Mark Gray is milking 97 cows on 150ac outside Prosperous, Co. Kildare in partnership with his mother and father, where they have recently ventured into selling milk from their farm.
On their home farm, they rear their own heifers, cut all their silage off the home block and have designated paddocks for the milking platform.
Mark and his father Brian are very enthusiastic farmers who have a great passion for breeding and the genetics of their herd.
Mark had recently been working in construction for many years until he decided to come and farm in partnership with his parents, where he looked to excel the business forward.
They decided to upgrade their farm facilities and looked for an opportunity to bring an extra bit of income to the farm.
Production
Mark acknowledged that in terms of the genetics of the cows that were on the farm when he came home, there was not much to do.
He said: “My dad is obsessed with cows and he is constantly trying to improve the herd and so, when I came back, the cows were in great place in terms of production and fertility.”
The herd is a pedigree registered Holstein Friesian herd with an economic breeding index (EBI) of €221, with a milk sub index of €57 and a fertility sub index of €110.
Last year, the cows produced 434kg/milk solids (MS)/cow with a protein percentage of 3.58% and fat at 4.41%, which was slightly lower than the year before – in 2022 the cows produced 533kg/MS/cow.
The herds somatic cell count (SCC) this year to date is averaging 115,000 cells/ml, which has been in around the average for the last couple of years.
The breeding season lasts for 12 weeks on the farm and Mark and Brian Gray use sexed semen dairy bulls for the cows that they want to breed off and on their heifers.
They use sexed semen for the first four weeks of the breeding season and then for the remainder of the breeding season, they use mainly Aberdeen Angus straws with some Aubrac and Belgian Blue straws being used also.
The Grays look for dairy bulls with good protein and production figures, that have good fertility and will last long in the herd.
The Grays do not produce an extreme Holstein animal, as they want an animal that will produce 6,500kg of milk keeping them in band two for the nitrates and an animal that is “robust and will stay in our herd for many lactations”, Mark added.
Mark told Agriland that “we do our own AI [artificial insemination] and we have been able to progress our herd even more in the last couple of years and I have received great advice and help from our breeding advisor, Richie Smith of Progressive Genetics”.
Mark emphasised that you have to ask for advice and help when getting accustomed to doing your own AI, as farmers cannot be expected to know it all at the start.
The Grays are achieving good production results through good grass growth and utilisation as they try to feed a minimal amount of meal, feeding 1,000kg of meal per cow last year.
Grass utilised is the key to the success of the farm as Mark had the cows out by the middle of February despite the bad weather at start of spring.
Mark told Agriland that “even though we do try and get out as early as possible, we had no choice this year because we were getting tight on silage”.
The Grays have recently invested heavily into their farm business by putting up a new cubicle shed and a 16-unit DeLaval parlour, which has helped with the efficiency of the farm.
The Grays had switched to a completely spring calving herd, but, ever since the vending machine came along, they needed to have a supply all year round.
So, they made the decision to keep on any cows that were selected to be culled and milk them on through the winter before getting rid of them in early January. Mark ended up milking just under 20 cows through the winter.
Selling milk
With all the work that was put into improving the facilities of the farm, Mark and his wife Kate decided to diversify the business into selling milk of their own directly from the farm.
Mark felt that with the heavy investment put into the farm, having another business that complemented the dairy enterprise would be a great idea in bringing in a greater income.
In September, 2023, the Grays opened up their shop with two vending machines inside that are readily available for self service selling milk.
There are now four flavours of milk available from the machines, which include strawberry, vanilla, salted caramel and Nutella on top of regular milk being available.
Mark found himself overseeing the shop for the most part at the start, so he decided to buy a coffee machine and sell coffee from the shop as well.
“If someone had to oversee things for the vending machines to work then they may as well be kept busy selling coffee,” he said.
The Grays now have four part-time workers in the shop selling coffee and making sure the vending machines are working well.
All the milk is kept fresh in the machines as Mark pasteurises about 200L of fresh milk almost every day as he changes the milk every 24 hours.
Mark has recently opened up a vending machine in Bergin’s butcher in Naas, Co. Kildare where the milk is collected from his farm every few days and sold from the butcher.
There is a pop-up bakery every Saturday at Graze Dairy, where everything is baked from the fresh milk on the farm which draws good crowds to the farm.
The future of Graze Dairy is to consolidate what they have at the moment and hopefully open up their product to more local businesses.