This dairy farm is a real double act. Adam has strong roots in the locality with his home farm up the road and more recently his brother also started milking cows on another farm.
This farm started in it’s own entity in 2013 when Adam and Valerie got 200,000 litres of milk as a new entrant. All the land farmed is rented and all milk is supplied to Bandon Co-op.
The system is a simple spring milk model. The herd is bred to dairy for six weeks and then Angus sires for the last half of breeding with these Angus calves kept until the autumn before they are sold. Adam also works as an AI technician with Munster Bovine.
The Shorten herd have some very good deep-bodied Holstein cows.
With this workload on it means the home business must be run well. Valerie and Adam like to work in a clean, tidy, organised environment and this comes across the very minute you drive into the yard. While there are no huge new buildings, all the buildings are well maintained, clean and tidy. There are plans to increase winter housing and slurry storage as the year moves on.
Adam speaking to the judges in the parlour.
In total there are 36ha available for grazing near the parlour and a paddock near the parlour had recently been reseeded when we called. Over 70ha are farmed in total. While geographically the farm is well located, it’s like many farms in the region, with hills and hollows and gentle sloping fields rising to the farmyard.
The old farm buildings are all well maintained and tidy.
In 2018, 94 cows were milked with this figure increasing to 96 for 2019. A total of 49,400kg of milk solids were delivered in 2018, with about 1,000kg of meal fed per cow. See key stats.
The drought would have affected 2018 grass growth rates. Replacements are reared on the farm – 22 in-calf heifers and 34 heifer calves.
Adam and Valerie Shorten with Darragh in the dairy.
The parlour is a 16-unit herringbone with a manual wash routine. Like many of the farmers in the competition, this year the Shortens are making a start on using selective dry cow therapy. About 15% of the herd got a sealer only last year, while the rest got a sealer and a Synulox dry cow tube.
This dairy farm is a real double act. Adam has strong roots in the locality with his home farm up the road and more recently his brother also started milking cows on another farm.
This farm started in it’s own entity in 2013 when Adam and Valerie got 200,000 litres of milk as a new entrant. All the land farmed is rented and all milk is supplied to Bandon Co-op.
The system is a simple spring milk model. The herd is bred to dairy for six weeks and then Angus sires for the last half of breeding with these Angus calves kept until the autumn before they are sold. Adam also works as an AI technician with Munster Bovine.
The Shorten herd have some very good deep-bodied Holstein cows.
With this workload on it means the home business must be run well. Valerie and Adam like to work in a clean, tidy, organised environment and this comes across the very minute you drive into the yard. While there are no huge new buildings, all the buildings are well maintained, clean and tidy. There are plans to increase winter housing and slurry storage as the year moves on.
Adam speaking to the judges in the parlour.
In total there are 36ha available for grazing near the parlour and a paddock near the parlour had recently been reseeded when we called. Over 70ha are farmed in total. While geographically the farm is well located, it’s like many farms in the region, with hills and hollows and gentle sloping fields rising to the farmyard.
The old farm buildings are all well maintained and tidy.
In 2018, 94 cows were milked with this figure increasing to 96 for 2019. A total of 49,400kg of milk solids were delivered in 2018, with about 1,000kg of meal fed per cow. See key stats.
The drought would have affected 2018 grass growth rates. Replacements are reared on the farm – 22 in-calf heifers and 34 heifer calves.
Adam and Valerie Shorten with Darragh in the dairy.
The parlour is a 16-unit herringbone with a manual wash routine. Like many of the farmers in the competition, this year the Shortens are making a start on using selective dry cow therapy. About 15% of the herd got a sealer only last year, while the rest got a sealer and a Synulox dry cow tube.
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