I farm: "Thirty Limousin and Belgian Blue suckler cows which we breed to a Limousin stock bull, which we replace every four years. We finish all calves to beef at 24 months, mainly to Kepak. We both breed and buy in replacements. Last year we had a lot of heifers calving down, but we generally maintain a replacement rate of 10%. Fifteen cows calve in November and 15 calve from February-April. We started splitting the calving last year. We house the cattle the middle of October. We are hoping this year, as we have good grass cover, to extend this to the beginning of November.

Family: "My parents are John and Mary. I farm alongside my Dad, and my uncle David lends a hand whenever he can. In September, I am going to Ballyhaise Agricultural College to complete my Green Cert.

This Week: "We are weaning the calves this week. As it’s 1 September, I will be taking out the hedge cutter. We will also have 10 bulls finished within the next 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Silage: "We cut 25 acres twice for silage, and have a grazing platform of 70 acres excluding this. This year, we cut the silage early, with the first cut on 15 May and second cut the second week of July. This has allowed us to graze the silage ground at the moment.

Forestry: "We have 34 acres of forestry. This was planted by Greenbelt 11 years ago on our more marginal land. It will be thinned in the next three to four years. At the time, a good bit of marginal land was being planted in our area. The trees are mainly Sitka Spruce, Beech, Larch and Alder. The Sitka spruce are harvested at over 25 years, so with the way timber prices are going, hopefully it was a smart move.

Contracting: "Along with farming, I work for a contractor, William Bennett, in Killygar, Co Leitrim. It is mainly seasonal work; slurry spreading, reseeding, silage and baling. With the beef industry the way it is, I won’t be able to farm fulltime; I will have to keep a part time job. I also am very interested in machinery re-conditioning, particularly tractors, and undertake projects regularly as a hobby.

Future: "With the changing weight restrictions, I would be swaying toward the idea of increasing our cow numbers, to around 40, and keeping more young stock - perhaps selling calves as weanlings or at 12 months.

Quotable Quote: "Farming at the moment is an expensive hobby; hard work and enjoyable, but with very little return."