Cashel Blue Farm is a unique farm business whose journey took a new path back in 1984 when they decided to start manufacturing the multi-award-winning Cashel Blue Cheese.
Using 99% of their own milk to make the world-renowned cheese, they fully understand that “quality of milk and animal welfare is key to good cheesemaking” so the importance of keeping “happy girls” (the cows) as they would say themselves is paramount to the success of the business.
Cashel Blue is the unique creation of Jane and Louis Grubb and was developed at a time when softer blue cheeses were a rarity in the English-speaking world. Cashel Blue truly set the trend as an alternative to the traditional and stronger Blue Stilton.
Today, 37 years on and in the hands of the 2nd generation, Cashel Blue is still made by hand on the same 200-acre farm in Co. Tipperary.
Jane and Louis’s daughter Sarah and her husband Sergio now manage the business, employing over 38 people.
Pat Morrissey has been the farm manager for Cashel Blue Cheese for over 32 years – “I started working on the farm in 1988 and took over the running of the farm upgrading the herd to pedigree and improving milk quality and volume.”
Pat is constantly evolving and growing operations on the farm to move with the times, “We constantly change and add to accommodation to make operations easier”.
Pats dedication, years of hard work & ingenuity were recently recognised nationally as he was a finalist in the National Dairy Awards in the Carbery Dairy Farm Manager of the Year category.
Using Herdwatch to ensure high standards are kept & passing the inspection with ease
Pat started his journey with Herdwatch many years ago and has not looked back since.
“I heard about Herdwatch at the FRS Stand at the ploughing match a long time ago and I signed up that day, it was very easy.”
“I use it for a lot of things such as medicine recording, registering calves, animal movements, animal history and running reports.”
Operating an all-year-round calving herd, Herdwatch has been a game changer for Pat who has found that the biggest benefit for him using Herdwatch has been calf registration and animal history.
Operating under the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme and under strict testing from the department, Pat must ensure his farming operations are completed at the highest standard.
“Milk quality is paramount due to the strict testing from the Department and keeping in line with the high standards of Bord Bia.”
Records
With Herdwatch, all breeding and milk records can be safely stored and easily accessed from your pocket.
Farmers can record serves, get heat reminders, input scan results, and keep an eye on due dates for calving. Milk records come down onto the app and can be checked in 30 seconds.
Cashel Blue keep all their farm records safe with Herdwatch, recording medicines on the app to ensure nothing is forgotten and everything can be traced.
“I record all medicines on Herdwatch, it’s a lot easier than being out with the pen and paper.”
“There is nothing worse than losing a bit of paper with information on it and trying to go off memory when it comes to audits whereas with Herdwatch, it is all saved in one place, and you have peace of mind when it comes to them.”
Since joining Herdwatch, Pat has found that records are much easier handled.
Herdwatch is fully compliant with all quality assurance standards in Ireland & the UK and allows farmers to record all remedy usage, register calves, cattle movements, breeding records and more on a simple-to-use app.
You too can join Pat and over 20,000 other farmers in saving time on farm paperwork and managing their farms more efficiently, download the Herdwatch app today.
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