My Farming Week: Billy Fitzgerald, Beanfield, Youghal, Co Cork

I farm: “130ac with my wife Áine and daughter 19-month-old Róisín. We run a pedigree suckler herd alongside a calf-to-beef enterprise and there are three thoroughbred breeding mares too.”

Sucklers: ”There are 50 cows, mostly pedigree, with about 10 Herefords and the rest Angus. We have those breeds because there are a lot of dairy herds around and selling bulls to dairy farmers is our main market. It’s roughly 70% autumn-calving and all AI.”

Bulls: “Selling bulls is our main trade and for the last two years we’ve been using a lot of sexed semen to get more bull calves. It’s not all sexed though and we sell a few heifers too.”

Dairy-beef: “We buy about 50 calves, a mix of Angus and Hereford, every year and rear them until they’re a year and a half. They’re usually sold at either Corrin or Dungarvan Mart then. There’s a calf feeder used for them and it’s a great job. You know they’re fed, so I don’t have to come back from work and mix milk, if I’ve been out on the road during the day. They just need to be checked in the evening.”

Off farm: “I work for Munster Bovine as a farm relationship manager for east Cork and west Waterford. There’s a good mix to it from advising around breeding plans, selling semen and supporting 20 technicians. I worked as an AI technician for 10 years before that, so I was very familiar with our customers. There’s a bit of autumn work but predominantly it starts from January on. Farmers are buying sexed semen before they start calving now.”

Busy week: “It’s been a busy week. We had a horse at Tattersalls at Fairyhouse last week, there’s a few cows calving and we’re TB testing too. I was at Dairy Day on Saturday with Munster Bovine. It was a really good positive event and a great location. We got great engagement with old and potential customers.”