I farm: “I farm 550ac of grassland with my father, Andrew. The farm is split into two main locations – at home and another yard with 116ac on the other side of Nenagh town. We have a 60-cow suckler herd that is split into 40 calves between March and May, and the other 20 calve around October.”

Lambs: “I buy some store lambs every year and feed them on grass and meal; they were killed in Kildare this year, but I wouldn’t say I even made a profit off them. I will buy stores again next year, but I will pick better lambs and, hopefully, it will work out better in the end.”

Cows: “We only use a Charolais stock bull, but we have a mix of breeds with the cows, from Limousin, Belgian Blues, Herefords and everything else. I prefer the Hereford cows that we keep. The cows are calved on straw beds and we leave them there for about two weeks, before they are moved down to cubicles and lie-backs on a slatted tank. None of our stock are sold before two years, we then sell them to a feedlot system.”

Price: “The price this year wasn’t bad, Dad and I will stay farming sucklers, even though there isn’t a good return out of it. As we only sell the two-year-olds at this time of the year there is no other income throughout the year on the farm, which can be difficult to manage – you have to budget well.”

Hoof paring: “I filled out a questionnaire for a bursary, which I won through the Irish Cattle Hoof Paring association last January. I’m trimming every day and I love it. This year was a great time for me to get into the business, as there was a lot of lameness due to the bad weather. I have since bought my own crate, as there is great demand for work on dairy farms around me.”