March 6, 2021 6:00 am
Residing just outside Clonmore in Co. Tipperary is beef farmer John Maher, who has recently built a new loose shed and a first-class handling facility.
The secondary school teacher currently has 250 head of stock on the farm but has the capacity to run 300 on his 75ha which consists of good-quality grassland.
Up until last year, John was housing his stock between three different slatted sheds. He buys in weanlings and stores, which consist of Limousin, Charolais and Belgian Blues which are then all brought to slaughter.
John’s decision to build a loose shed was down to the fact that he felt the weanlings he was buying in were not reaching their target weight on the slats and having had a small dry bedded area on the farm already, he saw how well they did on straw bedding in comparison to the slatted sheds, while a new handling area was badly needed to connect all housing facilities on the farm.