Making dairy beef pay: James O’Sullivan’s farm system

Alan Dillon, DairyBeef 500 Manager, and James O’Sullivan, DairyBeef 500 farmer from Co. Cork, discuss James’ farm system and upcoming farm walk on this episode of the Beef Edge podcast.

James works off farm as an AI technician and has four young children, so labour efficiency is very important.

A profitable system, James achieved over €2,600/ha net profit in 2025 and Alan compares the profitability to other dairy beef farmers nationally, while James discusses the investments on the farm and the grazing strategy and fodder deficit options.

With around 27 tonnes of beef supplied annually, James says management decisions are most important to ensure the Angus cattle achieve the required carcass specifications.

Listen in below:

Taking place on September 3 at 5:30pm, full details of James O’Sullivan’s National DairyBeef 500 farm walk are available here.

For full details on James O’Sullivan’s National DairyBeef 500 farm walk, taking place on

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page.

The Beef Edge podcast is produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com