Dromard, Co Sligo
Trevor Boland is a part-time suckler farmer who also buys in cattle, mostly to finish as beef. The focus on this farm is very much on efficiency, with all animals bred from the 40 suckler cows out of AI, and excellent use made of grazed grass as the main feed source. The land around Dromard is reasonably good-quality, which allows Trevor to keep the cows out grazing until the clocks change in late October. The cows are all autumn calving and are strip-grazed daily at the shoulders of the year.
Trevor’s off-farm job as an accountant means he is good at analysing figures
Overall stocking rate is just shy of two livestock units per hectare with the farm growing an average of 9.7t/ha over the last three years.
Trevor walks the farm on average 34 times per year and inputs the covers into PastureBase.
Like most farms in Ireland, the farm is fragmented, with a combination of owned and leased blocks. Trevor’s off-farm job as an accountant means he is good at analysing figures, both for fields and animals.
The farm has been more or less corrected for pH
His goal is to increase the stocking rate on the farm and then to grow more grass. He feels there is more potential in the farm once soil fertility is corrected.
The farm has been more or less corrected for pH (by spreading 2t/acre of lime). Potash levels are OK but the phosphorus index is low and only about 10% of the farm has been reseeded.
Growing more grass now isn’t a priority for Trevor as he doesn’t have the animals to graze it. Instead, his priority, quite rightly, is to better manage what he is growing.
Ballinamore, Co Leitrim
Visitors to the O’Connell farm in Ballinamore can’t but be impressed by the passion and enthusiasm John has for farming.
Soil type around this part of Leitrim is severely challenged and some parts of the farm were saturated when the judges visited in early September.
John O'Connell, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
The O’Connell family shot to fame this autumn when they featured in the RTÉ television series Raised by the Village, where a young man from a disadvantaged part of Dublin went to live with the family for a week.
The O’Connell farm is split in two blocks of 17ha each. The home farm at Cloverhill carries the sheep flock, while the outside farm carries a contract heifer-rearing enterprise.
The farm was originally a dairy farm carrying 35 dairy cows but John exited dairy in 1999.
He got into contract-rearing in 2015 and is happy with how it’s working out
He then got into suckler cows but exited this in early 2013 while all along he was building sheep numbers and getting on well with them.
He got into contract-rearing in 2015 and is happy with how it’s working out, saying he gets to keep between 50% and 55% of the daily rearing rate.
The big issue is soil type and large animals, whether dairy or suckler cows are just not suited to the O’Connell farm. Rainfall in this part of Ireland, at 1,320mm, is twice that of the east coast. The fact that his farm is surrounded on all sides by forestry says a lot. John’s flock consists of 220 ewes. The overall stocking rate is 2.1 livestock units per hectare and grass production over the last three years was 12.3t/ha after an average of 32 measurements per year. John measures with a plate meter.
He targets sheep slurry on all the low-index paddocks
John says drainage, soil fertility and reseeding are the main reasons for the high growth rates, but he doesn’t believe in reseeding unless you’re not growing enough grass. He targets sheep slurry on all the low-index paddocks and most of the farm will get some slurry at some stage every year. He’s an advocate of early nitrogen and will spread a half bag/acre of urea in February. He only uses protected urea when spreading straight nitrogen.
Ballina, Co Mayo
Tommy is suckler and beef farmer from Ballina in Co Mayo. A member of the BETTER farm beef challenge, he is well known locally for his ability to grow lots of grass. Average grass yields over the last three years are 13.5t/ha.
The soil type is relatively good and free draining and that, combined with good soil fertility and good grassland management, is contributing to his success. Tommy is farming a total of 18ha, which is in three blocks. He’s got 15 autumn-calving suckler cows and buys in about 50 bulls for finishing at under 16 months.
Grazing platform on Tommy Holmes's farm.
The layout of the farm is superb, with a network of paddock fencing and water system throughout.
The 20ac outfarm supported 50 young bulls this year, with the animals getting two days per paddock. Each water drinker services four paddocks.
Tommy spreads fertiliser after every grazing to keep the grass growing. Target pre-grazing yield is 1,600kg/ha and any paddocks above this are skipped over and cut for bale silage. The grazing season lasts from 14 February to late November.
Coachford, Co Cork
Philip How is in his sixth year of contract-rearing replacement heifers. Philip farms part-time just outside Coachford and was originally a suckler farmer.
The farm consist of 40ha of a grazing platform. The contract-rearing system sees Philip take in 165 calves for one farmer.
The calves arrive from 15 May to 30 June. The calves weigh around 100kg when they come to Philip and he looks after them until October of the following year when they leave his farm at around 430kg as in-calf heifers.
Forty acres of the farm were fully reseeded in 2013
There is an overlap between each year’s calves for four months during the summer when Philip is carrying 330 stock. Animals gain 330kg over the 500 days that Philip rears them, having an average liveweight gain (LWG) of 0.66kg/day. Some calves that are behind are sorted out for special treatment during the summer and calves underweight at housing will get 1.5kg/day of meal for the winter.
Grassland Farmer of the Year judging on Philip How's farm.
Forty acres of the farm were fully reseeded in 2013 and the oldest grass on the farm was sown in 2008. The reseeding strategy for the farm is based on the tonnage review, when last reseeded and soil fertility factors. “I am tracking the performance of the fields across the years and looking at trends and paddocks consistently underperforming,” says Philip
Philip is recording over 30 grass walks a year on PastureBase and measures using a platemeter. The farm is currently growing 11.5t/DM/ha.
The farm is highly stocked at 220kg/ha of organic nitrogen, so a nitrates derogation plan is in place
In the spring, grazing starts in early February with the lighter weanlings being let out of the shed first. Philip will follow a spring and autumn planner at the shoulders of the year to make sure he’s not going through grass too quickly.
He will feed bales to slow down heifers if he feels like he’s going to run out of grass.
Philip How's farm.
The farm is highly stocked at 220kg/ha of organic nitrogen, so a nitrates derogation plan is in place.
Philip spreads all slurry on the farm by trailing shoe and tries to get 80% of it out in the spring. He has coppiced 750m of a hedgerow, along with planting a grove of 450 trees on the farm.
Read more
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Dromard, Co Sligo
Trevor Boland is a part-time suckler farmer who also buys in cattle, mostly to finish as beef. The focus on this farm is very much on efficiency, with all animals bred from the 40 suckler cows out of AI, and excellent use made of grazed grass as the main feed source. The land around Dromard is reasonably good-quality, which allows Trevor to keep the cows out grazing until the clocks change in late October. The cows are all autumn calving and are strip-grazed daily at the shoulders of the year.
Trevor’s off-farm job as an accountant means he is good at analysing figures
Overall stocking rate is just shy of two livestock units per hectare with the farm growing an average of 9.7t/ha over the last three years.
Trevor walks the farm on average 34 times per year and inputs the covers into PastureBase.
Like most farms in Ireland, the farm is fragmented, with a combination of owned and leased blocks. Trevor’s off-farm job as an accountant means he is good at analysing figures, both for fields and animals.
The farm has been more or less corrected for pH
His goal is to increase the stocking rate on the farm and then to grow more grass. He feels there is more potential in the farm once soil fertility is corrected.
The farm has been more or less corrected for pH (by spreading 2t/acre of lime). Potash levels are OK but the phosphorus index is low and only about 10% of the farm has been reseeded.
Growing more grass now isn’t a priority for Trevor as he doesn’t have the animals to graze it. Instead, his priority, quite rightly, is to better manage what he is growing.
Ballinamore, Co Leitrim
Visitors to the O’Connell farm in Ballinamore can’t but be impressed by the passion and enthusiasm John has for farming.
Soil type around this part of Leitrim is severely challenged and some parts of the farm were saturated when the judges visited in early September.
John O'Connell, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
The O’Connell family shot to fame this autumn when they featured in the RTÉ television series Raised by the Village, where a young man from a disadvantaged part of Dublin went to live with the family for a week.
The O’Connell farm is split in two blocks of 17ha each. The home farm at Cloverhill carries the sheep flock, while the outside farm carries a contract heifer-rearing enterprise.
The farm was originally a dairy farm carrying 35 dairy cows but John exited dairy in 1999.
He got into contract-rearing in 2015 and is happy with how it’s working out
He then got into suckler cows but exited this in early 2013 while all along he was building sheep numbers and getting on well with them.
He got into contract-rearing in 2015 and is happy with how it’s working out, saying he gets to keep between 50% and 55% of the daily rearing rate.
The big issue is soil type and large animals, whether dairy or suckler cows are just not suited to the O’Connell farm. Rainfall in this part of Ireland, at 1,320mm, is twice that of the east coast. The fact that his farm is surrounded on all sides by forestry says a lot. John’s flock consists of 220 ewes. The overall stocking rate is 2.1 livestock units per hectare and grass production over the last three years was 12.3t/ha after an average of 32 measurements per year. John measures with a plate meter.
He targets sheep slurry on all the low-index paddocks
John says drainage, soil fertility and reseeding are the main reasons for the high growth rates, but he doesn’t believe in reseeding unless you’re not growing enough grass. He targets sheep slurry on all the low-index paddocks and most of the farm will get some slurry at some stage every year. He’s an advocate of early nitrogen and will spread a half bag/acre of urea in February. He only uses protected urea when spreading straight nitrogen.
Ballina, Co Mayo
Tommy is suckler and beef farmer from Ballina in Co Mayo. A member of the BETTER farm beef challenge, he is well known locally for his ability to grow lots of grass. Average grass yields over the last three years are 13.5t/ha.
The soil type is relatively good and free draining and that, combined with good soil fertility and good grassland management, is contributing to his success. Tommy is farming a total of 18ha, which is in three blocks. He’s got 15 autumn-calving suckler cows and buys in about 50 bulls for finishing at under 16 months.
Grazing platform on Tommy Holmes's farm.
The layout of the farm is superb, with a network of paddock fencing and water system throughout.
The 20ac outfarm supported 50 young bulls this year, with the animals getting two days per paddock. Each water drinker services four paddocks.
Tommy spreads fertiliser after every grazing to keep the grass growing. Target pre-grazing yield is 1,600kg/ha and any paddocks above this are skipped over and cut for bale silage. The grazing season lasts from 14 February to late November.
Coachford, Co Cork
Philip How is in his sixth year of contract-rearing replacement heifers. Philip farms part-time just outside Coachford and was originally a suckler farmer.
The farm consist of 40ha of a grazing platform. The contract-rearing system sees Philip take in 165 calves for one farmer.
The calves arrive from 15 May to 30 June. The calves weigh around 100kg when they come to Philip and he looks after them until October of the following year when they leave his farm at around 430kg as in-calf heifers.
Forty acres of the farm were fully reseeded in 2013
There is an overlap between each year’s calves for four months during the summer when Philip is carrying 330 stock. Animals gain 330kg over the 500 days that Philip rears them, having an average liveweight gain (LWG) of 0.66kg/day. Some calves that are behind are sorted out for special treatment during the summer and calves underweight at housing will get 1.5kg/day of meal for the winter.
Grassland Farmer of the Year judging on Philip How's farm.
Forty acres of the farm were fully reseeded in 2013 and the oldest grass on the farm was sown in 2008. The reseeding strategy for the farm is based on the tonnage review, when last reseeded and soil fertility factors. “I am tracking the performance of the fields across the years and looking at trends and paddocks consistently underperforming,” says Philip
Philip is recording over 30 grass walks a year on PastureBase and measures using a platemeter. The farm is currently growing 11.5t/DM/ha.
The farm is highly stocked at 220kg/ha of organic nitrogen, so a nitrates derogation plan is in place
In the spring, grazing starts in early February with the lighter weanlings being let out of the shed first. Philip will follow a spring and autumn planner at the shoulders of the year to make sure he’s not going through grass too quickly.
He will feed bales to slow down heifers if he feels like he’s going to run out of grass.
Philip How's farm.
The farm is highly stocked at 220kg/ha of organic nitrogen, so a nitrates derogation plan is in place.
Philip spreads all slurry on the farm by trailing shoe and tries to get 80% of it out in the spring. He has coppiced 750m of a hedgerow, along with planting a grove of 450 trees on the farm.
Read more
Kerry, Kildare and Kilkenny farmers set to compete in grassland final
Cork, Kerry and Cavan farmers in grassland competition
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