Share milking is something that is probably not discussed enough in Ireland and yet is a common practice in New Zealand, for example.

The common and traditional thinking in Ireland, is that you have to have a family farm that is handed down to you in order to dairy farm, but there are other ways of getting involved.

In New Zealand, it is much more common practice due to a lack of family farm arrangements, therefore it is a lot easier to climb the career ladder and ‘get some skin in the game’.

Since the abolishment of quotas, dairy farming in Ireland has seen a huge expansion and share milking has become a slightly more common practice.

At the Ballyhaise dairy open day, a forum took place at the end of the day where two young couples spoke about their different farm partnerships and share milking arrangements.

The theme of the day was ‘Futureproofing Irish Dairy farms’, which tied in nicely to Michael and Sarah Malone’s story of getting into share milking arrangement as a young couple.

The importance of talking about succession and exploring future career paths that are available for young people who want to get involved in dairy farming was discussed on the day.

Michael and Sarah Malone are 50/50 share milking with a fellow dairy farmer in Co. Roscommon, where they have found the arrangement a great success so far.

A typical 50/50 share milking arrangement is where the landowner owns the land and the infrastructure and buys 50% of the feed where the sharemilker buys the cows and machinery while looking after the labour and most of the variable costs.

However, different arrangements terms and conditions may vary depending on the contract.

Farm system

Michael and Sarah are share milking 180 cows on 77ha while growing 13t of grass dry matter (DM)/ha. The cows are currently producing 24.5 L/day at 4.6% fat and 3.8%protein on 4.5kg of concentrates.

The first year of the arrangement saw the cows produced an average of 462kg/milk solids (MS)/cow, while feeding 1.3t of concentrates.

The second year saw an improvement as the cows produced 520kg/MS/cow on average on similar concentrates.

The factors that really influence profitability of this firm, are “grassland utilisation and continuing to breed selectively for solids production”, Michael told attendees.

Maintaining a high level of performance across the herd by focusing on animal husbandry, grassland management along with an intensive breeding programme, is the making of this farm system.

Share milking

When out in New Zealand in 2016, Michael learned that “If you have the skills and the attitude and the know how, to start off and grow your own business and accelerate it, it is possible to do it”.

Sarah and Michael moved to Scotland in 2018 where Sarah worked as a principal teacher of home economics, and Michael worked as a farm assistant on spring calving, dairy system.

Farm partnerships and share milking arrangements being discussed at the panel discussion at Ballyhaise Agricultural College

Michael told attendees that after managing a farm in Scotland with Sarah, it gave the couple “that desire to farm on your own right but we hadn’t got the the access to land and land security to go to the bank and borrow whatever we needed to borrow”.

Sarah talked about the practical skills they got from working and managing the farm in Scotland and that they were both always very focused to work hard to eventually get their own farming enterprise underway.

The couple needed an opportunity to arise for them to come back and farm at home, and they say they were very lucky to find their farm partners in Pat and Elaine Hickey.

“A once in a lifetime opportunity for us or anyone, you don’t get them like that,” Michael added.

As part of their share milking arrangement, Michael and Sarah provide the stock and the management, while the farm owners, Pat and Elaine, provide the land and the facilities. The profits are split at their own agreed rates.

“Once the two parties are aligned, and we feel we work well together, it is easy manage,” Michael said.

Currently, Michael and Sarah are happy where they are, and want to stay settled at their stocking rate and the number of cows and perfect the system before they consider expanding.

Share milking is also equitable to both parties, as it allows landowners to protect their asset base, while generating a positive cash flow.

To wrap up the forum, Michael was asked: “What type of advice would you give a young farmer?”

He replied by saying “be the hardest working person in the room”.

Farm system

Share milking

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Watch: ‘Futureproofing Irish dairy farms’ at Ballyhaise open day

50/50 share milking

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