Neill Boland - Grazing Management Award

Name: Neill Boland

Enterprise: Beef Farmer

From: Enniscrone, Co. Sligo

Farm Size: 56Ha (in 3 blocks)

2017

Annual Tonnage: Avg 12T Grass DM/Ha

Grazings: 6.4 Grazings/Paddock/Year

Stocking Rate: 2.22LU/Ha

Output Kg/Ha: 1177Kg/Ha (Liveweight Sold)

Neill Boland won the Beef Merit Award for Grazing Management. Neill runs a 56ha farm in 3 different blocks and with 7 different grazing groups in Co. Sligo. Neill measures each block separately on PastureBase Ireland every week and manages the 7 grazing groups on these 3 blocks. A leader-follower system of grazing is practiced. He has a paddock based system of grazing which can be further split further with a strip-wire to match supply and demand. This has led him to increase the amount of grass grown over the past four years from 8 to 12T Grass DM/Ha.