Michael Carroll was recently crowned the winner of the 2025 Dairygold Milk Quality and Sustainability awards.

He farms alongside his wife Stephanie, three children, Donagh, JJ and Eliza and in partnership with his parents Martin and Mary.

The family are milking 140 cows across a 52ha milking platform which is supported by a further 31ha in outblocks for both heifer rearing and silage.

The land on the milking platform as well as 17ha of the outblocks are owned with the remaining 14ha leased.

Background

The Carroll name has been associated with the farm in Granagh, Co Limerick for over 100 years and in a nod to the history of the farm, the family have milk recording records dating back as far as 1926 hanging pride of place, upon entry to the plant room.

The records from cows belonging to Michael’s great-grandfather show 20 Shorthorn cows producing between 2,000 to 2,800 litres/year.

Milk fat percentages recorded were 3.4% with no mention of protein at that stage. It was a time when protein bared little relevance, with milk being used for drinking, butter or cheese production.

On the back of generations’ worth of development and continuous improvement, the farm is now a very different place, with cows delivering an average of 516kg of milk solids in 2025 at 4.77% fat and 3.98% protein.

Michael qualified in quantity surveying in the year 2000 and before returning home to farm full-time in 2011, he spent nine years managing building sites as well as some time spent travelling in Australia and New Zealand.

At that point there were 70 cows being milked and this was grown gradually over the years. The abolition of quotas in 2015 allowed Michael to grow to where he is today with 140 cows.

Genetics

The herd is predominantly Holstein Friesian, but Michael has been dipping his toe into crossbreeding for the last six years with majority of the cows now displaying a small level of Jersey genetics.

The herd EBI is €155 with a figure of €45 for milk and €60 for fertility. The maintenance figure of the herd is €26 which based on the ICBF’s ready reckoner would suggest a mature weight of 550kg.

The average milk PTAs (predicted transmitting abilities) of the herd are 0.2% fat and 0.13% protein with a negative figure of -127kg for milk kilos.

“Picking bulls is something I spend a lot of time at before breeding. We’re really going after the 5% fat and 4% protein figure but we’re finding it hard to get bulls with solids good enough to achieve that,” Michael says.

“We’re using sexed semen for the first three weeks on cows that are producing above average solids. We do one week then of conventional dairy semen, followed by Angus and Hereford beef AI,” he continues.

Michael invested in heat detection collars back in 2019 and has found them very beneficial at breeding time, particularly with the importance of timing with sexed semen. Six-week calving rate for 2025 was 87%.

Grass

Growing and utilising grass is a major focus for Michael, a previous winner of the Grass10 Farmer of the Year in the nutrient management category.

In 2025, the farm grew 14 tonnes DM/ha on average and he fed 815kg of meal/cow. This was well below the average level of meal fed on Irish farms in 2025 which was closer to 1.3t/cow.

The milking platform is stocked at 2.6 cows/ha which gives Michael flexibility to reseed over 10% of the block per year and take plenty of surplus silage.

When it comes to reseeding, like at breeding time Michael spends a lot of time picking grass seeds.

“Getting the grass seeds right is very important for me. If milk yields or protein starts to drop at the peak of the year because of poor grass quality or the wrong pre-grazing yields, the cost to the business is huge. You’re talking thousands of euros” he says.

Monocultures have been trialled on the farm for years with the PPI used to select the right varieties.

Aberplentiful and Nashota are two favourites of Michael’s while Aberclyde, which ranks highly on the recommended list, has been a problem for him.

“On this farm Aberclyde just goes to seed too quickly and cows won’t eat it down. You have to be going into it at a cover of 1,100kg DM/ha to have any chance of cleaning it off,” he says.

In terms of clover, it’s been a journey of slow progress, according to Michael. Clover seed is incorporated in every reseed and by now over 70% of the farm has been sown with some level of clover, yet only one-third of the farm has enough clover to cut back nitrogen applications.

To most, one-third of the farm would be considered a lot of clover but Michael has been frustrated by the fact it fails to survive on the farm.

The soil type of the farm is heavy and he feels this is the only real explanation for its failure to take off, as soil fertility on the farm is good and grassland management is done well.

Current situation

Growth was up to 79kg DM/ha at the start of this week and cover per cow was 187kg/LU. Demand is 69kg DM/ha and the cows are eating 2kg of meal.

The farm is four weeks into breeding and 94% of the cows were submitted in the first three weeks. The nine cows that hadn’t cycled were treated by the vet. Repeats are looking good at the moment with return rates low so far. All first cut silage was made last week on the outblocks.

Slurry is out on this and fertiliser will be going out this week. No first cut is made on the milking platform but there are a lot of surplus bales made. Several paddocks have already been cut with more planned for this week.

Three paddocks were pulled out for reseeding and burnt off five weeks ago now but weather conditions and moisture in the ground had made it too sticky to start tilling until this week. Any paddocks with a level of high clover get either parlour washings or 0-7-30 from mid-May.

The rest of the platform is getting 18 units/acre of nitrogen following the cows.

Financial

Each year Michael completes the Teagasc profit-monitor and has a really strong grip on the costs involved in running the business each year.

In 2025, variable costs were 20.84c/l and fixed costs came in at 16.39c/l. This gave a cost of production of just over 37c/l in 2025 not including Michael’s own labour.

As part of the Kilmallock discussion group, Michael is comparing and benchmarking the costs from his profit-monitor against other members each year and finds this extremely beneficial in steering the business.

While 2025 was a profitable year, thanks to the higher milk price, 2026 is going to prove a more challenging year for farmers in terms of cash flow and profitability with milk price so low and costs rising. Michael has found completing cash flows and profit monitors a really useful tool over the years for staying on track. This year will be no different.

Giving back

Inspiring young people and showcasing the positive image of dairy farming is something Michael is very passionate about. Through an initiative called Farmer Time, Michael is associated with a secondary school in Dublin where he gives students a virtual tour of the farm every couple of months.

The students, who are all from non-farming backgrounds and for the most part have never been on a farm, have the opportunity to ask questions and get an insight into what life on a dairy farm is really like.

Outside of farming Michael is also involved in coaching the local Granagh-Ballingarry GAA underage teams and togging out for the club’s junior team. It’s something that gives him a physical and mental break away from the business.

To hear more about Michael’s story and the current situation on farm, scan the QR code to listen to this week’s Inside Dairy podcast where Michael chatted to myself and Aidan Brennan.

In short