Philip Keville

Location: Aughamore, Co. Leitrim

Farm Size: 16ha-Heavy

System: Suckler to Weanling

Details:

Philip works off-farm full time keeping 15 suckler cows a few of which are pedigrees. He sells weanlings at six months of age and hopes to streamline his system over the coming year by tightening his calving spread. Philip uses 100% AI on the farm and views selling five star replacement heifers as a possible option for the farm.

Lime is a big issue on the farm and given the heavy nature of the soil raising the pH will be a tough challenge to tackle. Finishing more stock out of the shed is most definitely an option as getting stock out in the shoulders of the year is difficult.

Mandatory Challenges

• Two tonne grass challenge - All farms to aim to increase by 2 Tonne/DM/ha
• Farm finance challenge - Gross margin target €1250/ha on average
• Farm safety challenge - Farms to introduce 2 positive changes annually

Optional Challenges

• Breeding challenge - Increase average replacement value of herd by €20 over course of programme and meet all herd fertility targets
• Soil fertility challenge - Aim for 70% of farm at index 3 P&K. Ph - aim for 6.1 (5.7 on peat soils)
• Green farming challenge - incorporate clover into 20% of swards

Read more on the challenges

Updates

IFJ Articles

• IFJ - 01 July 2017(PDF)