No such thing as the average Irish dairy farm

JUST how meaningless the “average dairy farm” is has been revealed by a Teagasc analysis of the monitor farms it uses for advice purposes.

On 60 farms, a difference of 100% was found between the highest and lowest net profits per litre of milk produced.

The poorest performing five farms had a net profit of only 10 cent per litre, compared to 20 cent for the top five.

The average milk yield varied from 4,572 litres for the lowest output herd to 7,448 litres per cow for the best performing herd.

Nearly half the herds spent more than 2 cent per litre for bought-in feeds; but 15% spent less than one cent per litre.

There was also wide variation in replacement rate, with one-third of the herds replacing fewer than 18% of the cows per year, but 28% of herds replacing up to 27% during the year.

Teagasc specialist Tom O’Dwyer, who carried out the analysis, found that the average net profit from milk production on the 60 farms was 15.35 cent per litre.

While 13% of the farms had a net profit of 12 cent per litre or less, 26% achieved a net profit of more than 18 cent per litre. The average milk yield was 5,521 litres per cow.

The average cost of concentrates of 1.96 cent per litre.