William Stack is farming near Moyvane, not far from Listowel in Kerry together with his wife Maria and sons Dara and Alan, since they took over the farm in 2005. This year they are milking 94 cows. When you get heavy rain in this part of the country even on-off grazing becomes difficult and earlier this summer plenty of cows had to be housed for days after torrential rain.
William Stack with his wife Maria and sons, Daran and Alan.
Much of William’s farm runs along the bank of the Moyvane River so nutrient management is crucial and is important to William.
The farm is in GLAS and had been in REPS before that so all the parts of the jigsaw that make dairy farming and water quality sustainable are in place.
William's herd.
Slurry is spread by dribble bar, the river has been fenced off, whitethorn ditches have been sown and the 2.5 acre forest on the farm has been managed correctly. In the yard, energy efficiency is on display with an ice builder to cool milk quickly, all bulbs are LED, and a variable-speed milk pump has been installed.
In total, there are 63ha farmed and 61ha available to the milking herd. Overall farm stocking rate is 1.1 cows/ha and cows get out to grass from February to November.
William in the parlour.
William inherited the farm from his parents and the farm objective is to produce quality milk from a herd of Holstein Friesian cows from a mainly grass-based system of spring milk. All replacement heifers are home bred.
All in all the Stack family farm is performing exceptionally well making good use of the resources at their disposal and farming to make sure the environment is improved, not damaged.
Cow numbers 2019: 93Herd EBI: €137Total milk delivered (2019): 541,636Total milk solids (2019): 42,231Fat % average: 4.05%Protein % average: 3.48%Milking parlour: 10-unit herringboneWeighted TBC average (2019): 8Weighted SCC average (2019): 69Detergent used parlour:
Circodine CFDetergent used bulk tank:
Turbosan CFProportion of herd using selective dry cow therapy (SDCT): 15%Nitrogen used (kg/ha): 205Proportion protected urea: 10%Measure grass: Yes
William Stack is farming near Moyvane, not far from Listowel in Kerry together with his wife Maria and sons Dara and Alan, since they took over the farm in 2005. This year they are milking 94 cows. When you get heavy rain in this part of the country even on-off grazing becomes difficult and earlier this summer plenty of cows had to be housed for days after torrential rain.
William Stack with his wife Maria and sons, Daran and Alan.
Much of William’s farm runs along the bank of the Moyvane River so nutrient management is crucial and is important to William.
The farm is in GLAS and had been in REPS before that so all the parts of the jigsaw that make dairy farming and water quality sustainable are in place.
William's herd.
Slurry is spread by dribble bar, the river has been fenced off, whitethorn ditches have been sown and the 2.5 acre forest on the farm has been managed correctly. In the yard, energy efficiency is on display with an ice builder to cool milk quickly, all bulbs are LED, and a variable-speed milk pump has been installed.
In total, there are 63ha farmed and 61ha available to the milking herd. Overall farm stocking rate is 1.1 cows/ha and cows get out to grass from February to November.
William in the parlour.
William inherited the farm from his parents and the farm objective is to produce quality milk from a herd of Holstein Friesian cows from a mainly grass-based system of spring milk. All replacement heifers are home bred.
All in all the Stack family farm is performing exceptionally well making good use of the resources at their disposal and farming to make sure the environment is improved, not damaged.
Cow numbers 2019: 93Herd EBI: €137Total milk delivered (2019): 541,636Total milk solids (2019): 42,231Fat % average: 4.05%Protein % average: 3.48%Milking parlour: 10-unit herringboneWeighted TBC average (2019): 8Weighted SCC average (2019): 69Detergent used parlour:
Circodine CFDetergent used bulk tank:
Turbosan CFProportion of herd using selective dry cow therapy (SDCT): 15%Nitrogen used (kg/ha): 205Proportion protected urea: 10%Measure grass: Yes
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