I farm:“Over 200 acres, some owned and some leased, with my father Alfred Melvin. We breed pedigree Salers cattle.”

Stock:“We have over 250 head of cattle including 80 suckler cows with calves at foot. All weanlings are retained on farm; most are either sold as breeding stock or finished on farm.”

Breeding:“With spring-calving wrapped up, the breeding season has commenced. Salers sexed female semen will be deployed on the maiden heifers along with top French sires. We use AI and also run two stock bulls, a Salers and a Charolais.”

At the moment:“We are feeding some yearling bulls, gradually building up from 4kg of meal to finishing rates. We will creep feed concentrates to the weanlings from mid summer onwards.”

Paula Melvin.

Fertiliser:“After umbilical slurry application in February, we spread the silage ground a month ago at rate of three bags per acre of 18:6:12 and a light dressing of a bag and a half on the grazing ground. We are only really lately seeing a response with such poor early grass growth rates. We have spread less fertiliser on the grazing ground. Hopefully lime spread last autumn will pay dividends now. We use a contractor and make both baled and pit silage.”

Shows:“We are looking forward to competing, and defending the Salers title at the Tullamore Show. Dad is to hoping to recreate his 2019 success, winning four Salers classes, including the overall Salers championship with Ashbury Lynx.”

Conradh na Gaeilge:“It is the honour of a lifetime to have been recently elected the youngest female president of Conradh na Gaeilge.”