The Waterwheel farm in Ballyarrel is run by Patrick Kelly and is located on the edge of Aurivo’s Killygordon processing site.
The connection with the co-operative movement is almost as old as the farm itself. The Kelly family has worked at Ballyarrell for more than 200 years, and Patrick’s great-grandfather was the first vice-chairman of Finn Valley Co-op in 1898.
Patrick’s father helped establish Donegal’s first dairy discussion group in 1990 and Patrick has carried that instinct for collective progress onto the national stage – first through Macra na Feirme, where he became national chairman, and later through the Teagasc Authority, Donegal Creameries, Progressive Genetics and ICBF.
Patrick studied agricultural science at UCD, gained experience on farms in the Netherlands and France and then spent a year working in New Zealand and Australia. When he returned, he established a separate dairy herd to secure milk quota before later merging it with the home enterprise. The farm has changed enormously since then, but his enthusiasm has not diminished. “The reason I am farming,” he says, “is that I love farming.”
Patrick milks 293 high-EBI Holstein Friesians on 145 hectares, supported by his brother-in-law Mark Sammon and Thomas Doherty. The herd delivered 150,484kg of milk solids in 2025, or 519kg per cow, while also supplying a small winter milk contract. The 2026 milk-quality figures are particularly impressive: somatic cell count fell to 91,000 cells/ml in March and 77,000 in April, while total bacterial count has generally remained around 9,000 to 12,000 cfu/ml.
The same care is evident in antibiotic stewardship. In 2025, 18% of the herd was selected for teat sealer only at drying off. Patrick began cautiously, using milk-recording to exclude any cow that had shown a cell-count spike and arranging enough help so that no more than one row was treated at a time.
Cow comfort is critical. A major shed completed in 2022 brought total accommodation to 400 cubicles for about 360 cows and heifers. Its generous feed space reduces competition and allows cows to move naturally. Roadways have been resurfaced with hoof health in mind and cows come to the parlour calmly in their own time.
Waterwheel is equally strong beyond the yard. The River Finn, a Special Area of Conservation, runs along the farm. Its banks have been fenced with a five-to-ten-metre margin and planted with 3,000 native birch, rowan, willow, alder and oak. Some roadways were moved away from watercourses and others were resurfaced to fall away from drains.
Low-emission slurry spreading, protected urea, annual soil sampling, 40 grass walks a year and precision fertiliser application all contribute to a carbon footprint of 0.86kg CO2 equivalent per kilogram of fat and protein corrected milk, an excellent result for a herd of this scale that also carries a winter contract.
The next target is not more cows. Patrick is reducing stocking pressure so that more ground can be reseeded and the herd’s genetic potential can be expressed. Replacement heifers have an EBI of €208 and the 2026 calves average €227.
Waterwheel also invests in its people. Patrick’s dad, as an employer, retained one member of staff for 54 years; today the farm employs two full-time workers, and regularly takes students from Ballyhaise Agricultural College and ATU Letterkenny. Patrick guest lectures on genetics and hosts students for practical classes, while local schoolchildren are invited to see how milk is produced.
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