Paudie O’Brien – Disadvantaged Land Winner
Enterprise: Dairy Farming
From: Firies, Kilarney, Co. Kerry
Farm Size: 32 Ha (25Ha Milking Platform)
Annual Tonnage: Avg 14 T Grass DM/Ha (3 yr avg)
Number of Grazings: 8.1 Grazings/Paddock/Year
Stocking Rate: 2.7 LU/Ha (Milking Platform)
2.6 LU/Ha (Whole Farm)
KgMS/Ha: 850 KgMS/Ha (Whole Farm)
Paudie is the 2019 Disadvantaged Land Grassland Farmer of the Year. Paudie farms with his wife Pauline in Co. Kerry, and together they run a 75 cow spring calving herd. Most of their farm is heavy soils with some peat soils but they still manage to have a have a grass based system of milk production. How do they achieve this? The answer is through excellent grazing infrastructure along with a flexible approach to grazing animals. Significant investment has taken place in developing spur roadways to improve access to grass by animals particularly during periods of difficult weather.