The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is part of the Grass 10 programme spearheaded by Teagasc with industry sponsors AIB, Grassland Agro, FBD, Department of Agriculture and the Irish Farmers Journal.
Competing farmers are shortlisted for a visit by the judges based on a desktop analysis of grass growth, number of grazings, nitrogen use, production and costs. There are 10 finalists in this years’ competition.
The judges are Bridget Lynch and John Maher from Teagasc, Liz Hyland from the Department of Agriculture, Colin Heaney from FBD, Bryan Doocey from AIB, John O’Loughlin from Grassland Agro and Aidan Brennan from the Irish Farmers Journal. Farmers are judged on grassland management, sustainability, grazing infrastructure and health and safety.
Ballycanew, Co Wexford
Brigid and Michael Carroll.
Brigid Carroll started milking with 50 cows in 2017.
Previously a suckler beef farmer, she has put enormous effort and investment into the farm through improving soil fertility, grazing infrastructure, cubicles, slurry storage and a milking parlour.
The parlour on Brigid Carroll's farm.
The fact that all of this has happened in such a short space of time is even more impressive.
This year, Brigid milked 111 cows on the 43.6ha milking block.
Brigid Carroll's farm.
She is married to Joe, who is also a dairy farmer. Their son Michael helps out on both farms and machinery is also shared between the two yards, which are located very close to each other.
Over the last five years, Brigid has reseeded 85% of the milking platform and the whole farm will have been reseeded by next year. An additional 6ha is leased in and this is used for silage.
All heifers for Brigid’s farm are reared on the grazing platform in addition to the milking cows, giving a high overall and milking platform stocking rate of around 3.3 livestock units/ha.
Most of Brigid’s fields have been well drained over the years.
Brigid took up grass measuring in 2017 and walked the farm 36 times in 2021. The farm is on track to grow just over 14tDM/ha in 2021 and the herd of black and white cows will deliver just over 500kg of milk solids per cow this year.
The meal feeding is on the high side at around 1.2t of meal fed per cow. The empty rate this year was just 8% and the herd EBI is €178.
The meal feeding on Brigid Carroll's farm is on the high side at around 1.2t of meal fed per cow.
The Macamore soil type in this part of Wexford is heavy clay and most of Brigid’s fields have been well drained over the years. While the top soil is relatively free-draining, there is a heavy clay and marl subsoil.
Early spring grazing can be a challenge, with cows traditionally being turned out on 1 March by day and then out by day and night 12 days later.
Burncourt, Co Tipperary
Jim and Edel Conway.
Jim Conway farms with his wife Edel outside the little village of Burncourt in south Tipperary.
The 28ha farm is in three divisions, meaning Jim crosses the public road in two locations for cows to access all of the milking block.
Land quality in this part of Tipperary is good and the farm is well sheltered to the north by the majestic Galtee Mountains.
Jim and Edel Conway's farm.
Jim milks around 80 high-EBI cows. The average EBI of the herd is €195 – his 20 years spent as an AI technician before coming home to farm full-time was put to good use. The herd is set to deliver just shy of 540kg MS/cow to Dairygold Co-Op from 0.9t of meal per cow.
Jim has been measuring grass for a good number of years and started to learn initially when three other members of the Cahir dairy discussion group came together in a pod.
Jim is on track to grow about 14.5tDM/ha this year from approximately 225kg N/ha.
The four members met up on a member’s farm once per week. So each member walked their own farm weekly but also someone else’s farm and Jim says it was a great way to learn as they could bounce off each other and see how each other was getting on. He says his milk solids production improved as soon as he started measuring and managing grass better.
Roadways on Jim and Edel Conway's farm.
Jim is on track to grow about 14.5tDM/ha this year from approximately 225kg N/ha. He reseeds about 10% of the farm every year and sows clover in the grass seed mix and there is clover across most of the farm, albeit probably not in sufficient quantities to enable a reduction in chemical nitrogen usage.
Cows start calving on 25 January and will be out to grass by 1 February, at which point he will be hoping for the average farm cover to be 1,100kg/ha as the closing cover was at 890kg/ha. Jim has achieved an average of 9.4 grazings per paddock per year over the last three years. No straight CAN fertiliser was used this year – just urea, protected urea and compounds. All slurry has been spread with a low-emission spreader for the past five years. Soil tests are carried out every year and most of the farm is at index three and four for P and K.
Ballylooby, Cahir, Co Tipperary
Brendan and John Walsh.
Nestled between the Galtees to the north and the Knockmealdowns to the south lies the Walsh family farm at Ballylooby.
The quality and productivity of the land in this area is renowned and something the father and son pairing don’t take for granted. If anything, mid-season droughts are a bigger concern on this farm than most other weather events.
The Walsh duo milked 142 cows in 2021 on the 58ha milking block. The plan is to milk 160 cows next year which will be a stocking rate of 2.75 cows/ha. They are farming a total of 102ha, 30ha of which is leased in. Some beef cattle are kept on the farm but this enterprise is being phased out.
Brendan and John Walsh milked 142 cows in 2021.
Attention to detail in everything they do is the hallmark of the Walsh family’s farming enterprise and this is obvious from walking around the farm. Over 50 grass walks are completed annually across the farm. While clover has been present on the farm for a long number of years, it is only in the last two years or so that they are actively managing it.
At this stage, 40% of the milking platform is high clover and this area only received 164kgN/ha while the fields with less clover received 194kgN/ha.
All of the high clover paddocks were grazed this November so that they would enter the winter with a low cover.
All paddocks are treated the same until late April or early May and then the nitrogen is eased off on the high-clover paddocks, with no nitrogen spread from June on.
Brendan and John are farming a total of 102ha, 30ha of which is leased in.
Brendan says that whether nitrogen is spread in August or not will depend on growth rates at the time and where average farm cover is at.
Two fields were oversown with clover last summer but John says it’s hit and miss, with one field having a good take and the other having a poor take. He says that broadcasting clover seed doesn’t work very well on a dry farm because you need seed-to-soil contact. Another issue is that pelleted clover seed was used whereas unpelleted seed might work better.
Roadways on Brendan and John Walsh's farm.
Average grass growth over the last three years was 13.7tDM/ha and the herd of black and white cows with an EBI of €168 delivered 539kgMS/cow to Dairygold Co-op last year from 700kg of meal. Fertility performance is excellent, with 9% empty after 10 weeks of breeding. The Walsh family sowed a new hedgerow last year as part of the drive to increase biodiversity on the farm.
The Grassland Farmer of the Year competition is part of the Grass 10 programme spearheaded by Teagasc with industry sponsors AIB, Grassland Agro, FBD, Department of Agriculture and the Irish Farmers Journal.
Competing farmers are shortlisted for a visit by the judges based on a desktop analysis of grass growth, number of grazings, nitrogen use, production and costs. There are 10 finalists in this years’ competition.
The judges are Bridget Lynch and John Maher from Teagasc, Liz Hyland from the Department of Agriculture, Colin Heaney from FBD, Bryan Doocey from AIB, John O’Loughlin from Grassland Agro and Aidan Brennan from the Irish Farmers Journal. Farmers are judged on grassland management, sustainability, grazing infrastructure and health and safety.
Ballycanew, Co Wexford
Brigid and Michael Carroll.
Brigid Carroll started milking with 50 cows in 2017.
Previously a suckler beef farmer, she has put enormous effort and investment into the farm through improving soil fertility, grazing infrastructure, cubicles, slurry storage and a milking parlour.
The parlour on Brigid Carroll's farm.
The fact that all of this has happened in such a short space of time is even more impressive.
This year, Brigid milked 111 cows on the 43.6ha milking block.
Brigid Carroll's farm.
She is married to Joe, who is also a dairy farmer. Their son Michael helps out on both farms and machinery is also shared between the two yards, which are located very close to each other.
Over the last five years, Brigid has reseeded 85% of the milking platform and the whole farm will have been reseeded by next year. An additional 6ha is leased in and this is used for silage.
All heifers for Brigid’s farm are reared on the grazing platform in addition to the milking cows, giving a high overall and milking platform stocking rate of around 3.3 livestock units/ha.
Most of Brigid’s fields have been well drained over the years.
Brigid took up grass measuring in 2017 and walked the farm 36 times in 2021. The farm is on track to grow just over 14tDM/ha in 2021 and the herd of black and white cows will deliver just over 500kg of milk solids per cow this year.
The meal feeding is on the high side at around 1.2t of meal fed per cow. The empty rate this year was just 8% and the herd EBI is €178.
The meal feeding on Brigid Carroll's farm is on the high side at around 1.2t of meal fed per cow.
The Macamore soil type in this part of Wexford is heavy clay and most of Brigid’s fields have been well drained over the years. While the top soil is relatively free-draining, there is a heavy clay and marl subsoil.
Early spring grazing can be a challenge, with cows traditionally being turned out on 1 March by day and then out by day and night 12 days later.
Burncourt, Co Tipperary
Jim and Edel Conway.
Jim Conway farms with his wife Edel outside the little village of Burncourt in south Tipperary.
The 28ha farm is in three divisions, meaning Jim crosses the public road in two locations for cows to access all of the milking block.
Land quality in this part of Tipperary is good and the farm is well sheltered to the north by the majestic Galtee Mountains.
Jim and Edel Conway's farm.
Jim milks around 80 high-EBI cows. The average EBI of the herd is €195 – his 20 years spent as an AI technician before coming home to farm full-time was put to good use. The herd is set to deliver just shy of 540kg MS/cow to Dairygold Co-Op from 0.9t of meal per cow.
Jim has been measuring grass for a good number of years and started to learn initially when three other members of the Cahir dairy discussion group came together in a pod.
Jim is on track to grow about 14.5tDM/ha this year from approximately 225kg N/ha.
The four members met up on a member’s farm once per week. So each member walked their own farm weekly but also someone else’s farm and Jim says it was a great way to learn as they could bounce off each other and see how each other was getting on. He says his milk solids production improved as soon as he started measuring and managing grass better.
Roadways on Jim and Edel Conway's farm.
Jim is on track to grow about 14.5tDM/ha this year from approximately 225kg N/ha. He reseeds about 10% of the farm every year and sows clover in the grass seed mix and there is clover across most of the farm, albeit probably not in sufficient quantities to enable a reduction in chemical nitrogen usage.
Cows start calving on 25 January and will be out to grass by 1 February, at which point he will be hoping for the average farm cover to be 1,100kg/ha as the closing cover was at 890kg/ha. Jim has achieved an average of 9.4 grazings per paddock per year over the last three years. No straight CAN fertiliser was used this year – just urea, protected urea and compounds. All slurry has been spread with a low-emission spreader for the past five years. Soil tests are carried out every year and most of the farm is at index three and four for P and K.
Ballylooby, Cahir, Co Tipperary
Brendan and John Walsh.
Nestled between the Galtees to the north and the Knockmealdowns to the south lies the Walsh family farm at Ballylooby.
The quality and productivity of the land in this area is renowned and something the father and son pairing don’t take for granted. If anything, mid-season droughts are a bigger concern on this farm than most other weather events.
The Walsh duo milked 142 cows in 2021 on the 58ha milking block. The plan is to milk 160 cows next year which will be a stocking rate of 2.75 cows/ha. They are farming a total of 102ha, 30ha of which is leased in. Some beef cattle are kept on the farm but this enterprise is being phased out.
Brendan and John Walsh milked 142 cows in 2021.
Attention to detail in everything they do is the hallmark of the Walsh family’s farming enterprise and this is obvious from walking around the farm. Over 50 grass walks are completed annually across the farm. While clover has been present on the farm for a long number of years, it is only in the last two years or so that they are actively managing it.
At this stage, 40% of the milking platform is high clover and this area only received 164kgN/ha while the fields with less clover received 194kgN/ha.
All of the high clover paddocks were grazed this November so that they would enter the winter with a low cover.
All paddocks are treated the same until late April or early May and then the nitrogen is eased off on the high-clover paddocks, with no nitrogen spread from June on.
Brendan and John are farming a total of 102ha, 30ha of which is leased in.
Brendan says that whether nitrogen is spread in August or not will depend on growth rates at the time and where average farm cover is at.
Two fields were oversown with clover last summer but John says it’s hit and miss, with one field having a good take and the other having a poor take. He says that broadcasting clover seed doesn’t work very well on a dry farm because you need seed-to-soil contact. Another issue is that pelleted clover seed was used whereas unpelleted seed might work better.
Roadways on Brendan and John Walsh's farm.
Average grass growth over the last three years was 13.7tDM/ha and the herd of black and white cows with an EBI of €168 delivered 539kgMS/cow to Dairygold Co-op last year from 700kg of meal. Fertility performance is excellent, with 9% empty after 10 weeks of breeding. The Walsh family sowed a new hedgerow last year as part of the drive to increase biodiversity on the farm.
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