Morty O'Sullivan

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Morty is farming outside Dunshaughlin Co. Meath in partnership with his wife Lorraine and their four children. The milking block consists of 32 ha and there are 110 cows this year. The out block consists of 28 ha for silage and replacements. The farm sold 460 kg ms per cow last year, feeding 700 kg of concentrate per cow. Morty works full time on the farm and has part-time help for spring and when on holidays. He also has help on the weekends from his sons Eoin and Cormac when not in school.

Farmyard

The parlour was extended in 2012 and has 12 units with duo vac. The collecting yard can hold 130 cows. There are 130 cubicles and slurry storage for all cows and replacements. There is accommodation to calve 20 cows at any one time and there is space for 60 calves at peak. Milk is transported to calves by 170 litre milk trolley and calves are fed with 10 teat feeders.

Grazing

There are 27 paddocks on the milking block of which 12 are 24 hours and 15 are 36 hour paddocks. There is about 1.5km of roadways. Water troughs are located between each paddock, with 32 ml pipes and the farm is serviced well for water. Due to the high stocking rate there is only 1 group of animals grazing on the milking platform and bales are taken off when surpluses arise.

Machinery Work

The contractor does 80% slurry, 100% pit, bales, reseeding and 40% fertiliser. The main tractor work undertaken by Morty is feeding the cows and spreading the fertiliser.

What does labour efficiency mean to Morty?

“It makes life easier, work more enjoyable and allows more time to enjoy life”.

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	7:30	17:00	11	54	16	Silage
Comment	We got the second cut last Tuesday. We took the chance and it paid off. We cut 37 acres for the pit and 5 acres of bales from the milking block. We now have 100% of silage made. We spent a few hours stripping the existing pit, once you have arranged help it makes the job easy. No way would I do this job on my own. The contractor helps to cover the pit; this is the way he works. With the machinery they have now, silage making has been simplified and is now a small job. Going back 30 years ago 40 acres would take a week.
Jul 26th	7:30	17:00	11	52	16	None
Comment	The tractor came back from the garage last week. I got fertiliser and a small bit of topping done. My relief milker Barry brings the cows in, milks, washes up and locks in the cows when he milks for me. I’m happy to give him the responsibility to make the call on whether the cows go back into the paddock or not. I suppose we have an understanding and I tell him to error on the side of caution. I am not going to give out to him if it goes wrong, we make it work and it’s great when he comes in to do the 2-3 milking’s and I don’t have to be there. Barry is very interest in grass quality and this definitely helps.
Jul 19th	7:30	17:00	12	46	10	None
Comment	We finished breeding the heifers on the 10th of July and the 20th July with the cows. When I see a cow in heat after that date, it is hard not to AI her but I don’t want cows calving in May so I have to stick with my dates. I booked my contractor to cut 2nd cut silage for next week. The contractors are very busy so it’s a must to have them booked in advance.
Jul 12th	7:30	17:00	12	46	10	Bales
Comment	The tractor is still gone and is definitely reducing my hours. I could do with it back to spread fertiliser. We made 165 bales of good quality bales last week and the best thing of all is that I hadn’t to do any work with them. They were mowed, baled and brought in by my contractor and neighbour. He mowed 30 acres in less than 2 hrs. It would have taken me the day to do this. We dosed the 45 replacement calves for worms, they are doing well. We brought all the farm plastic to the plastic centre. This leaves another item crossed out on my to do list.
Jul 5th	7:30	17:00	12	41.5	5	None
Comment	The tractor went to the garage last week, so that meant I didn’t do any tractor work, which reduced my hours a bit. At this time of the year I can do without it for 1 week. Thursday and Friday I just did the milking. We have 30 acres to cut for bales. I have the contractor and a neighbour booked to draw in the bales. It will be busier when the silage starts again, so no harm to take a few half days off when you get the chance.

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	7:30	17:00	11	51	22.5	Bales
Comment	There has been some turnaround in grass growth. We took out 35 bales from the milking block last week. Cows are milking well at 2kg milk solids, made up from 25 litres, 4.20 F% and 3.55 P% with 2kg concentrate being fed. Last week we cleaned and disinfected all calf milk feeders. I am now doing this job 5 months earlier than a few years ago. I think this is a good sign that all the things we have put in place are now giving us more time to do jobs when they should be done.
Jun 21st	7:30	17:00	12	53	20	None
Comment	We have started the next job on the list. We are going replacing mats in one of the sheds, so we made a start and took out the mats. They must be there the last 40 years. They owe me nothing. New mats are ordered. There is no point ordering the mats in October. By ordering them now you get them in a few days. We can also work away and get them put down at our own leisure.
June 14th	7:30	17:00	12	59	12	Fertiliser
Comment	I worked 59 hrs last week of which 30hrs was spent milking. The remaining 29 hrs was spent at what I call housekeeping. These jobs include fixing fencing, water leaks and milking equipment breakdowns. These jobs have to be done and there’s no avoiding some breakdowns. I had the relief milker in to do two milkings and the contractor bulk spread fertiliser on 40 acres. If I didn’t bring in this help I would have easily worked 80 hrs last week.
June 7th	7:30	17:00	12	48	12	Silage
Comment	We had the contractor in to make the 2nd half of the first cut. I am glad now that I waited the 10 days to let the quantity increase. It went from 5.5T fresh weight to 11.25T in 12 days. It was perfect for cutting and hadn’t headed out. There was no issues with re opening the pit. Because the workload is well back I now have more time to spend with the kids on the farm and teach them what’s what. It’s good for them and gives my wife a break.

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	7:30	17:00	11	48	10.5	None
Comment	Last week was quiet on the farm so I took three half days off. 88% of the cows were served in thefirst 3 weeks and 100% of the heifers. It’s all AI on this farm, no stock bulls so we are observing cows each day. Repeats are low so far. It’s a nice time of the year on the farm.
May 24th	7:30	17:00	12	60.5	6	Silage
Comment	There was 35 acres of pit silage made last Thursday. Have another 30 acres to cut but this is not ready due to the moisture deficit. Decided to go with what was ready and will re open the pit for the next crop. Quality silage is a must for milking cows. They started at 2 o’clock and finished at 6 o’clock. It’s a great service and they stayed back and helped me cover the pit. It’s worth looking after your contractor.
May 17th	7:30	17:00	12	54	10	Hoof pairing
Comment	As workload is quite I took two half days off during the week. Breeding is going well. I only go up once a day to bring in the heifers for AI. They are 5km from the farm and in total it takes less than 1 hr. This is due to the location of the pen and the moo call. I always have a reel behind the heifers to bring them in to the pen. After the pen is more paddocks. They think they are getting fresh grass so they go in straight away. The AI man lets them back out to the field.
May 10th	7:30	17:00	12	58	22	Spraying
Comment	We had the contractor in last week spraying weeds in the silage fields. He sprayed 30 acres in 40 minutes. I’d have to fill my sprayer 5 times where he only had to fill his sprayer once. This works well from a time point of view. Last week was quiet, most of our time was spent on heat detection and milking. The pace of work has definitely slowed down in comparison to spring. We are now reaping the rewards of compact calving.
May 3rd	7:30	17:00	11	58	30	None
Comment	We started breeding on May 1st. Have 25% of the cows bred in 5 days. I am happy with this and will keep an eye on this because my target is 90% served in 3 weeks. In my opinion the big payoff for a busy spring is June to January. Eight months of a simple system that is predictable is worth a busy spring and the first 3 weeks of the breeding. I used to have a split calving herd, it’s not until you change over that you can see all the benefits.

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	7:30	17:00	11	58	30	None
Comment	We clipped tails and freeze brands last week in preparation for the breeding season. A small thing like having the freeze brands clear is a great help for drafting cows. We finalised the sire advice with our AI technician and the timing of AI for the cows and heifers. Will go with OAD for both as it reduces workload and the results are the same. Our AI technician service is working well, it’s another job that I don’t have to worry about or spend time on.
Apr 19th	7:30	17:00	12	58	22	None
Comment	We had a quiet week last week. No harm at all as the breeding season is just around the corner. It’s important to get the chance to stand back and see where you are and what needs to be organised. I made a list of the small jobs that can be done over the next few weeks. One of them is to widen a few gaps to make machinery access a lot easier and safer on the farm. Its the small things that can make a big difference at times.
Apr 12th	7:30	17:00	12	58	27	None
Comment	Last week we vaccinated all cows for lepto. We have simplified this job by now having a person to milk and as each row exits into the crush I vaccinate them. I used to milk and then hold all the cows up. Now I have a much easier way of doing this job. We also tagged the heifers for the moocall heat detection. Heifers are 5km away and this system eliminates observations and tail painting. It works fairly well. I get a text when the heifers are in heat.
Apr 5th	7:30	17:00	11	66	29	Slurry
Comment	Last week the contactor emptied all tanks and spread this slurry onto the silage ground. I always did this job myself up until last year. It used to take me 20 hrs of which was spread over 3.5 days. It took the contractor 9 hrs including rolling out and back in. This is massive time saver plus this is busy road, and the pipe system means no going up and down the road 40 times plus dirtying the road.

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
Mar 29th	7:30	17:00	12	63	26	None
Comment	I am very conscious of getting sick especially this time of the year. We are very much sticking to ourselves and leaving the relief milker to himself when he arrives. We worked out our 6 week calving rate and it’s at 86% this year. I am very happy with this. It’s plenty of cows to calf in a short space when you’re on your own but now I am reaping the benefits. Everything is straight forward now and I can see the volume in the tank, which is great.
Mar 22nd	7:30	17:00	12	58	28	None
Comment	Five of the seven evening milking’s this week started at 4.30. I’m getting there but it is definitely a mind-set issue. Cows are out day and night since Friday night. The best labour saver ever. I had to put them on two of the heaviest covers first, as they were the driest. We get the east wind here and it’s great to dry the place. Between this and the 12 hr allocations I am happy with the graze outs of these covers.
Mar 15th	7.30	17:00	12	68	18	Slurry
Comment	20 calves were sold last week. They were an older bunch ranging from 4 to 3 weeks of age. A local farmer purchased them and he was very happy with calf health and size. This gave us a chance to re organise sheds and clean calf pens. The contractor piped slurry out on the milking block. Found it hard to find a field that had a low cover and was fairly dry. With only 10% grazed I have a lot of heavy covers not suitable for slurry. It was great to get a few loads of slurry out.
Mar 8th	7.30	17.00	12	62	9.50	None
Comment	I had the relief milker in for two milkings this week. The plan for the rest of the year is that he will do 3 milkings per week. He has been with me now for 3 years. I had a student 5 years ago that I trained up and from this I really realised now important it is to remove myself from some of the milkings. Its hard to get the right person but it is definitely worth putting in the effort to find this person. Having someone else on the farm makes you get organised. It also gives you the chance to do jobs when they should be done and reduces mistakes.
Mar 1st	7:30	17:00	11	50	12	None
Comment	Had confirmation last week so had the relief milker in for three milking’s. He milks the evening milking at 4.30pm. I milk at 5 o’clock. I am really starting to consider moving this back to 4.30pm. It’s only a habit really. 80 cows calved so far. I don’t get up at night for calving. Mortality is extremely low here so this is not having an impact. When you’re on your own and you’re up at night you are no good the next day.

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	7:30	17:00	14	69	24	Concrete work
Comment	70 cows have calved in the last 3 weeks. Last Monday we went back to TAD milking. You would notice the workload increasing because of this. Mid-term break meant extra help on the farm so I took the opportunity to get some concrete work done around the yard. It suited the contractor and myself because my sons were home from school. It’s another job off the list.
February 16th	7:30	OAD	7	63	8	None
Comment	I upgraded from a 80 litre trolley to a 180 litre with a pump. This means I can transport milk to all calves in one go and no bucketing milk out to milk feeders. My two sons who are in school now help out at the weekends. They do all the bedding, liming, feeding minerals and concentrates. Definitely reduces my hours of work at the weekend.
February 9th	8.00	OAD	7	58	8	None
Comment	I have already noticed a big reduction in the amount of straw and time spent bedding the calf pens. This is due to changing the slope of the floor of all calf pens. Definitely well worth doing. I hope to see less pneumonia aswell.
February 2nd	Not started calving	Not started calving	Not started calving	21	0	None
Comment	I aim to have slurry, fertiliser, fences repaired and supplies in the yard before calving. This year this has all went to plan. At drying off, time is spent batching cows by month of calving. This reduces time at calving as you only have to take cows out of one group.

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
Jul 6th	7:30	17:00	12	41.5	5	None
Comment	The tractor went to the garage last week, so that meant I didn’t do any tractor work, which reduced my hours a bit. At this time of the year I can do without it for 1 week. Thursday and Friday I just did the milking. We have 30 acres to cut for bales. I have the contractor and a neighbour booked to draw in the bales. It will be busier when the silage starts again, so no harm to take a few half days off when you get the chance.