I farm: “61ha of grassland in total, 50ha of that is owned and we have another 11ha leased. I’ve been increasing the size of the herd for the last couple of years and we’re hoping to calve 100 cows this year.”

This week: “We’ve just started calving this week and we hope to calve 70% of the cows in February. Weather permitting, we’ll be leaving the cows out in the middle of this week. I covered half of the milking platform with 23 units of nitrogen last week and I’m aiming to get the rest done this week.”

Study: “I went to Pallaskenry 12 years ago and then spent some time working with a local carpenter and on the farm at weekends. I spent two years in Australia and then came home to farm full-time just four years ago.”

Grass 2 Cash: “I did the Grass 2 Cash course in January. We did it over two nights; the first one about grass and the second one about cashflow. It was very beneficial and well worth doing. There were around 50 to 60 people on the course with me. Last year, we grew over 14.1t DM/ha. If we can keep that up, we’ll be doing well. Our opening farm cover this year was 1,075kg DM/ha.”

Discussion group: “I’m a member of the Ballygiblin discussion group. I highly rate it. We have a good group of guys and two great facilitators.”

BPS: “I’m still waiting on the basic payment, which is having a serious knock-on effect with everything. I bought 31 acres last year and I have to make the repayments on that.”

Family: “I’m farming in partnership with my parents, Denis and Nellie, and I have two older sisters, Mairead and Eileen.”

Quotable quote: “Measuring grass will be the key to staying afloat this year.”