ABOVE Presentation at the Northern Ireland Calf Show where Mark took reserve champion with his calf and in the showmanship.
RIGHT Mostragree Silver Invite won her class at the Northern Ireland Calf Show and went on to finish
seventh at the All Britain. Q A& with Mark Henry
What are your routine jobs? ”Starting at 5.30am my normal day kicks off with the morning milking. The 130 high yielders are first in the parlour to be milked followed by the 50 low yielders. After milking is finished I begin feeding the milking cows a TMR consisting of grass silage, whole-crop wheat, straw, crimped wheat, soya hulls, megalac and our dairy blend. I then feed myself! After breakfast I go round the two young stock units to feed and check them. The cows are then milked again at 2pm and 9:30pm. Most days I spend an hour or two clipping or washing something for a future show.”
What are your favourite jobs during the day?
”I enjoy milking the most - I could spend all day in the parlour watching the cows come in full of milk. I also enjoy pre-show preparation, although I admit I can get rather stressed and bossy.”
Do you do most of the milking? ”I milk every morning and afternoon. We have a relief milker that milks five nights during the week. I have to milk at nights at the weekend so on Saturday nights milking starts very early! I get wrapped up by 6.30pm at weekends and 11pm in the week.”
How did you learn to clip? ”I was bought a set of clippers and a clipping crush for Christmas when I was 14 years old. I began practicing on my own cows and calves and at first my clipping ability wasn’t the best, but practice makes perfect! After a while people then started
THE JOURNAL DECEMBER 2014 31
to ask me to clip their cattle for shows and it progressed from there.”
Who have you learned the most from?
”Probably Andrew Kennedy has taught me the most about clipping, drinking and women!”
To date what has been the best cow you’ve prepared? “With a little trepidation considering where this article is being published, I’m going to have to say Bluegrass Excitation Prissy Polly for the Wilson family at Tregibby. She may be small and the wrong colour, but regardless of her breed she is still a great cow!”
What cow would you most like to get ready for a show? ”RF Goldwyn Hailey, she is simply the best cow in my mind.”
HERD
AVERAGE 9200KG MILKING 3X DAILY
Who do you aim to be as good as? ”You can always improve and learn better ways of creating the best clipping techniques as possible, but I look to be as good as the top fitters in North America.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140