Paula Hynes: Our dairy farm is not a green desert

We try to limit the amount of hedge-cutting we undertake, allowing more flowers for the many hives of bees that live on-farm, writes Aherla dairy farmer Paula Hynes.

Tree-lined hedgerows on the Hynes dairy farm. Picture: Chloe Hynes

With a gap between shows this week, it has allowed us to catch up on some yard work and get the farm in order for the summer. We managed to move around some show heifers to simplify feeding and cleaning out. 

There are only a handful of beef calves left on the farm now, and they should be moving to their new homes over the next week, allowing those sheds to be washed and disinfected ready for the autumn. 

The vast majority of our spring-born replacement heifer calves are now weaned, we have taken hair samples from all of them for genotyping, and all have been dosed for coccidiosis; with the weather half playing ball we decided to put them out to a paddock, having them out has greatly reduced the workload. 

We have a beautiful walled garden on the entrance to the farm, with all its walls intact, and it’s the ideal spot to train calves to the outside world. 

Many a time, after leaving calves out in the past, we would have spent the day chasing after them after one smart-ass calf would take off through every bit of wire and go through every drain. 

While some may say feeding meal to heifer calves outside is a luxury and an unnecessary expense, the reality is young heifers are still developing their rumen, lush spring grass can have a huge negative impact on them, so we continue to allow them access to wheaten straw as a fibre source along with 2kg of heifer nuts per calf. 

It is a lot more economical to grow heifers at a young age rather than trying to play catch up the following spring pre-breeding. 

Good nutrition sets a heifer up for life, ensuring she will deliver on her first lactation, becoming a profitable member of the dairy herd.

I guess it is something we have learned from also producing show stock, young heifers we kept indoors preparing for the show ring developed better than those left out on a solely grass-based diet. I still feel it so important that animals get outdoors, and we out-wintered the 2022 show heifers; however, they performed really well at that stage on grass due to having well-developed rumen.

Breeding season

Breeding is in full swing with the cows; we AI twice a day, and our tech gives us a super service, calling during both milking times. 

It means we must start milking earlier in the mornings during breeding season so as to have cows drafted and ready for AI. We feel cows remain more settled as they are never away from the herd and return to grass straight away. 

Submission rates have been high and with cows in good body condition, we would hope for a good conception rate, February 2024 may be extremely busy if all goes to plan. I find breeding season nearly as busy as calving; you are constantly monitoring the cows a few times a day and topping up the tail paint regularly. 

Once a cow is served, I put a different colour tail paint on her so that from a distance, it is easier to spot the ones that haven't been served. It also makes it a lot easier to spot for repeats. Repeats will only be served with beef semen, and we will most likely switch to once-a-day AI shortly.

The break in showing also allowed for a little catch-up on some paperwork, Becky has been busy filling in entry forms for shows, and the calendar has been fully updated due to the hectic schedule for the summer, along with a few flights booked from Cork to Bristol now that Magic is part of the show team. 

We also caught up with our Teagasc advisor James Daunt in Clonakilty advisory to get our EU Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme application submitted, the EU love changing the names of these schemes, but essentially it is the Single Farm Payment. 

What was noticeable as we went through the maps was that we now have an accurate farm area which is available to nature via hedgerows, trees, streams, woodland etc. While the environmentalists would have the public believe that dairy farms are a green desert, the reality is 13% of our farm is available to nature.

This is something we continuously work on, and I feel in the future, we can take more positive steps towards biodiversity; we try to limit the amount of hedge-cutting we undertake, allowing more flowers for the many hives of bees that live on-farm, and while they are busy pollinating flowering hedges, that in turn increases the amount of berries available to the birds in autumn time.

The younger show calves were introduced to the halters - I always try and take my time with them, especially the jerseys, as they are so tiny. 

They have taken to it well; to be fair, as typical jerseys, they love the attention. 

With Mystic now out of action for the season [she was the heifer that injured herself prior to Emerald Expo], her coat had grown back enough, and she has been taken back out to the field with the maiden heifers. 

The feeding had to be tweaked a bit for some of the show animals; some needed more weight, while others were getting a bit pudgy.

There is a fine line with them, especially the jerseys; they just have to look at food and get overweight. We'll keep this weekend quiet for some relaxation, but hopefully, we will catch up with many of you at the Bandon Show on May 21.