The farm: “Is outside Killashee in south Co Longford, we farm just over 500ac. It’s not all in one block, it is all over the place, it is very fragmented. It is about 50:50 between owned and rented land.”

A family affair: ”Myself and my father Derick farm full-time, my uncle Ian is after semi-retiring and my sister Jessica is just after finishing her masters and is working with us. My girlfriend Olivia also takes time off work to help us when needed.”

Dairy-to-beef: ”We run a dairy calf-to-beef system. We buy in anywhere from 300-400 calves every year, we buy a variety of breeds from about 10 different dairy farmers, anything from Fresians to Herefords and Simmentals..”

Tillage: “The one thing Longford is not known for is its tillage. We grow over 200ac of tillage. This year we are sowing 120ac of winter barley and winter wheat, the rest will be sown in spring oats, maize and beans. We will be getting the ground ready in March and hope to have it all sown before silage starts in May.”

A fleet of Masseys: “We are contractors as well. It’s nearly easier to say what we don’t do, we do near enough everything. This week we will be servicing up our umbilical system to get ready to head to Moate to spread slurry in the coming weeks. We run a fleet of all Massey Fergusons – we have three 6290s, one 6270, a 3075, a 3690, 6480 and a 6499.”

Vintage men: ”We are also big vintage enthusiasts and have another 20 vintage tractors on top of that. We mostly collect Masseys. We have tractors with history, like my great-grandfather’s very first tractor.”

Diversifying in 2021: “Brexit was something we were concerned about, so we decided to diversify and go down the road of opening a farm shop. I have documented the journey on my YouTube channel, ‘Farmer Phil’. We have lots of our own beef, it just means we can keep a few pound coming in and get the most value for our animals.”