At a time when dairy farmers are facing extremely low prices for their milk, the latest speaker at Fermanagh Grassland Club was upbeat about his farm policy of high inputs to get high outputs from his dairy herd.

Mark Blelock, from Ivy Farm, Aldergrove, Crumlin, Co. Antrim, runs a 115-cow herd with an average yield of 10,400 litres.

His farm management is based on using the right cow and matching the right feed requirement to maximise her output. This is achieved through grazed grass and silage, a second forage such as wholecrop wheat or maize and concentrates.

Explaining his farm structure, he outlined how his father inherited the suckler and cereal farm in 1970. A period of expansion followed and when milk quotas were introduced in 1984, they bought extra quota.

When Mark returned from College in 1997, they changed their milk buyer and were then producing 450,000 litres and began buying in more quota. Since 2010, that has now exceeded one million litres but cow numbers have not increased dramatically because of their high output.

He now farms 250 acres, with just 20 of that rented adjacent to the yard, running 125 cows which are fed 3.95tonnes per cow.

Showing a detailed financial analysis of the business, he said meal costs had accounted for 11.68p per litre but was now nearer 10p a litre, vets visits are used mainly for prevention.

He said fertility was high on the agenda and his calving index was under 400 days.

He said the objective was to maximise milk output per cow and make use of quality forage from two cuts of silage. Normally wholecrop wheat has been grown as a second forage but maize was grown as a break crop in 2014 and produced one of the best ever results, being harvested at the end of September when the cobs were at the right stage to maximum feeding value. Despite being an expensive crop to grow at £750 per acre, he feels he certainly got good results last year.

He was disappointed at 2014 first cut silage, with a D value of 66 and dry matter content of just 24.8 per cent, compared with the second cut D value of over 70 and dry matter of 35 per cent.

He runs two groups of cows, high performers who stay in until grass supplies are more plentiful in June and low performers who graze from spring. Last year cows went out in the middle of March. The high performers stay in day and night until June.

The farm is good at maximising stock sales which generates good cash flow as many of the cows have only completed their third lactation.

There are specific farm management practices to improve herd health and production with particular attention given to cows at calving. He has heat detection in the parlour, a drafting gate and he will look at the possibility of a robotic scraper. Frequent uses of footbaths and regular trimming keep cows’ feet in good condition.

He said the construction of a new slatted tank and shed last autumn, has caused some interruption to the business but his future plans are to achieve 1.5 million litres of milk from 145 cows, increasing milk solids, As a result, he would look at taking on more help, to improve grazing management and make best use of new technology to achieve a good work/life balance. When this is achieved he will see his breakeven price fall dramatically.

He says it is worth the extra lift in milk yields to boost intakes saying there is a huge difference in cow potential between 9,000 litres and 10,500 litres and they needed to be looked after with extra feeding.

He said, answering questions, that by keeping extra cows on less output would cost him more overall and he would prefer to feed half a tonne of meal extra than half a tonne meal less to get the extra results.

He said dairy farmers must look forward with optimism.