In the first of our new series ‘Way Out West’, we travel to east Clare to meet weanling producer Sean O’Halloran.

Farm facts

  • Sean O’Halloran farms full-time, alongside his wife Betty, in Bodyke, Co Clare.
  • His land block is made up of 45ha, but it is highly variable in quality and heavily fragmented.
  • Sean runs a herd of 40 continental suckler cows, along with a handful of pedigree Limousins.
  • He has Charolais and Limousin stock bulls and also uses some AI.
  • Sean calves around 10 cows in November and the rest in March and April.
  • He sells weanling from six to eight months of age at 340kg to 350kg.
  • His replacements are bred on-farm and the rest of the heifers are sold live.

    • Read Sean’s full story inside this week’s Irish Farmers Journal and watch the video below.

    ‘Sucklers: colour and confirmation in Clare’.

    Way Out West

    Way Out West – a new Irish Farmers Journal suckler series – will focus on the importance of suckler farming to the livelihoods of farmers all along the west coast of Ireland, as well as the importance of suckler farming to rural communities.

    Way Out West will shine a light on elements such as part-time farming, weanling and store production and quality suckler breeding through real farm stories.

    Read the first part of the series from Co Clare inside this week’s Irish Farmers Journal, and stay tuned throughout spring 2020 in print and online.