There is no doubt that 2024 proved to be a challenging year for farmers, and so farmers should be analysing their farm performance for 2024 to see where they can improve on in 2025.
Now that the majority of spring calving herds have been dried off and the milking year is finished, farmers need to look back at what they did right and wrong throughout the year.
The year started off as a challenge with a wet spring and slow grass growth, which saw many farmers struggle in the spring with regards to grazing and fodder supplies.
As the year went on, grass growth struggled to follow its regular growth patterns and extra meal and silage continued in the diet of many herds, which put pressure on farmer’s pockets and fodder.
The second half of the year proved to be a bit more favourable as dry spells allowed decent grazing conditions and as the year went on milk price improved and the back end allowed cows to stay out for longer than usual.
Farm performance
It was certainly a year of two halves and the latter end has allowed for farmers to save on fodder which already gives 2025 a better outlook.
As well as this, it is forecasted that milk prices should hold at a high level, at least in the short term, with some reduction occurring as the year progresses and averaging over the year, milk prices in 2025 could be up 5% on the 2024 level.
Teagasc’s Outlook 2025 has forecasted that the average dairy farm income in 2025 of €113,000 would represent a 27% increase on the estimated average income level for 2024.
Some questions farmers can ask themselves include:
- Are all my paddocks performing, do I need to reseed?;
- Do I have good enough access to all my paddocks? Would extra roadways help?;
- Did I make too many, or not enough bales last year?;
- Am I maximising the number of days at grass?;
- Am I overstocked on the farm?;
- Am I stocked according to grass growth on the farm?;
- In relation to soil fertility, do some paddocks need lime?;
- Did I reach grass growth targets and how much concentrates/cow were fed?
Obviously weather has a big part to play for a lot of these questions and targets, but there is definitely areas that can be improved or measures that can be implemented to overcome and be prepared for the poor weather.
The poor performing paddocks need to be identified by carrying out a soil test, ideally at this time of the year and a plan put in place to get these at optimum performance for 2025.
Cow performance
With nitrates banding, fertiliser regulations and other environmental regulations, farmers need to make sure that every cow is performing in the herd and maximising output.
With the uncertainty around the nitrates directive, farmers need to make sure that they are maximising cow efficiency and performance with the number of cows that they have.
Some question to ask about cow performance:
- Did my cows achieve my milk solids target?;
- Am I happy with the cell counts?;
- Was there an issue with mastitis or lameness?;
- Am I happy with how the calving and breeding season went?;
- Are all the cows pulling their weight?;
- Am I milk recording and if not, should I be?
For the autumn calving herds, the breeding season is already underway and the selection of sires has already happened but for the spring calving herd, the focus should be selecting for higher solids, good fertility and low maintenance.
It is important to follow the records on your farm from previous lactations to acknowledge and identify the top performing cows in the herd.
Farmers should determine what improvements can be made within the farm to achieve sufficient soil fertility, and farm performance.
Then, focus on the genetics of the herd, determine which are the best cows, and use these to breed the future cows within your herd.
