I farm: “A dairy farm on 190 acres with a further 74 acres rented in Tyrone. We’re in the western half of the county in a place called Maghermason. We supply our milk to Natural Dairies. The land can be very heavy in our area.”

System: “I farm in partnership with my cousin Stuart and my father David. We have 240 Holstein cows. Last year we were milking three times a day but with the milk price dropping back, we’ve cut back to twice a day. The overall yield is down about 10% on last year as a result, but we would be producing more from forage."

Calving: “From September to May our days are very similar. We’re calving hard most of the days. There’s about 40 or so left to calve.”

Grass: “No cows are out yet but we plan to get some of the autumn calved cows out in the next week or two. There hasn't been any growth, so they will just be cleaning up build-up from the year. We’ll want to graze that off now and get slurry out. The land is still soft in places.”

Family: “I’m married to Carol and we have three children under five; Charlie, Samuel and Eva.”

Ulster Farmers Union: “Before I came back farming, I worked for six years as a policy adviser with the Ulster Famers Union. The change back to getting the hands dirty on the farm hasn’t been too bad. I think the move has been harder on Carol!”

Quotas: “A lot of farmers in the north have been looking as to what’s happening in the south with quotas now gone. Quotas here haven't been an issue for a good few years and farmers have been able to expand quite rapidly. Some farmers believe there should be some quota system or market measure in place into the future to avoid oversupply. Saying that, we have been able to operate without the restriction and with quotas gone in the south, it would be unfair to deny farmers the opportunity to progress onwards if they want to. Prices were good last year but with the euro weakening and the dairy markets struggling, it’s been very tough this year."

Quotable quote: “A lot of farmers around here are too fond of the bucket of meal. It’s a tight margin business. We have to be able to do more with less and cut costs wherever we can.”