Declan Marshall

Address:

School Lane Farm

Farming 

142ha owned occupied, 40ha rented on various agreements with additional winter keep. Predominantly grassland including forage crops for lamb finishing.

Innovis flock

300 Aberfield and Highlander ewes

Other livestock

450 ewes, 200 ewe lambs

150 store cattle bought at six to 12 months, reared to 500kg and sold to finishing farms

Additional enterprises

Pregnancy scan business, annually scanning 70,000 ewes

Farming background and business strategy

Farming in partnership with my father – a first generation farmer, and mother.

We are focused on achieving a fine balance of cattle and sheep on what is a tightly stocked forage-based unit. We will be enhancing the forage availability by incorporating 40ha herbal leys over the next year as part of our new Mid-Tier agreement.

Interesting fact about your farm

It’s located in one of the wettest areas in the county which can make for challenging outdoor lambing during a high rainfall spring.

When and why did you become an Innovis breeding partner?

We became a breeding partner for Innovis in 2016. Initially Highlander followed by Aberfield in 2020. I liked the idea of keeping accurate records on each ewe and to be able to produce high quality rams.

What do you enjoy most about your role with Innovis?

Visibly seeing the genetic gain year on year.