I’m Bill Gleeson and in partnership with my father I run a mixed dairy and beef system of 100 cows on our farm in Nenagh Co Tipperary. The farm covers 200 acres and the beautiful river Nenagh runs through the land.
The dairy and beef system works well for us. We breed all of our own calves and raise them until they are about a year and a half old. Last year we purchased our own Hereford Bull and all of our calves this year are by him.
I’m delighted to say that our calves this year are strong and performing well. They were very easy calved, which is always good news for us because it means that our heifers stay in good shape.
I can honestly say that we’ve never had any problems with any of our Hereford heifers after calving, which is really important to us.
We like our heifers to be healthy and hardy, so they are fit again to breed calves next year.
Over the years we have developed systems which help us implement environmental measures on the farm. We incorporate clover into our swarths, we use low emission slurry spreading and we apply the three- year rule to our hedge cutting.
We respect the habitats around the river by fencing well back from the banks and allowing native plants to grow.
We have a good amount of whitethorn along the banks at the moment and that creates a great habitat for all sorts of wildlife and birds.
We really pride ourselves on the steps we have taken to manage the balance between caring for the environment and minding the land and the wild animals on it, while also running a productive beef and dairy farm.
