Michael Flynn

Farmer Profile: Michael Flynn

Nenagh, Co. Tipperary

Teagasc Adviser: Michael Daly

Michael was previously running 55 autumn calving suckler cows on his farm outside of Nenagh but cut this back to 27 cows in 2014, in order to expand his calf to beef enterprise. He slaughters his autumn born bulls at 16-17 months old and heifers at 18-20 months. Michael and his wife Kathleen first reared 20 Hereford calves a few years ago and got on very well when they slaughtered them. This gave them great confidence that they could make this work on their farm. As a result of this they reared 80 calves last year. These will be slaughtered at 20 months of age at the end of the second grazing season. Their previous experience of this has been very successful with them reaching good carcass weights for bullocks at 20 months. The weight for age is excellent and proves that Michael is a very good grassland manager. He has a great dry farm, like so many other farmers, but is utilising it very well by reseeding, and has paddocks in place.

The plan for Michael in the Teagasc Green Acres Calf to Beef Programme is to keep cows numbers the same and increase stocking rate through rearing more calves. This is only possible because Michael is such a good grassland manager. Like most farms, the more simplified the system, the easier it is to implement. We may also look at more animal housing for rearing calves and housing weanlings, if numbers are to increase. Michael’s wife Kathleen and their sons have also a great enthusiasm for farming and with their help this new programme will drive on their output, stocking rate and profitability on the farm.