On Wednesday 8 July, brothers John and Bryan O’Connor, along with their family, opened their farm gates and hosted this year’s Irish Holstein Friesian Association national open day.
Bryan is hoping the open day will "energise the farming community that the type of cow they are milking is a very important thing, that it's not all about numbers".
The farm is focused on keeping fewer cows, bio-production and putting a lot of emphasis on cow comfort and welfare.
“I think modern society will demand that animals are kept in a friendly, comfortable environment,” said Bryan.
Milking over 180 cows on three Lely Astronaut milking robots, they have made an "enormous investment" in their shed and farm infrastructure, which Bryan says is "working well".
“Production is obviously important, but it’s not the overall mantra. Our overall focus is that our cows are happy and I think that’s what the consumer will demand,” he said.
History of the herd
With their father starting out with Holsteins in the '50s, they always had a "decent herd of cows", according to Bryan.
“My brother John had a business and we were always ingrained in the pedigree world; he decided to buy a farm. This farm came up and he bought it. It was meant to be a hobby farm with 30 or 40 cows.
"Before we bought the farm, we decided to take the herd to the next level. We targeted the best cow families in Europe and the UK, we either bought them individually or bought embryos,” said John.
In 2020 during COVID-19, they started building on their new green site and in March 2021, they started milking.
“We have invested a fortune in the best genetics and that’s our target, to have high-yielding, good-looking cows and that’s what we want,” said Bryan.
Watch the full interview with Bryan:
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