works across all land types and regions.”
Relating system metrics to margin/ha:
Litres/cow Solids/cow Feed/ kg/cow Stocking rate Grass utilised <10% 18% to 20% <5% 38% whole farm
15% milking platform50% to 60%
System drift
Patton noted that it is important to avoid system drift and that stocking rate is matched to the amount of grass that can be grown.
He stated: “If you are growing 11t, your optimal stocking rate will be 2LU/ha; if you’re growing 13t, your optimal stocking will be around 2.3LU/ha.
“Having a stocking rate of 2.7LU/ha and only growing 10t of grass, will mean you are buying all your silage and have a very high meal bill.
“So the target of 2.7LU/ha is only possible when enough forage is being produced on the farm.”
The biggest risk of system drift relates to concentrates; introducing more concentrates to increase production to chase a small margins.
Patton said: “There is a risk of farmers wondering is there a different way of doing it, ‘should I change the cow type?’ Boredom maybe plays a part in it, doing the same things every year.”
“I have seen it on some of the best farms in the country, they are doing the same thing over and over again.
“They start wondering ‘should I be doing this?’ Boredom is a dangerous thing, but maybe dairy farming is meant to be boring if you are doing it right.”