Support Farms

John Fouhy

John Fouhy & his family milk 85 cows on the family farm in Meadstown, Co. Cork on a milking platform of 42 ha. The cows are Holstein Friesian delivering 550kg milk solids per cow. His grazing season extends from the start of February to mid November. Soil type is a well drained brown earth with a limestone bedrock. He is participating in the Soils Pilot Project in the Dairygold/Teagasc Joint Programme. John has found tregular soil sampling allows him to quickly correct any issues with soil fertility. He has adopted a more strategic plan around the use of both organic and chemical nitrogen (N)

Kevin Downing

Kevin Downing & his family milk 150 cows on the family farm in Whitechurch, Co. Cork on a milking platform of 69 ha. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 576 kg milk solids per cow, with a herd EBI of 182 Euro. His grazing season extends from mid February to early November. Soil type is well drained brown earth soil with a limestone bedrock. He is participating in the Soils Pilot Project in the Dairygold/Teagasc Joint Programme. Kevin has found regular soil sampling provides him with great information on which to plan his fertiliser use. according to individual field requirements

Sean Kearney

Sean Kearney & his family milk 100 cows on the family farm near Kilbehenny, Co. Limerick on a milking platform of 46 ha. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 534kg milk solids per cow, with an average herd EBI of 135 Euro. Grazing season extends from mid February to early November. Soil type is a moderately drained brown earth soil with a shale bedrock. He is participating in Soils Pilot Project in the Dairygold/Teagasc Joint Programme. Regular soil sampling has helped reduce his overall chemical fertiliser bill, increase grass growth & increase milk sales.

Aidan Murphy

Aidan farms on the family farm near Newmarket, Co. Cork. He milks 170 cows on a milking platform stocking rate of just over 3 cows per ha. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 460kg milk solids per cow with an average herd EBI of 176 Euro. Land type is a mixture of well drained loam and marley clay. In good weather conditions, the grazing season extends from mid February to the start of November. Aidan farms with his father Damien. Aidan plans to improve the farm infrastructure over the next few years. Upgrading the cubicle shed, increasing slurry storage capacity and adding more roadways

Tom and Margaret Horan

Tom & Margaret farm just outside Cashel, Co Tipperary. They run a mixed dairy & beef enterprise, milking 110 cows with calves reared for sale as factory fit animals or forward stores. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 520 kg milk solids per cow, with an average herd EBI of 147 Euro. Grazing season extends from the middle of February to early November. Soil type is a well drained brown earth with a limestone bedrock. Tom & Margaret have excellent winter housing facilities & are happy with the current set up in terms of cow numbers. They plan to reduce emissions & improve milk solids

Michael and Martin Carroll

Michael farms with his father Martin on the family farm near Bruree, Co. Limerick. They milk 148 cows on a milking platform stocking rate of just over 3 cows per hectare. Herd EBI is 175 Euro & the average cow is delivering 542kg milk solids. Land type is a well drained loam & his grazing season extends from early February to the start of November. Michael plans to focus on reducing his overall chemical fertiliser use over the next 3 to 4 years by correcting soil fertility, reseeding with clover, maxmising the value of his slurry using dribble bar technology & planning fertiliser use.

Jack Hallahan

Jack and his family milk 112 cows on their farm near Crookstown, Co. Cork on a milking platform of 40 hectares. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 440 kg milk solids per cow with an average herd EBI of 134 Euro. His grazing season length extends from the start of February to mid - November. His soil type is a well drained brown earth soil with a shale bedrock. Jack has recently purchased (July 2021) a new slurry tank with dribble bar attachment to help maximise the value of his slurry as a fertiliser. He plans to increase his use of protected urea to lower his farms environmental impact

Anthony McCormack

Anthony milks 110 cows in Mooghaun, Newmarket on Fergus, Co. Clare. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 510 kg milk solids per cow with an average herd EBI of 151 Euro. Grazing season extends from the middle of February to early November. Farm soil type is a well drained brown earth. Anthony plans to maintain current herd size but improve farm sustainability. He will focus on improving herd EBI, reseeding 10 % of the farm annually & reducing chemical fertiliser use by correcting soil fertility & realising the full value of available slurry through better management & use of dribble bar.

James and Nora Kennedy

James & Nora Kennedy milk 150 cows on the family farm in Bawn, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary on a milking platform of 120 acres. Cow type is a three way cross of Holstein Friesian, Norwegian Red & Jersey producing on average 1600 kg milk solids per ha, with a herd EBI of 154 Euro. The land is a good brown earth soil known as an Elton soil type. Grazing season is from early February to mid - November. James plans to maintain his current stocking rate & concentrate on improving nitrogen use efficiency & reducing his overall carbon footprint. He has switched to protected urea & uses a dribble bar system.

Maurice Smiddy

Maurice milks 180 cows on his family farm in Ahavine, Ballymacoda, Co. Cork. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 530 kg milk solids per cow, with an average herd EBI of €140. Grazing season length extends from the mid-February to early November depending on weather conditions. Soil type varies from a moderately drained brown earth soil to a black peaty soil type. He plans to maintain current stock numbers & focus on growing more grass & reducing overall chemical fertiliser use. An upgraded fertiliser spreader is invaluable automatically records fertiliser use on each individual field

Francis Collins

Francis milks 110 cows on his family farm in Glenmore, Strand, Co. Limerick on a milking platform of 120 acres. Cow type is Holstein Friesian delivering 490kg of milk solids per cow, with an average herd EBI of €135. He took over the farm twenty years ago from his father Jeremiah & has doubled cow numbers in that time. Grazing season is from Mid-March to late October. Soil type is a heavy natured mineral soil with pockets of black soil with a shale bedrock. Francis plans to improve farm infrastructure over the next few years. Increasing slurry storage, put in an underpass & farm roadways