Edward Roe

Co Clare

I’m Edward Roe, I run a suckler farm just outside Roscrea.

I live here with my wife Martha and our three boys, Anthony, Arthur and Adam, they are nine, five and three. Anthony loves to help out on the farm, the other two are still a little bit small.

We predominantly have Herefords on the farm. Eighty percent of the herd are cross Hereford, and the rest are pedigree Herefords, and we breed pedigree Hereford bulls to sell for breeding.

We initiated our paddock grazing system about five years ago, before that we let them graze freely in a big open field. But since we brought in the paddock system, we’re seeing a lot more wildlife coming back into the farm and we’re getting better grass regrowth as well. I also believe that the hedges and the trees are improving because of this style of grazing.

Over the past few years, we have also fenced off all of our water courses on the farm, so the cattle can’t get to it. The water for the herd is all supplied by our own well.

I definitely see Herefords in my future on the farm, I don’t think I’ll ever steer away from them.

In a movement to be more sustainable we have started to steer away from chemical fertilizer, and we have started using a product called Super Soil. I did a trial on my paddocks with this product. I had three paddocks side by side, two I sprayed with Super Soil and one I didn’t. The two that were sprayed got an extra one or two grazings more than the one that wasn’t sprayed, and they had better clover. I am very happy with it at the moment, and I am going to keep using it.

In 2022 I won Young Beef Farmer of the Year with Macra, which was a great achievement and gave me a bit of a pep in my step, it reassured me that I was doing something right, and I am very proud of it.