I farm:

“At home with my father (Martin Sr) and my mother (Rosaleen). We own 96 acres of land just outside Castlecomer. It’s high and heavy ground here. We hope to calve down 40 cows this spring. We keep all the calves and sell off the males as stores and buy in a further 20 male calves each spring to sell with the others.”

This week:

“The cows are all dry, set to start calving on 12 January. We’ve been clearing out pens getting ready for the new year and dosed all the cows for fluke this week. We got the silage tested last week; the first cut had a 75% DMD and the second cut was at 69%.”

Hoof paring:

“After I did my two years in Kildalton, I trained in hoof paring with Norman Mills from Co Westmeath. He helped set me up with my own turnover crate and I’ve been in business for the last three months, covering Kilkenny and all the surrounding counties.

Equipment:

“I’ve been in Galway and Limerick this week using the turnover crate, hoof paring some big herds and putting teat sealer into in-calf heifers. I could have bought a normal crate but after using the turnover one you just wouldn’t consider using anything else. It’s much easier and far safer.

Off-farm income: “Farming is a full-time job but there isn’t a full-time wage in it. We have three off-farm incomes as my father is an undertaker and my mother is teaching.”

Quotable quote:

“You can’t control what goes on outside your farm gate. You have to work on what you do yourself to make the best margin you can. It’s not easy for any young lad to get into farming, even if you have the land to start off with. Everything else you need is expensive.”

Read more

Take a look at our interactive map which features a selection of the farmers featured in our my farming week column throughout the year. We paid a visit to a farmer from every one of the 32 counties in 2016.