Farmer Focus: Family time ahead of forage and culling decisions
© Cathal Noonan The first week in August marks a time to take stock practically (forage, grass, empties and fertiliser stocks); financially (cashflow, debtors, creditors and outlook); and personally (family time, social gatherings, time off the farm and headspace).
In terms of grass growth and weather, it has been a challenging 12 months. Very high rainfall levels from last July to April, followed by a dry, harsh spell, have taken their toll on annual grass growth across the country.
Dairy farms nationally have 60% of winter feed secured following first cut, but poorer second cuts haven’t addressed the shortfall.
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With some early intervention, we have secured 90% of our winter feed for a four-month period and have fields stopped up for a third cut.
Having a dry farm and knowing that we can get grass into the diet during February feeds into this, but a war chest of reserve forage is certainly needed for the frequency of unpredictable weather spells.
The decision to cull empties now is up for consideration, as each one will consume around 16kg grass dry matter/day at this stage of the year. This equates to 0.5t/month.
The cost of forage is considerable, as supply is extremely tight, so offloading voluntary culls and empties early will be a likely outcome.
However, this is weighed against the June milk price for our farm of 57c/litre (49p/litre) and a similar trend to see out the year.
This is a sorely tempting price for certain, but using up forage stocks in October and November creates a greater pinch in March if they are needed at that point.
This all feeds into discussions around cashflow, and close scrutiny of the budget is timetabled for mid-August to facilitate decision making for the rest of the year.
Finally, August signals the last few weeks before the children get back to school. Beach time, cinema and trips to meet family make up part of every week, utilising our once-a-day milking system to its full potential.
It has been a year where weather has complicated decision making to a different level. Where farmers have had to have plan B, C, D, and E up their sleeve.
Downtime is certainly needed: rest, relax and recharge just might be the most productive thing we can do.