The farm: “We run a calf-to-beef system on 72ha of grazing that’s owned and all in one block, with some rougher high ground too. There are about 110 calves bought every year and finished at 18 to 24 months usually. We were in sucklers until about 15 years ago, when we got hit with TB and lost half the herd and we made a decision then to get out.”

Calves: ”About 40 are autumn-born and are sourced from three different farms. We’d like to get a few more autumn calves but they’re harder to source, sexed semen has taken over a lot and dairy farmers aren’t being paid enough for winter milk, so there are less calves around. The rest of the calves are spring-born and from one farm.”

Breeds: “It’s mainly Angus and Friesian with a few continentals too. We like the Angus, they’re more of a trouble-free calf. There’s no dehorning, they finish better and quicker with good carcase weight. The Angus bonus makes them attractive too.”

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This week: “It’s mainly grass management now and we dosed all the cattle on Saturday and castrated the late autumn-born calves.”

Off farm: “I’ve just finished third year of agricultural science in MTU and I’m going to do the fourth year as it would be useful to have a level 8 qualification when I’m this far and I’m thinking of doing a masters afterwards. It’s a good course; I’m learning loads to be able to come home and bring some new ideas. I grew up on a beef farm but you learn about other sectors, which is good. We’ve being doing law too this year and some of the information I got in that was useful as we’re going into partnership later this year. I work with Dairygold in the summer and at weekends.”

Camogie: “I play with Aghabullogue and I’m on the Cork senior camogie panel too. We won the U23 All-Ireland in May and we topped our group in the senior championship by beating Waterford last weekend, so we’re in an All-Ireland semi-final at the end of July.”