Young Kilkenny farmer is the future of farming

A young Inistioge farmer is the newest addition to the Living Proof Future Farm Programme.

The joint Living Proof Future Farm Programme involves 11 farmers from across the Tirlán catchment area.
Over a five-year programme, which commenced in 2021 and is part of the wider Signpost farmers for climate action programme, it continues to demonstrate best practices in delivering efficiencies and environmental improvements on the participating family farms.

In February 2023, sadly Cathal Moran from Skeoughvosteen, Kilkenny, who was one of the participants, passed away. Cathal was held in very high esteem amongst the group members and his influence will have a lasting impact.

Fellow south Kilkenny man, Tom Murphy, has now taken up the batten and joined the programme at the start of this year.
The 32 year-old, who still plays hurling with the local club, said he jumped at the opportunity to join the Future Farm Programme, a Teagasc/Tirlán knowledge transfer programme. It harnesses advancements in technology and farm practices to support farmers to make the necessary changes for a profitable and sustainable future.

“It will keep me motivated and will keep my mind on the straight and narrow,” Tom Murphy said. “I was up on the late Cathal Moran’s farm. He was previously a Future Farmer. I’d see him in the Famers Journal and followed him on social media. I really looked up to him so joining the Programme was an absolute no brainer.”

Tom grew up on a mixed farm in Inistioge where the year was traditionally spent moving from sucklers to sheep to tillage.
When he left SETU, then WIT, he felt dairy was his future. To help him decide, he spent 10 months working on a well-managed dairy farm in Cumbria, got a feel for managing cows and grassland. Tom instinctively knew dairying was the career he wanted to follow.

Today, they milk 202 cows, their overall stocking rate is 2.21 LU/HA and the EBI of the herd is €209.
“My father always had sheep on the farm and my mother came from a dairy farm. I studied at WIT and got a feeling that my number one option, if I wanted to farm full-time, would have to be dairying. Other than that, I would have had to source another form of income as what we were doing up to then would not have been able to generate two incomes.

“I left for Cumbria after graduating, came home when they were drying off and went back for calving. I absolutely loved every aspect of it. When I came home to the family farm, we put together a plan to get into dairying.”

Tom is farming with his father and mother, Chrissie and James, in Inistioge. They farm 118 Ha, 107 Ha of which is now in grassland. The family farm formerly included sucklers, sheep and tillage but all that began to change when Tom became a new entrant to milk in 2018.
They started out with 98 cows in 2018, strategically building the herd size to 202 cows today.

Tom has invested heavily in the farm over the years, adding a parlour with space for 30 units; a 16,000 litre bulk tank; cubicles for 250 cows and a lagoon with a one million gallon slurry capacity.
The Murphys got planning permission in 2017, started out in 2018. “I absolutely love every aspect of it. It’s a way better life than mixed farming where you’re on the go all of the time.

“We’re calving down 202 at the moment, 90% of which are cross bred. We built the herd slowly and strategically scaling back on our other interests and investing in the necessary farming infrastructure as we grew our numbers.
“We didn’t rush things. We balanced everything out. We were starting into dairy from scratch and were conscious that things could go wrong. It was all a learning curve. But we have absolutely no regrets. We don’t know ourselves.

“My tip for anyone starting off as a new entrant would be to listen to everyone. And you’ll get as much useful information off a farmer who has made mistakes along the line as you will get from someone who has sailed through. It will all stand to you in time.”

Bar spreading fertiliser in the summer and doing a small bit of mowing and odd-jobs on the farm, everything else is contracted out, Tom revealed.
“We now spend two hours milking in the morning, about an hour and a half in the evening. Contracting out the other jobs means we have less machinery, need less labour and we can focus on doing the important things right while also having a life outside of farming.”

Tom’s mother, Chrissie, plays a huge role in the farm and assists with milking, while his father, James, who is renowned in IFA circles, still farms and cares for 120 ewes on 45 acres specifically dedicated to the flock.