Agriland recently paid a visit to a multi-faceted farming operation based in Mullagh, Co. Cavan. John Smith is a dairy, beef and free-range chicken producer who merges the resources used for his three-seperate farming enterprises into one overall successful farming operation.
The farm encompasses approximately 145ha, with approximately 62ha of this leased. With the farm spanning across counties Cavan, Meath and Dublin, it is very much a fragmented farm and is uniquely managed to maximise efficiency.
John has a humble mantra for his impressive farm operation, saying: “Our system here is not idealistic or perfect, but we are always trying to make the best of what we have and run the farm as efficiently as we can.”
The farm is unique in that the management practices in each of the three systems on the farm may be unusual – looking solely at that system, but each system is managed in a way that benefits the other sectors for the benefit of the overall farm business.
For example, the land used for the free-range chicken enterprise on the farm is zero-grazed and fed to the dairy cows, which are housed year-round.
John explained: “Part of the criteria for free-range chickens is that the paddocks for the chickens must be maintained in a good condition but no other livestock are allowed on the paddocks.
“These fields could be topped and not utilised but we choose to cut it and feed it into a high-performing dairy herd that produce high-quality protein and fat to feed people out of that grass that would otherwise be wasted.”
As well as that, the fragmented nature of the farm makes grazing more difficult for the dairy herd.
The herd supplies its milk to Lakeland Dairies and is producing 540kg milk solids/cow/year, with an average fat content of 4.38% and an average protein content of 3.52%.
The average calving interval of the herd is 378 days, with a spring six-week calving interval of 83%.
John elaborated further on what he is aiming to achieve: “It’s about all the pieces of the system being efficient with no room for any of them to be inefficient. We maximise the output of the dairy herd, not just in terms of milk but beef also.
“We are trying to be efficient and more efficient all the time. We’re not happy where we’re at and we want to continue to improve.”
There are currently over 180 cows in the herd but John is working towards having a 160-cow herd.
He said: “We want to have 160 cows giving us X income and when we get to 160 cows, we don’t want to go to 180, we want to get to 140 but maintain X as the income. That’s the way we see it.”
The herd economic breeding index (EBI) is €175 and the 2022 inseminations had an EBI of €296. John is keen to improve his herd EBI but not overly at the expense of cow size as if his cows are too small, it will be at the expense of carcass weight in the beef enterprise.
John continued: “The ideal cow type for this farm is a cow weighing 650kg, producing 600kg of milk solids, calving once/year, producing a decent beef calf or replacement heifer, if her genetics allow.
“The dairy cow here has to tie in with the beef system. The dairy system ties in with poultry system and the poultry system ties in with the whole farm in that farm staff have year-round work and are skilled in all three areas of the farm.”
As well as John, there are three staff working on the farm. John said: “Our three staff Nikki, Valentine and Sammie are an integral part of the success of our farm and all three can work in each area as required.”
There is generally a 12% replacement rate in the dairy herd. Sexed semen is used to breed replacement heifers and the farm is achieving 60% conception rates to sexed semen.
Once replacement heifers have been bred, all other cows are bred to a beef bull with 100% of the calves produced on the farm bred from Artificial Insemination (AI).
Breeding
At breeding, cows are split into three categories. The top-performing dairy cows are crossed back to good dairy genetics with sexed semen used to breed replacements.
Smaller, crossbred cows in the herd that are not being used to breed replacements are crossed to an AI Belgian Blue bull and stronger Holstien cows are all bred to Angus bull Drumcrow Tribesman.
The Angus bull Drumcrow Tribesman (AA8172) was purchased by Certified Irish Angus, in partnership with Dovea Genetics in autumn 2021.
John’s brother Charles Smith heads up Certified Irish Angus and Charles is also involved in the management of the farm operation.
John said: “When we are picking the beef bull here, we are thinking of the progeny carcass value.
“Tribesman is a great bull for good cows and the bull has proven himself on this farm. There are plenty of other good bulls but he is a classical example of the bull we want to use.”
The aim is to produce a carcass grading O+3= weighing over 300kg.
John said: “We have very little calving difficulty here. 99% of the cows calve unassisted and while breeding is a factor, a strict dry cow diet is also important.
“It is essential to have cows in the correct condition in the lead up to and at calving while also monitoring mineral intakes.”
The farm nutritionist is Alan Hurst from Lakeland. Some of the calves are sold off-farm and some are retained for the beef system.
Heifers are generally slaughtered in November and bullocks are generally finished in December at 19-22-months-of-age.
In 2023, the average beefXdairy steer carcass weight on the farm was 309kg with an average grade of O+3=.
The cattle produced on the farm had an average slaughter age of 699 days, which is 123 days below the national average slaughter age.
John attributed this to using good genetics and careful management of the dairy-beef cattle at all stages of the rearing and finishing process.
He explained that by having his cattle for four months less than the average farmer, it is a huge financial saving for the farm but is also leading to a reduction of the emissions produced from the farm.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) output/kg carcass weight is 11.51kg CO2/kg carcass weight, which is 1.8kg below the national average and in the top 10% nationally.
All the prime cattle produced on the farm are slaughtered through the ABP Food Group’s Advantage Beef Programme, which offers a 20c/kg sustainability bonus on all eligible cattle.
New parlour
The farm recently installed a new milking parlour. The old parlour was a DeLaval 8 unit manual parlour and the new instillation is a 20 unit high-spec DeLavel parlour.
There are plenty of add-ons to the parlour but John was quick to affirm “there are no bells and whistles”. Everything on the new parlour is there as a necessity and has a purpose.
The new 20 unit swing-over parlour features Automatic Cluster Removers (ACR’s), and an auto ID system used for for the feed-to-yield as well.
Cows that have been treated with antibiotics can be added to the system and milk from these cows can not enter the bulk tank until after the withdrawal date. This milk goes through a dump line.
The new clusters are less than half the weight of the old clusters which is also a great help during milking and the silicone liners cause less slippage on cows than the old rubber liners.
Planning for the future, John hopes to further improve the efficiency and sustainability of the overall farm with a core focus on genetics, management and attention to detail.