Despite milking a lot of cows, the Irwin farm in Kilmeedy, Co Limerick, is very much a family farm.

With two sons interested in farming, husband and wife team Liam and Bridie knew the farm had to get bigger if it was to support more members of the family.

Liam explains that the first thoughts of expansion came 20 years ago, when he approached a neighbour about the prospect of building a passage through his land, connecting Liam’s milking platform to another block of land he owned.

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Both Neilus and Peter both worked in New Zealand at the same time in 2012, as part of their college work placements.

When Neilus finished college he formed a partnership with his parents while Peter worked off-farm for a few years before joining the partnership in 2016.

New hedgerows were planted along the river back on the Irwin farm.

Cow numbers have increased steadily, with around 80 cows milked during the mid-2000s, rising to 120 cows by the middle of 2010. Since quotas were removed and Peter returned home, expansion was turbo charged – with 280 cows milked in 2019 and cow numbers at 455 this year.

With 121ha in the milking block, the farm is highly stocked at 3.76 cows/ha, but with good grassland management and over 50 grass walks a year, Neilus and Peter are able to get a lot of pasture utilised. Meal feeding rates in 2025 were 800kg of meal per cow, but this is expected to be higher in 2026 due to the recent drought.

Heifer rearing

The pair are farming 243ha in total and make use of the outfarms for heifer rearing and most of the silage.

Some of the grass from the outfarms is zero-grazed back to the home farm when grass is tight.

The Irwin farm in Kilmeedy, Co Limerick.

There is a big emphasis on work/life balance on this farm, despite the high numbers of cows being milked. Facilities are excellent, allowing for efficient milking, handling and housing of cows. This was aided enormously by the construction of a 50 bail rotary in 2023, allowing for the cows to be milked in 1.5 hours.

Replacing a 20-unit herringbone, the parlour has been a game-changer for the farm.

With one full-time employee plus part-time employees, the farm is well set up, allowing for plenty of time off for everyone to pursue their love of Limerick GAA.

Neilus also says that the use of a batt-latch has been a game-changer, as it means that the cows are in the yard for morning and evening milking, with no time wasted having to fetch them. Typically, everyone is finished for the day at around 4.30pm.

The herd is Jersey crossbred, with an EBI of €152. Last year’s co-op performance report shows that the herd delivered 449kg MS/cow to Kinisla, with an average of 4.87% butterfat and 3.92% protein, with an 87% six week in-calf rate.

Dairy AI

All AI is carried out on the farm with no bulls running with the cows. Cows are served to dairy AI for the first three weeks, with 90 sexed and 250 conventional straws used. Other than that, all beef AI is used.

A new 50 bail DeLaval rotary was built in 2023.

The family have put a big effort into sustainability over the years, with 250m of new hedging planted and 50 trees planted along a river.

The only form of nitrogen used is protected urea and between 15% and 20% of the farm is reseeded annually.