WE’RE ALL INTIMATELY familiar with this country’s prowess in exporting high quality dairy products around the world – but how well do you know the lives of the farmers responsible for our award-winning produce? We spoke to one such farmer to discuss all things Irish dairy.
Brendan Walsh is the eighth generation of farmers to tend to his family’s 102-hectare farm. Like many other farming families, Brendan and his two sisters began helping out on the farm from an early age, combining a curiosity about nature with practical and helpful jobs around the farm.
[We started] just doing bits and pieces, nothing wild, just the odd job of a Saturday or after school. Tagging along, that kind of thing. And gradually as we got older, we got more responsibility and more interest then.”
Having developed an interest in farming and agriculture, Brendan pursued this passion by studying Dairy Business at UCD. Upon completing his degree, he spent several years working in the sector, before returning home to take a bigger role on the farm in 2021.
The farm in Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary is home to 160 dairy cows, as well as a number of replacement calves and some beef calves. “It’s all based around milking, really”, Brendan said.
“Milking is kind of your start and your finish.”
A typical day for Brendan means waking up before 6am, and immediately visiting the cows for their morning milking. Odd jobs around the farm are carried out during the day, such as moving the cows around the farm and ensuring everything on the farm is working perfectly. Brendan then returns to the cows each evening to milk them again.
Brendan has worked on the farm alongside his father, a commonplace arrangement in Ireland, with our 17,500 family farms across the country. Having gained academic and professional experience whilst away from the farm, Brendan has implemented some of his learnings to help improve the farm since his return.
Managing clover across the farm, increased attention to breeding a more efficient cow in terms of milk produced versus emissions generated, and low-emission slurry spreading are just some of the changes new to the farm. The effectiveness of these methods is now being seen on the Walsh’s farm and indeed farms across Ireland that have also adopted them.
“Agriculture is science based,” Brendan said. “So as new science comes along, and new technologies come along, agriculture and farmers adapt to them where there’s benefits as well. So where there are environmental benefits, and where there’s maybe economic benefits, farmers will adapt to them straight away.”
As more and more focus is placed on sustainability in the world of work, farming is no different. Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has set a target of a 25% reduction in emissions for the agriculture sector by the end of this decade. In addition, the quality of our rivers, lakes and waterways is expected to be ‘good’ or above by 2027.
These goals require careful planning and adaption of new technology and methods to ensure that they are met. Brendan’s farm is an example of where these changes are being integrated.
One area of the farm where Brendan has made changes to ensure increased sustainability is around water quality. The farm consists of 95% of prime agricultural land, with the remaining 5% being land that borders a tributary to the nearby River Suir.
Brendan keeps the milking cows off the land that borders the stream and only spreads fertiliser on it once throughout the year, once the weather conditions are correct. The land is also fenced back to prevent animals from getting into the stream.
We’ve a really wide buffer between where we are actually spreading fertiliser, and a watercourse,” says Brendan. “So that is a huge benefit then that if there was any little runoff from the point we have spread, there’s a really wide buffer then for that to be taken up in the margin land as opposed to making its way into the watercourse.”
Using GPS, Brendan can map out where to spread fertiliser to avoid doubling up on particular areas whilst ensuring the ground receives enough. Fertiliser is only spread when the grass is ready to grow and the chance of rainfall is slim. According to him, going with an approach of “little and often as opposed to large quantities at a time to reduce the possibilities of runoff” is the key.
Biodiversity on the farm also plays a key role in helping Brendan achieve the sustainability targets set out to all Irish farmers. By doing simple tasks, such as managing the hedgerows across the farm, the spread of wildlife can increase and make the farm more eco-friendly and diverse. Bird’s nests are a common sight throughout the hedgerows, and a big influx of butterflies and different insects during the summer months shows that wildlife is thriving on the farm. Testament to that is the cacophony of sounds that relay the chorus of insects buzzing through the fields of clover across the farm.
With plenty of work already done, and more to do in the future, farmers like Brendan Walsh are fantastic proof of the excellent and important work carried out by our dairy farmers.
Interested in learning more about sustainable practices in dairy farming and farmers like the Walshs? Visit the National Dairy Council’s site for more information around dairy in Ireland, as well as recipes and helpful blogs.
The National Dairy Council is an Irish organisation telling the story of nutritious, responsibly-produced Irish dairy.
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