I farm: “80ac of owned land and 50ac of rented land with my father Richard. We have sucklers, sheep and horses. I also work part-time in the mart in Enniscorthy.”
Sucklers: “We have around 30 suckler cows – they’re mostly Charolais and Limousin. We run a Limousin bull with the cows and he has proven to be easy enough calving. We finish nearly all our stock or else bring them to forward stores. If they’re nearer 24 months, we’ll go to the mart and if they’re closer to 30 months, we’ll go to the factory. We buy in calves as well around this time of year and rear them.”
Calving: “We’ve half the cows calved since before Christmas and the rest are due to calve between February and March. This is just for handiness’ sake.”
Sheep: “We have 45 ewes – they’re a mixture of Charollais, Suffolk and Texel breeds. We run Charollais ram with them and we’ll start to lamb now from February. We usually fatten the lambs in the shed and keep the grass for the ewes.”
Broodmares: “We’ve three National Hunt broodmares and breed foals every year. We either sell them or race them ourselves. The last few years, we’ve raced most of them and we do all the breaking and training ourselves. I do the riding out in the mornings myself.”
Relief milking: ”I relief milk on a neighbouring dairy farm three evenings a week as well, which suits the set up at home and my job in the mart.”
Mart trade: ”I work in the mart on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There’s good trade for quality stock at the minute and the dairy calves are starting to get going now. There were 200 dairy calves in the sale last week and demand was good.”
I farm: “80ac of owned land and 50ac of rented land with my father Richard. We have sucklers, sheep and horses. I also work part-time in the mart in Enniscorthy.”
Sucklers: “We have around 30 suckler cows – they’re mostly Charolais and Limousin. We run a Limousin bull with the cows and he has proven to be easy enough calving. We finish nearly all our stock or else bring them to forward stores. If they’re nearer 24 months, we’ll go to the mart and if they’re closer to 30 months, we’ll go to the factory. We buy in calves as well around this time of year and rear them.”
Calving: “We’ve half the cows calved since before Christmas and the rest are due to calve between February and March. This is just for handiness’ sake.”
Sheep: “We have 45 ewes – they’re a mixture of Charollais, Suffolk and Texel breeds. We run Charollais ram with them and we’ll start to lamb now from February. We usually fatten the lambs in the shed and keep the grass for the ewes.”
Broodmares: “We’ve three National Hunt broodmares and breed foals every year. We either sell them or race them ourselves. The last few years, we’ve raced most of them and we do all the breaking and training ourselves. I do the riding out in the mornings myself.”
Relief milking: ”I relief milk on a neighbouring dairy farm three evenings a week as well, which suits the set up at home and my job in the mart.”
Mart trade: ”I work in the mart on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There’s good trade for quality stock at the minute and the dairy calves are starting to get going now. There were 200 dairy calves in the sale last week and demand was good.”
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