Grassland farmer of the Year 2017 Beef Winner

Ger Dineen, Kilnamartrya, Macroom, Co. Cork is the 2017 Beef Enterprise winner of the Grass10 Grassland farmer of the Year. Ger farms around 50 hectares in West Cork, with 12 hectares of forestry on the poorer ground and 32 adjusted hectares of grassland. He grew an average of 14 tonne of grass per hectare in 2016.

Ger says his farm is good to grow grass when all the conditions are right. However the grass growing year of 2012 and spring of 2013 were awful, and now the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 were even worse. However the farm was growing around 7 tonne per hectare in 2012. In 2016, I was growing an average of 14 tonne per hectare. It was like having an extra farm next to me and my stocking rate went from 1.4 to 2.4 LU/ha. Grassland management has become a key driver to the business over the past few years. Emphasis has been placed on prolonging the grazing season, reducing feed costs and increasing animal performance as a means of increasing output and profitability.

Download the the Farm Walk booklet - Grassland farmer of the Year 2017 Beef Winner (PDF)