Despite working full-time with the ESB, Eamon McMahon is keen to keep the family dairy business going between the hills and lakes around Stranooden in north Co Monaghan.
Despite working full-time with the ESB, Eamon McMahon is keen to keep the family dairy business going between the hills and lakes around Stranooden in north Co Monaghan.
Working off a grazing platform of 30ha, Eamon aims to maximise production with his herd, Knockaturley Holsteins.
In 2016, Eamon milked 43 cows and sold almost 300,000 litres of milk.
Feeding 1.6t per cow, Eamon is milking all year round and producing almost 12,000 litres per month in November, December, January and February.
Milk recording and breeding using the EBI index are key targets for Eamon.
He has been milk recording every month since the late 1990s and he was an early follower and promoter of EBI in this area. He held an EBI farm walk in 2005 and more recently held a heifer-rearing farm walk in 2011.
The parlour investment means I can be in and out without rushing in a short space of time
Like all the Quality Milk finalists, keeping the farm clean is high on the to-do list for Eamon and this year he contracted out the power washing of the calving shed and cubicles houses.
Dedicated power-washing crews are more popular in this part of the country as there is a lot of work in the region in washing and cleaning hen houses, etc. While his work with the ESB means Eamon is away during the day he still aims to keep standards high.
He invested in a 10-unit herringbone milking parlour in 2014 which means he can be in and out of milking in a relatively short space of time.
Eamon said: “The parlour investment means I can be in and out without rushing in a short space of time and if I have someone else in the parlour then they milk the cows in comfort, so what works for me works for whoever is in the parlour.
‘‘Recently, I converted to gas-powered hot water so it means we always have hot water when we want it. It’s the small things that matter when you want to get the job done clean and quickly.”
When we called, Eamon was very keen on the gas-powered hot water but he still hadn’t it in long enough to know the full running cost.
He estimated he was using a large bottle of gas every six weeks which would equate to a cost of €90 each time he used a bottle.
Eamon hot-washes the plant after milking every morning and gives a cold wash every evening. He invested in an auto washer when he installed the parlour in 2014 so there were no wash troughs needed in the dairy.
Eamon said: “At the push of a button, I know the plant washing job is completed on time and up to standard. All I need to do is ensure the chemicals (Kilcosan) are available at all times.”
‘‘There is LED lighting in the parlour and these lights replace any other fluorescent lighting that needs to be replaced as necessary.’’
Eamon produces almost 12,000 litres per month in winter.
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