Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
'Low cost dairy and sustainable farming'
Shane Fitzgerald and Kate Curran are young dairy farmers managing 93 hectares (230 ac) in Portlaw, Co. Waterford. Farming with Shane's father John, they run a spring-calving, grass-based system of 210 Holstein Friesian cows. They have reached the maximum herd they can carry and are turning their attention to building on the environmental gains they have been making in the last few years.
20% of their grassland is a multi-species sward with the remainder having a clover/grass mix. Nitrogen output has dropped from 250kg/ha to 150kg/ha. They’ve stopped spraying under hedgerows and along boundaries to allow space for nature and have also revised their hedgerow management aiming for that good A-shape. They are of the opinion that ‘If you need every inch of land under production you must be doing something wrong’.
Thanks to NPWS and DAFM for supporting this event
'Low cost dairy and sustainable farming'
Shane Fitzgerald and Kate Curran are young dairy farmers managing 93 hectares (230 ac) in Portlaw, Co. Waterford. Farming with Shane's father John, they run a spring-calving, grass-based system of 210 Holstein Friesian cows. They have reached the maximum herd they can carry and are turning their attention to building on the environmental gains they have been making in the last few years.
20% of their grassland is a multi-species sward with the remainder having a clover/grass mix. Nitrogen output has dropped from 250kg/ha to 150kg/ha. They’ve stopped spraying under hedgerows and along boundaries to allow space for nature and have also revised their hedgerow management aiming for that good A-shape. They are of the opinion that ‘If you need every inch of land under production you must be doing something wrong’.
Thanks to NPWS and DAFM for supporting this event
