I farm: “350ac of rough grazing land on the Clare-Galway border. Part of the land is in Kinvara and the winterage is in Tubber. I’m farming with my parents and my nieces help on the lambing side of things in spring.”

Suckler-beef: “I’ve 105 suckler cows. They’re a mix of Simmental and Limousin – they work very well on the land I have in the Burren. They bring a mix of hardiness and milk traits. I outwinter them on the Burren winterage land until February; then they come into calve. I’d be calving for three months or so from around 1 February. The cows are so fit from being out on the winterage that they’re not hard calving at all.”

Calves: ”I finish some of the calves to beef and I sell some as forward stores. I’ve been selling some of last year’s fancier calves as forward stores. I try to keep all my own heifers for breeding as they’d have natural immunity when they’re born.”

Ewes:”I have 200 ewes – they’re Suffolk, Texel and Bluefaced Leicester crosses. I keep crossing them for hybrid vigour and to get as many traits from each of them.”

Lambing:”I start lambing from 1 April and it’s usually over by 1 May. I try to have all the lambs sold by Christmas. I introduce creep to the lambs two weeks before I wean them and I generally feed them a little bit of meal all the way through. They’re all still on the ewes at the moment, but I’ll wean them in mid-August when the weather starts to cool.”

This week: “The lambs all got a worm dose and a cobalt dose to help build them up for weaning. All the calves got a worm dose this week as well.”

Special Area of Conservation:”We farm within an SAC – the land in the Burren is preserved in the summer, so it gets a chance to grow and recover. It’s full of flowers and birds and nesting sites. More than 44% of the farm is space for nature.”