While farming one of the driest farms the judges visited, Scartaglen native William Drumm has other challenges to deal with – very steep hills. One of the fields he reseeded this year is so steep, the judges were amazed that he was able to get seeds sown on it at all. Other parts of the farm are worse and can’t be travelled by tractor at all, so William spreads fertiliser on these sections by hand.

William is farming a total of 32ha, including some leased land away from the platform. Milking 51 cows, what he doesn’t have in terms of farm type, he more than makes up for in terms of farming ability and animal husbandry.

The yard is spotless and the cows are in super body condition score. The milking parlour was upgraded to an eight unit two seasons ago and it looks like it has just come out of the box.

Grazing infrastructure is equally good, with a good network of roadways and multiple access points meaning cows can enter paddocks in a few locations. William says that his farm is dry, which is a huge advantage. Indeed, previous generations would have ploughed the lower fields for tillage crops the soil is so good.

The herd delivered 474kg MS/cow last year, from around 1t of meal per cow. William says he feeds some meal all season because of the steep walks the cows have to make at each milking, with the yard on top of the hill.

The herd EBI is €135, but William only breeds a handful of his own replacements, instead preferring to buy them in on the point of calving. An Angus stock bull runs with the herd and the calves are sold in the mart at three to four weeks of age.

William started milk recording last autumn and now does five recordings per year as he plans to take up selective dry cow therapy this winter. The passion and pride William has for farming was clearly evident to all the judges. A big fan of machinery, he does almost all of his own work including silage, having got his own mower and baler/wrapper. He takes on a new project every year whether that’s a new shed or a new machine.

At the last Bord Bia audit, William’s carbon footprint was 0.89kg CO2/kg FPCM, a 14% reduction from the previous figure with fertiliser and feed use showing the largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.