26 July 2023

From new entrants to dairying to achieving gold standards in milk production

Located adjacent to Tuam, Co. Galway, the Connelly family – despite only cupping their first cow in 2019 – are excelling in the production of high quality milk.

Overall winners of the NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards in 2022, which acknowledge the unique knowledge base and husbandry skills of Irish milk producers, Austin and Yvonne Connelly, together with their daughters Ava, Anna, Jane and Kate, opened the gates of their farm to tell their story as part of a recent National Milk Quality Farm Walk.

The dairy farming journey

Austin and Yvonne first began looking at dairy farming as an option in 2018. After developing a detailed business plan and farmyard design with Teagasc the journey into dairy farming began.

Prior to conversion, their 48ha farm was home to a herd of 50 suckler cows and a sheep enterprise which fluctuated from 200 to 250 ewes. Having not come from a dairy background, the Connellys had to upskill and take on a huge amount of new information over the last number of years. This upskilling began with conversations with Teagasc, Aurivo and visiting other dairy farms to understand their systems and to take home elements to their planned dairy enterprise in Tuam.

Austin explained: “We decided to make the change to dairying in 2018. We spoke to Michael Donoghue, our Teagasc advisor, for advice and we visited other dairy farmers. We knew nothing about dairy whatsoever and it was basically just listening to advice from Teagasc, Aurivo and other dairy farmers. Albeit it for suckler cows and sheep, there was good facilities on the farm. We had a good bit of modification to do, but we set about changing and the system we have today works very well for us.”

Genetics – the starting point of quality milk

During the conversion process, the Connelly’s were very much aware of the importance in buying the right cow from day one. The Connellys once again turned to the support network of Teagasc and their co-op to help arm themselves with the correct cow to form the backbone of their future dairy enterprise.

Along with genetics, additional considerations were avoiding any extremes – something which Austin was keen on giving his background in suckler production – keeping sources to a minimum, weight for age and cost.

“We quickly learned that genetics was the biggest thing in being sustainable and producing quality milk from a grass-based system. We focused on that when we went buying the herd. We focused on the Economic Breeding Index and specifically fat, protein and fertility” Yvonne told those in attendance.

Armed with what genetics to look for, viewing it as a once in a life time opportunity to acquire some of the best genetics in the country, the Connellys began putting their future milking herd in place. 72 in-calf heifers were purchased from a total of three herds in Kilkenny and Galway; these animals had an average EBI of €160 (milk sub-index of €56, fertility sub-index of €61 and calving sub-index of €38) – €54 ahead of the average herd in the country at the time.

Herd performance and breeding

An overview of the performance of the herd – both in the initial year of milk production and last year – was presented by Michael Donoghue, Teagasc Dairy Advisor, who explained that 6,617kg of milk (6,424L) was produced last year, putting the herd in the top band of 106kg N/cow for nitrates, but a three-year rolling average meant the herd was in the middle band of 92kg N/cow.

“The Connellys wanted to end up with a herd that was fertile, had sensible amounts of milk and had good protein potential. In the first year, milking a herd of heifers, 420kg of milk solids were produced per cow; that’s an exceptional level of performance from heifers and we would typically be expecting 350-360kg of milk solids for first lactation animals.

“Fast forward to last year when 96 cows were milked, 20 of which were heifers, the herd averaged 550kg of milk solids per cow. That came from 4.59% fat and 3.73% protein and a meal input of 900kg/cow. In terms of fertility, a 93% six-week calving rate was achieved.

“The Connellys are farming in a high rainfall area, receiving about 1.2m of rain annually, and the production they are achieving is absolutely phenomenal against a background of a heavy farm.

“Milk quality is excellent as well with TBCs (total bacterial counts) of 6,000 and SCCs (somatic cell counts) of 49,000. This isn’t a farm where cows can be turned out on February 1 and left at grass until December 1. The Connellys are really producing quality milk off a tough hand of cards on a lot of occasions.”

Now firm believers in what the correct genetics can deliver under a spring-calving, grass-based system, the Connellys have a firm focus on trying to improve the genetic potential of their herd. The level of production outlined above was achieved from a herd with an average EBI of €198, of which €141 comes from the milk and fertility sub-index.

Progression is also evident in the next generation of dairy replacements, as the milk sub-index of the 2023 young stock has increased to €88, which means they have the genetic potential to achieve over 5% fat and 4% protein, while the fertility sub-index of these animals has increased to €110.

To continue to improve the genetic potential of the herd, a targeted approach to breeding the next generation is being implemented. Austin explained: “This year, we upped the ante on beef. We only bred cows with an EBI of over €200 to dairy semen. We also used sexed semen this year for the first time. We used 25 straws of sexed semen mostly on heifers. We are only learning, we don’t claim to have all the answers.”

Through the use of the Dairy Beef Index when selecting suitable sires, the quality of the beef calf being produced by the Connellys will improve. On this, Yvonne said: “We have a conversation with the people who buy our calves. We talk to them before we start breeding to see what they like. We have two buyers – one buys all the beef and one buys any of the surplus heifers – and that has been the case for the last two or three years. It is great to be able to converse with them and see what they would like at as well.”

Table 1: Fertility key performance indicators for the Connelly farm

Quality milk

Milk quality is a key focus for the Connelly family and perhaps having come into the industry in recent years they have learned and adopted the blueprint for producing high quality milk and have not let themselves develop any bad habits over this time.

The attention to detail from cow care to milking procedures is excellent on the farm. Milk recoding plays a vital role in the overall decision making on farm – from breeding to identifying any problem cows and making culling decisions.

Each year, at least four milk recordings are carried out, with the final one done just prior to drying off. This approach allows the family to build up a picture of the herd health and allows them to identify and select the correct method of dry cow therapy for each cow.

Selective dry cow therapy has been carried out over the past two years. 75% of cows received sealer only in 2022, up from about 25% in the previous year. All this was achieved with no rise in cell count this spring.

Again attention to detail is critical here and only one line of cows is dried off at any one time so that the procedure is absolutely correct. Hygiene at the time of drying off is of utmost importance, but so too is cubical hygiene right throughout the housed period for cows. To date in 2023, there have been just four cases of mastitis, with two of these being identified by the recently introduced rumen bolus, which identified these cases prior to clinical signs.

Table 2: The Connelly farm trends in production and milk quality metrics

Commenting on the quality of the milk being produced, David Gleeson, Teagasc Research Officer in milk quality and one of the judges of the NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards in 2022, said: “The Connellys are only milking a couple of years, but it’s all about attention to detail. The TBC here last year, the year they won the award, was 7,000 and that is excellent, but it had been consistent in the other years as well.

“That’s an excellent result and it doesn’t happen by accident. You have to have attention to detail and that’s what the Connellys have here. They are using an automatic wash system, 14 hot washes every week at the right temperature, descaling every five days and they are cooling milk to 3.5 degrees. It is not rocket science what they are doing, but they are getting great and consistent results.”

David Gleeson pictured at the Milk Quality Farm Walk on the Connelly farm

Buildings and facilities

Before going into dairying, the farm had accommodation for 50 sucklers and 240 ewes. There was reasonable buildings on the farm, of which some could be converted. The decision was made that the location of the existing sheds were not suitable for the parlour. Cow flow would have been compromised. A new shed was built for the milking parlour and extra slurry and soiled water storage added.

Martina Gormley, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, who was involved in the planned conversion, highlighted the important role having good facilities play in the attraction of people to the dairy industry and why the location of the milking parlour on dairy farms is so critical.

She explained: “Milking accounts for 33% of the working year on dairy farms. The big challenge with reducing milking time is cow flow and locating the parlour in the correct location. A lot of times, unfortunately, the parlour is not located where it should be, as farmers are trying to reduce costs by positioning it in a location with existing infrastructure, often leading to problems with cow flow at a later stage. The first question dairy farmers need to ask themselves when planning a new parlour is: ‘Is it in the right location?’

“Austin and Yvonne took the advice on board and located the parlour in the correct location. Their yard is very well designed, with the parlour being on one side of the yard, the collecting yard directly behind it – fed from the main milking block farm roadway – and the drafting unit and cubicle sheds directly next door. As a result, cow flow is excellent on this farm, be it when the cows are at grass or when the cows are housed.”

Martina Gormley discussing labour efficiency on dairy farms at the Connelly farm walk

A new 16-unit parlour was installed, with cluster removers, auto washer, a batch feed system and a simple drafting unit is located at the exit of the parlour, which allows cows to be separated for AI or treatment. The number of rows of cows milked is another important focus area to optimise labour efficiency at milking time. The Connellys aim to milk 96 cows, which Yvonne explained “is the perfect number for us as it means we are milking six rows of cows”.

Along with the initial development to commence milking in 2019, the Connellys have continued to develop their farm’s facilities, with this keeping pace with the increase in cow numbers between 2019 and 2022.  There are 118 cow cubicles on the farm, while slurry storage has also been increased by roofing tanks and a new tank was constructed last winter.

In addition, since converting to dairy, roughly 1.4km of farm road has been installed. The water system has been upgraded with 26 new water troughs and 35% of the farm has been reseeded.

For more information on producing quality milk, see the open day booklet from the Connelly family’s farm walk