For Tom Spillane, managing the soils on a heavy farm is the key to profitable dairying. Tom farms with his family at Culeeneymore, Beaufort, Co Kerry. His system is to milk 74 cows and keep all replacement heifers, plus beef calves, until they are yearlings and then sell them. There is 48ha owned in the milking platform and a further 8ha of land is leased away from the home farm.

Tom has been at home full-time since 2012 and has the system finely tuned to meet his needs, and that of the farm. Attention to detail is high and with it, farm performance. The herd delivered 537kg MS/cow to Kinisla in 2025, albeit from around 1.45t of meal per cow.

The soil type is heavy, but the scenery is immense, with the majestic Macgillycuddy Reeks being the backdrop to the grazing platform. Preventing poaching is a key priority for Tom, especially in spring time.

He has invested heavily in facilities to cater for longer winters and also makes high quality silage, saying it is inevitable that milking cows will be on silage for the start and end of the grazing season and potentially in between.

Since Tom came home full-time he has focussed a lot on improving herd genetics, with the herd EBI now standing at €156 with €24 for milk sub-index and €72 for fertility sub-index. The high genetic potential for fertility is following through to the cows, with the six-week calving rate at 89% for 2026.

Tom bought-in high EBI heifers in 2013 and again in 2014, and these remain the backbone of the herd. By buying in good genetics, he was able to leapfrog genetic gain. The heifers he bought in were of New Zealand Friesian breeding, sire lines he has stuck with.

Tom uses a mix of sexed and conventional AI when it comes to dairy bulls, with selective use of Angus and Belgian Blue AI for cows he doesn’t want to breed replacements from. The average EBI of the inseminations in 2026 were €214.

While Tom says that he has no interest in increasing cow numbers beyond the current 74, he is focused on increasing milk solids through better grassland management and breeding. He aims to go into covers of 1,100kg to 1,200kg when grazing the wetter part of the farm, to ensure that if the weather changes, there won’t be a high cover on these areas.

In terms of sustainability, Tom is a participant in the Farming for Water EIP, as the cows cross a river to get to some parts of the milking platform. He carries out nutrient management planning, milk records four times per year, applies lime, uses low protein feeds and is getting a payment through the Kinisla Evolve programme for breeding high-value beef calves.

He has also invested significantly in renewable energy, with a high-end solar panel system installed on the roof of the cubicle sheds supplying electricity to two batteries and powering many of the electrical requirements on the farm.