Farmer Focus: Cows dry and culls gone for a good price
Eurig Jenkins © Richard Stanton Annual shut down is here. The herd was all dried off this week – though we had already dried off 150 over the previous month.
They all get a teat sealant, and about 30% will get antibiotics as well. The following day, they get a mineral bolus and a wormer.
Fifty in-calf heifers were housed in the second week of December. The other 60 or so are still out grazing paddocks and will probably be housed just before Christmas – if it stays dry and if the grass lasts.
See also: How to reduce mastitis ahead of spring calving
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R1 calves, on the other hand, are getting fresh grass paddocks twice, if not three, times a day to avoid poaching.
With all cows dry, their diet has changed to more roughage in the form of haylage bales. With barren prices easing slightly off before Christmas, 52 animals left the farm on 14 December.
They should come to a nice lump sum, as they weighed well and carried a good cover.
However, our milk price for January has dropped again, albeit not to the level of 22p/litre for brokers apparently selling milk on the spot market.
I see no sign of the downward trend changing during the first half of 2026, unless production drastically falls.
December has been full of meetings, dinners, audits and a few social events, which have taken a toll on the bank balance. But in general, the 2025 season for us has been good.
Our comparable farm profit meeting is at the end of January, so we shall benchmark against others in the group and focus on efficiency for the coming season, rather then dwell on the high milk price year we have just had.
Silage quality and quantity have been up, with 12.47t dry matter/ha grown on the grazing platform, up 1.6t on the previous year.
It was also nice not to have a new project on the go, and I think everyone had a good work/life balance for the year.
Looking ahead to 2026, we have a TB test in the first week of January, then calving will get under way and hopefully the milk price will start with a “3”.
So stepping off the gas is not an option, as we may have two large projects to get our heads around, and must maintain efficiency and strive for a profit in a business that has bank borrowings to service.
Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas).