Jason Helen is the man behind one of Ireland's most prestigious Holstein dairy herds, farming alongside his wife Laura and his parents Robert and Sylvia.

The Helen family operates the award-winning Eedy herd in Lisroe, Clonakilty, Co. Cork.

The Helens are milking 100 pedigree Holsteins, and supplying their milk to Lisavaird Co-op for the Carbery Group.

They are in the winter milk scheme, calving from August to the end of May, with half calved down ahead of Christmas.

In 2025, the Eedy herd delivered 690kg of milk solids (MS) at 4.34% fat 3.55% protein to the co-op, off an average mature weight of 725kg.

However, the Helens do not feed any milk replacer on farm, using all whole milk instead, which ultimately skews the herd's actual production.

Jason said based off milk recording reports, the herd actually produced 10,101L at 4.34% fat and 3.49% protein, equating to 791kg of MS over their average 345-day lactation period in 2025.

The herd averages 57 days dry, with cows being dried off individually from September to March.

According to Jason, two or three cows could be dried each week depending on calving dates.

With that, the Helens are still managing to maintain an average cell count of 102,000 cells/ml, according to the co-op report.

The herd is grazing day and night, but are also buffer fed 10kg of maize silage all year round alongside 2.5kg concentrates.

Breeding

When operating such an elite herd, breeding plays a pivotal role in the farms success.

One thing for sure is the Helens got their breeding right in 2018, as Eedy Doorman Fame was born down in August 2019, leaving a trail of accomplishments behind her ever since.

Eedy Doorman Fame has claimed the Supreme Champion title at the National Dairy Show in Millstreet twice.

Most recently, she became the first ever Irish bred cow to achieve an exceptional classification score of EX97 max, making her the highest classified cow in Ireland, which you can read about here.

The Helens use 100% artificial insemination (AI) when it comes to breeding, with the CowManager heat and health monitoring system tagged onto every animal over 12-months of age.

All of the Helens' maiden heifers are served to sexed semen, alongside 30% of the milking herd, while the rest receive conventional Holstein semen.

Beef sires are not used on any of the herd, with all cows and heifers being served to Holstein semen.

Jason noted how he uses all north American genetics on the herd, using the likes of Blakely; Dropbox; Ambrose; Oats; Hi-Praise; Sheepster; Johnboy; and Dynasty.

Jason himself works part-time with World Wide Sires while his father Robert works with the National Cattle Breeding Centre (NCBC), giving them a good insight into what bulls are on the market and what is working well.

Jason also noted how he flushes approximately four of his own cows each year for embryos, as well as buying in another five or six embryos.

The Helens maintain a 20% replacement rate.

Jason said he had 52 heifer calves born this year, 20 of which will be kept with the rest sold at their annual calf sale in August.

Infrastructure

Jason has being shifting focus slightly towards improving infrastructure in the last few years as well.

A new calf shed was installed recently, taking priority over a new parlour as the Helens are calving for 10 months of the year.

Jason said a big emphasis was put on comfort, ensuring airflow and ventilation were as good as possible, fitting both lengths of the shed with Yorkshire boarding.

Jason also wanted to ensure there was enough space for calves to fit comfortably.

The herd is currently being milked through an old eight-unit double-up parlour, but Jason plans on fitting a new unit in the near future to reduce milking time, improve cow-comfort, and increase his work-life balance.

The Helens currently have enough slurry storage, but with new regulations due to kick in from 2028, more storage is due to go in as soon as possible too.