Biggest dairy farm/herd in Ireland

grazeaway · 19-01-2015 10:35pm

Was milking one cow for a few weeks last year late calver, calf got sick and she had too much milk so to stop her getting mastitis I had to get out the 3 legged stool. No way would she let another calf drink her but she was fine to be milked by hand.

Jimlh86 · 19-01-2015 10:37pm

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

grazeaway · 19-01-2015 10:48pm

Jimlh86 wrote: »

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

Lot of work in milking cows no matter how few you have as they need to be done twice a day. Most fellas match the parlour size to the number of cows so even a small herd and parlour will still need an hour or more twice a day. You ll need to weight up the amount of work needed versus what you give as I assume you are working off site.

Jimlh86 · 19-01-2015 10:56pm

grazeaway wrote: »

Lot of work in milking cows no matter how few you have as they need to be done twice a day. Most fellas match the parlour size to the number of cows so even a small herd and parlour will still need an hour or more twice a day. You ll need to weight up the amount of work needed versus what you give as I assume you are working off site.

Yeah I'm working off site, ah it's only a thought for down the line maybe, I've very little dairy experience but I'm not one for letting common sense get in the way of my plans!

Pacoa · 19-01-2015 11:14pm

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

Sure all you need is a setup like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcxK93woWvo

larrymiller · 19-01-2015 11:18pm

keep going wrote: »

Just for the fun of it whos got the smallest herd, I k now of one lad milking around 15 or 16.

I've a friend. Who milks ten. But it gets better.
No land at the parlour so only winter milk fed silage and fodder beet. And the parlour is 2 stables with 2 units.

kowtow · 20-01-2015 9:41am

We'll milk a dozen this year. Two dozen when we reach full capacity (our contribution to Food Harvest 2020)..

einn32 · 20-01-2015 10:47am

Know a fella milking two. Drives a trailed bulk tank on a single axle out the front of house for milk truck.

farmerjj · 20-01-2015 11:11am

Jimlh86 wrote: »

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

Seriously. No is the simple answer.

Deepsouthwest · 20-01-2015 11:32am

Jimlh86 wrote: »

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

As a business it won't make u rich, but it could be quite a lucrative hobby, and I'm serious about that. If u love farming/cows and have the time then of course it's a runner, it won't pay the mortgage, but it could pay for a lot of the smaller stuff.

kevthegaff · 20-01-2015 1:28pm

Lads with all the talk of expansion, what numbers are ye thinking of increasing to? I have 210 acres around the parlour(190 near enough) v hilly land, good in the summer but later. Im going from 90 to 110+ this year. I have 160 cubicles and a 12 unit parlour ( plan on renovation when loans have reduced) I plan on 140 in the next 3 years. What are yer plans? And do any of ye milk on hilly ground?

freedominacup · 20-01-2015 2:09pm

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads with all the talk of expansion, what numbers are ye thinking of increasing to? I have 210 acres around the parlour(190 near enough) v hilly land, good in the summer but later. Im going from 90 to 110+ this year. I have 160 cubicles and a 12 unit parlour ( plan on renovation when loans have reduced) I plan on 140 in the next 3 years. What are yer plans? And do any of ye milk on hilly ground?

Define hilly. It's flat on average around here.

kevthegaff · 20-01-2015 2:29pm

freedominacup wrote: »

Define hilly. It's flat on average around here.

I need a cover for the fertilliser spreader!!

keep going · 20-01-2015 2:47pm

I'll put it a different way, planning to milk almost double my quota this year and exceed that the year after.nomagic number after that lets see how it goes

kowtow · 20-01-2015 3:08pm

Jimlh86 wrote: »

What would the opinion be on this, 30 acres, good land, in one block no dairy facilities in place with very little housing. Could a lad set up and milk a few cows but not have massive overheads? This is just curiosity at the moment so don't jump down my neck!!!!

on a more serious note, if you are planning to sell commodity milk only then on paper it would be difficult to see the return on investment if you need to build housing / parlour etc. - at least if you never plan to expand beyond that 30 acre block (whether by an outfarm, or whatever). No question that 30 cows incur many of the same overheads (and usually the same daily labour) as 50 or 60.

On the other hand, if you want to milk cows, go do it - our grandparents would have given their eye teeth for what you have to start out with and everyone has to start somewhere. Work out a setup with the absolute minimum of fixed costs, run things with a sharp pencil, invest only where you have to, buy everything second hand, learn something every day and let the cows tell you when to expand.

kowtow · 20-01-2015 3:09pm

kevthegaff wrote: »

I need a cover for the fertilliser spreader!!

Just while working?

Or when parked?

freedominacup · 20-01-2015 4:07pm

kevthegaff wrote: »

I need a cover for the fertilliser spreader!!

That said though your land is mostly workable from a grass management point of view so experience will tell you over time what your most efficient sr is which might not be the absolute max you can carry. The last 10% of output can be very expensive to achieve.

visatorro · 20-01-2015 4:45pm

kevthegaff wrote: »

Lads with all the talk of expansion, what numbers are ye thinking of increasing to? I have 210 acres around the parlour(190 near enough) v hilly land, good in the summer but later. Im going from 90 to 110+ this year. I have 160 cubicles and a 12 unit parlour ( plan on renovation when loans have reduced) I plan on 140 in the next 3 years. What are yer plans? And do any of ye milk on hilly ground?

cant expand any more unless I buy zero grazer, sow maize or supplement with quality bales all year from out farm. or feed 28 tonnes of meal!! none of those options are cost cutting so ... cant see a point really

Biggest dairy farm/herd in Ireland

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