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If there was a prize for the best farm scenery, then the Lamberton farm would give it a good rattle this year. The farm looks down on Lough Swilly and this combined with the rolling grass hills and mature trees makes for a very scenic place to produce milk. Having said that, this part of Ireland gets a nice drop of rain and when the mist is down and the rain fills the sky it is challenging.
The Lambertons are up for the challenge and the meticulous detail is apparent when Ian shows me the rainfall records for the last three years written in on a calendar in the farm office. The records give an indication of the measurement and thought process behind the business.
The farm is highly stocked (about 100 cows more than what should be) as grazing ground is limiting so some buffer feeding of fresh grass takes place. When we called in July after a morning where almost an inch of rain had fallen, the second herd (lame or mastitis) were indoors in cubicles as ground conditions were very wet.
This second herd (about 30 cows) are milked after the main herd and are stripped to check for mastitis at every milking. The main herd are only stripped when there is a problem such as when clots appear in the milk filter sock or if a cow is spotted with swelling at milking.
When Ian started farming in 1971 he was the fourth generation to farm at Fahan and he was joined by David in 1975. Gareth and Christopher are now looking to join the business and Paul has just completed the advanced dairy cert in Ballyhaise so there is no shortage of help around the farm.
The farm was traditionally beef and sheep but milking started in 1977 until BSE depopulated the herd in 2002. In April 2003, milking started again with the purchase of three small herds, all with very different genetics. The Lambertons have two main owned land blocks about eight miles apart, so they plan to develop another milking block over time, – hence the reason for keeping the extra cows for the moment. One of the land blocks away from the farm is more typical of a hill sheep farm with paddocks rising from 300ft to 800ft above sea level with a later grass growing season.
Interestingly, the Lambertons use selective dry cow therapy, with any cow less than 100,000 SCC getting a sealer only at drying off and cows over 100,000 getting a tube and teat sealer.
Factfile
Farming system: In 2015, the Lamberton business milked 270 cows delivering 1.4m litres to Aurivo Co-op in a spring-calving production system. In total, the Lamberton family are farming 170ha (420 acres). Milk fat averaged 4.18% and protein percentage averaged 3.44% in 2015.
If there was a prize for the best farm scenery, then the Lamberton farm would give it a good rattle this year. The farm looks down on Lough Swilly and this combined with the rolling grass hills and mature trees makes for a very scenic place to produce milk. Having said that, this part of Ireland gets a nice drop of rain and when the mist is down and the rain fills the sky it is challenging.
The Lambertons are up for the challenge and the meticulous detail is apparent when Ian shows me the rainfall records for the last three years written in on a calendar in the farm office. The records give an indication of the measurement and thought process behind the business.
The farm is highly stocked (about 100 cows more than what should be) as grazing ground is limiting so some buffer feeding of fresh grass takes place. When we called in July after a morning where almost an inch of rain had fallen, the second herd (lame or mastitis) were indoors in cubicles as ground conditions were very wet.
This second herd (about 30 cows) are milked after the main herd and are stripped to check for mastitis at every milking. The main herd are only stripped when there is a problem such as when clots appear in the milk filter sock or if a cow is spotted with swelling at milking.
When Ian started farming in 1971 he was the fourth generation to farm at Fahan and he was joined by David in 1975. Gareth and Christopher are now looking to join the business and Paul has just completed the advanced dairy cert in Ballyhaise so there is no shortage of help around the farm.
The farm was traditionally beef and sheep but milking started in 1977 until BSE depopulated the herd in 2002. In April 2003, milking started again with the purchase of three small herds, all with very different genetics. The Lambertons have two main owned land blocks about eight miles apart, so they plan to develop another milking block over time, – hence the reason for keeping the extra cows for the moment. One of the land blocks away from the farm is more typical of a hill sheep farm with paddocks rising from 300ft to 800ft above sea level with a later grass growing season.
Interestingly, the Lambertons use selective dry cow therapy, with any cow less than 100,000 SCC getting a sealer only at drying off and cows over 100,000 getting a tube and teat sealer.
Factfile
Farming system: In 2015, the Lamberton business milked 270 cows delivering 1.4m litres to Aurivo Co-op in a spring-calving production system. In total, the Lamberton family are farming 170ha (420 acres). Milk fat averaged 4.18% and protein percentage averaged 3.44% in 2015.
This year 13 farming families compete for the Overall title in the NDC/Kerrygold quality milk awards.
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The farm was traditionally beef and sheep but milking started in 1977 until BSE depopulated the herd in 2002. In April 2003, milking started again with the purchase of three small herds, all with very different genetics. The Lambertons have two main owned land blocks about eight miles apart, so they plan to develop another milking block over time, – hence the reason for keeping the extra cows for the moment. One of the land blocks away from the farm is more typical of a hill sheep farm with paddocks rising from 300ft to 800ft above sea level with a later grass growing season.
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