Family farming in Tierworker

Reporter MICHAEL KEAVENEY caught up with THOMAS ROGERS, a dairy farmer in Tierworker, to learn more about his dairy enterprise, why he starts his calving season earlier than most, the next generation of part-time farmers and the challenge of rising costs...

In the east of the county, at Tierworker, Thomas milks 85 British Friesian cows through an eight-unit herringbone parlour. He finds British Friesians calves have a good market value, especially when crossed with other breeds.

“I find if we breed them with white head or Angus bulls, they produce a good calf, with a good market. They’re not hard to sell. It’s much easier to find buyers for them than it is for crossbred jersey calves. Whenever I’m selling people ask if I have jersey genetics in them, it’s always the first thing they ask for. About a decade ago, there was a lot of talk about them but not as much anymore.”

While the cows have advantages, Thomas says it doesn’t suit his system due to his land being fragmented.

“Jersey crosses don’t produce the same volume as a British Friesian, but they produce good kilos of solids.

“Our cows aren’t big strong Holstein cows, so they’re not as hard to maintain, but they’re not as hardy as the jersey cross. However, if you have the land bank to keep them and the scope, they’re easier to maintain.”

Thomas is tight for ground on his milking platform and brings in silage from outside to provide supplementary feeding.

“We have a small platform of 50 acres,” he revealed, “so we bring in silage from the outside.”

As a result, he starts his calving season earlier than most, in order to extend his grazing season at the back end of the year.

“We start calving in mid-December and try to finish up on the first week in April.

“We don’t have the land to milk a lot of cows in the back end of the year, so we dry some off and move them to an outside block, which frees up land for those that calved in March/April to keep milking on grass.”

Drought

2022 was a poor year for grass growth due to extended periods of drought throughout the summer, with Teagasc saying there was more than a 10% reduction compared to the three-year average. Luckily Thomas has built up a silage reserve to see him through.

“I bought silage from a farmer beside me, and put it into the pit, it worked out well.

“We were lucky we had enough feed last year so we’re not too badly affected by the drought. I have plenty of silage gathered up. I thought I would have a full pit left over, but they’re eating it quickly enough. I should be fine though, especially if cows can get out to grass quickly enough.”

Milk price and profitability

Despite record milk prices in 2022, Thomas is concerned a small drop in milk price will have a massive impact on farm profitability due to soaring costs.

“Milk price was good last year. But it will be under pressure this summer. If milk price drops, farmers could be under pressure. It could be nearer 40c/l than 50c/l. It looks like a good price, but between fertiliser, ESB, contractor fees and others then there won’t be much left over. Fertiliser has more than tripled in price, fuel prices have gone up a lot in the last few years. If we count up all our costs including land prices, repayments and things like this, then our costs are almost at 40c/l.”

The next generation

Thomas’ son, who is also called Thomas, is interested in farming, but also studying in college, where Thomas Snr says he hopes he develops a way of getting an off-farm income.

“My son Thomas is in college doing accountancy, he has his own block of land and yard leased so he does contact rearing for me.

“He has plenty of options in the future, he can work as an accountant and do some farming on the side.

“I don’t know what route he will go down, it’s probably too much to milk 85 cows and work full-time, especially on our platform, where we can be tight for grass throughout the year and doing a lot of buffer feeding.”

But, for now, life on the Rogers’ farm is good and the cows are content.