Farming heavy soils in Doonbeg in Co Clare, Danny Bermingham is a stalworth of making the most from heavy soils.
When the judges visited the Bermingham farm in early July, underfoot conditions were soft and Danny was using a strip wire to keep grass utilisation high.
Testament to his positive outlook, Danny reeled off the stats as to why the first half of 2025 was one of the best years he has ever experienced.
“We’ve grown an extra 1.5t DM/ha so far this year compared to last year, we got cows out in March and they stayed out, we got the whole farm grazed in the first rotation for the first time ever, we’ve an extra 50,000l of milk sent in and we have an extra 180 bales of surplus silage made so it’s been a great year for us,” he says.
Danny is milking 106 cows on a 46ha milking platform with other support ground for heifers and silage nearby. The farm was dealt a hammer blow in 2022 when 30 cows left due to an outbreak of TB.
Danny is still recovering from the TB outbreak with milk solids per cow well below what it was prior to TB.
The herd delivered 520kg, 526kg and 528kg MS/cow in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but this dropped to 446kg and 464kg MS/cow in 2023 and 2024.
Much of Danny's milking platform has been drained and reclaimed over the year.
Danny says this was as a result of a much younger herd with extra replacements coming in to fill the gap left by the mature cows.
On top of this, Danny decided not to buy in replacements so re-building numbers was slow and it’s only in 2025 that Danny is close to the pre-TB numbers.
The Bermingham farm at Doonbeg is not an easy place to farm, but multiple generations of the Bermingham family have invested in roadways and drainage to make it productive.
Much of the farm is bordered by either river or cut away bog and floods after heavy rain are common.
The herd is high EBI and high producing, typcially producing over 525kg MS/cow prior to the TB outbreak.
A grass man to the core, Danny has tried his best to get clover established but feels the ground is too cold and wet over winter for the legume to get properly established.
The farm typically grows 11t DM/ha but Danny thinks it’ll do over 12t DM/ha this year.
Danny has invested in facilities and technology to make the farm efficient and easy to manage with a new GEA 16 unit milking parlour built in 2021 and a new calving and calf shed built in 2023.
To view the Bermingham's farm, click here.
Danny Bermingham is milking 106 high EBI Holstein Friesian cows on a 46ha milking platform at Doonbeg in Co Clare. The herd is on track to do over 500kg MS/cow in 2025, which will be the first time they will have breached 500kg MS/cow since a TB outbreak in 2022. Soil type is a mix of mineral and peat soils with many of the fields reclaimed by past generations.
Farming heavy soils in Doonbeg in Co Clare, Danny Bermingham is a stalworth of making the most from heavy soils.
When the judges visited the Bermingham farm in early July, underfoot conditions were soft and Danny was using a strip wire to keep grass utilisation high.
Testament to his positive outlook, Danny reeled off the stats as to why the first half of 2025 was one of the best years he has ever experienced.
“We’ve grown an extra 1.5t DM/ha so far this year compared to last year, we got cows out in March and they stayed out, we got the whole farm grazed in the first rotation for the first time ever, we’ve an extra 50,000l of milk sent in and we have an extra 180 bales of surplus silage made so it’s been a great year for us,” he says.
Danny is milking 106 cows on a 46ha milking platform with other support ground for heifers and silage nearby. The farm was dealt a hammer blow in 2022 when 30 cows left due to an outbreak of TB.
Danny is still recovering from the TB outbreak with milk solids per cow well below what it was prior to TB.
The herd delivered 520kg, 526kg and 528kg MS/cow in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but this dropped to 446kg and 464kg MS/cow in 2023 and 2024.
Much of Danny's milking platform has been drained and reclaimed over the year.
Danny says this was as a result of a much younger herd with extra replacements coming in to fill the gap left by the mature cows.
On top of this, Danny decided not to buy in replacements so re-building numbers was slow and it’s only in 2025 that Danny is close to the pre-TB numbers.
The Bermingham farm at Doonbeg is not an easy place to farm, but multiple generations of the Bermingham family have invested in roadways and drainage to make it productive.
Much of the farm is bordered by either river or cut away bog and floods after heavy rain are common.
The herd is high EBI and high producing, typcially producing over 525kg MS/cow prior to the TB outbreak.
A grass man to the core, Danny has tried his best to get clover established but feels the ground is too cold and wet over winter for the legume to get properly established.
The farm typically grows 11t DM/ha but Danny thinks it’ll do over 12t DM/ha this year.
Danny has invested in facilities and technology to make the farm efficient and easy to manage with a new GEA 16 unit milking parlour built in 2021 and a new calving and calf shed built in 2023.
To view the Bermingham's farm, click here.
Danny Bermingham is milking 106 high EBI Holstein Friesian cows on a 46ha milking platform at Doonbeg in Co Clare. The herd is on track to do over 500kg MS/cow in 2025, which will be the first time they will have breached 500kg MS/cow since a TB outbreak in 2022. Soil type is a mix of mineral and peat soils with many of the fields reclaimed by past generations.
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