The award-winning O’Sullivan dairy farm in Cork recently hosted more than 300 visitors as part of the European Dairy Farmers Congress, which took place in Ireland.
The number of cows on the O’Sullivan dairy farm has grown from 140 cows to 500. However, restrictions may curtail this in the future. The family purchased the farm in 1953. It has grown from 40ha to 288ha, which includes 210ha of silage. Maize is cultivated on 18ha.
The O’Sullivans milk all year round, with a minimum of 28pc of the total production to be produced from November to February. The milking operation is split over two farms and they have invested in new milking facilities, updated buildings and land purchases. The aim is to maximise output of milk solids per ha, ensuring costs are kept at a reasonable level, and produce female young stock that sell well.
Dairygold pays bonuses for winter milk of 5.6c/L and 7.6c/L, but these have been eroded by rising inputs costs. The bonus figures are not enough to keep people in winter milk, according to John O’Sullivan Snr.
The O’Sullivans feed about 5kg of concentrate in summer. That’s about 5kg per cow through the parlour on a feed-to-yield system.
Last year, the farm was runner-up in the National Dairy Council Milk Quality Awards. The O’Sullivans also won at the Spring Show in Dublin in 1977 and 1984.