Dermot and Adam Phipps milk 130 cows in Blessington, County Wicklow, with a strong focus on infrastructure.
The Phibbs family are Terlan’s liquid milk suppliers, with the herd currently split 60/40 between spring and autumn calving.
The herd currently produces 30 liters of milk per day at 3.9% fat and 3.6% protein for 4kg of 14% crude protein from dairy nuts.
In 2025, the herd produced 650 kg of milk solids (MS) while maintaining an average weight of 650 kg.
The father and son partnership also raise all their own cattle, meaning there can be up to 500 head of cattle on the 400ac stand each year.
The milking herd is primarily Friesians along with a handful of purebred Fleckviehs and Montbeliardes.
However, they rear all their calves from Angus bulls, while the Red Friesians and Limousin bulls clean within the milking herd after sex semen, which is used in 50% of the herd.
The beef stock is then fattened on the farm and sold to Kepak Clonee.
There are 38 replacement cows fit to enter the parlor over the next nine months, and the Phipps are aiming to get their milking herd back to the 150 mark after losing 28 milkers to TB.
Infrastructure
While the Phibbs family was happy with their herd, between the handling facilities, housing and milking parlor, they felt their yard was quickly becoming outdated.
They therefore decided to invest heavily in the farm’s infrastructure, starting construction at the end of last year and equipping a new eight-bay shed.
To the right of the shed, an 18-unit DairyMaster Swiftflo Swing Parlor was installed by Allen Dairy Services.
The new Phibbs 18 Unit Swiftflo Swing Parlor from DairyMaster
Phibbs has installed a range of trimmings, from automatic washers and automatic cluster removers (ACRs), to front air gates and air gates.
Adam said the new parlor was “life-changing”, with milking time reduced to an hour from more than two hours in the old parlor.
The new hall is also more comfortable to work in, with lightweight sets installed and 2-inch mats lining the pit.
Dermott said the cluster flow system was his main desire, especially since the culture aims to keep somatic cell counts under the 100,000 cells/mL mark.
They’ve also installed a vacuum line, which they describe as a “must” in any lounge.
Meanwhile, Adam said he wouldn’t go back to the parlor without ACRs, either for himself or for the cows.
The duo noted how the 4×0 vacuum stops any cluster slippage, meaning calves are milked comfortably, an important factor for a year-round calving system.
They also installed a 12,750 liter SwiftCool milk tank to hold milk.
SwiftCool 12,750 litres milk tank
Three-phase electricity has been brought to the farm to power the lounge, with the possibility of installing solar panels in the future.
They also created a system to collect rainwater from the barn gutters, noting that if it rained just once a week, they would have enough water to wash the machine for the rest of the week.
To the left of the new shed, Phibbs has invested in handling facilities, with a new Dairymaster drafting gate installed next to the foot bath and a roll box for hoof pairing.
Phibbs said the drafting portal is not fully set up yet as they have to swap out standard ear tags for electronic tags.
A slurry channel was installed along the track from the gate to the new slurry tank at the back side of the shed to ensure that the cows did not walk in dirty conditions.
Between that, the footbath, and the hoof mating, lameness rates decreased significantly.
The new shed contains a lounge, handling facilities, a calving area, as well as additional mud storage
Lameness can often be a problem on the farm, especially when you consider that cows have to walk a mile and a half up the hill to the furthest field.
The walk involves crossing the main Blessington to Dublin Road, which is why the Phipps also invested in no longer grazing cattle at the end of last year.
Phibbs has not finished upgrading its infrastructure yet, as it is currently in the process of constructing a new 26-foot feed chute, which requires tractor beams and slides at the end of the old tank.
Once constructed, zero grazing will become an easier process, keeping cows in place when traffic gets too heavy.
Although neither Adam nor Dermot like the idea of housing the cows full time.
Along with the new handling facilities, the Phibbs have also installed additional calving facilities, close to the primary saloon for early calf health.
Earlier in the year, they fitted out additional cubicles as well, with cows having the option of indoor and outdoor bedding.
