I farm: “Almost 300 acres at Corabella, Newcastle, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, with my father Pat and uncle Vincent.”

Mixed enterprise: “The farm is mainly in corn. We got out of sucklers a few years ago but still buy in calves from two neighbouring dairy farmers. Some of them are sold as stores and some are finished. This year, we are growing 11 acres of maize for the first time for a local dairy farmer.”

Harvest 2018: “The winter barley is cut and baled. The variety was Cassia and yielded 3.7t/ac at 14% moisture and 69KPH. We tip all the grain at home and then deliver it to Dairygold in Outrath by lorry. The winter wheat should be ready by next week and the spring barley is about three weeks away.”

Straw price: “All of the winter barley straw is sold. It made €20 per 4x4 round bale out of the field. It was sold to all repeat customers.”

Scarcity: “We had to ration the straw. Everyone will get about two-thirds of their order to start and then a top-up once we have a bale count. We usually buy extra straw to sell it but it’s just not there this year.”

New business: “I bought a Zero Grazer ZG80 from Niall O’Reilly based near Oldcastle in Co Meath. A couple of dairy farmers had approached me about zero-grazing and then I asked a few others if I had the machine would they be interested.”

Demand: “As the year turned out, I got way more work than I expected. The bad spring growth meant people on fragmented farms zero-grazed their silage. And now with the drought, farmers are zero-grazing their second-cut silage because growth has been stunted. They are feeding it to cows now and hoping for rain and a third cut in September.”

Peak: “The zero grazer carries up to 5.5t of fresh grass, enough for 100 cows for 24 hours. I can unload it along a feed passage or barrier. At my busiest, I was doing 14 loads a day for different farmers.”

Family: “My mother Anne is a nurse and my two younger sisters, Sarah and Rachel, are teachers.”

Quotable quote: “In a normal year you would be hoping to get nine or 10 bales of straw per acre from the spring barley but this year it could be six or less.”