Seán Conneely farms with his father PJ and they are in the process of converting to dairy. \ David Ruffles
I farm: “With my father PJ in Bunatubber. We own 100ac and lease 260ac. I also work off-farm with Mayo Healthcare.”
Sheep: “I kept 330 to 340 ewes and dad had sucklers and sheep. We had it in our head to go into dairy for the last five or six years. We started cutting back on sucklers and kept 600 ewes between us.”
In-lamb ewes: “I sold ewes in lamb and ewes with lambs at foot. I intend to keep 80 to 100 ewes as we convert to dairy.”
Heifers: “I bought 44 maiden heifers. They were all synchronised and artificially inseminated this week with sexed semen. We’ll clean up with an Angus bull. The heifers are 60% Holstein and 40% British Friesian. There’ll be no Jerseys. We also have 35 heifer calves. We plan to add 20 cows in year one next spring.”
Parlour: “Dad has a suckler unit for 80 cows. We’ll extend that by two bays and build a parlour. We’ll supply either Aurivo or Arrabawn.”
This week: “We’re dehorning and weaning calves off milk. We’re also worming lambs and we have started the development on the dairy. We’re digging out tanks as well this week.”
Silage: “We’ve 130ac leased around us and we cut all our own silage with our own equipment. We’ll also be reseeding 20% to 30% of the land each year.”
Weather: “It’s been a disaster of a year. This is the worst spring we’ve ever had. The winters are getting longer and you need enough silage for a six- or seven-month winter. It’s hard on every sector.”
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I farm: “With my father PJ in Bunatubber. We own 100ac and lease 260ac. I also work off-farm with Mayo Healthcare.”
Sheep: “I kept 330 to 340 ewes and dad had sucklers and sheep. We had it in our head to go into dairy for the last five or six years. We started cutting back on sucklers and kept 600 ewes between us.”
In-lamb ewes: “I sold ewes in lamb and ewes with lambs at foot. I intend to keep 80 to 100 ewes as we convert to dairy.”
Heifers: “I bought 44 maiden heifers. They were all synchronised and artificially inseminated this week with sexed semen. We’ll clean up with an Angus bull. The heifers are 60% Holstein and 40% British Friesian. There’ll be no Jerseys. We also have 35 heifer calves. We plan to add 20 cows in year one next spring.”
Parlour: “Dad has a suckler unit for 80 cows. We’ll extend that by two bays and build a parlour. We’ll supply either Aurivo or Arrabawn.”
This week: “We’re dehorning and weaning calves off milk. We’re also worming lambs and we have started the development on the dairy. We’re digging out tanks as well this week.”
Silage: “We’ve 130ac leased around us and we cut all our own silage with our own equipment. We’ll also be reseeding 20% to 30% of the land each year.”
Weather: “It’s been a disaster of a year. This is the worst spring we’ve ever had. The winters are getting longer and you need enough silage for a six- or seven-month winter. It’s hard on every sector.”
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