Even though he neither owns any land nor comes from a farming background, Glanbia milk supplier Noel McCall has been selected as the 2015 overall Zurich Farmer of the Year. We met up with the high-achieving young Wicklow man to find out more about his remarkable dairy enterprise
Noel McCall from Kilpoole Lower struck gold on the double at this year’s Zurich Farmer of the Year awards in May. As well as being presented with the Dairy Farmer of the Year award, the trailblazing Wicklow man was also named overall Grand Prix winner.
The Zurich Farmer of the Year awards recognise the best farmers throughout the country, rewarding excellence in all areas of farming. The awards feature eight separate categories including Beef, Sheep, Dairy and Tillage Farmer of the Year, all recognising farmers who strive to apply the highest standards to their farming practices.
Speaking at the awards night in Dublin’s Ballsbridge Hotel, John O’Connor, Chief Financial Officer, Zurich General Insurance, Ireland said: “On behalf of Zurich, I would like to congratulate Noel on his achievement, and the other winners of the 2015 Farmer of the Year Awards, as well as each and every one of those who were shortlisted. These Awards are a celebration of their successes and recognition that they epitomise the very best farmers throughout the country.”
The Glanbia milk supplier’s success in the demanding world of dairy farming is all the more remarkable when one considers that he does not come from a farming background, nor does he own any land. At just 39 years old, he is certainly bucking every trend and cliché out there!
From the age of twelve, Noel –whose father worked in a local builders’ providers – independently expressed an interest in farming by taking up summer work with farmers in the locality. Following his secondary school education, he attended agricultural college in Cheshire and developed a keen interest in pursuing farming as a career.
Following a two-and-a-half-year stint learning the ropes on large farms in New Zealand, Noel returned to Wicklow and began working on a nearby dairy farmer. In 2005, when that farmer retired at age 55, Noel leased the entire farm and started out with his own dairy herd.
With a genuine passion for the land and for his animals, as well as a clear commitment to producing the highest quality milk, Noel has gone on to develop a superb business model over the past decade. Today, he is milking some 90 cows; he expects this number to rise to 120 over the next three years.
The 150 acres of land that Noel farms is all leased. He took out a ten-year lease in 2005; in January of this year, he took out a new lease for an additional twelve years. Ideally, he’d love to own the farm but, as it is worth a seven-figure sum, this is not feasible. After all, the bottom line in farming is to balance the books – a loan in the region of one-million-euro would surely break the bank!
Through everything he has achieved to date as a dairy farmer, Noel is greatly appreciative of the support of his wife Louise and three children – Josh (7), Kimmy (4) and Lauren (1). Regarding his tremendous double success at the Farmer of the Year awards, he modestly states:
“It was a big shock, but a welcome one. To win the dairy prize was nice, but to win the overall, Grand Prix award, against the winners from all the other categories, was totally unexpected. It’s nice to get that sort of recognition and to be in that sort of company. Any of the other farmers would have been worthy winners and I felt honoured just to be in the same room as those guys.
“Just to be nominated and then to be shortlisted for the Dairy Farmer of the Year award, that was great in itself. I was happy enough with that, to be held in the same esteem as some excellent dairy farmers from Kerry, Waterford etc.
“Obviously, you are always trying to better yourself and when you look back at your results and your profits over the last five years, you know that you must have been doing something right. You get good advice from Teagasc and after that it’s a matter of working hard.
“Awards give you a bit of a lift. It’s a nice ego boost but reality clicked in the following morning when I was back out milking the cows again. At the end of the day, you are on your own at this and it’s not easy work, but the discussion groups are a good thing to keep you motivated. They are very worthwhile. You benchmark yourself against the other lads and you are always learning something.”
The land Noel farms is located at Magheramore, Wicklow – just a few miles from his parents’ home place. “I started as a relief worker here in 2000, after coming back from New Zealand. We’re three miles from Wicklow town, on the coast, close to the sea. It’s good multipurpose land, very good for grazing. I started in ’05 with 45 cows, which I bought from Pat when he retired, and was doing some beef as well in the beginning. I’ve built it up gradually. It’s exclusively dairy now. I milk 90 at the moment and keep all my replacements. The main grazing dock here is 100 acres and the second one is 50.”
It would be fair to say that Noel has always been driven, determined and motivated. “You have to have ambition to get it done,” he notes. “Attention to detail is important and I have always kept a tight rein on my finances. Once you get your grassland right, you need the right type of cow – good, fertile cows – to suit that system. It takes a lot of time and work to get things right but it’s very rewarding when you see things running like clockwork.”
Noel does virtually all of the work himself, apart from a bit of relief work, mainly around calving time (all Spring calving). Most days he works from 7am until 6:30pm – give or take a few hours here or there! He operates an eight-unit Fullwood milking parlour, which currently takes one hour 45 minutes to milk the herd in the mornings and 90 minutes in the evenings. He intends to upgrade to a 12- or 14-unit system inside the next few years.
Wholly self-sufficient, the award-winning Wicklow dairy farmer does his own slurry and gets a local contractor in to cut his silage.
The abolition of quotas has eased some of the pressure… “It’s one less thing to worry about so, from that point of view, it’s a good thing,” says Noel. “I do have a goal to expand and improve but, at the end of the day, your dairy platform acts as a natural restriction. You have to maximise what you can get out of it. I can accommodate another 30 cows here without any hassle, so that’s what I’m aiming towards. The first step will be to invest in extending the parlour and the accommodation. I’ll add ten heifers per year out of my own stock over the next three years.”
Since start-up, Noel has supplied milk to the Premier section of Glanbia. He produces approximately 5,500 litres per cow per year, all of the very highest quality. “The quality of the milk comes down to attention to detail. Cell count is probably one of the biggest factors now and it’s vitally important to keep the parlour in good condition, with the right levels of hygiene etc. Once you keep it spotless, everything else should fall into place.”
Of course, the primary producer is still in a risky position, exposed to the vagaries and uncertainties of an unpredictable marketplace. “Profit is the bottom line and you have to generate an income and be able to stand on your own two feet,” the 2015 Zurich Dairy Farmer of the Year concludes. “The trick is not to overexpose yourself when it comes to borrowing. You have to take account of the bad years as well as the good ones and know what your costs will be in any given year.
“As the price of milk is out of your control, you are totally exposed to the market. So you have to discipline yourself very well. The harsh reality is that there’s no point running a nice dairy enterprise if it doesn’t pay for itself.”
Noel McCall
Kipoole Lower,
Co. Wicklow
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 7, August 2015
