Nicky and Philip Thornton are milking 120 cows near Cashel in south Tipperary.

Surrounding farms are a mixture of cereals, sheep, cattle, milking cows and horses in the Golden Vale.

Central to the Thornton business is a high-yielding herd of Holstein Friesians, fed about one tonne of meal per cow stocked at three cows/ha with over 90ha farmed in total.

In 2016, over 760,000 litres were delivered from 115 cows to Centenary Thurles Co-op with little or no milk delivered in December and January.

Peak supply month in 2016 was May and it also coincided with the highest average monthly SCC that year which was only 101 – the only bulk tank result over 100,000 for the year.

It was super quality and typical of what all the finalists delivered in 2016.

A mature herd, the oldest cow has clocked up 10 lactations.

When selecting sires for AI, the Thorntons have pulled back on high volume as they feel they have enough volume in the herd and are now focused more on solids and improving fertility.

This father-and-son duo plan further herd expansion over the coming years and have some investment in winter housing to complete to cope with extra numbers.

The 20-unit parlour is working fine and will not need modification to deal with the extra numbers.

The parlour is hot-washed every morning followed by a cold wash that evening. About 750ml of Autoscan Blue is mixed with 640 litres of hot water (790C). Water quality is monitored and water softening is used to achieve sterile rinsing. On this farm, like every other farm, plate cooling is used but unlike other farms the Thorntons have an ice bank cooler that uses night-rate electricity to make ice that cools water to cool the milk.

Similar to other herds, the cows are vaccinated for BVD, IBR, Lepto and Rotavirus (scour) while calves are vaccinated for black leg.

A family farm partnership since 2014, the Thorntons have been delivering top-notch results and are well set for milking more cows in future years.

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