HOW DID FARMERS ACHIEVE 45c/L COMPARATIVE PROFIT IN 2025?

• Henry Ford said: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
  • There are two messages from this statement:
    1. This will not be true for dairy farmers in 2026! Why? Because milk price averaged 58.8c/L (approx.) in 2025; costs have averaged 42.5c/L in 2025 and with the way the world is right now the cost per unit of input product is unlikely to change downward; and it is easy to calculate where profit is heading in 2026 unless we consciously address costs.
       • We must be pro-active in maximising all our efficiency traits. Let us look at the average of a few ‘very efficient’ farmers from my 2025 dairy profit monitor data. You may not get near their achievements but be encouraged by what is being achieved and try to go some of the journey.
• These few family farmers achieved (no allowance for family labour costs):
  • Total costs per litre of less than 30c/L [= €3.20/kg milk solids (MS)].
  • Profit/litre of 40c/L [= €4/kg MS].
  • Comparable costs per litre of 25c/L [= €2.50/kg MS]
  • Comparable costs per litre of 45c/L [= €4.80/kg MS]
  • Note: Comparable costs do not include: labour costs, land rental costs, loan repayments or interest on borrowings.
• How did they achieve costs of 30c/L and 25c/L for total and comparable costs?
• On the main costs they achieved:
  • 18-20c/L on variable costs and 10-12c/L on fixed costs.
  • Fed 1,000kg-1,300kg meal/cow or 1.5kg/MS-2.4kg/MS.
  • €550-€700/ha on fertiliser.
  • €80-90 per cow on vet and medicine or 1.4c/L-1.6c/L.
  • €75-€90 per cow on breeding or 1.3c/L-1.4/L.
  • €190-€250 per cow on contractors or 3.3c/L-4.2c/L.
  • Fixed costs were 9c/L-10c/L.
    • Of course, these will vary with farm circumstances; they should not be seen as ‘fixed’.
    • Which cost can I challenge?
      • Labour, interest, machinery running, electricity (looks like €50-€60 is possible), insurance, etc.
• Gross output per cow and/or per litre had, and have, a big influence on farm profit!
  • These farmers achieved a milk price of 62c/L-65c/L. How?
  • They achieved over 9% for fat and protein.
    • These two genetic traits are so important. I have observed farmers who haven’t focused on these, receive 4c/L-5c/L lower milk price than those who have – that is an extra €220/cow by being focused on genetics that matter!
  • Requiring 10.2L of milk to generate 1kg milk solid (MS).
  • Achieving all bonuses.
  • And there is a milk purchaser effect.
  • Over the milk price, they achieved a gross output of 5c/L-8c/L; achieving 65c/L-70c/L. How? By the following:
  • High cull cow prices – they are averaging over €1,300 each!
  • Low culling rates of 14%-16%.
  • Low cow mortality of 1%-2%.
  • Very high calf prices (over €160/head).
  • Low calf mortality.
  • Exceptional prices for surplus in-calf heifers (R2s).
  • Low quantities of milk fed to calves.

MAKE A MEAL-FEEDING PLAN!

• The meal feeding levels I have seen for 2025 are averaging more than 1,200kg per cow, despite my advice.
  • Meal represents 16% and 28% of variable and total costs, respectively. Therefore, its use must be planned and monitored regularly.
  • Most farmers feed meal without any plan and let ‘staff’ feed what they wish!
  • ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’. See Table 1 for the plan.
• Farmers must take actions to reduce meal feeding from an average of 1,300kg/cow/year.
  • The advice is to feed 1kg meal per kg MS, or 0.1kg per litre produced.
  • Obviously, stocking rate (SR)/ha and farm type will affect the plan.
• Table 1, suggestions by my discussion groups, outlines various levels of meal that should be fed each month depending on the annual meal feeding goal they wish to achieve.
  • You need to set this plan based on grass grown on the milking platform (MP).
  • Nobody, but nobody, stocked at advised SRs on the MP should need to feed more than 900kg meal/cow.

Table 1: Suggested meal feeding and % protein levels per month to achieve various annual meal feeding targets. Source: discussion groups.

• Why are farmers feeding so much/too much meal annually? The usual explanations are:
  • Not enough grass in spring and autumn (controllable).
  • Grass not good enough in summer (controllable).
  • Cows won’t go in calf in May-June (myth).
  • Was justified in 2025 because meal was cheap relative to milk price.
  • It helps cashflow, particularly, in spring and late autumn (myth).
• Surprising and honest reasons also arose:
  • Feeder calibration was 20%-30% incorrect (controllable).
  • Staff took it on themselves to ‘feed whatever they wished’ (you must become the boss).
  • Feeders need adjusting for various types of feed (controllable).
  • “I never really planned the amounts” (controllable).
  • Quantity being fed was never adjusted for availability of grass (controllable).
  • Too slow to react when grass became plentiful – (controllable).
• One of my clients who religiously follows the Table 1 plan achieved the following in 2025:
  • Produced 546kg MS/cow from 880kg meal.
  • Achieved 64c/L with 5.16% fat and 4.04% protein.
  • How?
    • He has a superb herd of cows, genetically – too many farmers think they have ‘good’ cows!
    • He is a great grassland manager, stocked 2 cows/ha overall and 2.9 on the milking platform.
      • He uses and manages clover to very good effect – too many farmers have a negative view of clover, which results in not managing it as recommended. Clover is the future with derogation on a ‘suspended sentence’ of three years.
  • If I told you he made over €3,000/ha profit last year maybe you would PLAN to do things better in 2026 – there is no magic in it; just stick with advised research.
• The percentage protein in the ration is important ‘to get right’ because:
  • Too much protein in the diet results in the animal using up energy to break it down.
  • Cows might milk better in the short term, but they will get thin.
  • Averaging low percentage protein in the meal for the year will allow you carry slightly higher stocking rates (SR), as follows:
    • For over 15% meal the organic SR is 92.
    • For less than 15% meal the organic SR is 90.
    • For less than 14% meal the organic SR is 89.
    • For less than 13% meal the organic SR is 87.
    • The thought process for this is that urine patches (more N in meal equals more N in urine) result in more leaching of nitrogen to groundwater – don’t let us lose the next derogation because of high percentage protein in meal.

WHY GET COWS TO GRASS EARLY!

• Focus on getting cows out to grass as soon as ground conditions allow (Table 2).
• Table 2 throws up some interesting points.
  • Having grass in the cow’s diet results in:
    • Higher total dry matter (DM) intake.
    • The lowest cost per cow per day when she is full-time at grass.
    • Even when only eating 4.3kg DM grass, the profit was €6.36 per cow per day.
    • Being full time (eating 13kg DM), the profit was €8.30 per cow per day.
    • Being able to feed 74% DM digestibility (DMD) instead of 68% DMD silage added 73c/cow/day onto profit. This equates to €73 per 100-cow herd.
  • The profit by having cows at grass in spring is worth €2.78/cow/day.
    • For a 100-cow herd this is worth €278 per day. A serious financial reward!
• To get cows out full time you need to do a grass budget now to see if you have enough grass. Also do the spring rotation planner (PastureBase); a simple tool to guide you through the spring to May.
  
  

Table 2: Benefits of having grass in the cow’s diet in spring (Teagasc).

FERTILISERS FOR SPRING

• We have to get the fertiliser game correct because too much reputational damage will be done by being careless. You must know and act on the following:
  • Know your soil fertility levels and stick to the recommendation as to how much and the correct timing.
  • Know how much chemical nitrogen (N) you can use and when to apply.
  • 1,000 gallons of slurry has 6N:5P:41K.
  • Dairy washings: 1,000 gallons (per 2% DM) has 2N:2P:14K.
  • For paddocks, the following general rules should apply:
    • Index 4: Spread N (protected urea) only.
    • Index 3: Maintenance P and K + soiled water.
    • Index 2: Thick slurry and protected urea.
    • Silage ground: Thick slurry and top up with 0:7:30.
    • Paddocks with 20% clover will require 105kg N/ha (85 units/acre protected urea) – a big saving in nitrogen expense!
  • All slurry must be spread by low emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment.
    • Respect recommendations on spreading near water systems and wet weather/land.
    • It has a value of €30-€40 per 1,000 gallons when spread by LESS.
    • Lime is the cheapest and most important fertiliser to apply
    • Nitrogen will only be 35% efficient if pH, P and K are below Index 3.
  • There is a €6 response for every €1 spent on lime.
    • More meal is not the solution to less N as the following economic annual returns show:
    • Increased soil P and K levels = 152% return.
    • Reseed full farm in eight-year cycle = 96% return.
    • Increasing meal to increase milk = 3.2%.
    • For the life of me, I can’t understand why we are so committed to buying meal at the price of it and less to applying lime, P, K and sulphur.

COW CARE – PREVENTATIVE

• Make sure all dry cows are getting 2-3oz/head of a good dry cow mineral.
• Make sure cows and heifers, within two to three weeks of calving, are kept on very clean cubicles – their immune system is now very low and there are increased amounts of infectious bugs around.
• Lame or cows tender on the feet should be looked after now. Get the FRS to do this job – you are too busy and do not have the necessary skills.
• Encourage day-time calving by feeding silage during the night (removing leftover silage in the morning) only. It is some help!
  • For this to work well, cows should be exposed to this feeding routine for seven to 10 days before calving.
  • Keep those cows and cows with tender feet in a straw-bedded maternity shed.
  • Talk to a neighbour – they might be interested in doing night-time calving for you and a neighbouring dairy farmer for €150/night. The advantages are immense!
• Be very careful when using the jack – do not rush to use it. Damaged cows will not go back in calf.
  • Infected cows (easily done with hands and equipment) will be slower to go back in calf.
  • The worst outcome could be a downer cow.
• From the time the calf’s crubes appears:
  • Leave heifers two hours and cows three hours before moving in to give help.
  • Leave enough time for the muscles to relax and the pelvis open.
  • Feed a little meal (0.5kg to 1kg) for two weeks before calving:
  • Heifers, in particular, benefit from this.
  • Allows you move on to full meal feed within days of calving.
  • Slowly increase meal feeding after calving (seven to10 days) because the cows’ intake is low and a lot of meal relative to roughage will result in acidosis and other problems.
  • Post calving this year, farmers should feed 2kg-4kg meal with grass and minimum silage. Very heavy covers exist now on some farms, but most farms have lower overall covers, confirm for yourself.
  • Farmers should be restricting the quantity of good silage being eaten by late calvers in very good body condition by feeding 2kg-3kg DM of straw.
    • Cows calving in BCSs greater than 3.3 are at higher risk of losing more that 0.5 BCS from calving to mating, which will result in both submission and pregnancy to first service being reduced by up to 50% and 20%, respectively.
• Most farmers have over 80% six-week calving rates and that brings calf housing issues:
  • If selling male calves at two weeks (per 100 cow herd) you need housing for 50 calves or 85m2.
• Prevent the spread of Johnes disease by removing the calf from the mother as soon as possible and feeding milk from Johnes-free cows and milk replacer.

BULLING HEIFERS (R2s)

• As the bulling weight targets of most heifers on May 1 must be 320+ kg, and they are likely to put on 0.8kg/hd/day between Feb 1 and then, they now should weigh at least 250kg.
  • For every 1kg they are less than that, they must be fed 4kg-5kg meal. If they are 30kg below target, they must get 120kg-150kg meal (16%-18% P) between now and May 1 or 1.5kg/hd/day over whole period or twice that over half the time.
  • With excellent care, aggressive meal feeding, delayed bulling until May 20, and then synchronising them, you will be able to serve heifers that now would be considered very small at 200kg-210kg.
  • This is a very good option if you are planning to sell these animals – the market for R2s is likely to be ‘strong’ for another year.
  • Let R1s and R2s to grass in early February, feeding meals to those who require it.

FEBRUARY: SCHEME DEADLINE DATES
With the three-year derogation extension, it is vital we obey all statutory scheme dates. I will do a monthly reminder of the major compliant dates (with thanks to Darren Carty from the IFJ).

• February 1: Opening of organic nutrient application period for farmers in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan.
• February 15: Opening of chemical fertiliser date for farmers in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim. and Monaghan.
• February 28: Final deadline for outstanding annual ACRES LESS declarations in respect of 2025 to be submitted, using the online portal.
• March 1: Prohibited period for hedge cutting, grubbing, or burning of vegetation begins.
• March 1: Grassland farmers availing of a nitrate derogation can only plough grassland leys from March 1 to May 31.
• March 1: Prohibited period commences for cutting vegetation in riparian zones in ACRES.
• March 1: Prohibited period commences for cutting vegetation in riparian zones in ACRES.
• March 6: Closing date for tranche 11 of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme.

SHORT NOTES

• Early colostrum is the most important way to prevent calf-rearing problems associated with scours and pneumonia. Follow the ‘1, 2, 3 rule’:
  • Use colostrum from the first milking for the first calf feed.
  • Give colostrum within two hours from the calf’s birth.
  • Give at least three litres.
  • Give another two litres within the next six hours.
  • A stomach tube (done correctly) alleviates some of the feeding problems. Most farmers now use it as a time saver and guarantees consumption of two to three litres in that first feed.
  • To check the quality of the colostrum, use a refractometer – many farmers now do!
• Because February is a crucial month to set things up for the year, discussion groups should meet on farm for a quick technical meeting to check what is happening on each other’s farms so as not to make mistakes that are preventable.
  • If your farm cannot run for two hours while you are away, something is very wrong with your set up.
  • By using technology, we can stay in touch – WhatsApp or Zoom – to stay on top of technical issues and overcome current challenges.
  • Use contractors more in 2026 where on-farm labour is tight or you are working too hard, for:
  • Dehorning calves.
  • Feeding out silage and cleaning yards twice per week.
  • Spreading fertilisers in bulk and slurry with the umbilical system (the only way to do it!).
  • Contract rearing of calves and heifers.
  • Contract labour for all or some farm chores (large units).
  • All reseeding work.
  • All lameness preventative care.
  • All capital investment work. Farmers must refrain from this as it is putting huge strain on the labour to run the farm and efficiencies suffer and personal health suffers.
• From what I see on PastureBase, AFCs are low on some farms. A spring rotation plan must be used to allow you feed grass every day but ration it.
• Get your adviser to do a fertiliser plan and stick with it to save costs.
• No excuses, do milk recording in 2026 so that you have the knowledge to identify the ‘bad cow’. Arising from this you will have:
  • The cows’ own worth (COW) which will identify the most profitable cows for you in the herd for the next five to seven years.
  • You will also know your best cows so that you can breed ‘your best to the best’. This is a terribly important concept to increase EBI, fertility and particularly percentage fat and percentage protein.
  • If you now have the 2025 milk recording data, use it for this purpose and to identify serious SCC offenders.

Quote of the month

“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.”