TJ Stack works part time in construction, depending on the time of the year. Recently, he put his own stamp on the farm by designing and constructing the extension to the milking parlour.
Cleanliness is a big priority for the Stacks, as the farm is right beside a road, so there are plenty of eyes watching what happens in the yard. Cows first appeared on this farm in the mid 1960s.
This father and son partnership do all the farm work themselves and it’s clear they take pride in what they do.
Some of the Stack cows grazing near Banna Strand.
This Kerry partnership has invested significantly in their farmyard in the last 10 years, with a parlour extension, new cubicle shed, new calving facilities, new crush, slurry storage and automatic feeders.
The cubicles and slurry storage were completed 2007/08, with some underground storage and a round tower. The parlour was built in 1976 but was extended from six to eight units in 2017.
The Stack herd grazing near Banna Strand near Tralee.
Alongside this, land adjacent to owned land beside the farmyard was also purchased. This land needed to be drained and reseeded, so it’s fair to say the Stacks haven’t been idle.
The 27ha of land for grazing is laid out in a flat square behind the yard with whitethorn hedging in places, but there are few mature trees across the farm as the coastal salty breeze means only certain plants survive.
In total, 48ha are farmed with the outside land used for rearing heifers and growing winter feed.
The parlour and collecting yard in the Stack farmyard.
The Stacks have 19 in-calf heifers and 17 heifer calves. We visited the in-calf heifers, who were grazing land adjoining the sand dunes. As you can imagine, the land is very free draining.
The Stacks produce spring milk for Kerry Group, with little or no milk delivered in January and December.
The farm is currently at capacity on numbers
Herd EBI is €121 while the replacements are at €182. About half the herd go in calf to Friesian AI and the rest to beef, with bull calves sold in the mart and off the farm in spring.
The farm is currently at capacity on numbers, so the objective is to get more out of what they have. Some paddocks are being reseeded and grass is managed in a tight rotation with surplus grass taken out if necessary.
In 2018 74 cows were milked, rising to 81 in 2019. A total of 32,400kg of milk solids were delivered in 2018, with about 1,400kg of meal fed per cow as the summer sunshine dried up the farm.
The parlour is an eight unit herringbone with a manual wash routine. See key stats.
TJ Stack works part time in construction, depending on the time of the year. Recently, he put his own stamp on the farm by designing and constructing the extension to the milking parlour.
Cleanliness is a big priority for the Stacks, as the farm is right beside a road, so there are plenty of eyes watching what happens in the yard. Cows first appeared on this farm in the mid 1960s.
This father and son partnership do all the farm work themselves and it’s clear they take pride in what they do.
Some of the Stack cows grazing near Banna Strand.
This Kerry partnership has invested significantly in their farmyard in the last 10 years, with a parlour extension, new cubicle shed, new calving facilities, new crush, slurry storage and automatic feeders.
The cubicles and slurry storage were completed 2007/08, with some underground storage and a round tower. The parlour was built in 1976 but was extended from six to eight units in 2017.
The Stack herd grazing near Banna Strand near Tralee.
Alongside this, land adjacent to owned land beside the farmyard was also purchased. This land needed to be drained and reseeded, so it’s fair to say the Stacks haven’t been idle.
The 27ha of land for grazing is laid out in a flat square behind the yard with whitethorn hedging in places, but there are few mature trees across the farm as the coastal salty breeze means only certain plants survive.
In total, 48ha are farmed with the outside land used for rearing heifers and growing winter feed.
The parlour and collecting yard in the Stack farmyard.
The Stacks have 19 in-calf heifers and 17 heifer calves. We visited the in-calf heifers, who were grazing land adjoining the sand dunes. As you can imagine, the land is very free draining.
The Stacks produce spring milk for Kerry Group, with little or no milk delivered in January and December.
The farm is currently at capacity on numbers
Herd EBI is €121 while the replacements are at €182. About half the herd go in calf to Friesian AI and the rest to beef, with bull calves sold in the mart and off the farm in spring.
The farm is currently at capacity on numbers, so the objective is to get more out of what they have. Some paddocks are being reseeded and grass is managed in a tight rotation with surplus grass taken out if necessary.
In 2018 74 cows were milked, rising to 81 in 2019. A total of 32,400kg of milk solids were delivered in 2018, with about 1,400kg of meal fed per cow as the summer sunshine dried up the farm.
The parlour is an eight unit herringbone with a manual wash routine. See key stats.
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