Dairy consolidation conundrum

grazeaway

Here is a interesting query to put out there.
Was chatting to friend over the weekend who i hadn't met in a while and we were discussing the future of farming (as one does). my friend has been full time farming for a few years now after he took over from his dad. smart guy but not one of these bulls**t artists you see in the journal. currently runs 80 dairy cows on about 100 acres inherited a great set-up from his dad and has slowly upped his stock from 55 to 80 over the last few years but has stopped at this number. used the grant scheme in 07 to put in better housing and tanks. so all good so far.

his uncle has a farm about a 1.5 miles away and over the last few years my friend has reared his heifers and calves on it to allow more room for his stock at home. he has always been close to his uncle and paid him back by milking his 60 strong herd at least once a day. the uncle got sick last year so he was running both farms and milking all the cows. The uncle has decided to retire due to health reasons has transferred the farm and stock to my friend. His conundrum is how does he make the best of what he has as at present he is milking his cows 1st then going across and doing the others this taking up about 7 hours a day ??? he reckons he can do it for this year but needs to plan for what to do from next year. he does not want to sell the uncles stock and will only consider this as a last resort.

he has a few ideas but not sure what way to go.

1) once a day milking on one or both herds. tried this on his own ones a few years ago and wasn't convinced.

2) bring the herd together and milk in one farm at a time, then move them all up the road when the grass runs out. would need to two 2 extra tanks to hold the milk and but both the parlour's were only built for about 60-80 cows.

3) bring all the cows to the home farm and extend his parlour by dismantling the uncles and adding it to his. getting a zero grazer to bring the grass from the uncles and housing the cows when not enough grass on the home farm.

4) as he plans on making a few modification to his shed to accommodate the extra cows (move the heifers to the uncles farm for the winter and convert part of the shed) he might be able to house the cows all year and do complete zero grazing operation. there is a small paddock next to shed he could use as a stand off pad for the summer months to get the cows off the concrete for while. if he went this way he could get robot milkers.

these are the ideas he was thinking I'm sure there are more but said I'd throw out to see if anyone has some other ideas or has done any of the above and if it worked out.

JohnBoy

As a layman I'd think if he went from twice a day milking 80 cows to once a day milking 140 cows then surely hed be way better off?

He wont be making as much per cow or acre, but he should have a nice boost in income for not too massive an increase in labour?

The only extra cost he should have is the extra labour needed around calving time?

grumpyfarmer

grazeaway wrote: »

Here is a interesting query to put out there.
Was chatting to friend over the weekend who i hadn't met in a while and we were discussing the future of farming (as one does). my friend has been full time farming for a few years now after he took over from his dad. smart guy but not one of these bulls**t artists you see in the journal. currently runs 80 dairy cows on about 100 acres inherited a great set-up from his dad and has slowly upped his stock from 55 to 80 over the last few years but has stopped at this number. used the grant scheme in 07 to put in better housing and tanks. so all good so far.

his uncle has a farm about a 1.5 miles away and over the last few years my friend has reared his heifers and calves on it to allow more room for his stock at home. he has always been close to his uncle and paid him back by milking his 60 strong herd at least once a day. the uncle got sick last year so he was running both farms and milking all the cows. The uncle has decided to retire due to health reasons has transferred the farm and stock to my friend. His conundrum is how does he make the best of what he has as at present he is milking his cows 1st then going across and doing the others this taking up about 7 hours a day ??? he reckons he can do it for this year but needs to plan for what to do from next year. he does not want to sell the uncles stock and will only consider this as a last resort.

he has a few ideas but not sure what way to go.

1) once a day milking on one or both herds. tried this on his own ones a few years ago and wasn't convinced.

2) bring the herd together and milk in one farm at a time, then move them all up the road when the grass runs out. would need to two 2 extra tanks to hold the milk and but both the parlour's were only built for about 60-80 cows.

3) bring all the cows to the home farm and extend his parlour by dismantling the uncles and adding it to his. getting a zero grazer to bring the grass from the uncles and housing the cows when not enough grass on the home farm.

4) as he plans on making a few modification to his shed to accommodate the extra cows (move the heifers to the uncles farm for the winter and convert part of the shed) he might be able to house the cows all year and do complete zero grazing operation. there is a small paddock next to shed he could use as a stand off pad for the summer months to get the cows off the concrete for while. if he went this way he could get robot milkers.

these are the ideas he was thinking I'm sure there are more but said I'd throw out to see if anyone has some other ideas or has done any of the above and if it worked out.

Id nearly opt for number 3there.. if not then number 2...

leoch

god that is some hanlon he is in alright the amount of people reading this incl myself wish they were in his prediciment;)

grazeaway

for a full time farmer its a good thing to happen, that said the fella works hard and always has, anything he gets he deserves. i'd say the only reason the uncle gave it to him is had he'll know he will farm it and that all the effort he put in over the years building it up wont be wasted.

forgot to mention the 2 parlours were build in the 80's and while they have been done up a bit over time are a bit outdated now. he was planning on upgrading his own to maybe a 12 unit in the next year or two but is now looking to see if that plan needs a rethink. with the extra cows he'll need to think again

grazeaway

Got an update from my buddy over the weekend, he has spent the last few weeks raking his brains and visited a few farms in the area that we in a similar situation.

he has decided to move all the milking cows to the home farm later in the year.

The home shed will get a second feeding passage. His silage slab will be big enough and the hay/straw shed will be converted to make more calving pens and new cubicles to house all the milking cows so he is going to do that over the summer.

The replacements and any dry stock will be moved to the uncles place.

Over the winter, once the cows have been dried off he is going to extend the parlour and will try to combine as much of the two parlours as he can to keep the costs down.

The plan will be to have all the silage ground on the uncles place to have as much grazing as he can in the home place for the cows, that said with the funny ol weather we get he reckons he'll need to get a zero grazer to avoid poaching and then making ****e of the paddocks.

grumpyfarmer

grazeaway wrote: »

Got an update from my buddy over the weekend, he has spent the last few weeks raking his brains and visited a few farms in the area that we in a similar situation.

he has decided to move all the milking cows to the home farm later in the year.

The home shed will get a second feeding passage. His silage slab will be big enough and the hay/straw shed will be converted to make more calving pens and new cubicles to house all the milking cows so he is going to do that over the summer.

The replacements and any dry stock will be moved to the uncles place.

Over the winter, once the cows have been dried off he is going to extend the parlour and will try to combine as much of the two parlours as he can to keep the costs down.

The plan will be to have all the silage ground on the uncles place to have as much grazing as he can in the home place for the cows, that said with the funny ol weather we get he reckons he'll need to get a zero grazer to avoid poaching and then making ****e of the paddocks.

Sounds like a good sensible plan.

Enderol

Second the above. Definately the most practical solution.

Markcheese

Going to throw a bit of a curve ball , what about a share milker, with the prospect of uping it to share farming , if the guy works out....your friend gets to be heavily involved in running the farm,without having to be there milking ect. The share milker/farmer has Incentive to be productive .... If milk price is good everyone wins , if it drops no one loses too big....
Also when bedded in your friend could lease more land to rear all heifers and provide more sillage, freeing up the grazing platform...