Young Dairy Farmer Shows How to Cut Costs

12 November, 2003

A Cork dairy farmer has cut his production costs by almost 7c/litre (30c/gallon) during the past four years, resulting in an increase of €16,000 in net income.

Denis O’Donovan, who produces 330,000 litres (73,000 gallons) of milk at Rosscarbery in Cork, told the Teagasc National Dairy Conference in Cork that substituting high quality grass for meal was the key to this massive cost cutting story.

“The reduction in meal feeding took almost 3c/litre off production costs, amounting to an overall cost saving for the farm of over €9,000 in 2002 compared to 1998” he said.

“Now, every day a cow is milking she has grass in the diet. For the past four years, no milking cow has been fed grass silage. After calving in spring, cows are fed a combination of grass, maize or wholecrop wheat. This has enabled me to drastically cut meal feeding while maintaining yields at 5,900 litres (1,300 gallons) per cow”, he added.

Denis O’Donovan, who is 31, is a graduate of the two year Teagasc Certificate in Farming training programme. He also completed an advanced dairy diploma course run by Teagasc at Clonakilty College. He is now an active participant in the intensive advisory programme run jointly by Teagasc and Carbery Milk Products.

His farm is one of some 100 ‘monitor farms’ established by Teagasc throughout the country and the detailed information on physical and financial performances is used as benchmarks for all dairy farmers.

A member of a dairy discussion group co-ordinated by Teagasc adviser, Seamus O’Dowd, Denis says the interaction with other dairy farmers was a critical factor in bringing about increased productivity.

“To increase the size of my dairy business, I need access to land, ideally through leasing, and access to additional quota at a realistic price,” said Denis O’Donovan.

Click here for the proceedings of the 2003 National Dairy Conference.