Is a small scale dairy startup viable

Very little repayment capacity in 50 to 60 cows once you’ve paid a bit of tax and taken some bit of a wage from it,depends on family circumstances of coarse but throw a family into the mix and a substantial second income would be essential.
Farming heavy ground will eat into margins in bad weather years,
If your getting in get in cheap and go from there.
 
I know a man with a similar land base to you. He is milking 30 cow’s organically once a day. He bought a second hand parlour for little money and just rejigged his existing sheds. He is making a handsome profit and is still working full time off farm.
 
deere6320 said:
Is it actually possible to keep the cows in all year round and zero graze, I was thinking of zero grazing the leased silage ground in early spring and late in the year when my own land would be too wet
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There is a robot setup near me in west cork milking 70 all indoors and zero grazing and most of the land rented
 
I don’t know how I would get in cheap when you consider the draining ,reseeding ,and the 6 foot slatted tank wouldn’t hold enough slurry for 60 cows , so a new lagoon would have to be put where the silage pit is ,then a new Silage pit would have to be built aswell , and the list goes on , I don’t see it happening for less than 120k, I’m young and still living at home so I won’t need much income ,the area I’m in is full of big dairy lads snatching up any land that comes on the market so it would be very dodgy trying to find a 30 acre slot of land near enough for silage ,I’m happy out to work for nothing the first couple of years as long as I’m working towards something better
 
Funny the amount of times i hear buy second hand parlour and put into existing shed. A few things about that.... The shed needs to be in right position to suit cows entering and exiting to get to paddocks. Milk lorries dont like driving through sh.it. No point putting parlour into existing shed if you need it for calf or cows for winter. Parlour has to be wired up by a Sparkie or you risk shocking cows and yourself. That along could cost upto 5k . If you have heavy land the n you will need cow tracks. That could cost easy 20k.

Unless you are less than 35, 40 at a push dont consider dairying. Now time for me to goto to bed as i have to be up at 6.15am to milk my cows.
 
deere6320 said:
I don’t know how I would get in cheap when you consider the draining ,reseeding ,and the 6 foot slatted tank wouldn’t hold enough slurry for 60 cows , so a new lagoon would have to be put where the silage pit is ,then a new Silage pit would have to be built aswell , and the list goes on , I don’t see it happening for less than 120k, I’m young and still living at home so I won’t need much income ,the area I’m in is full of big dairy lads snatching up any land that comes on the market so it would be very dodgy trying to find a 30 acre slot of land near enough for silage ,I’m happy out to work for nothing the first couple of years as long as I’m working towards something better
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Why would you put your lagoon where the clamp is?
 
thefarminglad said:
Funny the amount of times i hear buy second hand parlour and put into existing shed. A few things about that.... The shed needs to be in right position to suit cows entering and exiting to get to paddocks. Milk lorries dont like driving through sh.it. No point putting parlour into existing shed if you need it for calf or cows for winter. Parlour has to be wired up by a Sparkie or you risk shocking cows and yourself. That along could cost upto 5k . If you have heavy land the n you will need cow tracks. That could cost easy 20k.

Unless you are less than 35, 40 at a push dont consider dairying. Now time for me to goto to bed as i have to be up at 6.15am to milk my cows.
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I agree but,don’t buy a new parlour and put it in the wrong shed.:no:
 
deere6320 said:
Is it actually possible to keep the cows in all year round and zero graze, I was thinking of zero grazing the leased silage ground in early spring and late in the year when my own land would be too wet
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This would depend on your land type tbh. Zero grazing will be harder on ground than silage cutting depending on the equipment, you do a lot of padding with a zero grazer wagon compared to using a butterfly mower setup 13 meter rake and a baler.
If you are near an arable area maybe you could try to exchange straw for the straw dung and do a loose house for the milkers feeding off the slats.
 
Mf240 said:
The continued expansion, the willingness of farmers to send milk for whatever they get. The dependence of cheap powders and bargain basement products to "use up" milk.
The worldwide recession thats coming down the tracks , the vegan agenda, the erosion of farm income by inflation while milk price stagnates.
Also the simple reality that every other farm product had fallen to the stage that only the very big operations can make a living. Quota prevented that in dairying, but that's gone now and we are racing to the bottom with milk to join to other products.
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How lads can’t see this is going to happen still amazes me! Fricken as obvious as a hole in the roof. And still lads getting into cows
 
Neat said:
How lads can’t see this is going to happen still amazes me! Fricken as obvious as a hole in the roof. And still lads getting into cows
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In all honesty I think the only profitable future for a family run farm will be from processing and marketing our own products, be that beef or dairy products. No-one down the supply chain seems to want to market actual products now but rather sell commodities in casein whey or butter fat powders. We are selling milk to processors who in all honesty are still mostly selling milk out to actual food processors. Not much room for both of us to make profit on effectively the same thing.
 
deere6320 said:
I don’t know how I would get in cheap when you consider the draining ,reseeding ,and the 6 foot slatted tank wouldn’t hold enough slurry for 60 cows , so a new lagoon would have to be put where the silage pit is ,then a new Silage pit would have to be built aswell , and the list goes on , I don’t see it happening for less than 120k, I’m young and still living at home so I won’t need much income ,the area I’m in is full of big dairy lads snatching up any land that comes on the market so it would be very dodgy trying to find a 30 acre slot of land near enough for silage ,I’m happy out to work for nothing the first couple of years as long as I’m working towards something better
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Don't base your investment potential on the fact that you are young and living at home. What happens when you want to build a house,get married and kids. Where do u see things going if another lad down the road is prepared to do the same in time to come. How will u compete, simply u will have to work off farm. Take a good look around u. I know of many silent yards with good facilities all around n.cork. do realistic projections and don't be a slave to the banks,coop or merchant.
 
deere6320 said:
hi lads, is there any chance that I could convert a suckler farm to a dairying , I farm 85 acres ,30 of which is very heavy and would need draining and is also under a heavy crop of rushes and the rest is well fenced and free draining ,there is a 4 bay double lean 2 slatted shed ,calf house and silage pit in place , could I justify the investment
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How dry is the remaining 55 acres ? Have you much reseeding done in the last number of years. How do you plan on coming up with the money to get up and going is it all borrowings from the bank is there someone else at Home farming with you what are their opinions.

The fact that you have 85 acres in one block is a good start. It's a huge commitment to go milking Cows and while it sound good it's not for some people. If you are 100 % it's what you want to do, you need to set out a realistic plan. It might be no harm to talk with someone in Tegasc and private advisors to help you do up the costings or what you want to do..
You don't have to go full belt at first, the best thing would be maybe start at 20 or 30 cows this will also allow you to nearly work full time and give you some extra comfort
 
Blackwater boy said:
The big indoor herd near me has or is about to pack in the zero g, too expensive.
Hard to see how the person you refer to is able to make any money form that sort of a set up
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I'd say he finds it hard to keep the zg going in terms of repairs they are not the most robust things out there... what's the plan so then cut the whole place a few times a year
 
Carrigogunnell said:
How dry is the remaining 55 acres ? Have you much reseeding done in the last number of years. How do you plan on coming up with the money to get up and going is it all borrowings from the bank is there someone else at Home farming with you what are their opinions.

The fact that you have 85 acres in one block is a good start. It's a huge commitment to go milking Cows and while it sound good it's not for some people. If you are 100 % it's what you want to do, you need to set out a realistic plan. It might be no harm to talk with someone in Tegasc and private advisors to help you do up the costings or what you want to do..
You don't have to go full belt at first, the best thing would be maybe start at 20 or 30 cows this will also allow you to nearly work full time and give you some extra comfort
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40 of the remaining 55 acres are free draining and 15 of them are as bad as the the rushes,not much reseeding done any time recently, I’m here with my grandad who was very interested in converting about 40 years ago and was told it wouldn’t work by Teagasc ,since then he has put up the buildings I said and really invested in the farm,
 
deere6320 said:
40 of the remaining 55 acres are free draining and 15 of them are as bad as the the rushes,not much reseeding done any time recently, I’m here with my grandad who was very interested in converting about 40 years ago and was told it wouldn’t work by Teagasc ,since then he has put up the buildings I said and really invested in the farm,
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Don't worry about the reseeding if the old sward is still performing well. Got grass in 40 years at home here out yielding and softer grass than the most recent reseeded swards. Actually something we need to find here is a grass that will yield and not be so stemmy.
 
I started milking 50 cows this year, I have a small farm. I built 50 outdoor cubicles incl mats for 10k. no auto scraper yet. I put the an 8 unit parlour in an existing shed, i got the parlour for taking away and bought orby feeders. I sold my beef stock and bought 20 crossbred heifers and 30 older cows. Im milking once a day as i work fulltime. I'm averaging 20.3 l/cow/day at 5.1BF and 4.00P. I also bought a load of Murphy concrete drinkers for 2.5k.
My total cost to get in was 25k incl concrete labour etc and my beef stock bought the cows. I had the place set up in paddocks so no cost there. I dont have all the roadways in that I would like but thats ok. i have a man milking 3 days a week

Even though I only have got 3 milk cheques so far, it make some difference to get a cheque for 10k plus and still have all your stock. i expect to make a profit this year even with milk price the way it is. Low input, moderate output, costs easier to control.

i had met lely and delaval about robots. i couldnt make it add up.

we really need some rain.
 
Diddly Dee said:
I started milking 50 cows this year, I have a small farm. I built 50 outdoor cubicles incl mats for 10k. no auto scraper yet. I put the an 8 unit parlour in an existing shed, i got the parlour for taking away and bought orby feeders. I sold my beef stock and bought 20 crossbred heifers and 30 older cows. Im milking once a day as i work fulltime. I'm averaging 20.3 l/cow/day at 5.1BF and 4.00P. I also bought a load of Murphy concrete drinkers for 2.5k.
My total cost to get in was 25k incl concrete labour etc and my beef stock bought the cows. I had the place set up in paddocks so no cost there. I dont have all the roadways in that I would like but thats ok. i have a man milking 3 days a week

Even though I only have got 3 milk cheques so far, it make some difference to get a cheque for 10k plus and still have all your stock. i expect to make a profit this year even with milk price the way it is. Low input, moderate output, costs easier to control.

i had met lely and delaval about robots. i couldnt make it add up.

we really need some rain.
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There’s hope for me so
 
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