Signpost: Electricity is not getting any cheaper

Joe O'Carroll on his farm outside Ballyheigue in County Kerry. 'At the moment, cows are milking 21 litres, 4.60% fat and 3.82% protein.' Picture: Don MacMonagle

Grass has been tight up until now but the recent rain will hopefully kick start the grass again. I have had a lot of rain in the last week – 85mm. 

I haven’t had to put in silage but I am feeding 4kg meals in the parlour. I walked the farm yesterday and I have an average farm cover of 477 kg DM/ha, cover per cow of 143 kg DM, with a growth of 46kg DM and a demand of 47 kg DM, so it’s tight. 

At the moment, cows are milking 21 litres, 4.60% fat and 3.82% protein. I will continue to walk the farm on a weekly basis, aim for covers of 1,300 to 1,500 kg DM/ha and hold rotation at 21 days.

As regards breeding, the Angus stock bull was let out this week to mop up. I am using a teaser for the 1st time this year and I am finding it very useful to pick up heats that might otherwise be hard to pick up at this time of year. 

The stock bull will be in until the 20th July and that’s it, whatever is in calf is in calf. I don’t want a long calving season next year so I have to be a little ruthless. If I pull out the bull on the 20th July, the last of the cows will be calving on the 29th April and I don’t want to go beyond that date. I think it’s crazy keeping the bull with cows into August.

I made an investment in solar PV panels recently and these will be installed in the next week and waiting on the electrician to connect it up. It’s a 6.85 KW system. I decided to make the investment because electricity is not getting any cheaper, so it should help reduce costs but also be good for the environment. I see a particular saving in the summer electricity bills. 

At the moment the ice bank is run off right rate electricity but with this I will move to the solar panels to run it and I’ll use it to heat water to 40-50oC. Maybe during the winter, I can run the automatic scrapers off it. I have 18 panels but I can add to the system as I get used to it and figure out how best to maximise its value.

The oversown clover has been a little under pressure with the dry weather. It got 10 units of N after the last grazing. It has been grazed 5 times. I am aiming for covers of 1,000 kg maximum to give it every chance. Grazing the lower covers allows for better cleanouts and lets more light into the base.

I milk recorded 6 weeks ago so I hope to be milk recording again in the next few days.