A former chairman of both Carbery Group (an innovative and highly-successful confederation of four co-ops) and Barryroe Co-op, John O’Brien is one of the leading dairy farmers in West Cork. We met up with the irrepressible Barryroe man, who has evolved an exceptional enterprise in the face of tremendous adversity.
John O’Brien has known adversity, but from somewhere he has found the strength to develop an excellent dairy enterprise in Barryroe, County Cork, milking 200 cows at present, while also demonstrating impressive leadership qualities, representing dairy farmers in the West Cork region..
He sat on the Irish Dairy Board for four years up until 2014; was chairman of Barryroe Co-op from 2007- 2014 served on the board of Carbery (and was chairman from 2010-11); and is current chairman of the West Cork Development Partnership Programme (LEADER). In all of these capacities, John has worked tirelessly to create a better environment for his fellow farmers and greater community.
For example, Carbery delivers top prices for its members and brings innovation and technology to the dairy industry. The constituent co-ops lead the way in securing top milk prices for its members, competing favourably with bigger-name competition such as Dairygold, Kerry Glanbia.
Reflecting on his own family-run dairy enterprise in Barryroe, John notes: “My parents – Timmie and Peggy – bought the farm here in the early ‘60s where they grew the dairy herd. My father, who was involved in building and machinery as well as dairy farming.Timmie,,died in a tragic farmyard accident in 1979, when I was 15.
“I completed my Inter Cert and did a year in Clonakilty agricultural college before starting full-time on the farm myself in ’81. So I’ve been at it from a very young age.”
The tragedy that precipitated John’s assumption of the reins at such an early age has imbued him with strength, determination and battling qualities, which have served both the family business and the local community in general well over the past two-and-a-half decades.The family pulled together as a unit and made the most of the cruel hand they’d been dealt.
Going back to 1979, John continues: “There were 110 cows in the herd at the time. My mother and I took over and we also had Tim Flynn who had worked for my father for 30 years. He stayed with us and kept the show on the road until the time of his death. My aunt also came on board and, between family help and neighbours, we got through it.”
John is from a family of seven children – five sisters and one brother (who now works in Barryroe Co-op). “We all knuckled down,” he says. “There’s nothing like hard work to focus the mind.”
As for the farm itself, there was no change in the farming programme other than that John got rid of the machinery and stayed milking cows. Today, he runs the farm with his wife Phil and his mother Peggy lives with the family still having a great interest in all that happens on the farm . John and Phil have four children : , Tadhg (25), has a degree in agricultural science and works as a trainee chartered accountant with Grant Thornton; Ann-Marie (23) is a trainee chef at CIT also works as a chef in Monks Lane Restaurant Timoleague; Jerome (22) is a fourth-year agricultural science student at UCD; Hettie (18) is doing her Leaving Cert.
“We’ve doubled the size of the operation with organic, steady growth,” says John. “We had a quota of 135,000 when the quotas were introduced and grew that to 240,000 by the time of abolition. We expanded and maximised and are now performing close to our optimum.
“We modernised the housing facilities in the early ‘80s and that’s still there as modern and useful as it was , when it was built which shows the value of good planning and investment. In 2002, we extended the milking parlour to a 20-unit and we also have plenty of slurry storage etc. All the facilities are up to date and modern, although there is always ongoing investment and maintenance.”
Like the majority of dairy farmers in Ireland, John is involved in the day to day running of the farm . “I have one great young farm manager, Gerard Kirby, working with me and he is a very capable young man contributing greatly to the running of the farm. We also have students in from the agricultural college during the autumn and winter, and the family helps out a lot as well. But I’m at it seven days a week, 365 days a year. I do take holiday, though – it’s not all slavery! And the fact that my chairmanship of the co-op ended last year has also freed up a bit more time…”
The herd is 40% autumn calving / 60% spring, kept in two distinct blocks. Holstein Friesian has been introduced to the farm, along with Jersey. The herd EBI 146 (166 and 170 for the young stock). The herd average is around 6,500 litres, with all milk going to Carbery Milk Products through Barryroe Co-op.
John owns 145 acres and farms 250 in total. Low land availability places physical restrictions on the possibility of expanding the actual milking platform, so if there is to be future growth it could conceivably have to come from within the existing farm / herd, which varies in size between 200 and 220 cows.
“Our mantra is to produce as much quality milk as we can, predominantly off grass. I also grow some maize but I keep the cows on grass as much as possible,because we are located in a mild climate, they generally graze from January until November.”
There is a great tradition of dairy farming on both sides of John and Phils family’s . John hopes that one of his children might one day assume the mantle. “We’ve successfully grown the business down through the years,” he concludes. “There might be scope for another 20 or 30 cows and I will look at any opportunities that arise. Hopefully one of the kids will come home in the future and we’ll stay at it.”
John O’Brien
Barryroe
County Cork
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 9, October 2015
