Kevin Downing

Kevin Downing and his team milk 150 cows on their family farm in Whitechurch, Co. Cork on a milking platform of 69 hectares. Their cow type is a Holstein Friesian delivering 576 kg milk solids per cow, with a herd EBI of 182 Euro. His grazing season length extends fron mid February to early November. His soil type is a well drained brown earth soil with a limestone bedrock. He is  currently participating in the Soils Pilot Project in the Dairygold / Teagasc Joint Programme. Kevin has found that regular soil sampling has provided him with great information on which to plan his fertiliser use according to individual feild requirements.This has resulted in a reduction in oversll chemical fertiliser use while milk output is still increasing.