Signpost Demonstration Farmers Cork West

Dairy farmers | Future Beef farmers | DairyBeef 500 farmers | Sheep farmer

Signpost Dairy Farmers

Jimmy Cotter

Jimmy is farming in Coachford, Co. Cork. Jimmy’s family help out on the farm as well as his mother, Mary. They are currently farming 48Ha and is stocked at 206kg N/Ha. In 2021 he milked 108 cows. The EBI of the herd is €181 and the heifers are €222. The 6 week calving rate is 87%. The cows produced 559 MS per cow in 2020. Tom grew 14.1t DM grass in 2020. Soil type on the farm is free draining. Facilities on the farm include a 20 unit parlour, 126 cow cubicle and good grazing infrastructure.

Kevin Ahern

Shinagh Farm has 102ha, a milking platform of 82 ha, with another 20ha of mainly silage ground. Kevin is the farm manager. The farm supplied 431kg of milk solids per cow to Bandon Co-op in 2020. The EBI of the herd is 171 and replacement heifers are €195.

Current farm update

Stephen & Hillary Buttimer

Stephen & Hilary milk 116 cows through a 16 unit parlour. The farm in total is 84 hectares and the cow grazing area is 42ha, giving a milking platform stocking rate of 2.76cows/ha. The herd EBI is €137 and the replacement heifers are €159. The herd supplied 531kg of milk solids to Lisavaird Co-op in 2020

Current farm update

Raymond Goggin

Raymond a Dairygold supplier is farming in Templemartin, Bandon. He are currently farming 59.5ha. In 2021 he milked 124 cows and overall stocking rate is 220 kg N/ha. The EBI of the herd is €177 & the heifers are €254. The cows produced 537 kg MS/cow in 2020

Current farm update

John & Annette O’Donoghue

John & Annette milk 135 cows on a 46 ha grazing platform. The overall farm stocking rate is 2.5 LU / ha. The herd supplied 514kg milk solids / cow to Bandon Co-op in 2020. The EBI of the cows is €167 and replacement heifers are €183

Current farm update

Peadar O’Driscoll

Peadar is farming a fragmented farm of 46ha at Churchcross, Skibbereen. The overall farm stocking rate is 2.5 livestock units per hectare. He is milking 64 cows through a 12 unit parlour, on a grazing platform of 30 hectares. He sold 450kg of milk solids per cow in 2020 to Drinagh Co-op. The herd is spring calving with 73% of the herd calving in 6 weeks. Peadar’s herd EBI is €77

Current farm update

Dermot & Linda Walsh

Dermot and Linda Walsh are farming in Lislevane, Bandon with their children Tadgh, Aoife, Maebh and Eoin. They milk 84 cows supplying Barryroe Co-op. The farm is 35 ha and has an overall stocking rate of 2.85 cows / ha. . All replacements are contract reared off the farm. The herd sold 502kg of milk solids per cow in 2020. The EBI of the herd is €148 and the replacement heifers are €187.

Current farm update

Future Beef farmers

Proinnsias Creedon, Macroom | William Kingston, Drimoleague | Ger McSweeney, Milstreet

Ger McSweeney, Tooreenbawn, Milstreet, Co. Cork

Ger farms full-time with his wife Karen & daughter Ella. He farms 25.31ha adjusted (38.6ha non-adjusted) in 4 blocks. Soil on the farm is a heavy mineral soil. He is stocked at 168kg N/ha on adjusted land area & 110kg N/ha on total land area. He runs a suckling to beef system consisting of 35 spring-calving suckler cows. Males are finished as under 16mth bull beef, while heifers not retained for breeding, are finished at 23-24mth. Ger's plan is to get to 40 suckler cows and to increase the efficiency on farm. Local Advisor is Aisling Molloy.

Proinnsias Creedon, Clondrohid, Macroom, Co. Cork

Proinnsias farms with wife Máire & sons Ciarán, Aodhán & Diarmuid in Macroom, Co. Cork. He farms 33.31ha of variable land. There is a lot of heavy soil in the farm with some reclaimed over the past few years. Stocking rate is 141kg N/Ha. 70-80 heifers are purchased annually at around 12-18mth & all of them are taken on to slaughter, finishing most at 22-24mth. There are 42 paddocks on the farm with usually 3-4 groups grazing. They are currently stocked at 2.47LU/Ha. The plan for the future is to improve the farm through growing and utilising better quality grass. Local advisor Anthony Dineen.

William Kingston, Inchingerig, Drimoleague, Co. Cork

William farms in Drimoleague, Co. Cork with his wife Diana & son Mark. He works full-time off farm. He farms 28.13ha in 2 blocks. The soil is a mineral soil. The current stocking rate on the farm is 162kgs N/HA. He runs a suckling to beef system with 33 continental cross bred cows, 72% of the herd is autumn calving & 28% are spring calving. Males are finished as under 16mth bull beef, while the heifers not retained for breeding are finished at 22mth. The plan is to go to all autumn calving, to increase cow numbers close to 40 & improve efficiency of every animal. Local Advisor is Anna Sexton.

DairyBeef 500 farmers

James O’Sullivan

James farms 31ha along the coast in West Cork near Union Hall. Some of the land is extremely good quality that is free draining and fertile in nature. A second smaller block of land is slightly heavier and colder due to its elevation. His current farming system is 20 - 22 month early-maturing heifers. Anna Sexton is his Teagasc Advisor

Signpost Sheep Farmer

Denis O’Riordan, Kealkill, Co. Cork

Denis is a hill sheep farmer. He farms 350 Scottish blackface ewes mostly sells his lambs as stores after weaning. The farm consists of 16Ha of enclosed green/improved land in 2 separate blocks along with 60Ha of private hill and a share of open commonage. The ewe flock spend most of their time on the hill with ewes generally only brought down off the hill from mid-February until 7 weeks post-lambing, with single rearing ewes going back to the hill before this. In 2020 Denis’ ewes had pregnancy rate of 92% and weaned 1.0 lamb/ewe joined.