John runs 55 Suckler Cows on his farm in Crimlin which is located about 5 miles on the Ballyhaunis side of Claremorris. Included in the 55 cows are a small number of Pedigree Simmental Cows which John breeds under the “Crimlin” Prefix. His commercial cow choice is predominately Simmental X which he runs with two Simmental stock bulls. The bulls presently on the farm are ‘Celtic Will’ a Celtic Starbuck son and ‘Cruithill Future’ a Hillcrest Sylvester son.
John’s main niche is the sale of commercial breeding females both maiden and in-calf. Over the last number of years the herd has sold some of the top heifers at both Ballymote and the Roscommon May Breeding Heifer Sale.
John sells all his Simmental X bulls to a Kilkenny beef finisher direct off the farm and is very happy with this arrangement and happy in the knowledge that his progeny are delivering returns for the finisher. John explains that he would finish these bulls himself but for a simpler system holds heifers only. In fact he purchases 15 Charolais X Heifers each year for finishing as he has the facilities to do so.
John is very optimistic about farming seeing it as a great way of life and is very pleased that his children are also keenly interested and in fact can be seen with him at all the Simmental Sales.