On Tuesday (October 13) AgriLand made the trip down to Gurteen Agricultural College, in Co. Tipperary, to catch up with the farm manager, Ken Flynn.
The new college term, which started last month, has seen students get back to some sort of normality.
Strict guidelines and social distancing are in place, both in the classrooms and out in the farmyard.
The canteen at Gurteen Agricultural College
Speaking to AgriLand about the return of students, the farm manager, Ken Flynn, said: “It’s great to see the students back.
“We have had to bring in a lot of changes since the outbreak of Covid-19. Among the biggest were changes in the indoor areas, in particular the classrooms and canteen.
“For the most part, everything is working well at the moment. We have been able to get back to some sort of normality. Students have been able to meet up with their friends again and, by the looks of it, everyone seems to be happy to be back.”
In the video below, Ken talks about how the college has adjusted to ensure the safety of its students and also what is happening on the farm at the minute.
Speaking about what’s happening on the farm itself, Ken said: “On the dairy side, we are continuing to grow our herd of cows.
“We were milking 210 cows this year and, all going well, we should be up to 235 next year, with the end goal of getting up to 250.
We have managed to reduce our meal bill with the help of better grass utilisation this year. It won’t be long before we switch our thoughts to drying off.
“In terms of the cattle enterprise, we have one cow left to calve from our autumn-calving herd. Our under-16-month-old bulls have been housed since September.
“As of now, we have started to bring in some of our bullocks and, over the next few weeks, we will begin housing the rest of the cattle. On the sheep side of things, the rams are out with the ewes currently.”
