Ways you could improve your dairy farm

Every farm will have different things to improve that make the biggest difference to the farm business but here is a list of suggested ways (in no particular order) to improve , or questions to challenge a dairy farm.

• Deal early with succession planning, have a Will and a lasting power of attorney in place, and make sure that non-farming siblings/children are catered for fairly (if not necessarily equally). Where necessary, use an external facilitator so that all family members feel heard and respected
• Do not let TB breakdowns derail the business plan. Be realistic about your chances of getting clear based on the local area and farm history and have a clear strategy of how to maintain cow numbers. Do not keep all beef calves in the hope of going clear
• Monitor prices of global commodities and use that information to budget, manage expenditure, and be aware of how their business may be affected
• Make financial forecasts that allow prediction of future tax liabilities, and in a high profit year put cash aside for the bill or make sensible investments that will reduce costs on farm. Do not buy a new tractor or spend frivolously to reduce tax liabilities
• Be open-minded about the contribution environmental schemes can make to the bottom line. Do the sums like it is another potential enterprise to build into the business. There will probably be some easy gains within them
• Have good financial discipline stemming from accurate costings, robust budgeting, and financial monitoring. Forward projections should be based on past performance and an understanding of the market, combined with setting realistic goals and implementing plans to achieve them

• Invest in farm staff and their skills in people management. Make the farm a great place to work. Top performing farmers train and upskill staff even if this leads to them progressing to other opportunities elsewhere
• The business has regular short but productive team meetings and staff know what their tasks and responsibilities are for the week ahead
• Staff are given regular routine appraisals in time set aside for the purpose. The farm managers take on feedback from staff and use it make themselves better people managers and the farm a better place to work
• Consider contracting out field work, allowing the business to own minimal machinery and reduce the associated costs. This also allows the team to focus on cow and grass management and not be distracted by tractor work
• Labour on farm is appraised and benchmarked to ensure that there are sufficient people on farm to meet high technical standards but the business is not over-staffed. Unpaid labour is properly accounted for in management accounts
• Be open-minded about transferrable skills and recruit entry-level staff based on potential rather than fixating on previous skills. This may mean having staff members from non-farming backgrounds who bring fresh ideas and outlooks to the farm

• Routinely soil sample and correct pH levels through liming. Make best use of manure and slurry to correct low P and K indices and do not waste money on unnecessary compound fertiliser
• Heifers are regularly weighed and their growth measured. There are targets set for specific ages and any heifers not achieving those targets are managed to increase daily liveweight gains
• Lameness is managed through routine mobility scoring, early treatment of lame cows, and a robust approach to foot-bathing and blitz treating digital dermatitis. Cow tracks and housing infrastructure are managed for cow comfort and standing times are minimised
• Measure incidence and prevalence of key health issues and be proactive about controlling them through diagnosis of issues (such as using the mastitis patten tool or scour testing kits) and reducing risk factors through better management
• Any data collected on farm is made use of to monitor trends and take action on forage, animal health, or milk quality. Time is not spent gathering information for no purpose
• Any capital spends are fully appraised by looking at the return on the investment. The cost of depreciation and upkeep is included in this appraisal
• Be part of a discussion group that meets regularly to cover business and technical aspects of farm management. Through annual financial benchmarking and openminded discussions farms learn from other top performers and strive for improvement

• Recognise the milk buyer as a customer and ensure that the milk produced meets the contract specifications to maximise the price achieved. Apart from meeting these standards milk price is rarely discussed as the focus is on farm costs that can be controlled
• Youngstock are grazed on well-managed grassland with quality swards. Rotational grazing is practiced, grass is allocated, and there is a plan in place for responsible parasite management such as faecal worm egg counting
• Remember that litres are vanity, but profit is sanity. Focus on retaining a target proportion of turnover as profit rather than on increasing turnover and spending more.
• Be open-minded and curious and take time to attend industry events based around ideas and knowledge exchange rather than just those focused on selling equipment
• There are protocols in place to ensure gold standard calf management, with everyone involved in their upkeep aware. Biosecurity is high and there is an emphasis on cleanliness, colostrum quality and quantity, and having suitable living conditions

• Grazing infrastructure is set up to allow for an extended and well-managed grazing season; tracks, entry and exit gateways, enough water troughs, good fencing, fenced kept clear of overgrowth, charge on electric fences always at 6V
• Have a clean, tidy, and well-organised workplace. This helps with workflow and efficiency, increases staff retention, and gives a positive representation of the industry to visitors and those passing the farm
• View technology as something that should either be cost saving or output increasing. It is only purchased after an investment appraisal and not bought to fix a problem that isn’t relevant to the farm

• Have a re-seeding policy to ensure that the farm has good quality leys of a grass variety that works for the farm and for the main purpose of the field/paddock.
• Rotationally graze paddocks with grass accurately allocated
• Incorporate clover into grass leys to improve grass quality and reduce reliance on bagged nitrogen through benefitting from the legume’s N fixing properties. The percentage of clover in the sward is taken into account to adjust fertiliser applications