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I farm: “I have 140 dairy cows, mostly British Friesian/Holstein crosses on 130ac of heavy soil land. They have been housed by night for the past three weeks or so.”
Family: “I’m in partnership with my wife Esther and son Francis, who is a vet. He is building a house, so he’s here with us on the farm at the moment. I also have a daughter Nicola, she is married and living up in Naas.”
Calving: “Ours is an autumn and spring calving herd, I have 76 calved down at the moment. We use Friesian AI from a number of different stations, but we have a Speckle Park stock bull to clean up when they go out to grass.”
Parlour: “We have a 12-unit herringbone DeLaval parlour, but it needs to be upgraded. I would be looking into getting a new one, hopefully with 20 units. We milk for three hours every morning and evening and supply Strathroy Dairy. We’re milking 110 cows at the moment.”
Maize: “I buy in maize every year by the tonne from local farmers. I get around 1,100t for two pits. I give the cows 50% maize and 50% grass. I give them maize with a high soft starch content for fresh feeding and maize with a hard coat and soft centre in the summer. The hard coat slows energy release for three to four weeks once in the pit. The flint doesn’t release its energy for three to four weeks after going into the pit. The maize is extremely dry because we were delayed on cutting it on account of the weather.”
This week: “We’re mainly looking after the calves and the cows. It’s too wet to cut hedges or anything like that. We’re moving calves and vaccinating them, putting them in the right lots and dehorning them.”
I enjoy: “Watching golf at the weekend, I follow Rory McIlroy, but I don’t play myself. At 73 years old, I’m better off watching it. My son likes soccer, but that’s not for me.”
Brexit: “We’re very lucky, it might only affect us very little [as Strathroy suppliers]. There’s no tariffs on raw milk going up or down, there might be a small tariff on their profit, that’s what we were told anyway.”
Quotable quote: “We don’t let the cows get too fat, a fat cow is a problem cow.”
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