Ger and Enda Armstrong milk 137 cows in partnership in Kilcolgan, County Galway, with a strong focus on breeding and grassland management.
Ger has always run a quality farm, focusing on maximizing profitability while handling milk quotas.
But when Enda returned to the farm in 2019, he came with plans to improve herd solids while boosting grass production.
And his plans have clearly paid off, with the farm winning the 2025 Galway Sustainable Pasture Progress Award, as well as boosting its Economic Herd Breeding Index (EBI) to €161.
His “tough” breeding and attention to detail when it comes to grass allowed the farm to achieve a milk price 5 cents per liter higher than average in 2025.
This performance made the farm an ideal candidate to host a farm tour led by ArraTipp in collaboration with Teagasc and Monster Bovine.
The crowd walks through the farm led by ArraTipp at Armstrong Ranch this week
Farm performance
During the tour, the Armstrongs spoke about the herd’s performance, saying they were currently producing 21.5 liters of milk at 3.68% protein and 4.4% fat from high-quality pasture along with 2kg of meal.
The Armstrong family’s milk solids volume in 2025 was 446kg, and Enda hopes to reach 475kg within the next two years.
On Thursday (June 4), the farm averaged 508 kg dry matter (DM) per hectare.
But with a growth rate of 94kg mark/ha and low demand at 64kg mark/ha, any holes in the grass wedge are quickly filled, meaning heavy pastures are out of the 20-day cycle for surplus bales.
Some of the pastures on Armstrong’s farm have up to 40% alfalfa cover
Enda takes two walks on the grass every week, explaining that the difference between walking on Monday and walking on Friday is huge.
With more than 40 runs a year, he can plan and adapt to a surplus or shortage of grass, especially considering their farm is prone to drought.
The 40.6ha dairy stand is stocked at 3.68 – but with additional outside areas the whole farm is stocked at 1.6.
breeding
When it comes to breeding, Enda is the man in charge of the farm.
In the past six years, he has focused heavily on solids, especially with regard to protein.
Coming from a British Friesian herd, the litters were another aspect that needed improvement at the time, he said.
This means that a strong balance is needed when using shirts to ensure liters of milk are not sacrificed for solids.
However, as the black and white bulls improved over the years, Enda moved away from Jersey again.
Enda speaks on the last farm tour.
Enda has been synchronizing his cows for five years, saying the workload has reduced dramatically, with everything completed within a week.
They are vaccinated on April 28, which also ensures that the youngsters go through the salon early in the season together before things get hectic.
He used a group of four bulls on 27 cows this year, letting the stock bull clean up anything he missed.
For the main crowd, the Armstrong family is using Nedap Censortec temperature detection collars, with breeding starting on April 24.
Artificial insemination (AI) usually takes place five weeks before an Angus and Hereford bull joins the herd, and then a week of AI in conjunction with the bull team.
The bulls then groom without AI for another three weeks, bringing the total breeding season to nine weeks.
The Armstrongs have maintained a 6.7% emptying rate in their nine-week breeding season, and have the majority of their calves on the ground within eight weeks.
