If you are looking for a turn-key dairy farm, then look no further. A 160ac farm, Suircastle, at Ballyvada, Golden, Co Tipperary is on the market for a cool €2.5m (€15,625/ac). While that is at the upper end of the price range in the county, there is modern infrastructure on the farm.

On the way out of the village of Golden to Suircastle Farm you pass Athessal Abbey and the historic stone walls typical of Tipperary and the Cashel area follow the road along to the farm.

The current owner bought Suircastle in 2003 and converted it from a tillage farm to a dairy operation.

The first part of the property you come to is 13.5ac on the right hand side of the road; laid out in two divisions and includes a crush and cattle handling facilities. Less than a quarter of a mile further up the road, you cross the river Suir and the road rises above the floodplain before turning left into the main part of the farm.

A well-maintained farm roadway and an electronic gate greet you at the entrance. This is the only part of the main 147ac block that touches the road.

The first thing that strikes you upon visiting the farm towards the end of February, is that this place can grow grass and is definitely good ground

The lane is on a slight incline as you approach the farmhouse and then levels off as you drive down towards the yard.

The first thing that strikes you upon visiting the farm towards the end of February, is that this place can grow grass and is definitely good ground. The current owner bought Suircastle in 2003 and converted it from a tillage farm to a dairy operation.

Infrastructure

Every little detail was thought of when the infrastructure was put in. The water troughs in the paddocks are on a concrete pad, so the cows are not standing in muck around them. The cow lanes are well maintained and some even have a layer of “slig” on them, making them better than some country roads.

The current owner says that in the last 10 to 12 years every inch of the farm has been reseeded

Nearly all the paddocks are seven acres in size and they are designed so that it only takes five or six push-down stakes to strip graze them.

The current owner says that in the last 10 to 12 years every inch of the farm has been reseeded, indeed there isn’t a weed to be seen.

This yard has all the mod-cons, designed to make the farm as easy as possible to manage

The limestone-based soil makes this a dry farm, indeed most of the paddocks had slurry spread on them before our visit.

As you stand in the yard and look back down the lane, the Galtee Mountains with their snowy peaks are on the horizon. But that’s not the best bit, this yard has all the mod-cons, designed to make the farm as easy as possible to manage.

The farmyard

Milking approximately 300 cows in a split calving system, the farm has infrastructure for 500 head. The owner currently rents some land adjoining the farm to increase his milking platform.

There is a 14-unit herringbone parlour with automatic feeders and a 10,500-litre bulk tank.

Other buildings include a calf shed which can be converted to a straw shed in summer

A 15-tonne meal bin sits at the entrance to the dairy and there is grooved concrete out the back in the waiting pen. Currently, most of the milking cows are housed in the 12-column, double A-roofed shed with 200 cubicles, automatic scrapers, a U-shaped feed passage and scratch brushes for the cows.

Other buildings include a calf shed which can be converted to a straw shed in summer, a cubicle house in the lower yard with 84 indoor cubicles and 60 outdoor cubicles.

There are no entitlements included with the property

The dry cows are currently housed in a slatted shed with rubber mats and there is also a slatted isolation shed situated further away from the main yard. There are two silage pits as well as a number of other multi-purpose buildings. The house, built in the 1990s has a D1 energy rating.

It is a four-bedroom dormer bungalow that is heated by two stoves and an oil-fired Stanley cooker.

This farm was withdrawn at auction last year. It has been relaunched on the market with new selling agents. There are no entitlements included with the property.

The farm is for sale in one lot by private treaty. For more information, contact the joint agents Jordan Auctioneers on 045-433 550 or Dougan Fitzgerald on 052-612 1003.

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