Sean O’Donnell is the FBD Young Farmer of the Year for 2014. The 33-year-old Ballina dairy farmer emerged from an exceptionally strong shortlist to win the Macra organised competition in Bantry on Tuesday. Sean impressed the judging panel with his obvious technical abilities, his positivity and ambition, and his ability to simplify his focus.

“Farming is about cows, grass, and cash,” he said.

Sean completed the Certificate in Agribusiness in Mountebellew College/Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) on completing his secondary education, and then followed up with an honours degree in Business Studies in GMIT.

Decision time was in 2008. His father entered the Early Retirement Scheme and Sean and wife Jackie decided he would agree a seven-year lease of the farm. At the time it was producing 240,000 litres from the 44-cow herd on a 22ha grazing block, with 34ha farmed in total.

Now, Sean is milking 108 cows, producing 580,000 litres. The grazing platform has been increased through the 2013 purchase of an extra 12ha, some of which had been leased for the previous five years.

Sean entered a limited company structure in 2013.

He explained that the decision was rather straightforward, as his wife Jackie was working, meaning he was quickly hitting the higher tax band. It typifies his decisive nature, which allows him to maintain a strict focus.

Sean has streamlined his operation, contract-rearing out his replacement heifers. The grass freed up has been utilised in a very novel way that highlights the innovative nature of the emerging generation of dairy farmers.

A new entrant to dairy decided to take advantage of the opportunity the market presented this spring to change over from suckler to dairy stock. Having decided to hold off on milking himself for this season, the cows have been leased into Sean O’Donnell’s farm. Sean has extra milk without having to buy in; the new entrant can take his cows back in good order next spring, first lactation completed. Everybody gains.

Sean highlights that being an Aurivo supplier efffectively meant that farmers were “free of the fear of superlevy”, allowing him to produce this extra milk in 2014. Sean plans to go to 160 cows as a one-man operation.

With Jackie working, Sean is responsible for collecting their three boys Oisin, Conor, and Sean Og from crèche and like all the finalist he stressed the focus on farm safety. “The boys are fenced out of the farm unless we bring them in a supervised andsafe environment,” he said. “It’s easier to bring them to the yard in the winter, when there’s less machinery around.”

Like all busy men, he has many interests, coaching Oisin’s under-six football team being the latest. He is the inaugural Aurivo Nuffield scholar, studying farm fragmentation in Irish dairying and how to overcome it.

Related stories

FBD Young Farmer of the Year 2015 to be announced