Converting to dairy farming has become a relatively common occurrence across NI in recent years, although not many new entrants started the same way that Niall and Samantha McCarroll did.
Five years ago, Samantha was working as a business studies teacher and Niall was a plasterer. They did not own any farmland and, although Samantha was brought up on a beef farm, Niall had no farming background.
They were rearing some dairy-bred calves and had a small flock of sheep on rented land prior to purchasing their farm near Fintona, Co Tyrone, in late 2014.
Starting dairying from scratch in Tyrone.
Since then, the McCarrolls have established an 80-cow spring-calving herd and are now approaching the end of their fifth season of dairying.
Samantha gained experience of different dairy systems by working part-time as a milk recorder when she was at university in Belfast.
“I enjoyed working with cows and was always asking the farmers questions when we were in the parlour. Niall then started relief milking for local dairy farmers, and he ended up doing some milk recording work as well,” she said.
Niall and Samantha McCarroll with their daughters Myra and Jessica.
Investments
Before the first cow was milked in March 2015, the first six months on the McCarroll’s newly purchased farm was spent renovating the dwelling house, building a cubicle house and installing a new milking parlour.
There are enough cubicles in the shed for the current 80-cow herd, although there is room for additional cubicles to be installed in the future. The 10-unit swing-over parlour has room for four extra units to be installed.
There are 70 acres of land around the yard which can be used as a grazing block for the milking herd. An outfarm is mainly used for grazing young stock and making silage.
Although there had to be significant investment in the yard, the McCarrolls have also been investing in the grazing block as growing and utilising grass is the central part of their system.
All land on the milking platform has been reseeded over the past five years and grazing infrastructure has been well developed with laneways, drinkers and mains-powered electric fencing.
There has also been drainage work carried out in high-priority areas. However, further drainage has been put on hold for now to allow money generated by the business to be spent building soil fertility and reseeding.
There are 20 heifer calves on the ground for breeding next year.
Spring calving
When the farm was purchased, the McCarrolls decided to go for a block spring-calving system as the land is relatively dry, which allows a long grazing season. Cows usually get out to grass around mid-February and are housed full-time at the end of October.
Niall and Samantha make extensive use of on-off grazing when ground conditions are delicate. This involves letting cows out to grass for a few hours and then bringing them back in once they finish grazing.
Samantha points out that the seasonal workload pattern of block calving also allows more time for family life, especially at the end of the year. All cows are dried off around mid-December and calving does not start until February. Cows are only milked once a day on Sundays during late lactation.
The herd was initially established by buying heifers and cows locally, and from the Republic of Ireland. Most of the purchased stock were high-EBI bred Holstein Friesians or crossbreds with Holstein Friesian and Jersey genetics.
Yields
Last year, cows averaged 5,500l from 1.2t of concentrates. The milking herd is in late lactation at present and is averaging around 10l/cow/day. Over 30% of the herd are first lactation cows and the first of these were dried off last week.
The McCarrolls have been using Holstein Friesians EBI sires since they started milking. For example, bulls used earlier this year include Candy, Action, Eimer, Parker and Anton.
Cows were bought throughout the first year and the calving profile was initially spread out. In 2016, breeding was delayed until May to allow the compact spring-calving block to be established. Any cows that are slow to get in-calf are sold off at the end of each season.
“We took a hit in milk production by delaying breeding, but it meant we were disciplined about maintaining the block calving pattern from the start,” Niall said.
Scanning results this year have 73 out of 78 cows in-calf and due to calve down within 13 weeks next spring. A beef bull was running with the cows during the summer and the five cows that were initially not in-calf will be scanned again before being either sold as in-calf cows or culled as empties.
Breeding
During the breeding season, cows are artificially inseminated (AI) with dairy sires for four or five weeks before an Irish Moiled bull is introduced. Cows are tail-painted and observed for heats twice a day before milking. Samantha has been doing all AI work in the milking herd for the past three years.
Heifers were synchronised with CIDRs this year and an AI technician was used for fixed-time AI. Overall, eight out of 11 heifers went in-calf with the programme, and an Angus bull was used afterwards to sweep up.
The McCarrolls have been measuring grass weekly during the grazing season for the past three years. Figures are uploaded to AgriNet and management decisions are based on the grass wedge which is produced by the computer programme.
“In the first year of measuring we probably didn’t get much from it. It took us a year to trust the wedge and move quickly when it said we had surplus grass that should be taken out for bales,” Samantha said.
Dutch lessons on calf rearing
Samantha is speaking at two upcoming dairy conferences in NI about a recent study trip to the Netherlands. The trip was part of the Farm Innovation Visit programme and focused on calf rearing.
Samantha said that hygiene and colostrum management were two key lessons that she took away from visits to Dutch dairy farms.
“I bought a brix refractometer to test colostrum quality afterwards and in general we are putting more effort into cleaning and disinfecting calf pens after use,” she said.
A range of local and international speakers will also be addressing the events, which are being organised by CAFRE, the Ulster Farmers’ Union and Dairy UK.
The venues are Greenmount Campus, Antrim on Tuesday 19 November and at the Silverbirch Hotel, Omagh, on Wednesday 20 November. Each event begins at 10.15am. Tickets cost £20 and are available at www.ufuni.org/events.
Dairy Day returns to Punchestown
The Irish Farmers Journal’s annual Dairy Day event returns to the Punchestown Event Centre on Tuesday 19 November from 9am to 5pm.
The event will involve workshops on a range of practical topics, as well as industry speakers from Ireland and abroad, including the Netherlands, China, Chile, Germany and the UK.
Dr John Penno is the headline speaker at the event. He co-founded New Zealand based dairy processor Synlait in 2000 and stood down as its chief executive last year.
There will be three stages at Dairy Day 2019, plus over 60 trade stands and a live jobs wall. Entry to the event is free, with three tokens which are being printed weekly in the Irish Farmers Journal.
Distance
Punchestown is one hour 40 minutes from Newry, two and a half hours from Dungannon and two hours 40 minutes from both Omagh and Ballymena.
Read more
Calf rearing lessons from the Netherlands
Calf rearing in full swing in Co Down
Converting to dairy farming has become a relatively common occurrence across NI in recent years, although not many new entrants started the same way that Niall and Samantha McCarroll did.
Five years ago, Samantha was working as a business studies teacher and Niall was a plasterer. They did not own any farmland and, although Samantha was brought up on a beef farm, Niall had no farming background.
They were rearing some dairy-bred calves and had a small flock of sheep on rented land prior to purchasing their farm near Fintona, Co Tyrone, in late 2014.
Starting dairying from scratch in Tyrone.
Since then, the McCarrolls have established an 80-cow spring-calving herd and are now approaching the end of their fifth season of dairying.
Samantha gained experience of different dairy systems by working part-time as a milk recorder when she was at university in Belfast.
“I enjoyed working with cows and was always asking the farmers questions when we were in the parlour. Niall then started relief milking for local dairy farmers, and he ended up doing some milk recording work as well,” she said.
Niall and Samantha McCarroll with their daughters Myra and Jessica.
Investments
Before the first cow was milked in March 2015, the first six months on the McCarroll’s newly purchased farm was spent renovating the dwelling house, building a cubicle house and installing a new milking parlour.
There are enough cubicles in the shed for the current 80-cow herd, although there is room for additional cubicles to be installed in the future. The 10-unit swing-over parlour has room for four extra units to be installed.
There are 70 acres of land around the yard which can be used as a grazing block for the milking herd. An outfarm is mainly used for grazing young stock and making silage.
Although there had to be significant investment in the yard, the McCarrolls have also been investing in the grazing block as growing and utilising grass is the central part of their system.
All land on the milking platform has been reseeded over the past five years and grazing infrastructure has been well developed with laneways, drinkers and mains-powered electric fencing.
There has also been drainage work carried out in high-priority areas. However, further drainage has been put on hold for now to allow money generated by the business to be spent building soil fertility and reseeding.
There are 20 heifer calves on the ground for breeding next year.
Spring calving
When the farm was purchased, the McCarrolls decided to go for a block spring-calving system as the land is relatively dry, which allows a long grazing season. Cows usually get out to grass around mid-February and are housed full-time at the end of October.
Niall and Samantha make extensive use of on-off grazing when ground conditions are delicate. This involves letting cows out to grass for a few hours and then bringing them back in once they finish grazing.
Samantha points out that the seasonal workload pattern of block calving also allows more time for family life, especially at the end of the year. All cows are dried off around mid-December and calving does not start until February. Cows are only milked once a day on Sundays during late lactation.
The herd was initially established by buying heifers and cows locally, and from the Republic of Ireland. Most of the purchased stock were high-EBI bred Holstein Friesians or crossbreds with Holstein Friesian and Jersey genetics.
Yields
Last year, cows averaged 5,500l from 1.2t of concentrates. The milking herd is in late lactation at present and is averaging around 10l/cow/day. Over 30% of the herd are first lactation cows and the first of these were dried off last week.
The McCarrolls have been using Holstein Friesians EBI sires since they started milking. For example, bulls used earlier this year include Candy, Action, Eimer, Parker and Anton.
Cows were bought throughout the first year and the calving profile was initially spread out. In 2016, breeding was delayed until May to allow the compact spring-calving block to be established. Any cows that are slow to get in-calf are sold off at the end of each season.
“We took a hit in milk production by delaying breeding, but it meant we were disciplined about maintaining the block calving pattern from the start,” Niall said.
Scanning results this year have 73 out of 78 cows in-calf and due to calve down within 13 weeks next spring. A beef bull was running with the cows during the summer and the five cows that were initially not in-calf will be scanned again before being either sold as in-calf cows or culled as empties.
Breeding
During the breeding season, cows are artificially inseminated (AI) with dairy sires for four or five weeks before an Irish Moiled bull is introduced. Cows are tail-painted and observed for heats twice a day before milking. Samantha has been doing all AI work in the milking herd for the past three years.
Heifers were synchronised with CIDRs this year and an AI technician was used for fixed-time AI. Overall, eight out of 11 heifers went in-calf with the programme, and an Angus bull was used afterwards to sweep up.
The McCarrolls have been measuring grass weekly during the grazing season for the past three years. Figures are uploaded to AgriNet and management decisions are based on the grass wedge which is produced by the computer programme.
“In the first year of measuring we probably didn’t get much from it. It took us a year to trust the wedge and move quickly when it said we had surplus grass that should be taken out for bales,” Samantha said.
Dutch lessons on calf rearing
Samantha is speaking at two upcoming dairy conferences in NI about a recent study trip to the Netherlands. The trip was part of the Farm Innovation Visit programme and focused on calf rearing.
Samantha said that hygiene and colostrum management were two key lessons that she took away from visits to Dutch dairy farms.
“I bought a brix refractometer to test colostrum quality afterwards and in general we are putting more effort into cleaning and disinfecting calf pens after use,” she said.
A range of local and international speakers will also be addressing the events, which are being organised by CAFRE, the Ulster Farmers’ Union and Dairy UK.
The venues are Greenmount Campus, Antrim on Tuesday 19 November and at the Silverbirch Hotel, Omagh, on Wednesday 20 November. Each event begins at 10.15am. Tickets cost £20 and are available at www.ufuni.org/events.
Dairy Day returns to Punchestown
The Irish Farmers Journal’s annual Dairy Day event returns to the Punchestown Event Centre on Tuesday 19 November from 9am to 5pm.
The event will involve workshops on a range of practical topics, as well as industry speakers from Ireland and abroad, including the Netherlands, China, Chile, Germany and the UK.
Dr John Penno is the headline speaker at the event. He co-founded New Zealand based dairy processor Synlait in 2000 and stood down as its chief executive last year.
There will be three stages at Dairy Day 2019, plus over 60 trade stands and a live jobs wall. Entry to the event is free, with three tokens which are being printed weekly in the Irish Farmers Journal.
Distance
Punchestown is one hour 40 minutes from Newry, two and a half hours from Dungannon and two hours 40 minutes from both Omagh and Ballymena.
Read more
Calf rearing lessons from the Netherlands
Calf rearing in full swing in Co Down
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