Richard Hinchion
Richard Hinchion
Richard Hinchion milks 60
dairy cows and rears 40
replacements on 34ha (83
acres) at Crookstown, west
of Cork city, in southern
Ireland. With a fixed quota
of just over 300,000 litres,
the emphasis is on low-cost
production. Cows yield
6000 litres from 650kg of
concentrate
THE weather is still as bad as ever, and may be even worse. We had the wettest May in history, poor ground conditions, poor grass growth and cold nights. This led to all my beef cattle and calves being housed for a week in mid-May.
Cows were housed after three hours grazing at night time. Fortunately we have plenty of silage and round bales, which was some consolation. Georoid, our eldest son, received his first Holy Communion, which was a milestone in his life and a joyous occasion for the family. It also managed to take my mind off waterlogged paddocks, stemmy grass and low proteins.
As we approach mid-June, little has changed. All animals are out full time, but many cattle and calves are still indoors. It looks as though we are paying for the dry, mild winter last year.
However, cows are yielding 26 litres a head on June 15, on 3kg of a pulp based ration. We were feeding 5kg in the wet weather. Our milk protein level is poor, with one test as low as 3.18% in late May. Overall we had 3.57% butterfat and 3.23% protein for May.
Hopefully, the milk price wont drop anymore. Our net April milk price was 17.6p/litre. Our co-op, Dairygold, is giving £12.80/t allowance on all dairy/beef rations bought in the month of May.
We sold our seven cull cows privately at home for £331.38, which released more grass into the rotation during the wet weather.
Thanks to my good wife, Helen, constantly hounding me to cut the silage, we managed to get it ensiled on June 1. The weather was good and ground conditions were okay after the vast rainfall. We were lucky, as there is still a lot of first cut silage growing in mid-June.
Having finished the silage, my only and elder sister, Anne, lost her battle against cancer at the young age of 48. This was a major blow to our family and we are still coming to terms with her loss. It proves one thing – your health is your wealth – and all our farming problems fade into insignificance. May she rest in peace. *