Grass and fertility on agenda for conference
And who will pay for the extra processing capacity after 2015?
Glanbia milk division CEO Jim Bergin will give his views on these burning questions at the Positive Farmers Conference in the South Court Hotel in Limerick, next Thursday and Friday, January 19 and 20.
What about price volatility? Ken Bartlett will give the benefit of 40 years experience of how top New Zealand farmers manage farm budgets and debt repayment, faced with milk price swings of up to 40%. He will also talk about managing and motivating people for enjoyable, profitable farming.
Wherever you choose to expand, the key ingredients of successful, profitable dairying stand out — superb planning, excellent grass management, fertile cows, people management, low costs and strong budgetary control. Niall Murphy from Cork and Gary Nolan from Westmeath will explain how they have used these principles to build up a 1,300-cow operation in Missouri.
Conference speaker Donald Anderson used the same principles while remaining at home in Taranaki in New Zealand and expanding to five herds. And Eddie O’Donnell describes how the family have set up a second herd at Bansha, Co Tipperary.
* Grass: The cow Economic Breeding Index (EBI) has transformed thinking and practice in dairy breeding. Will the grass EBI have the same impact? Moorepark’s Michael O’Donovan explains the revolutionary grass EBI, and spells out how to use this information to increase farm profitability. Grass reseeding costs up to €500 per hectare. Researcher Philip Creighton will highlight the reseeding practices that optimise production and profit.
* Replacements: Where will your replacements come from as you expand? Laurence Shalloo, Moorepark, consultant Mary Kinston, and farm manager Tommy O’Riordan will examine the financial and management aspects of rearing your own heifers at home or on rented land, or using contract reared or bought-in replacements.
* Fertility: Also from New Zealand, Donald Anderson will tell how he achieves empty rates as low as 3% with minimal cost and intervention. He uses AI for three weeks, yet has plenty of AI-bred heifers for expansion of his high fertility herd. More high fertility advice will be presented by Andy Cromie and Kevin Twomey, who visited New Zealand.
* Partnerships: Farming partnerships may be a ladder of opportunity for young farmers to get into dairying, and for existing dairy farmers to expand. Tipperary farmer Pat Ryan and consultant Karen Brosnan will report their findings in this area, and Ken Bartlett will bring the New Zealand experience of partnerships which have made a huge contribution to industry development.
* Teamwork: As you expand, managing yourself and other people become critical success factors. Ger Hartmann, a physiotherapist who has worked with top athletes will describe how people in solitary careers, whether in sport or farming, get top results and motivation by building great support teams.
* For further information on the Positive Farmers Conference, call 066-7139118 or 087-668 0899.
