No holidays during February and a 5pm finish are some of the non-negotiables on Aidan and Derval Kennedy’s dairy farm in Co Tipperary.

The couple are the sixth generation of Kennedys to farm at Drangan House in Cahir, alongside their children, Galina and Nickolas.

Last year they were crowned winners of the National Dairy Council and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards.

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Speaking last Thursday at a farm walk on the family farm, Aidan said that building a strong team is crucial to running a good operation – they are milking 390 cows on 130ha and employ three full-time workers.

“We finish at five o’clock and that really is the golden rule. But we’ve a fantastic team and building a good team is very important,” Aidan said.

“There is no boss here, genuinely, even the lads are bossing me around now. They’ve learned the expertise – they’re very involved with Dairygold and with Teagasc, there’s a huge support structure there.”

Debt

Aidan explained how in 2015, they faced some significant debt and it was at that stage where they had to make a conscious decision to invest in facilities on the farm.

“The milking parlour... the facilities... weren’t sustainable so the choice was were we going to let it fall down, try and rent it out or will we invest.

“Our accountant advised us to put in a strategy and we invested and that has paid off very well,” he said.

Aidan said that in 2018 it was obvious what was coming down the tracks with regards the environment, so they went with it, not against it.

“We live between two rivers, we have a lot of swans in the winter – there could be up to 300 out here every week – we have no issue with them but you have to farm correctly,” he said.

Kennedy said that he runs a simple system – by growing good grass, providing every cow with a cubicle, having yard scrapers and a standard rotary parlour which doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles”.