Coming up next in our Back In Focus series is a visit back to Thomastown Golden in Co. Tipperary, to chat to dairy farmer Eoin Nagle about his new dairy unit.
January 3, 2021 6:00 am
Last up in our ‘Back In Focus’ series is a 150-cubicle house on the farm of Joe and Karen Smyth – a husband-and-wife team – from Dunkerrin, Co. Offaly, who milk a herd of 145 British-cross Holstein Friesian cows.
The duo, along with their children, full-time employee Roddy Teehan and relief milker Eoin England, operate a spring-calving herd on a milking platform of 220ac.
Since Joe went back milking full-time in 1999, after a couple of years running a suckler enterprise and a contracting business – he has grown the milking herd gradually over a 20-year period.
In 1999, Joe wiped the dust off the old six-unit herringbone parlour that was installed back in the late 1970s by his late father, Paddy, and mother, Mary, and started back milking 30 cows.
Back In Focus: Milking 80 cows through a brand new 20-unit parlour in Co. Tipperary
Part six of the ‘Back In Focus’ series sees us take a look back at a 20-unit herringbone parlour on the farm of Daniel Fennelly from Ballingarry, in Co. Tipperary, who has recently converted over to dairy farming.
Farming alongside his father, John, the duo milk a herd of 80 British Friesian cross Holstein cows – through a 20-unit herringbone milking parlour.
Up until two years ago, the father-and-son team operated a mixed enterprise of suckler cows and sheep.
Speaking to
AgriLand about the move to dairy farming, Daniel said: “There is a large block of land around the yard, so it was ideally set up to milk cows. There were some roadways in place already, so it was a smooth enough transition in that sense.