College Farm

College Farm & Horticultural Enterprises

The Kildalton College farm enterprises are a vital resource for student training, skills development and skills proficiency testing. The farm enterprises are also a major resource for adult education and industry training courses. The units are also used as monitor farms providing performance and financial information for open days and farm walks.

Dairy Herd

Kildalton College has a 100 cow spring calving herd, a modern dairy shed and milking parlour. The herd allows students to experience a low input grass based milk production system.

Suckler Herd

The herd is made up of 60 continental cross suckler cows plus replacements. All progeny are reared to beef. The aim is to maximise liveweight gain off grass and minimise winter feed costs. The Kildalton College suckler herd has one of the highest Eurostar ratings in Ireland. 

Dairy Calf to Beef

22 male animals are finished at two years of age. The system demonstrates The system demonstrates key performance targets for a dairy beef system.

Sheep Flock

A flock of approximately 180 ewes is on the college farm. 90 ewes are bred for early lamb and 90 for mid-season production. A mixed grazing system is practiced with the suckler herd.

Horses

Over 40 riding horses are maintained at the college stables for use by equine students.

Arable Crops

Kildalton College is located in the primary tillage growing area of the country. Crops at Kildalton are grown for commercial purposes, skills training and variety trials. Tillage crops normally include winter wheat, spring wheat, spring barley, winter oats, oilseed rape, maize and potatoes. Bio-energy crops such as willow and miscanthus are also grown.

Farm Machinery

Students get hands on training with a modern fleet of machinery and equipment. There has been strong interest in the Advanced Certificate in Machinery and Arable Crops at Kildalton College in recent years.