News Sustainable is profitable for Better Farming Awards winner

Good grassland management is at the heart of the business philosophy for Michael Doran, a 2023 Better Farming Awards winner. The Wexford dairy farmer believes sustainable business is not just about farming in an environmentally friendly way – profit and work-life balance are also key.
Photo credit: Better Farming Awards
Farm facts
- Milking 240 cows
- Spring calving
- Farming 170 hectares, mostly grassland including 40ha of arable 18km from the dairy with this used to produce straw.
- 90ha grazing platform, stocked at 2.9 cows/ha.
- 20% replacement rate
- Herd average longevity: 3.7 lactations
- Selling milk to Tirlán
- Producing 480kg of milk solids per cow per year.
Michael, who milks 240 cows at Johnstown, Duncormick, converted to dairy farming from converted from beef, sheep and tillage (arable) almost a decade ago.
Having started with 80 cows in his first season, Michael overcame milk quota challenges to expand numbers to milking 240 cows by year four after acquiring an additional 45 hectares to increase the milking platform to 90ha.
His grass-based system has incorporated clover in swards to cut artificial nitrogen use and he is focused on maintaining good soil health.
Michael’s sustainable performance was recognised when he won Germinal Climate Smart Pasture Farmer of the Year at the 2023 Better Farming Awards.
Michael explains: “Your farm can be as environmentally friendly as possible, but if you’re not profitable, the farm won’t be there in years to come.”
He believes work-life balance is also fundamental to business sustainability. “We take three weeks off in July for a holiday with the family,” says Michael, who shares three children with his wife, Ciara.

Grassland management drives profitable milk production
Michael says good cost control and maximising the use of the most sustainable and cheapest resource he can grow – grass – are key to profitable milk production.
Cows are stocked at 2.9 livestock units/hectare, and production averages 1,400kg of milk solids per hectare. Compact cows weigh 517kg and produce 480kg of milk solids annually from a modest target of 500kg of concentrate per head.
Michael explains: “Last year, we fed 630kg a head of meal because cows were housed earlier in the autumn and concentrate fed will be above target this year because we fed a lot extra in March and April to compensate for the poor weather.”
He adds: “We target ten grazing rotations each year, and we will achieve that on most paddocks. In a good year, we can grow 15.5t of grass. Last year, we grew 14.7t/ha of grass, which was good for the year. We lost at least 1.5t due to the weather. This year, we are on track to produce the same,” notes Michael, who says the atrocious start to spring affected turnout.
Michael says part of the challenges all farmers face is building a resilient system to cope with unprecedented weather patterns.
Clover establishment
To improve sustainability and reduce reliance on chemical nitrogen, Michael uses clover. As part of clover trials with Teagasc, he has now reseeded the whole grazing platform to include perennial ryegrass and white clover. Meanwhile, red clover is used on the silage platform, with three cuts taken between April and September.
He is focused on using top-performing varieties from the Irish Recommended List of grass and white clover varieties and has used AberGain, a tetraploid from Germinal’s Aber High Sugar Grass range.
“Milk goes up every time the cows graze it, and they graze it out very well, and it produces 17t/DM grass per year,” reflects Michael, who established the variety in 2013 and still has it going strong in leys.
Poorer-performing pastures are flagged for reseeding if annual production dips below 13t of dry matter (DM) or cows fail to clean out paddocks during grazing due to poor palatability. Typically, clover is sown alongside grass at 1.5kg/acre in spring.
“We spray docks 12 months before we reseed to get them under control. We reseed during the last week of April or the first week in May once the field has been grazed twice.
“We direct drill and aim to have the field ready to graze again within 60 days from the date the cows last grazed it.”
Avoiding soil disturbance by direct drilling protects soil fertility and preserves good worm activity, believes Michael.
Incorporating clover into swards has helped Michael lower artificial nitrogen applications on the grazing platform from 270kg of nitrogen (N)/ha in 2020 to 167kg of N currently.
Until mid-May, 75-90kg/ha of N is applied after each grazing. As the clover gets going, this is reduced to 10kg/ha.
“We have used protected urea for the last five years,” explains Michael. Protected urea gives a 78% reduction in ammonia emissions compared to urea, research shows.
Increasing soil fertility
The farm is soil tested every two years and Michael targets 80% of the farm being at optimum soil fertility at any one time. Bespoke nutrient management plans are then developed for each field and a trailing shoe has been used for the past five years to apply slurry to lower ammonia losses.

“If soil pH isn’t right, everything else is under pressure. Once we have pH at 6.5, we protect P and K by targeting slurry and farmyard manure at lower indices fields and avoid poaching at all costs to minimise compaction. On-off grazing is also practised during difficult periods.
“We primarily target slurry on silage fields to replenish what’s been taken off,” he adds.
Using renewable energy
The installation of 21kW of roof-mounted solar panels has helped the farm become self-sufficient in half of the electricity it requires. The recent addition of batteries this year means cheaper nighttime energy can be stored for morning milking.
Breeding for efficiency
Michael started with Jersey cross cows but has exclusively used Holstein Friesian sires with a high Economic Breeding Index (EBI) to improve beef calf quality in recent years.
Another tool Michael uses is genotyping. “We need 55 calves and genotyping allows us to pick the cream of the calves we produce. We focus on good milk solids production, health and fertility.”
He says genotyping allows them to correct potential parent errors and make better breeding decisions based on more accurate information. Michael says any future investments must improve labour efficiency or lower the farm’s environmental footprint.
Grassland advice
Contact our grassland experts if you have any questions about grass and forage production.
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