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Chris and TJ Tuffy entered a milk-producing farm partnership in 2012 after securing a 15-year lease on a 55-hectare block of land in north Co Sligo. Previously a beef farm and the site of Sligo AI, the farm had become overgrown and was two-thirds rushes, according to Chris.
They began reseeding the farm in the back end of 2011 and started producing milk from the farm in 2012.
They are currently milking 144 cows at peak after downsizing slightly following a number of difficult grass-growing years on the farm.
All replacement heifers are reared on the Tuffy’s original home farm 35 miles away.
At the time I didn’t know if it was a problem or an opportunity when Chris decided to go farming
TJ looks after this while Chris manages the milking herd and the grass in Doonally.
The Tuffys opted to lease the land after Chris decided he wanted to go dairy farming in 2008.
“At the time I didn’t know if it was a problem or an opportunity when Chris decided to go farming, but we went with this option because otherwise he would have ended up in the south of the country or even in New Zealand managing a farm,” said TJ.
Current performance
The Tuffys grow in the region of 12tDM/ha on average on very heavy soil. To date this year, they have grown 10.5tDM/ha.
“The dry year suited us, whereas last year was a difficult wet year,” said Chris. The cows are currently milking 16.5 litres at 1.43 milk solids per day. Performance is not where Chris would like to see it but he is restricted on the ground they have.
They have been cross-breeding the herd to suit the system and push milk solids but this takes time, explained Chris.
Farming through the generations
The farm walk was organised by IFAC, Aurivo and Teagasc. Chris and TJ are a great example of inter-generational farming. They were faced with the challenge of creating two incomes from a farming enterprise that wasn’t going to sustain that.
While they are restricted on their performance due to land type, the Tuffys have created two incomes and met repayments over the last number of years from the farm in Doonally.
“The partnership has given me shared responsibility, having your name on the milk cheque gives you a sense of greater involvement as well as making sense from a business point-of-view,” said Chris.
SHARING OPTIONS: