I farm: “1,500ac with my father, Patrick. My grandfather farmed here first and I have been doing it full-time for around five years. The farm has always been a bit of a mixture with sheep and cattle. I like farming in the hills because you’re kept busy and there’s always a variety of work going on, along with pride in what’s produced.”
Mixed farm: “We’ve around 180 cattle – mostly dairy beef-bred with Angus and 20 Belted Galloways. We also keep pigs and poultry; we are currently fattening 600 pigs. We work to a contract; the company collects the pigs over a few weeks, with the heaviest going each time.”
Hill lamb: “We lamb 500 ewes each year and get roughly 700 lambs throughout the year. They go on the rougher lands in the summer when things green up a bit. We breed our own replacements. They’re mostly Scottish Blackface, and we have a small amount of EasyCares. The replacements take a sizeable chunk, so we’d sell maybe 500 lambs per year.”
Padraig farms 1,500ac with his father, Patrick. He enjoys hill farming, saying there is never a dull moment. \ Claire Nash
Good year: “It has been profitable this year. A lot of our lambs have now been sold and the late lambs are not yet sold but usually get a good price. Mortality would have been up a wee bit with the bad spring this past year, but overall I think we managed fairly well.”
This week: “It was a fairly good week though it took a turn at the weekend with a bit of rain. We’re starting to get the cattle ready for housing and I have been helping another farmer get his crops in. Last week, we got the contractors in to do our second cut of silage. Some years we will buy in a bit of fodder, but it’s not every year we need it.”
Issues: “I would say labour is our biggest challenge. The lifestyle would keep you fairly busy. This is my full-time job. I’d say I’m in the minority of farmers my age doing it full-time, but also that probably wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have a variety of livestock [and income streams].”
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My Farming Week: Morty O’Sullivan, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath
My Farming Week: Padraig Hickey, Ballina, Co Tipperary
I farm: “1,500ac with my father, Patrick. My grandfather farmed here first and I have been doing it full-time for around five years. The farm has always been a bit of a mixture with sheep and cattle. I like farming in the hills because you’re kept busy and there’s always a variety of work going on, along with pride in what’s produced.”
Mixed farm: “We’ve around 180 cattle – mostly dairy beef-bred with Angus and 20 Belted Galloways. We also keep pigs and poultry; we are currently fattening 600 pigs. We work to a contract; the company collects the pigs over a few weeks, with the heaviest going each time.”
Hill lamb: “We lamb 500 ewes each year and get roughly 700 lambs throughout the year. They go on the rougher lands in the summer when things green up a bit. We breed our own replacements. They’re mostly Scottish Blackface, and we have a small amount of EasyCares. The replacements take a sizeable chunk, so we’d sell maybe 500 lambs per year.”
Padraig farms 1,500ac with his father, Patrick. He enjoys hill farming, saying there is never a dull moment. \ Claire Nash
Good year: “It has been profitable this year. A lot of our lambs have now been sold and the late lambs are not yet sold but usually get a good price. Mortality would have been up a wee bit with the bad spring this past year, but overall I think we managed fairly well.”
This week: “It was a fairly good week though it took a turn at the weekend with a bit of rain. We’re starting to get the cattle ready for housing and I have been helping another farmer get his crops in. Last week, we got the contractors in to do our second cut of silage. Some years we will buy in a bit of fodder, but it’s not every year we need it.”
Issues: “I would say labour is our biggest challenge. The lifestyle would keep you fairly busy. This is my full-time job. I’d say I’m in the minority of farmers my age doing it full-time, but also that probably wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have a variety of livestock [and income streams].”
Read more
My Farming Week: Morty O’Sullivan, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath
My Farming Week: Padraig Hickey, Ballina, Co Tipperary
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