I farm: 50ac at Ballycumber, Co Offaly, half of which is my own and the rest is a rented neighbouring farm.

Cattle: I keep 15 suckler cows and their progeny. There is a mix of Simmental cross commercial cows, pedigree Simmental cows and pedigree Romagnola cattle.

Italian impulse: I first saw the Romagnola cattle on a trip to Italy in 2003. I ended up buying a pedigree heifer and shipping her home to Ireland. It was a bit of an impulse buy.

Embryo transfer: I then used an embryo transfer programme with Bovi Genetics in Cavan to get more females for my herd. Eventually I would like to build up to 20 pedigree females. Every year I buy in some whitehead heifers to use as recipients.

Flushing: You could get a very bad flush or a very good flush; you never know. You could get nothing or you could get 38 embryos like a friend of mine did recently with a pedigree Simmental cow, but that was really exceptional. It’s a tricky process and everything has to be perfect.

Calves: The reason I like the Romagnola is that they give the power of a Charolais with the calving ease of an Angus. It’s nothing to do with the size or weight at birth, it’s literally their shape – the Romagnola calves are long, cylindrical calves.

Pedigree sales: I’ve just sold my fourth bull to Scotland. Silver Lee Defoe is being shipped over this week. I spoke at a meeting about rare and minority breeds in Fyffe in Scotland in 2013 and I’ve had a number of sales as a result.

Mart sales: I keep my commercial calves for one winter and I usually sell them in October in Ballinasloe Mart. This year, the bulls and heifers averaged 620kg and I was happy with the price I got.

Off-farm job: I work for Nugent Engineering so I’m on the road every single day but they are very understanding around calving time.

Weather: I put calves in on 30 September this year. It’s the earliest I have ever put them in. I think I’ll be OK for fodder but I would have concerns about slurry. I’ll be busting to get it out on the deadline day next spring.

Quotable quote: I can guarantee you will never have a Romagnola calf stuck at the hips.