Churchclara

The O’ Keeffe family have been farming at Churchclara, Co. Kilkenny since the 1600s and milk has been supplied for sale from the farm for much of that time. In fact the farm was the 10th supplier to sign up when Kilkenny Creamery was formed back in 1916.

Fertility, health and longevity have all improved hugely with the herd over the past years with the introduction of more and more British Friesian Genetics and production hasn’t taken a back seat either. Last year’s annual report shows a herd producing 6057Kgs milk @ 4.22Fat and 3.62Protein with a SCC of 64, a calving interval of 367 days and 9% empty after 10 weeks breeding.

The herd was also graded up to Pedigree at this time and some bulls were kept from the top Friesian cows in the herd to speed up the change over from Holstein to Friesian Genetics. Throughout the 2000s an effort was made to source British Friesian Genetics from the 1980s era with a preference for Gornal Pegasus and Grove Breadwinner bloodlines. These bloodlines have been found to produce healthy, dairy cows with enough size and frame for any system.

Contact us if you are interested in pedigree registered Pure Friesian bulls, incalf heifers or freshley calved heifers.