Signpost Demonstration Farmers Laois/Kildare/Offaly

Mattie and Miriam Moore, Cannakill, Rhode, Co. Offaly

This farm is a 1,600 sow operation rearing pigs to 18kg liveweight in Rhode, Co. Offaly. The pigs are then transferred to the finishing farm in Rath East townland in Co. Wicklow to be finished. The focus is on the Offaly farm where there is over 95 Ha of land growing tillage crops alongside the sow unit. The cereals grown are then used in the diets of the pigs which are milled/mixed at the finishing site in Wicklow and transported back to the sow farm. Facilities on the farm are good and 10 people are employed on the sow farm.

 

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Bill George, Coolnaowle, Ballickmoyler, Co. Laois

Bill’s father in law Jimmy converted the farm to organic farming in 2001 with Bill joining the farming business in 2006. He is farming 148.49ha (including 40Ha of tillage land) of which 16ha are owned. The milking platform is 64 ha. In 2021 he milked 137 cows during summer increasing to 156 in Autumn as the small Autumn calving herd calve. He is supplying The Village Dairy & The Little Milk Company. Overall stocking rate is 109kg N/ha. EBI of the herd is €140. 2020 calves have an EBI of €168 & 2021 calves an EBI of €189. The cows produced 475 kg MS/cow in 2020. Excellent facilities on farm.

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Tom Tierney, Ballinaghfagh, Prosperous, Co. Kildare

Tom farms 165Ha of owned and long term leased land in partnership with his neighbour Gordon. The farm participates in GLAS using the options; cover cropping, minimum tillage and wild bird cover. His main enterprises are winter and spring cereals, winter oilseed rape, spring beans, wild bird cover and forestry. This farm business has been practicing direct drilling for a number of years. A diverse crop rotation is used to counter-act the challenges of the weather, grass weeds and the diversity of soils ranging from heavy clay to peat. Local Advisor is Ivan Whitten.

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Thomas and David Fennelly, Portarlington, Co.Laois

Tom is farming 200Ha with his son David near Portarlington Co. Laois. The land is in 3 blocks. The overall soil fertility is 61% with K status at 63%. In 2024 they are milking 350 cows, they have 88 in calf heifers. The plan is to milk 350 cows, rear 80 1-2 year olds, 90 heifer calves. There are good facilities on the farm & a lot of development has taken place over the last few years. A new calf shed & silage pit was built In 2021. In 2023 the cows supplied 463kgMS per head. The calving interval is 363 days with a six week calving rate of 91%. Reseeding is with multi species & red clover.

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Donal is farming near Baltinglass Co. Wicklow. He is farming 139Ha of which 52.6Ha is rented. He also has included in that land 10 Ha’s of owned forestry. He has a milking platform of 68Ha. He is milking 200 cows in 2024, 1st year 100% spring calving herd. The EBI of the herd is €231 & €279 for the heifer calves. There is currently 23% of the milking platform with clover content of low to medium. Donal’s aim is to increase this number on the MP and to increase the clover percentage too. In 2023 he supplied 477 KgMS/cow.

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Conor Camon, Cloghan, Co. Offaly

Conor is farming in Cloghan in Offaly in partnership with his parents Padraig and Mary. They are currently farming 80Ha, of which 20 is rented. The milking platform is 22Ha and is stocked at 4.7 cows/Ha. In 2021 they milked 100 cows. The EBI of the herd is €155 and the heifers are €216. The 6 week calving rate is 87%. The cows produced 516kg MS/cow in 2020. The farm grew 11.5t DM/Ha in 2020. Facilities on the farm are good with a 12 unit parlour, good housing and good grazing infrastructure throughout the farm.

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Peter Byrne

Peter is farming 72ha of dry land at Castledermot on the Kildare/Carlow border. His current system is 19 – 22 month heifer and 22 – 26 month steer beef. Up until 2008, he was running a suckling to beef and sheep enterprise on the farm, alongside a tillage enterprise. Over time, the farm has transitioned away from suckler and sheep production to a calf-to-beef enterprise. His local Teagasc advisor is John Brophy.

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John Dunne, Tinnacrannagh House, Portarlington, Co. Offaly

John farms full-time with weekend help from his son James. He farms 106Ha; 50% of the land soil is light clay nature, 40% is heavy clay and the remaining 10% is low lying land. He is stocked at 181 Kg/N Ha, exporting slurry to a neighbouring tillage farmer as per Nitrates Regulations. He runs a sucker to beef system with 88 Spring–calving suckler cows. He aiming to rebuild his Suckler herd to 100. 100 calves purchased per year – (HE/AA) crosses. John trys to buy local and minimise the number of farms he buys from for health reasons. Local advisor is Bernard Doorley.

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Ken Gill, Ballydermot House, Clonbullogue, Co. Offaly

Ken farms 95 hectares full-time. Soil type on the farm is grey brown podzolic & texture is silty clay loam. His farm has a WFSR of 110kgs/Ha & a GSR of 133kgs/Ha. A full symbol organic producer, Ken operates a suckler to beef system with 70 Autumn calving suckler cows. All progeny are brought to beef with the aim to slaughter at 24mth. Plans for the future are to improve the quality of the cows using 100% AI, to improve grass swards by both reseeding as part of the rotation & by using an Einbock grass harrow to stitch in grass/clover mixtures on the old pastures. Local Advisor Paul Gibney.

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