There can’t be environmental sustainability without economic sustainability for the farmer, says DJ Keohane, Cork-based dairy farmer.

DJ Keohane, Timoleague, Co Cork.

DJ Keohane from Timoleague in Co Cork milks 150 cows and farms 200ac of land, 100ac of which is rented.

Producing just shy of one million litres of milk annually, the product is collected by Ballyroe Co-op for Carbery Group.

Carbery was founded in 1965 as a joint venture between four creameries and Express Dairies, UK.

Since then it has grown substantially taking market leading positions in dairy, ingredients and flavours.

DJ, meanwhile, took over the family farm in 1995 but had been farming the land since 1988.

“I was milking about 35 cows then; a new milking parlour was built in 1981 and it was more than capable of dealing with the cow numbers at that stage,” he recalled.

The farm has grown substantially in the 25 or so years since DJ took over at the helm.

Milling on Quota until 2015, DJ like most dairy farmers is producing more milk now.

“We just kept increasing and that was that,” he added.

“I’d say at this stage cows numbers-wise we are at the maximum but hopefully we will get a little bit more in terms of breeding and efficiency.” 

In terms of investment, DJ has spent a lot of time, energy and money on his farm.

In 2008 he bought land and cow numbers started increasing.

Last year he constructed a 20 unit milking parlour.

A vacuum pump, LED lighting and two coolers have been installed in an effort to make the set-up more energy efficient.

He says the farm has become more business-oriented over the last 35 years or so but highlighted how “it was a lot easier to live 35 years ago than it is today”.

“We are a family farm and have a lad working with us part-time as well,” continued DJ. “All of that has to be sustained, so the money has to be made. And the farm has to be sustainable too.” 

He says there can’t be environmental sustainability without economic sustainability for the farmer.

“Farmers have embraced the environmental side of things - I have invested a lot of money in my farm over the last 20 years to try and meet the demands that are there with regard to the environment but at the same time I need to be able to make money in order to keep going.

“At the end of the day it is all down to scale and it's pressurising - there was less pressure 30 years ago, that is for sure.” Water quality is always to the fore with DJ and he is grateful that it is classed as good in the Timoleague Catchment Area.

“There has been huge investment in it and farmers in the area created extra slurry storage, etc,” he continued. “That has been instrumental in improving things around here.

“Of course the new regulations that are coming down the tracks now in relation to the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) will require more slurry storage - we are just going to have to wait and see what the expectation will be there.

“It’s a big concern in this part of the country because the reality is that land is scarce and most of the farmers would be stocked up to the 220 derogation stipulation.

“If the farmer has a herd average of over 6,500 litres of milk and is stocked up to the derogation level he will have to reduce his stock by 20% to qualify for the Nitrates programme and that is a big thing for farmers right now.

“It is easy to say take more land but the land isn’t there.

With regard to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), convergence is the main issue there and it is something that is going to hit this side of the country fairly hard.”

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