Organisation with a capital O for the Aurivo entrant in this year’s Quality Milk Awards. Every aspect of the farm is organised and spotlessly clean.

The tool shed, the machinery shed and the store room are all meticulously clean and it’s a credit to all how the farm is organised and kept so clean.

It’s as if the machines or the tools are never used and that’s a credit to a farm that is producing milk year-round.

Another good indication of cleanliness is when you scan the TBC results – rarely is there a figure over 5 TBC for any delivery from this farm.

Milk is produced year-round, as the farm has a liquid milk history, with deliveries into Longford town, which is just over the road.

Like many farmers, John left school early and, since the early 1990s when he took over the running of the farm from his father, he looks after the workload, with family help whenever they are back from college or holidays.

Between 50 and 55 cows are milked at peak in the 10-unit parlour and 35ha are farmed in total, with cows able to walk to all of this.

Meal feeding is about 1,200kg/cow and cows delivered 557kg of milk solids per cow in 2017. This year, 16 heifer calves have been reared and all are AI bred.

The 10-unit herringbone, with jagged rump rail and feeders.

John’s day for descaling the plant is Sunday – we have found on our travels the best farmers pick a day and continue descaling the plant on this day each week. Some will say they descale once per week, but the day can vary. It can end up going anything from six to 10 days between descaling unless a specific day is chosen and the routine adhered to.

Again, like a lot of the good farmers, John is post-spraying once milking is finished and is a keen user of the CMT paddle test to identify if cows have cleaned up following infection. John is using a short-acting antibiotic tube for dry cows and a teat sealer.

John is a believer in using AI and high-EBI bulls to improve milk solids and fertility. All cows’ tails are clipped to minimise dung around the udder.

An eye-opening visit to organisation at its best.