300 cows and no outside labour

Headless chicken · Mar 24, 2023

Sid said:
@Clive has posted about a farm he visited in the US

Even with full automation , I would imagine there would be a constant stream of service engineers and breakdown call outs 24/7.

Can 1 man physically look after 300 cows and calves alone?

we run just shy of 300 cows with me as the only “full time” person. That said we have a number of part timers covering various things and dad floats about and is available for the time where I’m off spraying and won’t get back to fetch cows. The truth is it takes its toll on the bad days. The easy days are fine.

is it possible, questionable. Is it sustainable, almost certainly not

I should add that we also have someone else here when we’re calving too

Sid · Mar 24, 2023

Headless chicken said:
we run just shy of 300 cows with me as the only “full time” person. That said we have a number of part timers covering various things and dad floats about and is available for the time where I’m off spraying and won’t get back to fetch cows. The truth is it takes its toll on the bad days. The easy days are fine.

is it possible, questionable. Is it sustainable, almost certainly not

I should add that we also have someone else here when we’re calving too

Clive man isn't even full time.
Are you flying herd?

vantage · Mar 24, 2023

This thread should go back 50 years, 30 cows and a full timer AND the farmer!

Headless chicken · Mar 24, 2023

Sid said:
Clive man isn't even full time.
Are you flying herd?

No ex flying herd. Heifers stay with us from
Birth until first turn out then back home whenever the drought comes second season. Calf rearer will be here from September- feb. She starts lambing in March as does one of the other part timers.
As I say good days are fine. sh!t days are really sh!t.
We’ve invested considerably in technologies to allow us to run like this but that doesn’t help you lift a gate back on or fetch cows when they escape.

Sid · Mar 24, 2023

Headless chicken said:
No ex flying herd. Heifers stay with us from
Birth until first turn out then back home whenever the drought comes second season. Calf rearer will be here from September- feb. She starts lambing in March as does one of the other part timers.
As I say good days are fine. sh!t days are really sh!t.
We’ve invested considerably in technologies to allow us to run like this but that doesn’t help you lift a gate back on or fetch cows when they escape.

So calf rearer is 0.5 FTE.

Completely understand when thing are going well its easy. It's the downer cow/breakdown/power cut that upsets the flow

Barmyfarmer · Mar 24, 2023

To design a 1 man system I don't think you would use robots, think it would get very wearing

DairyNerd · Mar 24, 2023

Barmyfarmer said:
To design a 1 man system I don't think you would use robots, think it would get very wearing

The best way I can see a true 1 man system working sustainably, with NO outside labour apart from contractors for surplus silage, is to Spring calve and milk as many cows as you can manage on your farm OAD and have a long dry period.

I worked on a 300 cow TAD Spring herd on a new unit which always claimed to be run by 2 people when anyone came to look round but.... a lot of the field work was done by the arable team, calf rearer came in for 8-10 weeks, breeding consultant and AI tech was used, they had a relief milker two afternoons a week and extra staff drafted in from another unit covered holiday's. When you added it all up and included the overtime we also put in it was probably truly 3.5 FTE labour units but the extra 1.5 was just 'hidden'.

O'Reilly · Mar 24, 2023

DairyNerd said:
The best way I can see a true 1 man system working sustainably, with NO outside labour apart from contractors for surplus silage, is to Spring calve and milk as many cows as you can manage on your farm OAD and have a long dry period.

I worked on a 300 cow TAD Spring herd on a new unit which always claimed to be run by 2 people when anyone came to look round but.... a lot of the field work was done by the arable team, calf rearer came in for 8-10 weeks, breeding consultant and AI tech was used, they had a relief milker two afternoons a week and extra staff drafted in from another unit covered holiday's. When you added it all up and included the overtime we also put in it was probably truly 3.5 FTE labour units but the extra 1.5 was just 'hidden'.

Yes, I get very disheartened when I read about those units, when I can't do 100 on my own. I don't have a new unit either.

Repeat · Mar 24, 2023

Most units seem to have 100 cows per man, on whatever system , when it comes down to it

JP1 · Mar 24, 2023

Clive said:
it was purpose built, system and yard on a green field site, big investment I imagine ! was very slick, all the gates etc were computer controlled to segregate etc automatically if required , robot scrapers and cleaners. feed optimum feed was automatically calculated and adjusted by algorithms (not A! yet ) and dispensed individually. lots of sensors monitoring various aspects of animal health and environment and making adjustments constantly

Dairy is not something I know much about but it was very impressive ......... almost made me think we could do it at home !

@chaffcutter you read it here first, time to go browsing heifer sales .......

sidjon · Mar 24, 2023

vantage said:
This thread should go back 50 years, 30 cows and a full timer AND the farmer!

50 years ago here , was 8 families employed, plus 4 farmer's and wives, now there are 3 of us ,plus contractors, would question if we're any better off

Suffolk Serf · Mar 24, 2023

JP1 said:
@chaffcutter you read it here first, time to go browsing heifer sales .......

Don’t worry, I think he only wants a house cow or two for his Self Sufficiency dream (along with a handful of sheep and some bits and bobs of poultry).

betweenthelines · Mar 24, 2023

Is the guy a one man band because he has so much debt he can't afford any wages? Or grow crops for the same reason?

I suspect he's running lick mad in a hamster wheel of his own making.

Sid · Mar 24, 2023

I was told by the ex Devon County farm advisor, moonlighting for local council, that he knew of a farmer milking 250cows in a parlour with one dwelling on his own.

I asked questions on efficiency, mortality, etc to which he couldn't answer.

chaffcutter · Mar 24, 2023

@JP1 done enough of that in my time, not starting again now!!

Used to like selling fresh heifers in Uttoxeter when we had a surplus in later years, anything over £1000 was a bonus back then !

DairyNerd · Mar 24, 2023

Sid said:
I was told by the ex Devon County farm advisor, moonlighting for local council, that he knew of a farmer milking 250cows in a parlour with one dwelling on his own.

I asked questions on efficiency, mortality, etc to which he couldn't answer.

It's like every other KPI, none of them give a full picture in isolation.

Cowlife · Mar 24, 2023

Repeat said:
Most units seem to have 100 cows per man, on whatever system , when it comes down to it

Yep. When we were in nz the manager kept saying how simple there system waa. Counting all the part time help it was still 1 man per 100 cows, although it was very well run

jackrussell101 · Mar 25, 2023

@Bossfarmer

jerseycowsman · Mar 25, 2023

Sid said:
@Clive has posted about a farm he visited in the US

Even with full automation , I would imagine there would be a constant stream of service engineers and breakdown call outs 24/7.

Can 1 man physically look after 300 cows and calves alone?

If you don’t like days off or holidays, or even an hour spare for a lunchtime nap, it will be a doddle!

Kiwi Pete · Mar 25, 2023

Sid said:
@Clive has posted about a farm he visited in the US

Even with full automation , I would imagine there would be a constant stream of service engineers and breakdown call outs 24/7.

Can 1 man physically look after 300 cows and calves alone?

It depends on the system as to what is actually required?
I was sole charge, 330 cows, twice a day milkings and it was a LOT easier than the added complications other people can add.

If it needs done, you get it done.
So it can be a great way to test a dairy system and yourself, if 'you think you are' proactive then you find out.
If you think you have low inputs, you find out, because it's all on you - right down to rolling barrels of detergent into place

It changed me though, no doubt about that, I became more minimalist and became present to the great excesses around me.
The other end of my career in dairy was 750 cows, 2 other fulltime staff, chasing production that could never be "enough", I know what I would go back to.

300 cows and no outside labour

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