I farm: “30 acres, 10 of which are rented. The land is quite heavy and it is divided into two blocks around the family dwellinghouse. We decided to stop rearing Limousin and Charolais cross cattle six years ago and now we rear 14 pedigree Angus cattle.”

This week: “Given the awful weather at the moment and the fact that the land is so wet we are starting to in-house the cattle this week. If the weather doesn’t pick up the cattle will be indoors from now until spring.”

Performance: “The pedigree Angus cattle are in great condition and are performing well. Calving intervals average around 330 days. The farm has a 0% mortality rate and we have on average 1.08 calves/cow/year. Given the hardy nature of the Angus cattle, they suit the land perfectly. With such a small herd of cattle, they can thrive more easily and I make sure they get enough minerals and have constant access to quality feed.”

Calving: “The herd is autumn-calving and I AI all the animals myself. Some are starting to calf now and will finish in January. I pulled back from spring calving a few years ago as I find weaning calves in winter allows for better grassland management for the spring. I keep a few heifer calves and sell them as weanlings in the autumn and the bulls are sold for breeding around April time.”

AI and scanning: “I am an AI technician and I scan cows for farmers across Munster. I am very busy at the moment scanning for farmers. The scanning season starts in late July and ends before Christmas. On average, I would scan around 10,000 cows in a year.”

Family: “I farm alongside my father Frank who is a huge help on the farm. There’s also my mother Eileen, my wife Pauline and our three kids Nicole (15), Jenny (6) and Adam (5).”

Quotable Quote: “Inseminating and scanning cows for other farmers can be very time-consuming and oftentimes I wouldn’t have a minute to spare. However, saying that, everything manages to fall into place and somehow I manage to juggle my own farm work with the AI and scanning work.”