My Farming Week: Eamon Corcoran, The Rower, Co Kilkenny

I farm: “In a partnership with my father Edward. Between owned and leased, the farm consists of around 50ha of fragmented land. We are milking a herd of British Friesian cows and carry all of our Friesian bull and beef bred through to beef.”

Milking: “The cows are milking well at the moment. Last week they recorded 2.3kg of milk solids per cow per day. Some of our annual milk is in a fixed price scheme with Glanbia. When you have a price rise you don’t get the same rise, but this year when you have price cuts, there is some security being in the fixed milk scheme.”

Breeding: “We are in our fifth week of the breeding season. In total, we do six weeks of AI, followed by a Hereford stock bull. When choosing AI breeds we focus on daughter-proven British Friesian bulls, alongside the EBI.”

Calves: “As members of the Hereford Prime producers group, all dairy calves are reared to beef and slaughtered through the programme. In 2019, I received the award for Irish Hereford Prime farmer of the year.”

The drought: “Cows have 10 days of grass ahead of them. We haven’t started supplementing silage yet. Cows are being fed 4.5kg of concentrates in the parlour, split between two feeds. There is about a month’s supply of surplus silage from last year which will be fed to cows once grass runs out.”

This week: “We will be topping up with fertiliser, doing some fencing and also starting a dosing programme with the young stock. Young calves are dosed for stomach worms. They will be getting a long-acting injection, which will last approximately 12 weeks during the summer.”

Expansion: “Currently, we are in the process of expanding the herd and continually upgrading facilities. I work off farm as a Teagasc drystock adviser in Kilkenny. The planned investments will facilitate me working off farm.”

Quotable quote: “In terms of the drought, I think 2018 was a huge lesson. It’s slightly different [now] as farmers then ?had no surplus feed left from the previous winter, whereas this year we have that surplus on farm.”