Signpost: From leased out land to a family farm — Denis's journey into dairy-beef

After leasing his farm out for over 30 years, Denis decided to use it himself to farm. A short period of contract rearing was followed by a year on the DairyBeef500 programme to help him on his venture as a beef farmer

Denis Hickey: 'The aim this year is to have approximately 100 calves.'

Located seven kilometres outside Midleton in Co Cork, I farm just over 90 acres with my wife Aine, and our four children. 

Most of the farm had been long-term leased out for over 30 years up until 2016. In recent years, we decided to take back all the land to farm in our own right.