I farm: ”A 105-acre suckler farm in Co Tipperary with my father Patrick. I live beside the family farm with my wife Joanne and our two children Páidí and Neasa.”

Cows: “We farm predominantly Limousin, Charolais and Simmental crosses in the herd, all of which are calved in the spring. The cows are predominantly all continental bred with a focus on a cow that has good fertility and milk, but will also produce a good weanling every year.

Bull: “We run an easy calving purebred Limousin bull with the herd. Dad is an excellent stock man and remembers the grandparents of all the cows on the farm. This makes selecting replacement heifers easy with him around. He always remembers cows that were able to produce great weanlings for us.”

This week: “We weighed all the cows and calves on the farm for SCEP. I have also completed the SCEP training course. We have started to feed the calves meal in preparation for weaning. We have spread dung on the farm and cut some of the last of second cut.”

Technology: “I work off-farm as a software engineer in Limerick. As a result of being in the technology sector, I see huge advantages in using technology in farming to help on the day-to-day running off the farm. I use heat and calving sensors and GPS tracking. I collect a lot of data on our herd and farm each year and it helps makes decision on what worked well and what didn’t.”

Weanlings: “We generally sell our weanlings the end of September. Our ideal weanling for the mart is 330-350kg. With suckler numbers reducing year on year, we are conscious that if we keep producing quality weanlings there will be a market there for them.”

Weather: “This year’s weather has been difficult with a cold April and May which meant for very poor growth, but we were lucky that we didn’t have to cut any of our silage fields. However, first cut yields were back so we had to cut more second cut than we had planned.”