A decade ago Kieran Kennedy had no cows and no land; now he is milking 450 cows across three separate farms.

Kieran grew up on a dairy farm in Silvermines, just outside Nenagh in Co. Tipperary.

Unfortunately, the home farm was never a viable option for both him and his brother Shane to pull incomes from.

However, this did not deter either of the Kennedys from farming, as Kieran went to Pallaskenry Agricultural College and spent years working on local dairy farms.

Meanwhile, Shane farmed at home with their father Pat, milking approximately 40 cows after spending time in Pallaskenry, Kildalton Agricultural College, and New Zealand.

10 years later, and the Kennedys are milking over 450 cows between them across three farms.

The farm recently hosted large crowds as part of the new GROdairy programme.

Leased-farm

When you think of succession, you think of registered farm partnerships, share farming, and long-term land leasing.

Kieran has managed to get involved in one of each of these options of succession concurrently.

It all started in 2023 when his neighbours 10 minutes up the road from the home farm, Tom and Imelda Walsh, decided they wanted to step back from farming.

The Walsh's two children were both pursuing their own careers, and had no interest in taking over the family farm.

But Kieran had a 'grá' for dairying and had equity built up from a decade of farm labouring, so he decided to take the chance to enter a 15-year-lease with the Walshs on their 67ha farm.

Kieran went out and bought 135 cross-bred cows of his own, as well as purchasing 25 cows from the Walshs' farm.

The farm was well run and was constantly invested in, with the only real deficit being the milking parlour.

Kieran put his head down and put the work in, and by 2025 he was milking 195 cows on the farm, which had expanded to 77ha.

His herd was averaging 467kg of milk solids per cow at 5.07% fat and 4.12% protein last year, while being fed 850kg of meal/cow.

He managed to get the herd's Economic Breeding Index (EBI) up to €157, and had an 86% six-week calving rate in place, with all heifers then being contract reared.

Kieran invested in the soil fertility, reseeding 38% of the block in his first year, with 89% of the total farm now reseeded and 330t of lime spread.

This allowed him to grow 12.7t of dry matter (DM)/ha in 2025, using 234kg of nitrogen (N)/ha.

He also invested in 1.3km of new roadways and 6km worth of water piping, as well as new water troughs to go with it.

In 2026, he moved from the old 7-unit double-up parlour to a new 24-unit milking parlour, which was a joint investment between himself and the Walshs.

Share farming

After three years of hard work and determination, Kieran was finally settled into the farm and the new parlour.

Then entered Mike Slattery, a farmer in his mid-50s whose farm is adjoining the Walshs' farm.

Similar to the Walshs, neither of Slattery's children had an interest in taking over the farm.

Slattery approached Walsh to see how the lease farming was working out and to find out if it would work for himself to ask the Kennedys to get involved on his farm.

Slattery did not feel comfortable steeping out of farming fully, as he loves dairy farming.

Walsh outlined how he was still working away with Kieran on the farm despite it being leased, and the conversation quickly snowballed into the Kennedys arranging a collaborative farming agreement with the Slatterys.

The Kennedys officially began share farming with Mike and Birdy Slattery at the beginning of this year.

The farm is milking 160 high EBI cows on a 75ha land block.

It has been heavily invested in, with a new calf shed built in 2022, a fresh 20-unit milking parlour, 200 cubicles, and slurry storage, as well as additional facilities.

The Slattery herd is now currently producing 18.26L/cow/day at 4.88% fat and 3.99% protein, equating to 1.66kg of milk solids/cow/day.

Meanwhile, the herd on the Walsh farm is producing 18.5L/cow/day at 5.28% fat and 4.32% protein, equating to 1.81kg of milk solids/cow/day.

Farm partnership

Kieran had developed a company on the Walsh farm, which he then used to enter a registered farm partnership with Shane in 2026, before the company entered the share farming agreement with the Slatterys.

At the time, Shane was milking 95 cows on the 27ha home block, but the partnership meant the brothers would now have over 300 cows splits across the 77ha of their own farm and the Walshs' farm.

Then when the Slattery farm was joined as a share farm, that grew to 450 cows across 179ha.

Shane noted how the partnership 'just made sense', as they were regularly sharing items and helping each other out as it was.

The structure saw the brothers move their operations from independent bank accounts to one shared account, with the profit then split.

Succession dynamic

The farm is rather unique, with three different set-ups accounting for a large overall dairy enterprise.

When it comes to sharing labour, Shane continues to take care of the home farm, milking 100 cows there.

Meanwhile, Kieran is primarily based out of the Walsh farm where just shy of 200 cows are being milked, with Tom Walsh still actively involved.

When it comes to the Slattery farm, Mike Slattery himself is happy to continue milking the 160-cow herd, with the pressure of farming taken off as the Kennedys have absorbed the management aspect.

The company, which includes the three farms, also has one full-time employee, as well as another member of staff who does four milkings a week for them.

The Kennedys also have three relief milkers on hand when needed, allowing everybody to get time off when needed.

Shane noted how the system allows everybody to "have each other's back", as well as splitting decisions, and even sharing problems.