Benchmarking at CAFRE
Date published:
James Kirk runs a dairy herd of 180 Holstein cows near Crossgar, Co Down. His main focus is to maximise milk production from forage as he sees this as being a significant driver in reducing production costs.
Last year the herd produced over 3,800 litres of milk from grass and silage (more than twice the CAFRE benchmark average). The result is that concentrate cost on James’s farm is 46% of the herd’s total variable costs compared to the CAFRE benchmarked average of 65%. As concentrate costs are normally the largest cost in milk production, this represents a significant saving on the farm.
James is a member of his local Business Development Group. He believes that by actively participating in the group, members have the opportunity to discuss and see what other local farmers are doing to improve their own businesses. The concept of Business Development Groups is that 'farmers learn from farmers’. In December, James hosted the group meeting on dairy benchmarking. He presented his CAFRE benchmarking results for the year which provoked an open and detailed discussion about his herd performance, his decisions and reasons behind the results.
Notes to editors:
- The department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the department’s internal records management system. The department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The department’s Privacy Policy is available on our website.
- Follow DAERA on Twitter and Facebook.
- All media enquiries to DAERA Press Office or tel: 028 9052 4619.