From Rathdangan in Co. Wicklow, Mervyn and Dorothy Fairbrother’s Holstein Friesian dairy herd will soon be sold in a clearance sale.
The herd will be coming through the ring at Carnew Mart, Co. Wicklow on Wednesday, April 3 at 12:30p.m for sale.
Fairbrother told Agriland he has been a farmer all his life, and is farming alongside his wife Dorothy, whose family owned the farm.
On why the decision was made for the family farm to come to an end, Fairbrother explained there were several reasons.
“We always said for years that if the children weren’t interested in farming, that when they were all educated, that we would consider getting out ourselves.
“We were getting tired, we were getting very fed up on the rules and regulations being imposed on you and those coming down the tracks.
“The goalposts keep moving, as soon as you set up for one set of rules, the rules change.”
He explained they are exiting farming “100% on our own terms. It’s the nicest way to go”.
“We made the decision last October, and we have never once queried it since,” he added.
There are no immediate plans for the Fairbrother’s once the farm is sold, except to go travelling and “see the world”.
With no hired-in help on the farm, he said they always relied “on the chaps coming home at the weekend to help with the milking”.
Speaking on his own future, Fairbrother said he will eventually look for another occupation to pursue.
“I’ll pick something that more than likely won’t be related to agriculture at all. When the time comes to get a job, I’ll get a job doing something, just to keep the sanity if nothing else.”
He said: “When you’re used to working all your life, you’ll have to keep rooting at something.
The dairy farm
The Fairbrother’s clearance sale at Carnew Mart will include 50 freshly calved heifers and cows, and 25 springing cows and heifers.
There will also be 60 autumn calved cows (large percentage scanned back in calf), heifers in-calf for autumn 2024.
The youngstock (100 head) at the sale will include bulling heifers, weanlings and heifer calves.
The dairy herd was predominantly bred by sires including; Casper, Punch, RealSeal, and Filmore herd.
There will also be a complete farm machinery dispersal sale on Thursday, April 18 at 6:00p.m.
Following this, the farm house and yards, along with land will be available for sale by online auction on May 10, 2024.
Fairbrother told Agriland that “99% of the cows calve here on their own with no intervention at all so I wouldn’t be worried about them calving anywhere”.
“For anyone who wants a cow, there’s a cow to suit everybody,” he added.
The Fairbrother’s are liquid milk producers, with an average production of 6,788kg of milk, with fat of 4.1% and protein of 3.41% which equates to 512kg of milk solids.
Getting ready for the sale
While Fairbrother said there was still a “little bit” to do in getting the cows ready for the sale, mainly just to clip their tails, he said that “all the background work is all done and finished at this stage”.
One of the last jobs that will be completed on the farm, is the final milking of his cows on Tuesday evening.
While normally completing milking with less help, he is expecting there to be a busier parlour that evening, as his family will also be attending the sale on Wednesday.
“It’ll be all hands on deck I imagine,” he said.