is entering dairying still an option

I'd be very slow to go with fixed price. I think we have only seen the start of price inflation and and any Agriculture prices are only doing catch up at the moment.

Most stick skills are transferrable. It's similar to any trade or skill. Yes the adaptability if the person counts. I be as much afraid of the business skills as the stockman skills.

To build up calving skills use easy calving bulls if you have not calved cows before.. A two day old calf is a lot easier to adapt to a new feeding system than a three week old calf.

Milking is a repetitive process. Of you have a relief milker how long to train him in. After that hygiene goes a long way and knowledge about mastitis is a learning curve.

It's the business skill of handling a larger cash flow that could be as big a catch. A lad milking 60 cows this year could be turning over 150k here on a similar drystock farm maybe half that.

But costs are higher and you have to realise you have to spend but also have to manage costs if you want to maximise return

Hard one to put a figure on, going off 2020 accounts their was a 150 cows milked, with 60 acres of ground leased for 2 cuts of silage and 22 acres of maize contract grown, all in all this equates to circa 250 tons of imported dm of feed which with circa 1.8 ton of meal going into the cows here, would feed 75 cows a full tmr diet, so you can work it back that 75 cows is what I can carry here plus replacement heifers.

Total cost of imported feed was 60k, total milk sales from these 75 extra cows was 600,000 litres @ 34 cent was 204000 euro less 60k imported silage/maize and another 35k for meal, these ladies left a gross margin of 110k and then you take of your day to day running costs etc, and principal plus intrest payments of circa 20k yearly for infrastructure to facilitate these extra cows, net profit before depreciation/capital allowances extra was circa 750 euro a cow in 2020, if I was milking just the 75 I'd say around the same to be honest, but obviously my workload would be halved

Theirs no fortune been made here to be honest, but what has been achieved is a fairly well set up dairy unit, and alot of land reclaimed and drained that was growing the best of rushes

Where are you getting 750€/cow from ?

add in jays deprication (not a cash cost to the system, only used for tax purposes) at 51k he made 634/cow

id be quite the opposite system to jay but paying for every acre we’re farming between rent and mortgage, running a grass based spring calving system

our figure was 120€ /cow more and total milk sales weren’t as high

this is not a dig jay, you’re very clued in but I think you should reevaluate your production model/system

Don't use either of them. Just salmonella and rotavirus

They used call us slaves on farm I worked on in Ireland!

But we’re talking about 2020 to compare like with like jay, my cow numbers have gone up too

You’re going to have some form of building costs every year if you want to keep infrastructure in good repair /to a high standard

weve a fair chunk spent here, money spent every year in the yard and land

ill have have to add in the building costs to mine and see what it looks like

you still had the factory money from the heifers despite no milk sales off them? Not a total loss

despite it all jay, I follow grass based, mainly teagasc template - you’re fairly consistent in your criticism of that system but fact is it works

I’m as well off as you with less milk sales and a lot less bought in feed and a lot simpler system,

all I’m saying is 190k out the gate to buy in feed is a serious amount of money for in my opinion feck all gain at the end of the day, you mightn’t want to hear it but less cows, less milk, less meal would be more profitable for you

What's your stocking rate on milking platform for this year, 4/ha our past that out of curiosity and on the every acre we farm is paid for bit, what % of loanvland repayments/rental payments would your sfp cover on this metric, between sfp going to the ole chap and the profits he makes from a business he stared up a few years ago using this money, theirs another 50k been generated net profit but obviously that's not in my wheelhouse the cow side of the business is standalone but their is more then one way to skin a cat

There is no right or wrong system, just like there is no right or wrong cow. You just choose whatever system suits you best. Personally, I wouldn't have a jersey or FRX inside the gate but that doesn't mean they're not right for someone else.

My main concern is for the lads that get into dairying for the money and all the lies spouted by media and vested interests.

Milk cows if you like the lifestyle and don't do it to get rich.

Accounts don't always show the full picture especially during expansion or development. One also has to consider the value of the stock, machinery, etc. In the event of I'll health or unforeseen circumstances they could be liquidated easy enough.