The Byrne family from Coolnasmear, Co. Waterford have been gradually improving farm infrastructure while producing quality milk with high solids.

John Byrne is the fifth generation on the farm, and is farming alongside his wife Mary, and his two teenage children, Molly and Eamon, as well as John's parents, Eamon and Mary.

The family were named Tirlán milk suppliers of the year for 2025 for their strong focus on milk quality and solids production, animal health, nutrition, and grassland management.

After being selected as Milk Supplier of the Year for 2024, the Byrnes will go on to represent Tirlán at the National Dairy Council and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards for 2025.

The Byrne family hosted a Tirlán young farmer event on Wednesday, September 11, where there was a huge focus on investment for the next generation, succession planning, nutrition to drive milk solids, and an outlook on dairy markets.

The total farm area is 250ac with the milking platform consisting of 135ac, meaning the platform is stocked at 4.05 cows/ha, which is managed through effective grassland management, reseeding, maize supplementation, and zero-grazed grass from out-blocks.

John came back home full time in 1995 after going to agricultural college in Kildalton College in 1989 and working with a dairy farmer down the road for five years, where he said he learned a lot, especially about labour and time management.

Now, 30 years later, John has gradually built up his business through gradual investment in shed, roadways, cubicles, machinery, a new milking parlour, and automation in the form of heat and health detection collars and automatic calf feeders.

Though John warned that this vast improvement in farm infrastructure didn't happen overnight, he said "you can get there with a bit of perseverance".

John also highlighted that time should be given to any investment in infrastructure in order to get it right, adding that some sheds were converted to calf sheds and the existing buildings used and fitted into plans.

Upgrading from a six-unit parlour to a 20-unit DeLaval parlour in 2009 was a huge timesaver, and John also found it much easier to get relief milkers and attract staff with more comfort in the parlour.

The build-up of cow numbers was a gradual one as well. The purchasing of 33ac in 2013 for silage ground and heifers followed by another 30ac in 2021 and the construction of more cubicles saw numbers climb from 110 to 220 in that timeframe.

The farm is ran based on labour efficiency and quality work/life balance, as John said he has great staff on the farm and neighbours and family who are willing to pitch in on weekends and when required.

The Byrnes are milking 220 black-and-white cows weighing an average of 650kg, which produced 584kg of milk solids (MS)/cow through 7,500L/cow in 2024, peaking this year at 34L/cow.

The herd have a high energy requirement of 20-21 UFL, which is fulfilled through quality grass, 2t of meal/cow fed last year and maize.

The Byrnes test their silage every year, which helps them fulfil the cow's energy requirements throughout the winter months. As John highlighted, due to their heavier soil type, they do not get cows out until the the start of March.

First cut silage last year was cut later than anticipated due to poor weather and as a result had a dry matter digestibility (DMD) of 69%.

Second cut improved at 72% DMD and third cut was the best of the lot, which they put into bales.

Calving starts in mid-January and cows are given high quality silage and maize.

John said: "Cows are like a stove: if you put in wet, soggy timber, you'll be cold, and if you give cows good quality feed, you'll get the results."

John has been feeding maize since 2018. He has 20ac of land for it every year and has seen very little displaced abomassums and metabolic diseases since introducing it.

John doesn't mind milking cows off silage, maize and meal for a couple of months as he said he has the facilities to milk cows inside and can get them out to grass when the conditions allow.

Throughout the summer months, John targets 1,400kg DM/ha pre-grazing covers and aims to reseed about 10% of the land every year.

This year, he reseeded 28ac, 20ac on an out-block and another 8ac on the milking platform.

Building grass covers over the last few weeks has proven difficult for John with a lack of moisture in the soil. However, through buffer feeding maize silage, followed by baled silage, John is not far off target.

In the last two weeks, John has started zero-grazing grass from the out-blocks to slow up the rotation and build covers through reducing the grass demand on the milking platform.

John thrives for a strong, capacious cow that can produce a good amount of milk without being too extreme in either high producing pedigree Holsteins or smaller crossbred type cows.

John looks for balance in a cow, one that can produce well off grass while not being hard to maintain or feed.

He has used all artificial insemination (AI) bulls over the last couple of years, using more daughter proven bulls rather than genomic bulls.

Of the calves born in 2025, 70% of them were beef sired. John said he uses a large amount of dairy beef bulls on the lower genetic merit and poor producers in the herd.

Sexed semen was used on 40% of the cows and the replacement rate has been 20% for the last couple of years. The replacement stock Economic Breeding Index is €198, an improvement on the herd average of €187.

John's investment in Censortech collars has also drastically improved the labour efficiency on the farm, as he said he would spend morning and evenings out monitoring cows and applying tail paint constantly during the breeding season.

Not only are the collars a huge time-saver on the farm, but John stressed how effective it is at monitoring cow health, saving on antibiotics and treatment costs and its accuracy at pinpointing the right time to serve cows, which is crucially important, especially for sexed semen.

John acknowledged the money that goes into getting cows back into calf and that the collars save a lot of time and cost, as straws are being used more efficiently.

The price of stock bulls was also highlighted and John mentioned that he'd need five of them, giving him more reason to invest in collars.