Shane Fitzgerald from Co Cork has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Heifer Rearer of the Year award. Shane and herd manager Herman Lagerway milk 220 cows on a 70ha milking block near the east Cork village of Ballynoe.
The announcement was made at last week’s National Ploughing Championships, where Shane and his wife Fiona picked up the first prize of a Förster-Technik automatic calf feeder. The Fitzgeralds were picked out as overall winners from a shortlist of 10 regional winners, who have each won a runners-up prize of half a tonne of Volac milk replacer.
Each finalist was ranked on calf management, heifer management, herd performance, profitability, herd fertility, genetic gain and labour efficiency.
The Fitzgeralds ranked highly in all of these parameters. Shane has grown the herd considerably over the past five years and is still in an expansion phase. He has continued the work of his father Jerry in using Norwegian Red and Jersey bulls to continually improve milk solids production and fertility, and measures grass weekly to maximise growth and optimise quality.
Newborn calves are snatched from the cow and fed up to four litres of colostrum through a stomach tube within an hour of birth.
They are then moved to a group pen with eight other calves and are trained to drink from a teat. After a few days, they are moved to a large pen and are fed with an Urban automatic calf feeder. After their first feed of colostrum, calves go straight to milk replacer. Last year, Shane fed Volac Heiferlac to his heifer calves at a rate of 700g per day.
The judging panel comprised Emer Kennedy from Teagasc Moorepark, Pat Cahill from Volac, Steven Morrison and Andrew Brown from AFBI, George Ramsbottom from Teagasc and myself representing the Irish Farmers Journal.
The overall aims of the competition are to reward farmers who have achieved outstanding performance in the area of heifer-rearing and to promote good practice in heifer-rearing management to all farmers. Long seen as a critical cog in the dairy farming wheel, for many years heifer-rearing did not receive the attention it deserved, but with renewed interest from this and other initiatives, the standard of heifer-rearing throughout Ireland has improved notably.
Finalists
The regional finalists were:
Catherine and Liam Millerick, St Johnstown, Fethard, Co Tipperary.William Henderson, Tobermore, Magherafelt, Co Derry.Aidan and Mary Reardon, Ballinaboy, Ballinhassig, Co Cork.Dermot Sherry, Drumhillock, Co Monaghan.Michael and Mary Ita McCarthy, Feenagh, Kilmallock, Co Limerick.Pat Walsh, Graiguesallagh, Duncormick, Co Wexford.Tom Walsh, Baunmore, Johnstown, Co Kilkenny.Beattie Lilburn, Hillcrest Farm, Dromore, Co Down.James O’Callaghan, Clash, Leamlara, Co Cork.
Shane Fitzgerald from Co Cork has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Heifer Rearer of the Year award. Shane and herd manager Herman Lagerway milk 220 cows on a 70ha milking block near the east Cork village of Ballynoe.
The announcement was made at last week’s National Ploughing Championships, where Shane and his wife Fiona picked up the first prize of a Förster-Technik automatic calf feeder. The Fitzgeralds were picked out as overall winners from a shortlist of 10 regional winners, who have each won a runners-up prize of half a tonne of Volac milk replacer.
Each finalist was ranked on calf management, heifer management, herd performance, profitability, herd fertility, genetic gain and labour efficiency.
The Fitzgeralds ranked highly in all of these parameters. Shane has grown the herd considerably over the past five years and is still in an expansion phase. He has continued the work of his father Jerry in using Norwegian Red and Jersey bulls to continually improve milk solids production and fertility, and measures grass weekly to maximise growth and optimise quality.
Newborn calves are snatched from the cow and fed up to four litres of colostrum through a stomach tube within an hour of birth.
They are then moved to a group pen with eight other calves and are trained to drink from a teat. After a few days, they are moved to a large pen and are fed with an Urban automatic calf feeder. After their first feed of colostrum, calves go straight to milk replacer. Last year, Shane fed Volac Heiferlac to his heifer calves at a rate of 700g per day.
The judging panel comprised Emer Kennedy from Teagasc Moorepark, Pat Cahill from Volac, Steven Morrison and Andrew Brown from AFBI, George Ramsbottom from Teagasc and myself representing the Irish Farmers Journal.
The overall aims of the competition are to reward farmers who have achieved outstanding performance in the area of heifer-rearing and to promote good practice in heifer-rearing management to all farmers. Long seen as a critical cog in the dairy farming wheel, for many years heifer-rearing did not receive the attention it deserved, but with renewed interest from this and other initiatives, the standard of heifer-rearing throughout Ireland has improved notably.
Finalists
The regional finalists were:
Catherine and Liam Millerick, St Johnstown, Fethard, Co Tipperary.William Henderson, Tobermore, Magherafelt, Co Derry.Aidan and Mary Reardon, Ballinaboy, Ballinhassig, Co Cork.Dermot Sherry, Drumhillock, Co Monaghan.Michael and Mary Ita McCarthy, Feenagh, Kilmallock, Co Limerick.Pat Walsh, Graiguesallagh, Duncormick, Co Wexford.Tom Walsh, Baunmore, Johnstown, Co Kilkenny.Beattie Lilburn, Hillcrest Farm, Dromore, Co Down.James O’Callaghan, Clash, Leamlara, Co Cork. 
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