I farm: “With my father Denis, we’ve been in partnership for the past three years and I’m 23 now. My mother Joan is full-time at home helping on the farm too. We’re milking 95 cows on around 250ac of land. Most of it would be owned with a small bit rented. There’s 100ac of a milking platform here around the parlour.”

Cows: “The cows are 75% British Friesian – they’re a stronger cow and they’re very hardy. They’re doing 4.2% fat, and 3.5% protein, on average.”

Calving: “We’re about three-quarters of the way through calving and it’s going well. We have 95 to calve in total.”

Grass: “The cows are out by day since 10 February. I’ve about one-third of the milking platform grazed and I’ve plenty in front of me still. I’m aiming to reseed about 5% of the milking platform every year and incorporate more clover into the sward.”

Fertiliser: “We didn’t spread any fertiliser yet but went out with 2,000 gallons of slurry to the acre in mid-February. I’ll go out with a bit of protected urea hopefully in the middle of March. I gave over €1,000/t for it last year.”

Breeding: “We don’t use any AI and we buy in all our replacements. I run Hereford and Angus bulls with the cows from the last week of April, so all our calves are beef. I’d use the Angus bull on the heifers because they’re just so easy calving.”

Calves: ”I keep all the calves on the farm until they’re about 12 months old – I try to get them into 300kg before I sell them. I’d rarely go to the mart; I’d have a lot of repeat customers for them and just sell them off the slats.”

TAMS: ”We put in a new 12-unit Dairymaster parlour in 2020 and also bought a dribble bar through TAMS. It’s a great help really.”

Macra: “I’m hugely involved in Macra and I’m treasurer of Shannonside Macra in Limerick. It’s great for the social aspect and the competitions.”