John and Olive McNamara have been announced as the winners of the 2018 Grassland Farmer of the Year.

Dairy farmers from Co Limerick, the McNamaras beat off stiff competition to win the overall Grassland Farmer of the Year award for 2018. 15.4t/ha average

Milking 240 cows on a 75ha milking block, John and Olive grew an average of 15.4t/ha over the last three years.

Last year (2017), the farm grew 16.8t/ha, but the bad spring and summer drought took its toll this year and growth will be back in 2018.

The McNamaras have grown their business considerably over the past 20 years.

John is a former Kerry/Teagasc monitor farmer. He took over the farm from his father when he was aged 20 and immediately set about increasing the amount of grass grown and utilised on the farm.

Over the years, extra land has been purchased and leased and cow numbers have grown to the current level.

Grazing infrastructure was described by the judges as being superb

Running a larger farm has not distracted John from his focus on growing and utilising grass.

Grazing infrastructure was described by the judges as being superb, with multiple access points to each paddock and an excellent network of farm roadways.

Calving starts in late January and cows are turned out to grass straight away.

Land is relatively free-draining, but John still uses on/off grazing to get grass into cows and to achieve the target area grazed per day.

The herd is a mix of New Zealand Friesian and Jersey crossbred cows.

In 2017, the McNamaras sold 466kg of milk solids per cow from 380kg of meal fed.

Other winners announced were:

Niall Moloney, Crecora, Co Limerick; young farmer winner.

John Watchorn, New Ross, Co Wexford; beef winner.

Danny Bermingham, Doonbeg, Co Clare; disadvantaged area winner.

Tomas O’Leary, Killarney, Co Kerry; sheep winner.

Peter Farrell, Kilmessan, Co Meath; northern winner.

Michael Ryan, Cashel, Co Tipperary; southern winner.

John Leahy, Athea, Co Limerick; grassland merit for most improved grassland.