The basics

200 — farm acreage. including a 20 acre demo field.

15 — year lease.

140 — €140/acre rent annually.

2 — farm is split in two blocks in close proximity to each other.

120 — targeted cows calving.

60:40 – capital expenditure agreement. For every €1 invested in the farm, the Irish Farmers Journal puts up 60c and the Grogan family (farm owners) contribute 40c.

16 – male progeny will be finished as bulls under-16-months of age in the summertime. Heifers will be sold as high-index yearlings for bulling.

4 – calving began on 4 Feb in 2017.

€115 – herd’s replacement index averages €115, placing it in the top 10% nationally

10.2kg – with a milk index figure of 10.2kg, the herd is in the top 1% nationally. This is of course driven by the dairy genetics in the herd

9kg – at 9kg, the herds figure for carcase weight is bang on the national average. At the end of the day we are selling kilos of carcase weight and this is obviously not ideal. However, there is scope to drive progeny performance by selecting sires with strong growth potential.

3% – when selecting sires, the maximum calving difficulty for a bull on heifers is 3% and on the mature herd 8%.

77% – in three weeks of AI, 77% of the herd were submitted for service and there was a 65% conception rate.

3 – three stock bulls will run with the herd from 2018. They were purchased as young bulls this year and it was decided that three weeks of AI be carried out to take the pressure off them.

0 – a bull fertility problem has reared its head on Tullamore Farm this year. Thanks to farm manager Ger’s vigilance, the ending could have been much worse. Following a recent scan it was discovered than none of the cows served by one of our bulls were in calf at 30 days or more. He has been stood down, AI has resumed and the other bulls' workloads increased.

150 – ewes in a mid-season lambing flock

1.9 – targeting 1.9-2 lambs per ewe joined and 1.7-1.75 lambs weaned per ewe.

61 – dairy beef calves purchased in 2017 to boost output ahead of sheep establishment.

233 – the calves are AA/HE-cross and cost €233/head in 2017. The aim will be to slaughter these at 18-20 months, from grass, at a final live weight of 500kg.

38 – there are 38 permanent grazing divisions on Tullamore Farm, all of which will be grazed in sections with temporary reels.

1.5 – animals will spend two to three days in paddocks between 1.5 and 2ha in area. Grazing groups will consist of 30-40 cows and progeny.

669kg – farm cover on Tullamore farm this week was 669kg DM/ha. Demand is 57kg/ha/day, giving us 11.7 grazing days ahead at present – right on target. Growth was 72kg DM/ha.day this week.

10 – acres of kale have been sown on Tullamore Farm to ease pressure on winter housing facilities. The Maris Kestrel variety was sown at a rate of 2.2kg/acre. From early-November, April-calving suckler cows will strip graze it.

€57,500 – an investment of €57,500 has been made in fencing along. Single strand electric, double strand and sheep fencing have cost €1.15/m, €1.40/m and €4.50/m respectively.

26 – 26 140-gallon water drinkers have been installed at a cost of €125 each (ex. VAT)

1.4km – of roadways were installed on Tullamore Farm, costing €15/m.

€2,843 – targeted gross output (€) per hectare (sales – purchases, +/- inventory changes)

€1,880 – our aim is to achieve a farm gross margin of €1,880/ha.

390kg – targeted sale weight (kg) for both live heifers and bull beef carcases produced on the farm

€1,640 – we will target a sale price of €1640 for our slaughter bulls and €1,050 for the yearling heifers.

€90 – the target for spring lambs will be a sale price of €90 and for cull ewes, €70.

12% – of the farm’s soils contain optimum concentrations (index 3 or 4) of potassium (K). In terms of phosphorus (P), the story is slightly better with 54% at optimum levels. Farm soil pH is good, with just 10% below a pH of 6.

€269 – we are in the process of reseeding the whole farm, which is costing €269/acre all-in

24 – tonnes of 18-6-12 will be spread across the farm to bolster soil health, along with 3t of muriate of potash. Just 40 tonnes of lime are needed.