Ballybunion, better known for its golf courses and beaches can also lay claim to some top farmers. John Larkin’s 40ha dairy farm is surrounded by the sea on one side and the town on the other. John is milking 90 cows and has the heifers contract reared as yearlings. The combination of sandy soils and a lack of rainfall meant that John was only coming out of a grass deficit when the judges visited the farm in early July. For the previous week he was feeding 6kg of meal, 9kg of grass and 3kg of silage.

The herd has an EBI of €150 and delivered 471kg MS/cow to Kerry Agribusiness in 2021. John says he normally feeds 500kg to 750kg of meal per cow but with dry summers now more regular practice he has found that he’s feeding between 750kg and 1,000kg per cow.

All cows are dried off by the end of November and John is in relaxed mode until calving starts in early February. He gets help in for three hours per day in the spring, with this man covering relief milking as and when required for the rest of the year. A keen cyclist, John likes to get away for a cycle a few evenings a week and takes part in a few cycling events each summer.

Empty rates are typically 7% after 12 weeks of breeding. He normally does four weeks of AI followed by Angus stock bulls. His ideal cow is a medium size with good depth and some of the herd would be Jersey crossbred. He normally picks daughter proven bulls.

Ten percent of the farm is reseeded every year and John has even sown some multispecies swards last year, although he’s disappointed with the clover content in this field now. Milk recording is carried out four times per year and John used this data to pick cows for selective dry cow therapy last winter. John started measuring grass on Pasturebase this year.

The 10 unit milking parlour was built in 1970 and despite being over 50 years old is still humming away and getting the job done. After suffering from shoulder pain, John has retrained himself to milk using both hands, something he says every farmer should be doing. A manual drafting gate is situated in the crush alongside the parlour and this is operated by a steel bar from the pit with a camera in the crush and a monitor in the pit meaning John can see what cows need to be drafted without leaving the pit.