My Farming Week – Arthur Bredin – 11/06/2012

My Farming Week – Arthur Bredin – 11/06/2012

 

Arthur Bredin farms 52 acres part time on his home farm at Tullyskearney, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, and rents 70 acres in the the Midlands. He keeps 28 cows and 106 ewes on the family farm. Arthur also works as Field Manager for Progressive Genetics in theNorth West, and as a result he is very well known in the rural community.

Arthur uses AI on all his cows, with calving commencing in early September and usually finishing in early January. As Arthur is off farm during the day, he has installed a heat detection system on farm and usually starts AI in mid November.  He finds this system works very well on his farm.

You will find many time and labor saving devices on Arthur’s farm and modestly he says he has picked up many of these tips from other farms he has visited.

Recently Arthur has converted an old barn and has installed a small mill (see photo 1). Last year he rolled about 5 tons of barley and he estimates he saved around €80.00 per tonne. He intends to roll about 14 tonne this year and expects this to lead to considerable savings.

Arthur has hosted the Rural Enterprise Skillnet Sheep Shearing Training Course for the last 4 years and is delighted to see so many young people interested in shearing, including his son Pearse who is a keen and accomplished shearer and intends taking part in the national novice competitions this year. The RES Sheep Shearing Course on Arthur’s farm was held this year on Thursday May 24^th and Friday May 25^th.

Although it has been a tough spring this year, he states that all stock have been out to grass early despite the poor growth. But thanks to surplus grass made into haylage last year, the farm had sufficient fodder to supplement the stock at grass.

Because grass growth up until mid May has been poor this year, his silage production is 15 – 20 days behind schedule, but due to the recent good weather, Arthur hopes to begin silage cutting from June 15^th.