“THE BETTER THE cow you have the more sustainable it is, you’re producing more milk and having to feed them less meal. It all plays a part in it.”

Caroline Hanrahan and her husband Ger own and operate one of the 17,500 family-run farms in Ireland, producing milk and other milk products with their 350 strong dairy cows. We spoke with Caroline to learn more about their sustainable farming practices and the efforts they make to improve water quality through responsible and sustainable farming.

Caroline is well-used to farming, having grown up on her own family farm, before getting a science degree in University College Dublin. A few years later, she married Ger and the pair have been working together, along with their five children, in the dairy business ever since.

The Hanrahan farm located near Ballyhooly in north Cork has been in their family’s hands for six generations and across that time they’ve seen a lot of changes throughout the dairy industry in Ireland.

Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

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 which will require continuing focus, effort and action by everyone involved in Irish agriculture.

Dairy farmers across Ireland have been combining their dual role as food producers and ensuring the sustainability of the land for years, and the Hanrahan farm is a prime example of a farm doing their bit to prioritise sustainability.

“In the past few years clover has come on a lot more,” Caroline said.

By the end of the year we’re going to have 30% of the farm sown with clover. There’s a couple of different methods of doing it, you can oversow or you can sow in the clover when you’re reseeding your paddocks.

“We’ve taken out one or two paddocks to reseed this year and we’ve put a clover mix into it as well. This is helping to reduce our nitrogen use, basically the clover fixes the nitrogen from the air and means we don’t have to spread as much nitrogen on the land. It’s a win-win for both the farmer and the environment as well, which is a big thing.”

Introducing different plants like clover into pastures reduces the reliance on nitrogen fertilisers — the less fertiliser a farm uses, the less potential for eutrophication in nearby water waterways. It also contributes to targets set under EU Green Deal strategies as well as the government’s climate action plan for 2023.

Shutterstock / J R Patterson Shutterstock / J R Patterson / J R Patterson

Slurry spreading is another area which Caroline and her family have focused on in order to reduce emissions and ensure water quality on their farm. The Hanrahans have adopted low emission slurry spreading on their farm, with nearly 90% of dairy farmers across Ireland following suit in recent years.

“With the old slurry system you used to just blow it out the back of the tanker,” Caroline said.

“But the newer one we’ve adopted, which we got a grant for, is an attachment to the back of our spreader. So now, rather than blowing it up into the air it will put it down into the ground in a trailing system.”

Although there are state imposed windows on slurry spreading in Ireland, farmers also take responsibility themselves by only spreading when the weather is suitable, therefore mitigating the risk of runoff into waterways and maintaining the ecosystems surrounding farms.

Across the Hanrahan farm, you’ll see native hedgerows and trees which play a key role in sustainability as well creating a habitat for multitudes of animals and insects. Hedgerows sequester carbon, provide wildlife habitat, control flooding, improve water quality, and improve the scenic appearance of the landscape.

Like many others in the sector, the Hanrahans are aware that farm efficiency and herd health are better economically for a farm, as well as having the knock-on effect of reducing the carbon footprint – or hoofprint – of a litre of milk. Caroline’s farm uses artificial insemination and can therefore select specific traits and sex in the breeding process, allowing them to weed out inefficient breeders.

To quote Caroline Hanrahan once again, “it all plays a part in it.”

Reducing emissions by 25% before 2030 as well as improving water quality are the targets placed on Irish dairy farmers. Undoubtedly the challenge will be a test of the dairy industry as a whole, but it’s clear the future of dairy farming in Ireland, as well as the agri-food sector, is in good hands when farmers like the Hanrahans are involved.

Interested in learning more about sustainable practices in dairy farming and farmers like the Hanrahans? 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.