Donal Pierce farms outside Tralee near the famous Ballyseedy Castle in Co. Kerry. He operates a split calving herd with cows calving in both the spring and autumn, supplying Lee Strand Co-op.

“We are currently milking over 200 cows, with herd performance just over 600kg milk solids per cow per year, with a big focus on producing milk to highest possible standard. We run a herd of predominantly Holstein cows, as we believe they best suit our winter milk system,” Donal explained.

“Just over six months ago we decided to invest in Hoofcount automatic footbath and it’s been one of the best investments we made on farm.”

He continued; “We have seen a massive reduction in lameness due to the consistent mixing of the chemical and regular automatic washing of the bath as well. Also, there are massive labour savings. The bath automatically empties, washes, re-fills and adds chemicals every 140 cows and this process takes place during milking in just three minutes – it’s remarkable”

“I would not hesitate to say this Hoofcount automatic footbath is a game changer and I would recommend it to any farmers thinking about improving hoof health,” remarks Donal.