Less cows was the path to a more profitable business for Mark Lonergan on his farm in Rosegreen, Co Tipperary. Into his eight year as a monitor farm for the Teagasc/Dairygold joint programme, Mark gave the audience on the day an idea of how slimming down the system helped his business become more resilient and less weather-dependent.
“Back in 2018 the farm was overstocked, at 2.8 LU/ha overall, and large amounts of silage and meal were being purchased to cover the pinch points at the shoulders of the year, or in periods of grass deficits,” said Mark.
Growing the business through leasing or purchasing adjoining land was not an option in the area. This led Mark to make the decision of dropping his cow numbers from 128 back to the current number of 107 for 2025. His current whole farm stocking rate is back to 2.27 LU/ha, which has made the farm far more manageable and self-sufficient by reducing the amount of imported feed.
Mark is much happier off the back of his decision: “Reducing cow numbers has relieved massive pressure on the system and me, sometimes less cows can make more money if things are done better, especially when you’re by yourself. It’s freed up time for me to focus on other important areas like breeding and managing grass.”
Genetics
Genetics have been a key area of focus on the farm in recent years, in a bid to drive on the performance with less numbers. Average EBI of the herd has gone from €134 up to €253 in the space of the seven years of the programme. Cows produced 535kg of solids in 2024, with 1.3t/cow of meal fed. The farm usually averages closer to 800kg of concentrates per year fed, but last year’s weather meant this jumped above normal.
Mark has been selecting all Munster Bovine genomic bulls in the last number of years. He targets bull teams with an average figure of zero kilogrammes for milk and a maintenance figure around €15. It was clear to him that cows with lower maintenance figures below €5 in EBI weren’t lasting in the herd, particularly with some longer walks on the farm.
The herd is predominantly black and white, with the average cow weighing 570kg. Mark shared that “Jersey sires had been used for a short period to reduce the cow size and improve the solids, but Holstein Friesian genetics have improved a lot in recent years, so all bulls used now, are fully Holstein”.
Improving the solids has been a target on the farm. Mark is selecting bulls with good PTAs above 0.3% for fat and 0.22% protein. A combination of these breeding targets has resulted in the farm earning 4.2 c/l over the average price of Dairygold suppliers in 2024. Over the course of the programme, Mark has averaged €215/cow more per year for his milk than the average suppliers in the co-op.
Breeding for 2025 has gone well with a 70% non-return rate so far. All cows receive a conventional dairy straw for the first three weeks of breeding. Mark discussed how he has customers for both male and female dairy calves, so he only used six sexed straws in 2025. Any cow bred after the first three weeks received an Angus AI straw. Mark is using heat detection boluses which have improved his conception rates, something he’s very happy with.
In terms of replacement heifers, Mark relies on genomic testing to select the replacements. Whatever calves come back with the best genomic results are kept provided they are healthy. Mark has an 18% replacement rate with 20 heifers coming into the herd last year. Heifers are bred using a fixed time AI programme, served on 8 May. All heifers receive conventional dairy straws and repeats are served with dairy AI for easy calving.
Speakers on the day observing cows during the walk.
Grass
In 2024 the farm grew 12.6t on the milking platform. Grass deficits have become an issue in summer months over the past few years.
“Any time the farm goes more than ten days without grass you’d start to see the growth rates slow down,” stated Mark. The drop in cow numbers has taken some pressure off though and he doesn’t mind filling the gaps with silage or meal provided the grass quality is good.
Grass management in May had been somewhat challenging. In early May growth had gone too strong and Mark ended up pre-mowing 80% of paddocks to maintain quality in the next round. This affected protein levels in the milk, as cows were forced to eat stemmy material. This was far from the ideal scenario, but has left Mark with good-quality swards coming on the back of the recent rain.
Mark is reseeding 10% of the farm each year, all reseeds now include white clover in the mix. Some of his initial clover fields struggled, but he puts this down to the pH of some of the soils being too low. To solve this issue, he is spreading 1t/acre of lime each year. Teagasc’s Stuart Childs discussed how “pH needs to be around 6.7 for clover to work effectively and that 1t/acre of lime will lift the pH by 0.3-0.4”.
Overall, Mark is fairly happy with the results of clover on the farm and has an establishment rate of about 30%. On these good clover fields, he is spreading 70kg/N/ha per year. A good clover field for Mark is judged based on seeing clover in roughly every step he takes in a field. Where this is the case, he frontloads nitrogen use in the early part of the year.
From June on, these good clover fields will only receive parlour washings. Everything else will get the 15-20 units of nitrogen plus sulphur after grazing. Stuart described clover as “a second half player. It really starts to work from June on so we should be seeing a lift from fields with good clover contents in the next few weeks”.
Teagasc’s Stuart Childs speaking on the day.
Sustainability
Reducing emissions and improving the water quality and biodiversity on-farm were important components of the joint programme. Leonard Betts, signpost climate adviser for Teagasc discussed how these metrics will continue to become more mainstream as we attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% before 2030.
Two key metrics discussed were carbon footprint and nitrogen use efficiency. The farm is currently producing 0.88 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of fat and protein corrected milk. This is below the national average of 0.95kg but the target is 0.7kg.
In terms of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) the farm has an efficiency score of 29%. The industry target is 35%, with higher meaning better. NUE is the percentage of total nitrogen inputs that are recovered in final products, for example, milk, meat or grass sold off farm. It does not mean that the rest of the nitrogen is lost to the environment, but it will help to reduce losses.
In an attempt to get closer to his sustainability target, Mark is spreading all nitrogen as protected urea and using 100% LESS equipment for slurry. Mark applies 15 units/acre of sulphur over the summer months. Sulphur helps the grass plants’ uptake of nitrogen, reducing losses.
The liming protocol discussed earlier is another means of improving nitrogen uptake by increasing pH of soils. In a final effort to reduce nitrogen losses, Mark moves from a 16% crude protein (CP) ration to an 11% ration after the spring. He feels cows are getting enough protein in their diet between grass and 2kg of the 11% CP ration at this stage.
Some of the crowd on the day.
Profitability
Improving genetics of the herd in combination with better grassland management and reducing stocking rate has allowed the farm to achieve a strong financial return as highlighted in the table below.
The majority of the labour is provided by Mark himself, with additional help hired during February and March, and a relief milker on Sunday evenings. Net profit is based on the Teagasc profit monitor and is outlined before Mark’s own drawings, farm repayments or tax are deducted.
Less cows was the path to a more profitable business for Mark Lonergan on his farm in Rosegreen, Co Tipperary. Into his eight year as a monitor farm for the Teagasc/Dairygold joint programme, Mark gave the audience on the day an idea of how slimming down the system helped his business become more resilient and less weather-dependent.
“Back in 2018 the farm was overstocked, at 2.8 LU/ha overall, and large amounts of silage and meal were being purchased to cover the pinch points at the shoulders of the year, or in periods of grass deficits,” said Mark.
Growing the business through leasing or purchasing adjoining land was not an option in the area. This led Mark to make the decision of dropping his cow numbers from 128 back to the current number of 107 for 2025. His current whole farm stocking rate is back to 2.27 LU/ha, which has made the farm far more manageable and self-sufficient by reducing the amount of imported feed.
Mark is much happier off the back of his decision: “Reducing cow numbers has relieved massive pressure on the system and me, sometimes less cows can make more money if things are done better, especially when you’re by yourself. It’s freed up time for me to focus on other important areas like breeding and managing grass.”
Genetics
Genetics have been a key area of focus on the farm in recent years, in a bid to drive on the performance with less numbers. Average EBI of the herd has gone from €134 up to €253 in the space of the seven years of the programme. Cows produced 535kg of solids in 2024, with 1.3t/cow of meal fed. The farm usually averages closer to 800kg of concentrates per year fed, but last year’s weather meant this jumped above normal.
Mark has been selecting all Munster Bovine genomic bulls in the last number of years. He targets bull teams with an average figure of zero kilogrammes for milk and a maintenance figure around €15. It was clear to him that cows with lower maintenance figures below €5 in EBI weren’t lasting in the herd, particularly with some longer walks on the farm.
The herd is predominantly black and white, with the average cow weighing 570kg. Mark shared that “Jersey sires had been used for a short period to reduce the cow size and improve the solids, but Holstein Friesian genetics have improved a lot in recent years, so all bulls used now, are fully Holstein”.
Improving the solids has been a target on the farm. Mark is selecting bulls with good PTAs above 0.3% for fat and 0.22% protein. A combination of these breeding targets has resulted in the farm earning 4.2 c/l over the average price of Dairygold suppliers in 2024. Over the course of the programme, Mark has averaged €215/cow more per year for his milk than the average suppliers in the co-op.
Breeding for 2025 has gone well with a 70% non-return rate so far. All cows receive a conventional dairy straw for the first three weeks of breeding. Mark discussed how he has customers for both male and female dairy calves, so he only used six sexed straws in 2025. Any cow bred after the first three weeks received an Angus AI straw. Mark is using heat detection boluses which have improved his conception rates, something he’s very happy with.
In terms of replacement heifers, Mark relies on genomic testing to select the replacements. Whatever calves come back with the best genomic results are kept provided they are healthy. Mark has an 18% replacement rate with 20 heifers coming into the herd last year. Heifers are bred using a fixed time AI programme, served on 8 May. All heifers receive conventional dairy straws and repeats are served with dairy AI for easy calving.
Speakers on the day observing cows during the walk.
Grass
In 2024 the farm grew 12.6t on the milking platform. Grass deficits have become an issue in summer months over the past few years.
“Any time the farm goes more than ten days without grass you’d start to see the growth rates slow down,” stated Mark. The drop in cow numbers has taken some pressure off though and he doesn’t mind filling the gaps with silage or meal provided the grass quality is good.
Grass management in May had been somewhat challenging. In early May growth had gone too strong and Mark ended up pre-mowing 80% of paddocks to maintain quality in the next round. This affected protein levels in the milk, as cows were forced to eat stemmy material. This was far from the ideal scenario, but has left Mark with good-quality swards coming on the back of the recent rain.
Mark is reseeding 10% of the farm each year, all reseeds now include white clover in the mix. Some of his initial clover fields struggled, but he puts this down to the pH of some of the soils being too low. To solve this issue, he is spreading 1t/acre of lime each year. Teagasc’s Stuart Childs discussed how “pH needs to be around 6.7 for clover to work effectively and that 1t/acre of lime will lift the pH by 0.3-0.4”.
Overall, Mark is fairly happy with the results of clover on the farm and has an establishment rate of about 30%. On these good clover fields, he is spreading 70kg/N/ha per year. A good clover field for Mark is judged based on seeing clover in roughly every step he takes in a field. Where this is the case, he frontloads nitrogen use in the early part of the year.
From June on, these good clover fields will only receive parlour washings. Everything else will get the 15-20 units of nitrogen plus sulphur after grazing. Stuart described clover as “a second half player. It really starts to work from June on so we should be seeing a lift from fields with good clover contents in the next few weeks”.
Teagasc’s Stuart Childs speaking on the day.
Sustainability
Reducing emissions and improving the water quality and biodiversity on-farm were important components of the joint programme. Leonard Betts, signpost climate adviser for Teagasc discussed how these metrics will continue to become more mainstream as we attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% before 2030.
Two key metrics discussed were carbon footprint and nitrogen use efficiency. The farm is currently producing 0.88 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of fat and protein corrected milk. This is below the national average of 0.95kg but the target is 0.7kg.
In terms of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) the farm has an efficiency score of 29%. The industry target is 35%, with higher meaning better. NUE is the percentage of total nitrogen inputs that are recovered in final products, for example, milk, meat or grass sold off farm. It does not mean that the rest of the nitrogen is lost to the environment, but it will help to reduce losses.
In an attempt to get closer to his sustainability target, Mark is spreading all nitrogen as protected urea and using 100% LESS equipment for slurry. Mark applies 15 units/acre of sulphur over the summer months. Sulphur helps the grass plants’ uptake of nitrogen, reducing losses.
The liming protocol discussed earlier is another means of improving nitrogen uptake by increasing pH of soils. In a final effort to reduce nitrogen losses, Mark moves from a 16% crude protein (CP) ration to an 11% ration after the spring. He feels cows are getting enough protein in their diet between grass and 2kg of the 11% CP ration at this stage.
Some of the crowd on the day.
Profitability
Improving genetics of the herd in combination with better grassland management and reducing stocking rate has allowed the farm to achieve a strong financial return as highlighted in the table below.
The majority of the labour is provided by Mark himself, with additional help hired during February and March, and a relief milker on Sunday evenings. Net profit is based on the Teagasc profit monitor and is outlined before Mark’s own drawings, farm repayments or tax are deducted.
SHARING OPTIONS