Partnership Enables Young Farmer Fulfill Dairying Dream

18 November 2004

A family partnership has enabled a young Cavan farmer to fulfill his dream of making a career in dairy farming.

Twenty-three year old, Patrick Murtagh from Doon, Virginia, has established a family partnership with his parents, Tony and Catherine. The family is now running a dairy herd producing 470,000 litres (104,000 gallons) of milk per annum.

New provisions introduced by the Government, giving sons or daughters who form a partnership with their parents priority access to milk quota, enabled Patrick to get access to establish a quota of 180,000 litres (40,000 gallons) side by side with his parents quota of 290,000 litres (64,000 gallons).

The milk is produced on 37 hectares (92 acres) with some of the winter feed sourced off the farm.

Patrick is a graduate of the Teagasc Agricultural College at Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan, and is a recipient of the Teagasc Certificate in Farming. Prior to taking up a career as a dairy farmer, he availed of the opportunity to travel and spent nine months working on dairy farms in New Zealand and the US. This, he says, enabled him to broaden his knowledge of dairy farming in circumstances significantly different to his native Cavan.

Ben Roche, who manages the Dairy Partnerships Registration Office at Teagasc Moorepark, said there are now almost 300 dairy partnerships registered, of which close to 250 are between parents and sons or daughters.

“Partnerships between family members give a unique opportunity for young people to get into dairying, while those between unrelated farmers bring huge benefits in terms of improved lifestyle and economies of scale. As we enter a new era in dairy farming, the interest in partnerships is set to increase,” said Ben Roche.

Proceedings of the National Dairy Conference are available. (1.47MB PDF document)