Grassland Farmer of the Year - Dairy & Overall Winner - Colin Doherty
Join the Teagasc Grass10 team on Tuesday, 6 September at 11am on the farm of Colin Doherty, Adare, Co. Limerick, V94 K160. Colin is the Overall Winner and Dairy Category Winner of the 2021 Grassland Farmer of the Year Competition.
More about Colin
Colin farms in partnership with his father, Bryan in Adare, Co limerick. They milk 220 cows and supply milk to Limerick Liquid Milk Producers. At the end of the quota era, the farm had 70 cows and the herd is now quite young as a result of growing herd size. The herd is largely Friesian X Jersey with an EBI of €165.
The farm is dry and grows over 15 ton of DM/ha and a long grazing season is practised. In 2021, Colin achieved 10 grazings/paddock for the year. Reducing N fertiliser nitrogen input is one of the objectives that Colin is trying to pursue.
A lot of clover has been established on the farm both through oversowing and reseeding. This strategy will continue as the farm aims to reduce its environmental footprint. The target is to reduce the Nitrogen surplus to less than 160 kg/ha (industry target). Colin uses the NUE tool on PBI to monitor this.
Meal usage per cow is low on the farm and this is also key to reducing the Nitrogen surplus. About 600kg meal/cow is fed annually. The motto for the farm is to grow and utilise as much pasture as possible.
In the clip below, Colin gives an insight into what to expect on the day of the event.
The Dairy Edge Podcast
Colin joined Emma-Louise Coffey on a recent episode of The Dairy Edge podcast to explain how he and his father have developed their dairy farm and built a repeatable grass-based system. Listen to the podcast below to find out more.
Click here to enter the 2022 Grassland Farmer of the Year Competition!
- Read about Grassland Farmer of the Year 2021 winners.
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