The abolishing of the milk quota is certain to have a major impact on the dairy farming industry.
The milk regulations that were in place, placed a national production quota for each EU Member State. If that Member State exceeded the quota, a penalty was imposed, also known as a “super levy”.
However, since January this year that quota no longer exists and farmers are free to produce as much milk as they want. Nonetheless, a cautious approach must be taken when deciding to expand.
The Power brothers in Callan, Co Kilkenny have a dairy herd of 300 cows and last September, they installed a 50 unit Dairymaster rotary milking parlour.
According to John Power of Kilkenny hurling fame, this has helped revolutionise their milking procedures, while he also spoke about expanding the herd even further.
Jim, Edmund and John Power are three of six brothers that run the family farm that covers 1,000 acres, 600 of which is their own and the other 400 is leased.
John feels that abolishing of the milk quota gives them more freedom to put plans for expansion into place.
“We were basically farming with handcuffs on as there were so many restrictions in place, but it is a new environment now that the milk quota has gone,” stated John.
“We installed that new Dairymaster last September and it has been a great investment for us. It used to take over three hours to do the milking, but now it can be done in an hour and ten minutes and it frees up so much more of the day to do other things.”
As we enter the summer months, there is plenty to be done around the farm and John revealed that they cut their own silage and do their own tillage.
“We would do all the work ourselves, we have a good fleet of machinery here and asides from it being a big saving, we don’t have to wait for a contractor to fit us in, we can just go out and do it ourselves”
This is a mixed farm as milk, beef and cereals are all focused on in a big way, but for the future, the dairy end of the farm looks set to lead the way.
The new milking facility can cater for up to 500 cows and already, the Powers are producing up to 800,000 litres now and that is set to rise even further in the coming months.
“We grow with our own heifers, while in beef, we have Friesian and Angus heifers. This helps cut down on the threat of diseases as well. While the Powers have scaled back their beefing operation from the massive 1,500 head they were handling during the heyday of the headage schemes, they still fatten 850 head, and don’t plan to shrink any further.
“With the number of cows, we won’t need to buy in stock. Instead we’ll run an Angus bull with the heifers and a Friesian with the cows.”
All of the milk produced on the Power farm is sent to Callan Co-Op which is operated by Glanbia and with there set to be such an increase of milk produced around the country, there is a concern that milk prices could drop.
“It is something that could happen alright, but you just have to take what you get, worrying about it won’t make a difference, so you just have to get on with it,” added John.
The volatile nature of the beef and tillage industries means that the Power brothers are certainly focusing more on their milk production.
“You always take a chance in farming no matter what area you focus on, but we have always been dairy farmers right back to my father’s time and his father before him.”
John admits that farming has become a lot more scientific in recent years and you have to pay greater attention to what you are feeding your stock.
“Ireland is still well behind a lot of countries when it comes to farming. Here on average, we produced 29 and a half litres from a cow, while in the likes of Germany they produced up to 50 litres per cow, so we are doing something wrong somewhere. The diet is the most important part of milk production and that is an area that we pay a lot of attention to.”
With so much legislation in place, there is also plenty of paperwork to contend with and John feels that this can be unfair, given the nature of their work.
“We are going from morning to night and then you have to find time to do the paperwork as well. Something needs to be done on that front. There are genuine mistakes being made and farmers are getting punished for it.”
Of the machinery that the brothers use, this includes a John Deere Harvester and six New Holland tractors as well as a JCB and a wide range of trailers.
“We would deal with JR Perry Ltd in Kilkenny for a lot of our machinery and we have been with them for a good few years now.”
The Powers have an enviable 600ac block of land around the home farm, which they plan to dedicate to a milking herd of 500 cows.
“That sets us up nicely for dairying because land is going to be the new quota. The other thing that we have in our favour is labour, because you need reliable labour when you’re at the cows.”
Ger Cunningham has been working on the farm for the past few years, while during the summer months one or two others are brought in to help with the busy period.
The next generation of Powers are coming up as John’s eldest, twins are showing a keen interest in farming as well as hurling.
“They are just finished their Leaving Cert now and they can focus more on the hurling over the coming months. They will be working here for the summer and they will decide what they want to do after that.”
The Powers believe their future reliance on the dairy cow will be replicated around the country. “You need a big premium to carry the suckler cow, and that just isn’t there now. I think it is all going to go back to the traditional breeds off the dairy cow. That’s the way it used to be.”
John Power
Callan,
Co Kilkenny
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 7, August 2015
