Dairy Focus: Converting to milking to support the next generation

Agriland

2 days ago

After being 20 years away from dairy farming, Co. Kilkenny dairy farmer, Sean Meehan has made the plunge back to milking cows in order to have something for the next generation.
He told Agriland :'I wanted a future for some of the lads and there is no future in sucklers'.
Meehan is now in his fourth year of milking after spending the previous 20 years at suckler cows and an off-farm business.
As well as having a love for dairy cows, Meehan wanted to go back milking to have a strong farm business that he can pass down to his sons.
The only way that Meehan saw this as possibility was milking cows through two robots, which would alleviate a lot of labour and pressure on the farmer.
The shed for the cows to access the two robots Sean with the two GEA robots on the farm
Meehan is now milking 101 British Friesian and Fleckvieh cows, and hopes to keep his herd number between 100-120 while keeping within nitrates regulations.
Speaking about the two robots on the farm, Meehan said: 'You've still work to do, but it's flexible. You don't have to be up at 7:00 in the morning, every morning, and if you want to do other work, you've time'.
Dairy herd performance
The cows are currently milking on average about 2.4 milkings each day and producing about 29.87kg of milk/day, which equates to 570kg of milk solids/cow year off 8,043L/cow/year.
The grazing block is 38ha and is split into an ABC grazing system where cows spend on average about eight hours/day in each block.
They go from each block by passing through the robot milking area and getting milked if necessary.
To get the ball rolling, Meehan bought 85 heifers in the first year and then climbed his numbers up to 118 the following year.
This number proved to be too many the following year for nitrates compliancy, but now – with additional land rented – he hopes to get back up to those numbers.
Meehan went with Fleckvieh heifers and Holstein Friesian cows to get a balance in milk production and calf value.
He said that in terms of milk, 'There is a much of a muchness between the two.
'From a calf sale point of view, the Fleckvieh is much better.'
The herd of cows grazing on the A morning block A closer look at the herd
This year due to a lack of bull variety in the Fleckvieh range, Meehan has bought a mixture of Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde, and Friesian straws.
He included Montbeliarde in the mix due to their ability to milk and add calf value to the farm, and he felt there was a good range of bulls available through Bó Sires.
Meehan uses all artificial insemination (AI) throughout his 12-week breeding season, which commences around the middle of April.
He said: 'Friesian cows will get conventional Fleckvieh or Montbeliarde straws and the Fleckvieh will get Friesian sexed semen.
'With the Fleckvieh or Montbeliarde, you don't mind if it's a bull or a heifer.'
The reason for this was that, according to Meehan, 'the best cows in the herd are probably the crossbreds' and so he wants to continue crossing to achieve that hybrid vigour.
He aims to keep 25 replacement heifer calves each year.
Meehan's replacement calves grazing ahead of the cows The next generation of milkers on Meehan's farm
The use of the GEA CowScout collars has been a 'revelation' for Meehan for detecting health issues, feed intake, and heat activity, as he believes his conception rates have improved due to getting the timing of AI 100%.
In choosing the type of bull to mate to his cows, Meehan said that he is always looking for good milk solids, with good feet and good health traits.
For the rest of the breeding season, Meehan is using Aberdeen Angus straws due to their short gestation. He has also used a few Limousin straws on cows not suitable for breeding off at the start of breeding.
Meehan aims to start calving around the middle of January and to be finished before April, but highlighted that he is not overly pushed on a tight six-week calving rate.
The key to the robots is having a good grazing infrastructure All roadways are in good order with multiple access points to paddocks
If there is a few late calvers, it does not bother him, as he milks about 40 cows throughout Christmas, which is easily done with robots but is still achieving a 380-day calving interval.
Despite the few cows milking through the Christmas period, he will give every cow at least an eight week dry-off period, and will keep winter milkers on a high quality silage and meal.
The ease of robots
Meehan is milking through two GEA DairyRobot R9500s, which has taken the pressure off labour and enabled him to be more efficient in managing his spring calving herd.
As well as improving the lifestyle on the farm, Meehan chose automatic milking as it made sense with the existing shed, which lent itself to a conversion complemented by an additional building to house the robots.
The reason Meehan went with the GEA robots was he was impressed with the fact that 'you can get down into the pit with the cows and you can manage and stay with heifers when training them'.
A closer look at the GEA robot The race and access gates coming from the robots
Another deciding factor was the layout of the robots. He wanted a layout that was simple, as the cows go out a single race when finished milking.
He said that these little details were the deciding factor after he looked at all types of robots over three years.
The cows are free to enter the robot at any time, but only animals meeting time or yield-based criteria are then milked and fed.
Meehan told Agriland : 'The whole secret to yield and the robots is good grassland management.'
He highlighted that through his ABC grazing system, 'you get great clean outs'.
The type of residuals being achieved on the farm There are multiple access points to both paddocks and water troughs
Meehan said that the cows have three different grass allocations with fresh grass in each, which he feels boosts performance through higher grass intakes and that 'the cows get used to grazing out paddocks fully'.
Meehan fed the cows about 1.5t of meal/cow last year and made the rest of the diet up with quality grass.
He insisted that 'the robots improve your grassland management', as keeping fresh grass in front of cows is what entices the herd to go in for milking.