I farm: ”In partnership with my father, Dermot, on around 150ac. The majority of the land is in one block here in Ballinahinch, but there’s an out-farm in Killoskully too. My three kids, Eiblín (15), Niamh (14) and Cónal (12), along with my wife Eilís and my uncle John Joe Bourke, all play their part on the farm. I teach engineering in Newport as well.”

Sucklers: ”We have 35 suckler cows and they’re a mixture of Charolais, Angus and Hereford. We run a pedigree Charolais bull with the cows – he’s a five-star bull and we don’t have any huge issues with calving.”

Calving: ”We run a split calving system; two thirds of the cows calve in spring and the other third calve in autumn. We’ll be starting to calve now in March, and will have them calved within six to eight weeks. We try to work it so that they all calve outside, but it always depends on how the spring comes.”

Dairy beef: ”We buy around 50 Hereford calves from a local dairy farmer every year. He calves a few in autumn as well, so we’ve 15 calves bought since September or October and they’re essentially reared now. Some of the heifers that I buy I would keep as replacements - they’re nearly all four- and five-star calves.”

Slurry: ”We’ve all our slurry out now. We got it all done the Monday after the opening date. I’ve a contractor who comes in and does it for me.”

Schemes: “We’re in ACRES and SCEP. They’re good schemes in fairness, and I think it’s important to be in them.”