Shay Ryan’s herd has grown from 32 cows to 150 cows in the space of nine years.
Going forward, the Wexford native intends to expand his herd further to 170/175 cows, with an overall stocking rate of 2.5.
Like many dairy farmers, Shay is striving to improve on-farm efficiency. To date, he has installed an underpass and automated calf feeding and is considering introducing a second full-time labour unit to the farm in the future.
He is a Teagasc/Glanbia Future Farm Open Source Programme participant. “The biggest thing that impressed me is the attention to detail and the reliance on figures.”
“What most of us don’t do is we don’t trust the figures and we tend to work off what we have done in the past as opposed to what we can see in front of us.” the dairy farmer explained.
Video produced and edited by Teagasc
