STEWART WATSON who completed a National Diploma in Agriculture at Greenmount Campus, CAFRE writes: -

In 1987 I completed my National Diploma in Agriculture and returned to our home farm outside Coagh in Co Tyrone to farm in partnership with my father. At that time we milked a herd of 55 dairy cows.

In 2000 my father retired from milking and as the years progressed labour became increasing difficult to find and keep. At that stage I had to consider the long term future for the farm business. Over the years so much time and sweat had been put into building up the farm I didn’t want to give it up but I wanted a solution that introduced flexibility so that I wasn’t tied to the farm at all times.

In May 2007 a Lely Astronaut A3 was installed to milk the cows and monitor their health and welfare. This development on the farm has been very successful as I am able to work as a ruminant sales specialist with a local feed company and manage our herd of 77 high yielding cows with the help of my father who is able to keep a check to the milking process.

The Installation of the Robot has meant a much heavier reliance on IT on the farm. Luckily I have always been interested in IT and animal nutrition and the skills and knowledge that I gained during my National Diploma course at Greenmount Campus have been very beneficial to me throughout my career.

Many friendships were also formed during my time at Greenmount and since I left I have taken an active role in the Greenmount Association which has allowed me to keep in contact with many of my friends.

Development continues on the farm with a new slurry separator installed as part of the FNMS grant. This allows me to apply the separated liquid in a more timely manner and incorporating this with high clover swards should reduce the reliance on bagged fertilisers.

Stewart Watson

Stewart Watson and his father Thomas pictured on their farm in Co Tyrone