Based just outside of Tullamore in Co. Offaly, the Guinan family is milking a herd of Montbéliardes alongside the Grand Canal.

Michael Guinan, who appeared on episode two of Agriland's 'The Dairy Trail' podcast earlier this week, is milking in partnership with his wife Concepta, and his son Kevin.

The family is milking 118 cows through two robotic milking machines, while also operating a finishing beef enterprise.

Robotic system

After taking some time to weigh up their options, the Guinans decided to install two Lely A5 robots in 2025.

They opted for an A-B-C system at the time of installation, and have kept that practice going since.

The A-B-C system typically involves a series of smart selection gates, which changes directions every eight hours to ensure cows are entering a fresh block of grass after each milking, and therefore driving production.

However, the Guinans milking platform is landlocked, meaning Zone C is actually the shed, where cows are fed zero-grazed grass from out atblocks, but have the liberty to get out to a small block too.

Either way, the system seems to be working for the Guinans, with the farm averaging 2.4 milkings per cow/day and outputting 7,500L annually 527kg/milk solids (MS), with some cows pushing up to 700kg/MS on 1.6t ration.

Guinan did say it took a lot of time to get used to operating a robotic system after years of milking through a traditional parlour, but noted that the cows got used to doing their own thing, they also become a lot more docile and easier to handle.

Breeding

With breeding season kicking off this week, Guinan also talks us through his criteria.

He has being breeding Montbéliardes since 1990 via artificial insemination (AI) with a helping hand from Coopex and Bó Sires.

But one thing Guinan does not believe in for his breeding programme is the Economic Breeding Index (EBI).

Guinan said while it is a good guide, it should not be the "be all and end all".

He added: "You can't breed from a sheet of paper, you must look at the animal you are going to breed and match the animals before you match the EBI".

Guinan said he was in no way faulting the EBI but feels some farms have become too used to just mating on the computer.

When he is breeding, he looks at the cows physically, and then looks at milk solids.

He explained that he has the yields where he wants them but they want to push solids now while keeping volumes where they are.

The Co. Offaly farmer is looking for teat placement for the robots, and then good feet and legs for walking the system.

He also noted how a lot of the herd is floating in or around the 700kg mark, which he is happy to maintain if not slightly reduce.

Operating a dairy-beef enterprise, Guinan is also looking for good calves, using Limousin in the early season and then Angus on the later cows,

He has also tried some other stock such as Belgian Blue and even Beef Master.

He aims to finishes bulls at an average of 370-390kg carcass-weight at 20-22 months-of-age, with heifers finishing at the same time, ranging from 290-340kg carcass-weight, saying the Angus finish up that bit lighter.

Dairy Trail

During the podcast, Guinan also speaks about his adventure with growing maize since 1990 when it was not yet very popular, and how it helps the herd during early spring.

We hear about Guinan's challenges with spring grazing and getting nutrients out in a wet year, especially with water bodies at both sides of the farm.

Guinan also speaks about investing in solar panels, and how it has massively reduced energy bills for milking as well as the EasyFix aerators installed in his slurry tank.

Finally, the Co. Offaly farmer speaks about farming alongside a greenway, pleading to the public to be responsible after one of his cows consumed aluminium from what he presumes came from a drinks can.

So make sure to tune into the podcast to hear about the whole farm system.

If you have already listened to the Guinan's podcast, you can tune in to episode three of 'The Dairy Trail' tomorrow (Monday, May 4) at 5:00p.m.

Episode three, which will be hosted here on Agriland and across all other platforms, will feature Co. Cork dairy farmer, Kieran Lynch, who will be speaking about his unusual dairy herd, which is comprised of water buffalos.