29 September 2022
Grassland Farmer of the Year – John & Brendan Walsh
John and Brendan Walsh & family were the 2021 Clover & Sustainability winners in the Grassland Farmer of the Year Competition. They farm in Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary, milking 153 cows. The Walshes, are hosting a farm walk on their farm on Tuesday October 4th and everyone is welcome.
Name: John and Brendan Walsh
Location: Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary
Enterprise: Dairy
Stocking Rate: 2.64 LU/ha (2.3 LU/ha on whole farm)
Herd EBI: €185
2021 KgMS/Cow: 525 Kg
2021 Annual tonnage: 13.5 T DM/Ha
Current Milk Yield – Cow/Day: 1.72 Kg MS per cow @ 4.95 Fat and 4.06%
Current Grazing Management
Grazing is going well for us now as farm cover has recovered very well. We got thundery rain mid-August which greened up the farm well and with monthly rainfall of 113mm as of 22nd September growth has come. We should reach our autumn target peak cover of 1100 by the end of the month which will be fantastic considering where AFC was mid-August. We will begin the last rotation in the early days of October with the aim to have a closing cover of 600-650kgdm by 1st December. We’re currently offering straw at the feeding barrier to get some additional fibre in the diet as swards are quite lush after the rapid growth of the last few weeks. Last weeks growth of 68 KgDM/ha/day was the second highest since 8th June.
Rotation Length: 40 days
Pre-Grazing Yield: 2000 KgDM/ha
Next Paddocks to graze: 2100 KgDM/ha
Average Farm Cover (AFC): 1085 KgDM/ha
Cover/LU: 414 KgDM/LU
Growth: 57 KgDM/ha/day
Demand: 43 KgDM/ha/day
Diet (Grass + Meal + Straw): 16.5 KgDM + 1 Kg + 0.5 KgDM
Last Application of Fertiliser
1 bag of 29-0-14 on 5th September on grass only paddocks. Zero N on clover paddocks
Autumn Slurry Use
All slurry has been spread. Any slurry from the collecting yard will be spread on grass clover paddocks up to the closing date.
Grassland Farmer of the Year Walk
We are hosting our Grassland Farmer of the Year farm walk on Tuesday 4th October at 11am on our farm in Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary. Eircode – E21 T938. You are all very welcome on the day.
