Monitor and modify your plan to reap rewards

A good plan is the basis for any successful business.

But monitoring and modifying this plan in changing circumstances is the real key to success (unlike our disastrous Irish economic controls).

Every successful farmer has a good plan, which is regularly monitored and adjusted if necessary. It doesn’t always work out as expected, and sometimes there are some bad elements in plans.

For example, dairy farmers have at various times explored plans for out-wintering, winter grazing, applying nitrogen in late autumn, and feeding little or no concentrates to cows.

A more recent example of poor planning was to produce a lot of extra milk next spring. As I have repeated here many times in recent years, many farmers have got bad advice based on statements that heifers calving down in 2015 will not be subject to milk quota.

Instead, I would say that farmers who plan to calve down a lot of extra heifers and ignore quota in the early spring of 2015 are “planning to fail”, due to super levy fines.

There will be a huge number of extra heifers calving down early next spring.

On top of a likely serious over-quota situation continuing from 2014, the milk from the extra heifers will likely cause chaos next spring, unless something unexpected happens, such as bad weather. It seems very unfair to penalise member states for milk over-production next year, when the EU quota is not being filled, and while countries outside the EU are expanding into world markets.

I understand that great political efforts are being made at EU level to get some relief from quota restrictions next spring, but without much success.

There is really no satisfactory way to solve a serious over-quota problem. Once-per-day milking, low-protein rations, milk to calves, culling problem animals, etc, will be some help, but will not prevent serious financial losses.

Calving heifers in late March to minimise milk supply up to the end of March would be the worst solution, because it would result in a cycle of late calving.

Compact calving around a mean date of mid-February has the potential to increase profitability on a 100-acre dairy farm by €12,800 compared with a mean calving date of mid March. Farmers on heavy land may target calving a little later — but heavy land in spring will also be heavy land in autumn, which will restrict autumn grazing.