David Cahalan

Tipperary beside Knocksheegowna Hill

My name is David Cahalan. I run a farm in Tipperary beside Knocksheegowna Hill.

Knocksheegowna is historically known as a fairy hill and the story goes that the fairies stole a calf and carried it up the hill, the calf jumped off and landed on the far side of the Shannon.

I run the farm with my wife Louise, we have two small kids, Alice who is four, and Fred who is two.

I like to buy Herefords in September or October and keep them over the winter. I usually make some good quality silage in the spring and feed them on that over the colder months. My aim is always to get them out as early as possible, preferably around March. Then I finish them off on grass between May and July, just as they come fit.

Alongside the cattle we lamb a few hundred ewes on the land, I try to finish them about mid-February and into March. We have some thoroughbred broodmares which we breed from each year, we mostly sell the foals or keep them and sell them as yearlings.

We reseed the land field by field each year. Since 2018 I’ve been using a mix of chicory and plantain, mixed species swards. One of the benefits of using this mix has been that it has attracted a lot of bees. There is a beekeeper close by and the bees are great for naturally pollinating the land and our apple orchard.

"I’ve been an Irish Hereford Prime member for twenty years. I find their ability to turn grass into beef is as sustainable as you can get, for the climate and grass that we have".

I like working with Herefords because of their calm, docile nature, they are easy to handle and move around and, in the future, I plan to buy more Herefords to add to the farm.