On the wall of the milking parlour at Coolruss hangs a milk-recording sheet dated 1931; a year the Carrolls sent milk from a Shorthorn herd down the road to the creamery at Granagh. Ninety-five years later, the same family is still writing down what each cow gives and still chasing the next small improvement.

Three generations work in the yard between them. Michael Carroll farms here in partnership with his father Martin and mother Mary, the fifth generation on the holding; with Michael’s wife Stephanie and their three young children, Donagh, JJ and Eliza.

Michael came to farming by a roundabout road. A qualified quantity surveyor, he spent nine years in construction and an autumn in New Zealand, before the pull of home won out.

“It’s great to be your own boss,” he says, “but you have to love farming and I do.”

His father Martin grew up here and still minds the dry stock and does the lighter tractor work; Michael’s mother Mary takes care of the calves through the spring; and between them the generations share the load so easily, that no one seems to be in charge and everything still gets done.

The herd is milk-recorded four times a year with Munster Bovine. The 20-unit GEA parlour has automatic cluster removers, an automatic wash and a water softener to improve cleaning efficiency.

The herd delivered 518kg of milk solids per cow in 2025 from 814kg of meal, and Michael’s stated ambition of “five and four”, 5% fat and 4% protein.

Ask Michael the secret and he does not mention cows.

“Make yourself have an interest in grass,” he says, and he does, eyeballing covers into PastureBase more than 30 times a year.

The Carrolls use spring and autumn rotation planning and reseed about 10% of the farm annually. The farm’s carbon footprint sits at 0.83kg of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM), lower each year by design rather than accident. Cows are recorded 300 days at grass, a considerable achievement on a wet farm. The approach is methodical: correct the soil, retain the nutrients and ask the sward to do more of the work.

The breeding policy is equally specific. The cows have an EBI of €153, and replacements are at €189. Michael genotyped the entire herd some years ago and now breeds from the data. Dairy stock knowledge also runs through the wider family: Michael’s brother Pat is a dairy livestock specialist with Grasstec. The aim is a fertile, productive cow suited to the farm, rather than an animal bred for a single headline figure.

Environmental care follows the same pattern. Watercourses, drains and ditches are fenced, roadways are cambered, water is recycled in the milking process, and farm plastics and cardboard are recycled. The family plants about 15 trees and 100 whitethorn plants each year.

One of the farm’s most modern features may be the approach to labour. Ollie O’Brien, a neighbour, has worked full time with the Carrolls since 2019, milking and carrying out tractor work. Outside the spring period he works a five-day week, receives eight weeks of annual leave and has December off. Clodagh Hartigan, who completed her Leaving Certificate this year and is hoping to study veterinary, undertakes some of the relief milking. Michael aims to finish by 6pm, leaves only essential work for weekends, and takes a two-week family holiday in summer.

Coolruss is strong by every technical measure, but its deeper achievement is the balance between continuity and change.