‘It was a great move’ – why this West Cork farmer cross-bred his pedigree Holsteins

David Deasy took over a 60-cow pure-bred herd from his father in 1998. Now he milks 230 cows and is ‘getting fantastic results’ – but he is not happy about the levels of regulation around farming, or the lack of appreciation of farmers’ efforts

Milk quotas destroyed a generation of Irish farmers, but the pendulum has swung the other way, with too many farmers overloaded with work and lacking facilities, according to Cork dairy farmer David Deasy.

“The EU said we’ll get rid of quotas and the government said agriculture will be the saviour of the country, drive on, drive on,” he says.

“Now the message is ‘stop and everyone into reverse’.”

He also says regulations and inspections are the greatest mental load on dairy farmers today, with the whole sector facing a cliff edge in the next few years.

“No one comes onto the farm and asks the farmer how they’re doing — that’s not on any form or any inspector’s agenda,” he says.

“No one in the supply chain cares that we’re working seven days a week. But if I make a mistake on a form, woe betide me.

“The common sense is gone out of farming and we lack representation and leadership. There is no one saying ‘stop’ and there is no understanding of how farming and certainly dairy farming works. The regulation around farming doesn’t make sense.

“I’m not being negative, I’m being realistic. If you talk to the majority of farmers, or lorry drivers or vets, they will tell you the same.

“There has to be an appreciation for farmers and farmers’ efforts, but the current vibe that is being put across is that ‘we’re destroying the environment and everyone in it’”.

David farms outside Timoleague with his wife Una and their three boys — Jack, Paul and Donncha. He insists that he still enjoys farming, despite the challenges.

He took over the family farm on April 1, 1998, and today milks 230 cows, having built it up from the 60-cow pedigree Holstein herd his late father Jackie kept.

“My eldest, Jack, is interested in farming and machinery and of course I’d love to see him going farming, but he’ll have to get an education first.

“There is much more to education than academia and I feel they would miss would miss out on a lot by not going.”

David admits that it’s difficult to encourage any young person to get into dairy farming at the moment.

“It’s a full-time job and few of the younger generation want to get their hands dirty, except a small number, as life is too good,” he says.

“Dairy farming is a seven-day-a-week job. I live 10 minutes from Clonakilty and when I was in my 20s the weekend started on a Thursday night and finished on a Monday night.

“Today, it’s like a ghost town on a Saturday night. Social isolation is a huge problem.

“You can get flights for nothing and head off, but try find someone to milk cows for you at the weekend.

“In my opinion there will be a huge fall-off in farmers. I’m not being sentimental but there is nowhere for people to go. If you want to go out in Cork, you can stay over but you can’t drive home to milk in the morning.

“Or you can get a job in a chemical company and have every weekend off.”

David cross-bred the cows 10-12 years ago and says moving away from pedigree was some of the best advice he was given.

“Others were getting fantastic results and we are too — we are doing 561kg milk solids at 4.7pc butterfat and 3.7pc protein,” he says.

“I was concerned about doing it but people I knew and trusted advised me to do it and it was a great move.

“I’m very lucky that I have some excellent consiglieres.

“Today, we have the solids, we have trouble-free cows and no fertility issues.”

David has been using sexed semen for the past couple of years and finds it good, with two calving blocks for the herd — six to eight weeks in October/ November and another block between January 10 and March 10.

“We only milk a peak amount of cows for 4-5 months of the year and we start drying off autumn calvers at the end of July and August,” he says. “

It splits the workload and makes it easier and it’s good for cash-flow.”

The farm comprises 130ac in one block, along with rented land, and David zero-grazes as well as making baled silage.

“Where I am we have a microclimate and grass grows all year round.”

49pc of the farm is grazed already this year with excellent regrowth, according to David.

“I use Cork Grassland Services to measure grass and plan rotations.

“We are growing around 15.5tDM/ha on less than half a bag of urea, maybe 15-20 units of urea and watery slurry.

“When I developed the year I put in a slurry separation system in order to utilise the liquid portion to its maximum potential for growing grass.”

“The common sense is gone out of farming and we lack representation and leadership”