David Codd

M&T Codd Ltd

I have worked on my home farm my whole life which is a mixed enterprise of dairy and tillage farming. The dairy herd is made up of 300 cows which I regularly carry out duties such as milking and feeding cows, calf rearing and taking care of livestock in a safe manner to optimize their health through proper handling, dosing and administration of vaccines. The farm has some of the latest technology available in dairy farming such as a 30 unit De Laval parlour with features such as ACR'S, auto dump, automatic feeders, automatic teat sprayer and drafting gate. The farm also has two automatic calf feeders and a new Redrock diet feeder which I have great experience in using. Recently we purchased sensehub rumination and heat detection collars for all the milking cows to improve herd health and improve heat detection.

The farm also has a tillage enterprise consisting of 1500 acres where crops such as barley, wheat, oats, beans and oilseed rape are grown. We carry out all of our own machinery work on the farm in the tillage side of things from sowing to harvest, we also carry out our own silage. I have gained great experience in driving machinery and am very comfortable in operating farm machinery.

Glanbia was another company in which I gained experience during my transition year in secondary school. Here I learned about the processing of milk in a creamery and the production of butter and cheese. I gained experience in testing milk, cheese and butter for different nutritional levels and how to test for these.

I gained experience in Cooney Furlong grain merchant and farmers co-op during my work experience in transition year in secondary school. While here I learned about the different TMR's and diets farmers use for their relevant enterprise and the different types of fertilisers used for optimal tillage crop and grassland growth. While here I often travelled to different farms and witnessed different farming systems and techniques.