Trevor Boland

May/June 2024 | March/April 2024 | January/February 2024

Trevor farms part-time in Bunnafedia, Drumard, Co. Sligo. He is married to Tara is farming in parnership with his father Joseph. He works off farm as an accountant with IFAC.

He farms 48Ha; 23 is owned and 25 is leased. 30Ha around the farmyard is a heavy clay soil which is susceptable to poaching. The leased outblock is a clay loam and is drier by nature. Bunnafedea is in a high rainfall area with a standard 1,300mm plus of rainfall per annum.

Trevor is stocked at 155kg N/Ha. His main entreprise is a 45 cow Autumn calving suckler herd with an 86% 6 week calving rate in July and August. The bull calves are sold at 10-12 months and the heifers are retained to finish under 24 months. He also buys in 40 mainly angus heifers in Feb/March for finishing in Nov/Dec.

Trevor has been measuring grass on the farm on the Pasturebase system since 2014. The farm is well layed out in 45 paddocks. He won the Grassland suckler farmer of the year competion in 2019.

There are 3 slatted houses on the farm the latest built in 2018 a purpose built slatted house with creep area and calving boxes for sucklers.

His Teagasc Advisor is Tom Coll.

Breeding Performance

No. of cows: 45
Cow replacement index: €130
Heifer replacement index: €146
Calves per cow per year: 0.94

Trevor’s Plan

Trevor's aim is to tighten even further the six week calving rate using 100% AI. His focus is to improve calf quality and weight for age. He is also keen to breed all his replacements from within the herd and calf all heifers at 2 years of age.