A committee member and speaker at the first joint NZ and Ireland Pasture Summit, he is keen to divert farmers’ attention away from high-cost, high-input options that come from other countries.
“While we may appear to be competing countries NZ and Ireland have many similarities and can work together to farmers’ benefit,” he said ahead of the summit.
Exports in excess of 90% of production and the pasture-fed, seasonal patterns contrast with the mainly grain-fed models elsewhere in the developed world.
Temperate climates and year-round pasture growth are the foundations of cheaper feeding and low overheads.
“It is enlightened self-interest for both countries to co-operate closely to speed up the rate of innovation, which will lower costs and drive farm efficiencies and to focus on capturing the marketing potential of the health and nutritional benefits of pasture-fed milk.”
While in NZ Murphy will also host another study tour by British, Irish and Australian dairy farmers, visiting top producers and attending the summit in one of its two locations – in Hamilton on November 26 and 27 and in Ashburton on 29 and 30.
He has brought more than 10 such tours here in the past.
Having passed on his home farms in County Cork to the next generation Murphy now mentors younger farmers and governs his long-term farming investments in NZ and in Missouri, United States.
“As dairy farmers we are price takers so we compensate by ensuring we are low-cost producers.
“This is best achieved by going the grass-rich route, which gives wonderful results over time.
“Highly skilled people, very fertile cows, strong financial discipline and superb grassland management will be the basis of a world-class Irish dairy industry.
“Simple, resilient systems operated to an excellent standard give dairy farmers better prosperity and better dignity.
“I love to help people to help themselves by travelling the well-proven road to success and happiness,” Murphy said.
As examples of the wrong routes that beckon dairy farmers Murphy cited US and Dutch genetics and the higher farm working expenses (FWE) and more supplementary feeding that tend to be a result of good farmgate milk prices.
Farmers can capture 50% of the savings they make in reducing FWE but only 10% of the money they spend chasing higher milk yields through genetics.
“In Ireland we went after the bigger Friesians and it damaged our herd fertility and resulted in 33 wasted years.”
More enlightened Irish dairy farmers rediscovered the NZ principles of pasture production and all-grass feeding for cows.
It had been proved that every tonne of pasture eaten by cows results in $300 to $320 milk income, irrespective of where the farm is – in NZ, Ireland or the US.
Murphy also wants dairy farmers to revolutionise pastoral agriculture as a career for young people by going to once-a-day (OAD) milking.
The late Professor Colin Holmes had demonstrated a drop of 16-18% in milk production by going to OAD but Murphy said intensive selection can reduce that gap to 8% in perhaps 10 to 15 years.
“We could recruit young people and guarantee they will be home by three or four o’clock every afternoon instead of confronting them with endless drudgery in intensive dairying.”
The rising health consciousness of consumers presents opportunities for pasture-fed milk with conjugated linoleic acid and the favourable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 polyunsaturated fats.
“The plant non-milks and the confinement cow milks have nothing like the same advantages,” Murphy said.
The following Pasture Summit will be held in Ireland in two years’ time with the 2022 event returning here.
