Gurteen Agricultural College near Ballingarry, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, the location of this year’s FTMTA Grass & Muck event, is the site of the largest agricultural farm in Ireland. The privately-run college, which is in existence since 1947, is at the forefront of agricultural education in Ireland. The area farmed there runs to 414ha (1,023 acres).

The agricultural courses at Gurteen aim to provide training in practical farming. There are some part-time agricultural students at the college involved in a range of block release courses.

Gurteen College also runs the Bachelor of Business in equine studies and training in veterinary nursing in association with Athlone Institute of Technology.

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Gurteen College, lead by principal Mike Pearson and farm manager Wray Platt, runs the college farm as a blend of commercial farming and a respected educational establishment. Their aim is to set high standards for the young farmers of the future.

The college has struggled to cope with the big influx of students in the past year.

Mike Pearson, college principal, said that where there were 140 full-time students in the past they are making plans to deal with a total of almost 300 students during the academic year.

Wray Platt, farm manager at the college, has overall responsibility for the day-to-day farming operations.

The dairy herd at Gurteen consists of 110 pedigree Holstein x Friesian cows. The milk production pattern is primarily based around winter milk, supplied to Arabian Co-op.

The farm has acquired more quotas in the past two years, pushing the figure up to almost 724,900 litres.

Much of the grass silage area for the FTMTA Grass & Muck 2014 event is the silage area for the dairy herd. This area was last grazed in November 2013 and has been closed since.

Platt said that the silage area has received about 2,500 gallons of cattle slurry in February followed by fertilizer in early March and two more bags of ASM with 26% nitrogen and 14% sulphur in late March.