Start up Costs dairying

case 956

Anyone out there give me know the rough costs of starting up dairy enterprise on 95 acre Grazing Block. Currently sucklers but hate them and tbh no money in them. can use Existing buildings. please can someone help me and is there quota available in Lakeland area. Many Thanks

jeff greene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l91ISfcuzDw

It depends on what you have already in terms of roads, fencing, water, cubicles etc. don't underestimate them. Big ones are parlour, tank and stock, you can go cheap and cheerful with them or get modern parlour and deep pedigree registered cows.

keep going

120 cows 150k maybe less next year
parlour building id say 40k
tank,machine 60k
water ,roads 30k
wintering building at least 150k
and allows at least 20k for bits and peices
could be more could be less but alot depends on what you can do yourself and how clever you are

John_F

teagasc are the people to work out the feasability i guess, or another advisor, plenty private ones far exceed teagasc.

one question though:

if you hate suckler cows, what makes you think you'l have any love for an animal that before calving needs a strict diet, at calving could lead to problems, at first and subsequent milkings may tear your arm off, in the first 100 days after calving has a high risk of kicking the bucket, that will make sure you'l be up early and late and will tell you when shes hungry? the cow must come first :cool:

blue5000

John_F wrote: »

teagasc are the people to work out the feasability i guess, or another advisor, plenty private ones far exceed teagasc.

one question though:

if you hate suckler cows, what makes you think you'l have any love for an animal that before calving needs a strict diet, at calving could lead to problems, at first and subsequent milkings may tear your arm off, in the first 100 days after calving has a high risk of kicking the bucket, that will make sure you'l be up early and late and will tell you when shes hungry? the cow must come first :cool:

You forgot to mention

1. Sundays morning and evening.:rolleyes:
2. vet bills
3. higher fertiliser, meal, labour costs
4. Boom one year, bust the next year, hard to make repayments when milk is 20c /litre.....
5. Possibly paying more for ai straws than a bull calf is worth?:o
6. Wearing wellies 365 days a year, and wearing out a pr every 2 months.
7. Having the 'co-op' taking half your summer milk chqs for meal and fertiliser.:(

On the plus side its a nice feeling having 300 yoyo worth of milk in the bulk tank on a May morning before 9 o'clock.:D

case 956

Dont get me wrong sucklers are grand but i want ta have a stable income farming fulltime and sucklers wont do that. I no milking 24/7 and lifestyle not as good as drystock. I do relief milking and love it and mostly do it Sunday Morn and eve, but i love it. i was planning to put up basic 1o unit parlour secondhand in a existing shed, secondhand bulk tank and build 40 Slatted cubicles at the back of a slatted shed, Any idae as cost that will be

irishh_bob

John_F wrote: »

teagasc are the people to work out the feasability i guess, or another advisor, plenty private ones far exceed teagasc.

one question though:

if you hate suckler cows, what makes you think you'l have any love for an animal that before calving needs a strict diet, at calving could lead to problems, at first and subsequent milkings may tear your arm off, in the first 100 days after calving has a high risk of kicking the bucket, that will make sure you'l be up early and late and will tell you when shes hungry? the cow must come first :cool:

my brother milks 90 cows and the only thing any of them get while dry is silage along with pre calver minerals in the final six weeks prior to calving

as for cows that kick , apart from a few heifers which need training into the regime , most cows never kick and they are gentle ben compared to your average human hating suckler cow

to say that a dairy cow has a high risk of dieing in the 1st 100 days post calving is exagerating in the extreme , i for one would say she has a less chance of dieing than a suckler cow as she would be treated for grass tetany more consistently and reliabley

file under scaremongering OP

babybrian

these are all rough guess's..Doing most of the work yourself.
Second hand parlour €4000, excluding installation.
Cubicle shed, maybe €30000 but I even be on the high side if you were to do the work yourself.
Second hand tank €10000
Roads, water, fencing = €20000
misc = €5000
100cows = €120000

Do new entrants need to pay much for quota?
Maybe @ 10cent/litre x 100cows x 5500ltrs/cow = €55000

Total at probably a cheap way,but then again cheaper is not always better €244000 or round it up to €250,000

John_F

irishh_bob wrote: »

my brother milks 90 cows and the only thing any of them get while dry is silage along with pre calver minerals in the final six weeks prior to calving

as for cows that kick , apart from a few heifers which need training into the regime , most cows never kick and they are gentle ben compared to your average human hating suckler cow

to say that a dairy cow has a high risk of dieing in the 1st 100 days post calving is exagerating in the extreme , i for one would say she has a less chance of dieing than a suckler cow as she would be treated for grass tetany more consistently and reliabley

file under scaremongering OP

fair play to your brother, would he recommend a fella starting off with 90 cows? the new entrants only get 40,000 gallons quota. are you seriously saying that a suckler cow takes more care than a milking cow, just think of the stress and pressure the dairy cow is under! grass tetany is one think but what about milk fever, surely a cow milking 30 litres is under more pressure than a cow with a calf sucking her? the 100 days pre calving and the 100 days post calving are the at risk periods, 100 days pre calving she must be in and maintain the right condition and the 100 days after calving if she gets any set back she isnt right for the rest of the lactation. its not scare mongering, its reality. if the op hates suckler cows how could he have any love for a dairy cow, if you dont like the cow then shel get blamed for everything and in my opinion wont be seen after right, where did it make sense to have a cow who can do 7 thousand litres and feed her for 4 and have another cow and feed her for 4 too, teagasc, the farmers journal and with them alot of irish farmers are being led astray, you dont just feed a cow for milk, you feed her for condition, rumen health, feet, reproduction and health.

its not me scaremongering, its called being realistic and everyone who wants to start off dairying must realise it,

jeff greene

John_F wrote: »

where did it make sense to have a cow who can do 7 thousand litres and feed her for 4 and have another cow and feed her for 4 too, teagasc, the farmers journal and with them alot of irish farmers are being led astray, you dont just feed a cow for milk, you feed her for condition, rumen health, feet, reproduction and health.

its not me scaremongering, its called being realistic and everyone who wants to start off dairying must realise it,

Get off the fence:D

I agree with all that, but many farmers I know realize that too, its all about balance in everything, feeding, breeding. At the moment, cows are on 10kgs of maize, 3 soya hulls, 1 soya, doing 32 litres @ 3.96 BF and 3.31 P. with good submissions eating plenty of grass, balance

Irish Bob, your brother is obviously a good operator but get out a see other farms, early lactation problems are a killer there, be they retained cleaning, mastitis, lameness, acidosis, LDA etc, etc

John_F

jeff greene wrote: »

Get off the fence:D

I agree with all that, but many farmers I know realize that too, its all about balance in everything, feeding, breeding. At the moment, cows are on 10kgs of maize, 3 soya hulls, 1 soya, doing 32 litres @ 3.96 BF and 3.31 P. with good submissions eating plenty of grass, balance

Irish Bob, your brother is obviously a good operator but get out a see other farms, early lactation problems are a killer there, be they retained cleaning, mastitis, lameness, acidosis, LDA etc, etc

that fence is hot you know! any thing in parlour?

jeff greene

John_F wrote: »

that fence is hot you know! any thing in parlour?

No, don't have feeders

Tipp Man

jeff greene wrote: »

Get off the fence:D

I agree with all that, but many farmers I know realize that too, its all about balance in everything, feeding, breeding. At the moment, cows are on 10kgs of maize, 3 soya hulls, 1 soya, doing 32 litres @ 3.96 BF and 3.31 P. with good submissions eating plenty of grass, balance

How much is that costing per litre??

Our cows are getting 1kg of nuts (purely to stop tetany) per day and all grass. Our butter fat isn't as good (3.75) but our protein is better (3.42). Yielding about 28-29 litres and that includes 30% heifers

linebacker52

Tipp Man wrote: »

How much is that costing per litre??

Our cows are getting 1kg of nuts (purely to stop tetany) per day and all grass. Our butter fat isn't as good (3.75) but our protein is better (3.42). Yielding about 28-29 litres and that includes 30% heifers

Our cows have been out since calving started on 1 feb getting 3 kg of meal till this week drought has forced me increase it hopefully with rain I can take it all together soon. Cow yielding 24 litres fat 3.88 protein 3.36 my point is up to two years ago we were buffer feeding maize and ok yield was better but the cost of the buffer and extra meal didnt make sense with low milk price for me low cost is the only wat to go.

jeff greene

Tipp Man wrote: »

How much is that costing per litre??

Our cows are getting 1kg of nuts (purely to stop tetany) per day and all grass. Our butter fat isn't as good (3.75) but our protein is better (3.42). Yielding about 28-29 litres and that includes 30% heifers

Its €1.40 per cow so 4c/l but its not that simple, small land base around parlour, cows with a will to milk, cows aren’t losing condition, dungs are healthy so hopefully conception will be good, yield is good and will stay above 30 litres well into the summer.

Not as cut a dried as some make out, but thats only my farm, if I had different cows, a big bloke of land to graze I might be the same as you. Grass is making up the majority of their diet and they’re out, so not that different really.

Your BF is good, I know some of my neighbours are under 3.40, cows are very loose too.

Different strokes for different folks and all that

Tipp Man

jeff greene wrote: »

Its €1.40 per cow so 4c/l but its not that simple, small land base around parlour, cows with a will to milk, cows aren’t losing condition, dungs are healthy so hopefully conception will be good, yield is good and will stay above 30 litres well into the summer.

Not as cut a dried as some make out, but thats only my farm, if I had different cows, a big bloke of land to graze I might be the same as you. Grass is making up the majority of their diet and they’re out, so not that different really.

Your BF is good, I know some of my neighbours are under 3.40, cows are very loose too.

Different strokes for different folks and all that

Agreed completely - every farm and every farmer is different and like you say sometimes the hidden costs (cows not going in calf etc) are where the real expense lies

I hope you didn't take my original post as being criticial, it wasn't meant to be, I was just curious when i saw the diet.

Been a good year for us with the protein and BF, think the excellent weather in April had a lot to do with it

irishh_bob

you would think their were opportunitys to take a long term lease on a dairy farm , if the owner had retired etc , that way , your only real expense would be buying cows

then again , how much per acre would it cost to rent a 100 acre dairy farm with all the infrastructure that goes with it , i imagine it would be as expensive as renting potato ground

F.D

irishh_bob wrote: »

you would think their were opportunitys to take a long term lease on a dairy farm , if the owner had retired etc , that way , your only real expense would be buying cows

then again , how much per acre would it cost to rent a 100 acre dairy farm with all the infrastructure that goes with it , i imagine it would be as expensive as renting potato ground

I have often looked into this option and can never get the sums to add up the farm is either not big enough or missing something that you would be as far on spending the money on your own place at least it would be yours once paid for,
but it would be low risk if things did go bad at least you could just sell the cows and move on,

i think stick in a secondhand Robot, second hand milk tank you only need the corner of a shed for it put in the cubicles as you can afford it:cool:

irishh_bob

F.D wrote: »

I have often looked into this option and can never get the sums to add up the farm is either not big enough or missing something that you would be as far on spending the money on your own place at least it would be yours once paid for,
but it would be low risk if things did go bad at least you could just sell the cows and move on,

i think stick in a secondhand Robot, second hand milk tank you only need the corner of a shed for it put in the cubicles as you can afford it:cool:

and was the cost per acre higher than average con acre for grazing

F.D

irishh_bob wrote: »

and was the cost per acre higher than average con acre for grazing

think it was 180 per acre from what i can remember which is high enough, but it again it was more the costs like infrastructure to make it work was where it was harder to justify spending the money, especially when it was not yours at the end of the day

irishh_bob

F.D wrote: »

think it was 180 per acre from what i can remember which is high enough, but it again it was more the costs like infrastructure to make it work was where it was harder to justify spending the money, especially when it was not yours at the end of the day

ordinary grazing ground is near that price , im talking about renting a dairy farm which has everything already in place , milking parlour , cubicle sheds and of course , quota

anfieldrd

Considering building a new parlour, 8 unit?? What kind of figures would i be looking at to build the shed itself, tank, before putting in any of the equipment, talking about the steel, concrete, etc? Have the equipment for the parlour, pump, bulk tank etc already from a family member who retired?

kevthegaff

i started 3 yrs ago

quota 38k gls 25k euros
milking machine 12 unit installed meself 6k
bulk tank 800gl 900 euros
70 cows 80k
silage pit 16k
i had a tractor pit and shed and cubicles and bad roadways and some water from river

Its tough going starting off but im starting to make a little now i have replacements of my own