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Jimmy Cotter

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Jimmy is farming in Leades, Aghinagh, Coachford, Co. Cork, and is married to Ann. They have three children Richard, Miriam and Brid.  The milking block consists of 35 adjusted ha and there are 120 cows to calve this year. The out block consists of 12 ha which is cut four times. The farm sold 564 kg ms per cow last year, feeding 1000 kg of concentrate per cow.  Jimmy works full time on the farm and has help from family members at evening time and at weekends.

Farmyard

The parlour which was built in 2015 has 20 units and cluster removers and auto washer. The collecting yard can hold 130 cows. There are 126 cubicles in total and slurry storage for all cows and replacements. There is accommodation to calve 12 cows at any one time and there is calf space for 50 calves at peak. Milk is transported to calves by pump and heifer calves are fed with an automatic feeder.

Grazing

There are no set paddocks on the milking block as grass is allocated by strip wire in 12, 24, or 36 hour paddocks. We have about 2.5 km of roadways which is pretty much what we need. Water troughs are located on the side of each field, with 32mm pipes and the farm is serviced quiet well for water. There is 1 group of stock on the milking block.

Machinery work

The contractor does 100 % of the slurry, pit silage, bales and reseeding. The main tractor work Jimmy does is fertilizer spreading and feeding silage during the winter.

What does labour efficiency mean to Jimmy?

“To me labour efficiency means using all available methods to make life on the farm easier, more profitable and enjoyable (most of the time)”.

Weekly Updates 2020

July

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
2nd Aug 7:15 17:00 10 25 7 None
Comment Workload is still quiet these days. The main jobs are milking, putting up wires and fertiliser. Only milking 6 rows of cows is proving week on week to be a massive time saver on this farm. It frees up so much time to do other work or to get time away from the farm. Building covers to keep the cows out longer is the big priority these days. To build covers concentrates will have to increase and a few high SCC cows will also be sold. I’ll keep grass measuring and use this to aid my decisions.
Jul 26th 7:15 17:00 12 37 8 Bales
Comment We made 30 bales last week from the milking block. At this stage all paddocks bar one on the milking block has either been cut for bales or pre mowed. There has been no topping done this year. From a labour and profitability point of view for me this is crucial. A field topped looks nice but I find the dung paths are still there, grass is wasted and graze outs can be difficult for the next grazing. Cows are milking well at 4.65% f, 4.05% P and 22.5l giving 2.04kg/ms/day, feeding 0.5kg concentrate.
Jul 19th 7:15 17:00 12 25 8 Slurry
Comment The contractor was in to spread slurry on 30 acres for the 3rd cut silage last week. We aim for this to be cut the end of August.  We don’t put any stock on this land because we send our heifers to a contract rearer. So we usually take 3 cuts of silage plus zero graze one cut around mid-October. If the weather was fine Id bale it instead of zero grazing, as I find bales easier on the ground. This 4 cut system works fine here and keeps workload down as I don’t have to have young stock to graze this ground.
Jul 12th 7:15 17:00 14 30 10 Silage, fertiliser & soiled water
Comment Last week was fairly quiet. My hours reflect that at 30 hrs. for the week. We do very little machinery work, only the bear necessity really. We have a good contracting service provided to us so we use this service. We got 30 acres of second cut silage picked up on Monday. Two days later I got a contractor in to spread fertiliser on this ground for 3rd cut. This land is 1 mile away from the milking block and is very suitable for four cuts of grass.
Jul 5th 7:15 17:00 13 27 6 None
Comment Last week we took out 7.5 acres for bales out of the milking block to try and get grass quality back on track. Last week my hours were well back. I spent 13.5 hrs milking,1 hr setting up wires,1.5 hrs spreading fertiliser, 3 hrs repairing an auger,2 hrs mowing grass for silage,1 hr bringing in bales, and 5hrs between a discussion group meeting, farm visit, and consultations. Having 13 milking’s done in just over 1 hr each is a big time saver. Cows are not locked in to paddocks unless quality is poor. This saves a lot of time, as you don’t have to go out for the cows in the morning. Cows come in themselves in the mornings. We are down now to 0.8 kg per concentrate per day and they still come in.

June

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
Jun 28th 7:15 17:00 10 50 8 None
Comment Grass is now growing well. We are back to 1kg concentrate and milk solids are holding well at 2.1 kg/ms/cow coming from 24 litres, 3.85 p% and 4.50 f%. Due to the drought the paddocks on the wedge are not exactly as I would like. I am still grass measuring twice per week. Two grass walks take two hours in the week.  For me the whole system would fall down if I didn’t do these grass walks. It’s part of being profitable, labour efficient and creating a simple system.  
June 21st 7:15 17:00 8 47 10 Bales & spraying
Comment We had the contractor in to post spray the reseeded field last week. It was sown 6 weeks ago. We also made 20 bales on the milking block. The paddock had gone too strong at 2500kg/dm/ha. I had been grazing 2000kg/dm covers and getting on ok but 2,500 was just too strong. Taking out this paddock has reduced my cover down to 500kg/dm/ha. Because of this I have now increased my concentrates from 1.8kg to 4.5kg/day. We got 25mm on Saturday. Hopefully growth rates will take off.
Jun 14th 7:15 17:00 9 45 8 None
Comment We got 20 mm of rain between Friday and Saturday. We are just getting by with feeding 1.8kg concentrates and stemmy grass. Labour hasn’t increased yet due to the lack of rain but we are feeding grass that would otherwise have been baled. Cows are milking well at 2.15 kg/ms/cow. I’m surprised with the F% and p% at 4.40 and 3.80 with the grass being strong. I am not complaining at all and thankful that the genetic potential of the herd is being delivered.
June 7th  7:15  17:00  46  10  Slurry 
Comment   We had the contractor in last week spreading soiled water on a few paddocks on the milking block. Growth rate is 58, down from 90. Workload hasn’t increased yet with this dry spell. My daughter Brid did 7 of the milking’s last week. Our children were brought up working on the farm from a young age. I believe its great experience for them. I could have done more milking’s last week myself but I think giving responsibility to young people is very important.

 

May

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
May 31st 7:15 17:00 7 46 10 Slurry
Comment We had the contractor in last week to spread slurry on the silage ground. 92% of the cows were served in the first 3 weeks. The heifers were all served in 14 days except for one. I am very happy with the submission rates. I only did 7 milking’s last week as my children are finished their exams and now at home. I took advantage of this opportunity and took it easy.
May 24th 7:15 17:00 12 57 20 Silage & Fertiliser spreading
Comment There was 35 acres of 1st cut made last Monday the 17th May. I am happy with the yield and quality. I also had the contractor in to spread fertiliser on this ground. It took him 1 hr to spread 30 acres. It’s a great service. The last of the heifers went to the contract rearer last Wednesday the 20th May. If the calving pattern was spread out Id have the calves for another month.
May 17th 7:15 17:00 13 73 20 Reseeding, manure spreading, bales
Comment It’s hard to believe that I worked more hours last week than I did for any week in spring. There was three contractors in between reseeding, silage and spreading farmyard manure. My hours increased because I brought in the bales, levelled the field for reseeding, loaded the dung for spreading and stones had to be picked as well. It all came together, which is fine because my pace of work had been fairly slow and relaxed for the last few weeks.
May 10th 7:15 17:00 14 48 12 None
Comment We are 10 days into breeding. When we built the parlour 5 years ago an automatic drafting system was also put in. I spent years getting in and out of the pit to draft cows. There would always be one or two that would go against you and this creates stress on man and beast. Now with this auto draft all drafting is done automatically. It definitely removes work with the breeding season and other jobs throughout the year.
May 3rd  7:15  17:00  12  52  12  None  
Comment   Last week the first batch of 26 weaned replacement heifers went to the contract rearer. There is another 18 that are still on milk. The auto feeder weans them by age which is set at 65 days. The youngest heifer was born 15th March and will be weaned on the 18th May. At that point all 44 heifers will be with the rearer. This just leaves the cows to look after which creates a simple system from a labour point of view.

April

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
Apr 26th 7:15 17:00 12 47 15 Spraying, reseeding, drainage , bales
Comment We had two contractors in last week. Twenty bales were taken from the milking block. They came from a paddock skipped from the first and second round. There was also some drainage, spraying and reseeding work carried out by the contractor. The contractors are important to us. They need us and we need them. I try to work with them as best as I can and so far it’s working out well.
Apr 19th 7:15 17:00 13 40 15 None
Comment I am 15 years now grass measuring. I used to use the quadrant and shears but now I eyeball the covers. I’m fairly accurate because I’m so long doing it and I benchmark my growth rates off other farmers in my group. Before measuring I used to top each paddock 3 times a year. Looking back it was madness from a labour and profit point of view. It takes less than an hour to do the walk and input the data. It simplifies the system and keeps us on track.
Apr 12th 7:15 17:00 14 37 15 None
Comment Calving is nearly done with just one cow left to calve. My hours are well back due to this and also the 20 unit parlour that was built 5 years ago. Some thought I was mad putting in 20 units for my cow numbers. I’m delighted with it as it only takes 45 minutes per milking with 5.5 rows. When you are milking twice a day that adds up. I think the first day you put in the machine is the cheapest.
April 5th  7:15  17:00  12  39  16 None 
Comment   Since the 1st April the moo monitor has been recording the pre heats. This is my fourth year using this system. My in calf rates and empty rates have not improved with this technology, but I have bought myself time. I am 35 years farming and it was only four years ago that I had most of the big jobs done in the yard that I could make this investment. It eliminates tail painting and observing cows.

March

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
March 29th 7:15 17:00 13 48 15 Slurry
Comment I had the contractor in spreading slurry on the silage ground last week. Half of all the cows calved in 16 days with a 6 week calving rate of 82% and we hit 95% calved as of yesterday the 29th March. The 6 week calving % was 92% last year, which is what I’d prefer because it is the most important KPI on my farm for profitability and labour efficiency. Grazing is going well, we are at 4.68 f% and 3.66 p%, 28 l (2.4 kg/ms) and feeding 2.7kg meal.
March 22nd 7:15 17:00 12 45 15 None
Comment Cows are out full time since last Wednesday. This is good for man and beast. There is a lot less work when cows are out as there is no feeding silage and liming cubicles. Also when cows are out full time you don’t have to hold them up in the yard and there is less cleaning when they are milked. My hours are less than last week as the children are at home and helping out.
March 15th 7.15 17.00 13 50.5 10 Cleaning shed
Comment It was hard grazing last week. Some of the graze outs were not good. However my priority is getting grass into cows as it’s the best fed I have. Cows are milking well at 26L, 5% fat and 3.6% protein. Evening milking time is flexible in spring. When conditions aren't too bad I milk at 4 o’clock to have cows at grass at 5 o’clock. Bringing cows back in to the shed at 8 o’clock in the evening is definitely not a job I like doing. But I feel it’s worth doing.
March 8th 7.15 17.00 14 48 11 None
Comment My hours worked have reduced from previous weeks. I put this down to the fact that calving has slowed down, milking is faster and very few calves to look after. For me having that number of calves sold at 2 weeks of age is a big labour saver. At the minute I have 41 calves on the automatic milk feeder and only 1 calf to feed manually. This is a massive time saver as it reduces feeding, cleaning and bedding.
March 1st 7.15 17:00 14 61 8 None
Comment As of yesterday 84 cows have calved. One jacked due to calf coming backwards,  other than that they have all calved themselves. This is a big labour saver and I put this down to easy calving sires. People’s opinion differs on the use of a calving camera. I wouldn’t be without it because I won’t settle for any calf mortality because I wasn’t there. However this means broken sleep and a very tired farmer.  I can't stomach calf mortality. That’s just the way I am.


 

February

Week Ending
Sunday
Milking AM
(cups on)
Milking PM
(cups on)
No. of milkings 
by farmer
Farmers hours 
per week
Employee/family 
hours/week
Contractor used 
this week
February 23rd 7.15 17:00 10 65 20 Dairy washings
Comment Last Thursday there was 70 cows calved and at that point I went to TAD milking. I find the OAD very good for getting the heifers settled and for helping reduce BCS loss. The OAD milking also settled me back into this busy period. The herd annually delivers >500kg/ms/cow consistently so I don’t think production is affected. Cows are really only 1.5 to 2 weeks on OAD.
February 16th 7.15 OAD 7 65 4 None
Comment Heifer replacements have been going to a contract rearer for the last five years. Along with this we now have an arrangement that 30 of my AA calves also go to the rearer. The first batch of AA went last week.  This is a blessing as it really reduces spring workload with rearing calves. The rearer is a great stockperson and we are fair to each other and aim for a win win situation.
February 9th 7.15 OAD 7 42 4 None
Comment Three years ago I got the herd watch app. I find it really good as it eliminates having to bring paperwork into the house. Once the calf is born, the calf is registered straight away on the app. Its also removes errors and having to register calves late at night.
February 2nd 7.30  OAD  24 None 
Comment  Heifer calves are being trained on the automatic calf feeder. If it broke I would replace it in the morning. It’s a great time saver. There’s no collecting or transporting milk. It also saves time as you don’t have to be cleaning equipment. 

 

July