Shane Keaveney
Farm Update November/December 2024 | Farm Update September/October 2024 | Farm update July/August 2024| Farm update May/June 2024 | Farm update March/April 2024| Farm update January/February 2024
Farm update November/December 2023| Farm update September/October 2023 | Farm update May/June 2023| Farm Update March/April 2023 | Farm Update January/February 2023
Shane farms on his own with help from his wife Grainne and 3 children in Granlahan, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon.
Shane farms 27.46Ha split into 3 blocks. 4.4Ha is rented and 4.93Ha is around the farmyard. The last block is 18.13Ha where silage is taken and the cows, calves and bull are grazed over the grazing season. Most of the soil on the farm is heavy in nature. There is a mixture of clay and peat soils. All the slurry on the farm is spread with low emission system. Shane has also started using protected urea and he is very happy with the response.
He is stocked at 147kg N/Ha. This has being increasing over the last number of years. There are around 35 suckler cows on this farm. The male calves are finished as under 16 months bull beef. The heifers are sold as forward stores. The cows run with a bull and this has changed to a Charolais bull this year. The cow type is mainly LM/SA crosses.
The outer block is extremely well paddocked and Shane is measuring grass and is set up on PastureBase. He needs to set up the other two blocks on PastureBase. Shane is a member of the local beef grass group and this has helped him a lot with making decisions on paddocks, fertiliser, reseeding etc.
He has a new 5 bay slatted shed with a creep at the back. He also have an older loose house where he winters the weanlings. These are bedded with straw and also the ventilation needs to be improved on this shed before next winter.
His Teagasc Advisor is Charlie Devaney.
Breeding Performance
No. of cows: 35
Cow replacement index: 110
Heifer replacement index: 144
Calves per cow per year: 0.97
Shane's Plan
His plan is to stay around 35 suckler cows and continue the same system. Also it is planned to keep all the heifers to stores before they are sold. As regards changes in the future the idea of buying in extra bulls for finishing or buying in heifers to feed over the Summer maybe looked at.