Herd Expansion & Grassland Management in Co. Tipperary

Bernie Sheehy is a third generation dairy farmer, running a 150 cow dairy herd in Erry, Ballinure, Thurles, “Traditionally, we would have kept beef and dairy on the farm, mainly selling the beef calves as weanlings.

There have been dairy cows on the farm for over 100 years. It’s mostly Holstein and British Friesian, Montbéliarde and Norwegian Red. We’ve also decided to form a farm partnership with our son Brian. We are now going to focus on the dairy herd and get rid of the beef stock. The actual milking platform would be around 200 acres. We would have another 125 acres. The furthest the cows would have to walk would be a kilometre.” In terms of cow performance, Bernie’s herd produce 6,420 litres of milk per cow, with 4.24% fat an average of 3.57% protein.

Bernie aims to grow as much grass as possible from his farm, “Presently we don’t grass measure, but we would have a very good idea in terms of paddock covers on the farm. We do plan to start grass measuring once we are up and running with the new milking parlour. We are always trying to make sure that we have enough grazing ahead of the animals. If any paddocks get too far ahead, you'd be able to take it out for silage. We are always trying to produce more grass and higher quality silage every year.”

Bernie carries out regular soil testing on his farm to ensure that his soils have everything they need, “We carry out soil tests every 2 years. We would be a little low on Ks in some areas, but mostly index 3 and some index 4 across the farm. We were also low on lime in a few areas. You'll always have pockets of the farm that might need a bit of extra lime. For what it costs, it's a valuable investment on any farm. If you don't have it limed, it won't take it on.”

When it comes to reseeding, Bernie opts for longevity, “Every single bit of the milking platform is black soiled, full of iron. You're fighting with the elements for a lot of the time. We're usually late out and usually early in. We try to reseed any paddocks that aren’t delivering for us every year. The paddocks around the parlour tend to need the most attention. Before reseeding, we would spray the paddock off and give it a run of a disc harrow before we use the one pass. It’s a super job. We would then use a post-emergence weed spray to allow the grass seed to take full advantage.” Thomas and Gary Prendergast are Bernie’s agricultural contractors.

Bernie has used a number of different types of grass seed over the years and always ends up going back to Mastercrop Premium One Cut and Graze, “We've used different grass seed mixtures from different companies down through the years. We always find ourselves reverting back to the Mastercrop Premium One Cut and Graze, it’s a Glanbia Ireland seed mixture and has delivered massive results for us. There’s nothing else like it on the market in terms of growth, quality and reliability.” Mastercrop Premium One Cut and Graze grass seed is a high yield variety with drought tolerance characteristics.

Anne Eviston is Bernie’s Glanbia Ireland Business Manager. Bernie believes that having access to Anne and her experience when it comes to grassland management has had a really positive impact on grass production yields on his farm, “Anne is a very knowledgeable person. She knows what works and what doesn’t. I can run ideas by her for advice. She’s always at the end of the phone if I need anything.”

In terms of the future, Bernie is poised to begin the construction of a new milking parlour and expand his milking herd, “Now that Brian will be farming in partnership with us, we are installing a new 24 unit milking parlour that will allow for the expansion of the herd. We are in a very fortunate position that we are not limited with our land base.

New GAIN Momentum Programme

The new GAIN Momentum Programme was launched this spring. The objective of this programme is to add tangible value, increase efficiency, environmental performance and profitability on farm. This is a results driven integrated programme comprised of four main categories; Great Grass, Herd Nutrition, Herd Health and Milk Solids.

Great Grass focuses on enhancing soil nutrition and maximising grassland yields; to assist with this we focus particular attention on, soil analysis, forage analysis and grass analysis.

For more information on our GAIN Momentum Programme click on the link here.

For more information on our Great Grass programme please contact your Glanbia Ireland Representative, Branch or visit glanbiaconnect.com 

First Published: 15 April 2021