Gallery: ‘Dairying at Dusk' event explores sustainability
Hundreds of people attended the award winning Walsh family farm in Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary for the event organised by Teagasc, FBD and Dairygold, yesterday evening (Tuesday, June 10).
John, Maria and Brendan Walsh, who were the overall winners of the 2024 Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards, hosted the walk on their 63 hectares platform, with 107 hectares of grass, farm.
The Walsh family are milking 165 and are supplying Dairygold co-op.
The 'Dairying at Dusk' walk on the Walsh family farm Source: O'Gorman Photography
Sustainability
During the 'Dairying at Dusk' farm walk members of the Walsh family highlighted what particular measures have been taken on their farm to promote sustainability.
They highlighted how a careful selection of hedgerows have being planted across the farm and that it is home to over 20 pollinators – recorded in a 2022 biodiversity assessment.
John Walsh also detailed how the farm provides shelter and food sources for birds and other wildlife.
A section of the crowd at the 'Dairying at Dusk' Source: O'Gorman Photography
He detailed the work he carries out to prune all hedges in the first three years of planting, and how he carefully manages them to ensure a wide base, eight foot tall and whitethorns flourishing every 50 meters.
The Walsh's paddocks are rich in clover, with a small portion of paddocks made up of multispecies in a bid to reduce their chemical nitrogen usage.
The multispecies swards contain chicory, plantain, white and red clover and ryegrass.
Brendan Walsh, host addresses a group at 'Dairying at Dusk' Source: O'Gorman Photography
Herd
According to the Walsh family partnership their biggest treasure is their herd of cows.
Brendan Walsh said it took years of careful and selective breeding using the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) to get to where they are today.
The cows produce an average of 524 kilograms of milk solids per cow per year, while the carbon footprint of the milk produced is 10% lower than the national average.
The carbon footprint was 0.86 kg CO2 eq/kg FPCM in 2024.
Catherine Keena, Teagasc, Prof. Frank O'Mara, Teagasc, Dr Siobhán Kavanagh, Teagasc, Liam Herlihy, Teagasc chair and host John Walsh at 'Dairying at Dusk' Source: O'Gorman Photography
The farming family also keep a keen eye on water quality protection and highlighted that they have reduced their chemical fertiliser usage greatly.
Only 130 kilograms of N per hectare per year is used across the farm, with the help of clover integrated swards. The farm is still producing 13.7 tonnes of grass dry matter.
According to the Walsh family all of the slurry on the farm is spread using low emission slurry spreading techniques (LESS) combined with GPS for precision on application.
They have also fenced off all water courses and created buffer strips beside water bodies to maintain a high water quality.
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