Sam Pierce

Farm Update July/August 2022 | Farm Update May 2022 | Farm Update February 2022 | Farm Update January 2022

Sam is farming full-time at Parklands House, Newtown, Bannow, Co. Wexford. He farms in a partnership with his father Nigel and mother Mary.

He farms 68 owned hectares all located around the farmyard. 10 hectres of this is in Winter/Spring barley to provide feeding and straw for his stock.

Land type on the farm is mixture of Rathangan and Clonroche series soil. The farm overlooks Bannow Bay. Parts of the farm can be quite wet in the spring. It is a low rainfal area which can lead to drought issues during the summer.

Housing on the farm is a mixture of slatted accomodation and straw bedding. Sam is aiming to complete a new slatted shed and lieback by Novemebr 2021. This will give more than enough housing capacity and will allow for any increase in stock numbers going forward.

Sam's overall farm stocking rate is 150 kg/N/Ha. The tillage area of the farm is included in this calculation (Grassland Stocking rate is currently 170-175).

The main enterpirse on the farm is a 62 spring calving suckler herd. All male progeny are currently finished as bulls under 16 months. Any heifers not kept for replacements are finished between 20-22 months. The herd is bred 100% to AI which Sam completes himself. A large mixture of breeds are used on the farm with Limousin, Charolais, Hereford and Simmental most prominent.

There are 80 ewes on the farm. These lamb in 2 batches from Mid February to Late March. All lambs are brought through to finish with low meal input.

His Teagasc Advisor is Jack Murphy.

Breeding Performance

No. of cows: 62
Cow replacement index: 114
Heifer replacement index: 140
Calves per cow per year: 1.04

Sam's Plan

The plan is to stay at the same cow numbers but to increase the efficiency on farm. Calves per cow per year and liveweight performance at grass are the main focus areas. I also want to look at soil fertility and protected urea. I am already using low emission slurry spreading and find it excellent as it gives me more options on where and when I can apply my slurry. I will reseed more of the outfarm and include clover into the mix so I can reduce the amount of fertiliser I apply from a bagged source.