The six finalists include two from the dairy sector, and one each from pig, tillage, beef and sheep.

Dairy: PJ O’Keeffe, Co Kilkenny

PJ is milking 200 spring calving cows plus followers on 90ha. The milking platform is 51ha and current production is 19.31kg, BF 47.3, 3.4PR, 1.4kg MS per cow. Over the next few years he hopes to expand to 300 milking cows and also to build a new milking parlour in 2016. He also hopes to have 85% calved within 6 weeks in 2016.

Dairy: John Tully, Co Galway

John is farm manager at Ballyduggan Estate. He is alos the owner and managing director of Dairy Relief Ireland Ltd. which provides dairy farm management and contract labour to dairy farms. He is also involved in a share farm agreement with 130 cows milking on 50 ha. The 40 ha home farm has 50 cows and young stock. He also leases 54 ha to contract rear dairy heifers. His aim for the future is to develop a robust dairy business management system.

Pig: Jonathan Marry, Co Louth

Jonathan fattens just under 800 pigs per year. The farm has three full time staff and is fully compliant with Bord Bia and is EPA licensed. He breeds all his own replacements and buys all compound feed. He plans to build 800 extra fattening places in the future.

Beef: Thomas O’Connor, Co Kildare

Thomas has a mixed beef/suckler enterprise on 240 acres. This is his 4th year in partnership with his parents. Over the next few years he hopes to move away from the tillage and pigs enterprises and expand the suckler herd.

Tillage: Garry Kinsella, Co Wicklow

Garry farms 600 acres of mainly tillage and some grass. He grows wheat, barley, oats and beet. He also runs and extensive contracting company carrying out a further 1200 acres of tillage, 17,000 big square bales and 2,500 acres of silage. In the next few years he hopes to increase yields through good agronomy, increase contracting throught tenchnology investment and build an anerobic digester if the market opens.

Sheep: Graham Grothier, Co Carlow

Graham has 200 ewes, 30 ewe lambs, 20 heifers and 20 acres of spring barley on his 120 acre farm. He has a pedigree texel flock and has farmed full time on his own for three years now. In the future he plans to improve infrastructure and build a barley shed. He also aims to start showing texel and commercial lambs and start a farm to fork plan.

The FBD Young Farmer of the Year awards is run by Macra na Feirme in partnership with the IFA. The aim of the competition is to recognise and reward the top young farmers in the country. Entrants are judged according to a number of criteria including farm business initiative and innovation, levels of farm efficiency and enterprise quality, farm safety and environmental protection awareness, as well as agricultural knowledge and community involvement.

The winner will be announced tonight at a banquet at the Twin Trees hotel, Ballina, Co Mayo.

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