Eddie and Denis O’Donnell, the 2017 grassland farmers of the year, hosted an open day on their farm in Golden, Co Tipperary, on Wednesday 18 April.

Eddie, his wife Fiona and parents Denis and Nora are milking 355 cows this year, supplying milk for Dairygold Co-op and Kerry Group. They are currently farming a total of 160ha and operating two milking parlours with two full-time staff and one student.

Eddie bases his grassland management around a number of cornerstones – infrastructure, soil fertility, grass measurement/management and reseeding. Over 50 grass walks to measure grass production were completed on the farm in 2017.

The farm has excellent grassland production, averaging 17.6t dry matter per hectare per year over the last five years. Grass utilisation is key to the O’Donnells' success, and today, farmers attending the open day witnessed the excellent infrastructure in place to utilise grass.

Eddie O’Donnell said: “Like everybody else we have had a tough spring and we are hoping for a break in the weather. Our spring grass growth is well back on average, by approximately 800kg DM/ha. However, grass is beginning to move now. The weather this spring has really challenged us.”

Today’s open day demonstrates the huge potential of grassland in Ireland and what can be achieved by having the basics correct

High rainfall has occurred again this week which will further delay grazing on farms. Dr Pat Dillon, head of the animal and grassland, research and innovation programme in Teagasc, congratulated the O’Donnell family on their success.

“Today’s open day demonstrates the huge potential of grassland in Ireland and what can be achieved by having the basics correct. The Grass10 programme is about changing farm grassland management practises to achieve more grass utilisation. The O’Donnell family are terrific examples of this.”

The grassland farmer of the year awards are part of the Grass10 campaign which is supported by Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture, AIB, FBD Insurance, Grassland Agro and the Irish Farmers Journal.

Grass10 is a multi-year campaign to increase grass utilisation on Irish livestock farms (dairy, beef and sheep), with the objective of achieving: 10t of grass dry matter per hectare per year utilised, and achieving 10 grazings per paddock per year.

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