Farming in Ballyward, Co. Down, is the well-known businessman and founder of MJM Group, Brian McConville.
Agriland recently paid a visit to Brian’s farm to find out more about his beef enterprise and to hear his views on agriculture.
Brian was born and reared on a 40ac dairy farm in Rathfriland, Co. Down, which is roughly seven miles from where he now farms in Ballyward.
“My father milked dairy cows all his life. I went off to work and developed a business and in more recent years, began getting ready for retirement,” he said.
“Now we’re into farming and rather than into big numbers we rather have a bit of quality [cattle] about us.
“I always said if the job is worth doing it’s worth doing right and when it comes to breeding cattle, as the saying goes, ‘an ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding’.”
With this in mind, Brian is continually working to develop a herd of suckler cows that are both functional and are producing weanlings at the top end of the market.
“We have a great ability to grow grass here, coming off the Mourne mountains, we have enough shelter and we don’t get any extreme harsh weather. We get our fair share of sun and our fair share of rain so we’re in a reasonably decent climate,” he said.
A focus on quality
Brian said he is now placing greater emphasis on the quality of the cows he has and the weanlings he is producing, rather than increasing the number of weanlings he is producing.
“When I retired from the business in 2020, as I do with everything, I threw myself head first into it [farming], I couldn’t get enough land, machinery or hassle with livestock and crops,” he said.
“I came out of a very busy environment and I couldn’t do anything only throw myself into a very busy environment to break the relationship with that. I now have broke the tie with that [busy lifestyle] and am starting to look differently at what I’m doing on the farm,” Brian added.
“Instead of growing the numbers, I want to keep a consistent number of cows and work on improving the quality of the cows I have.”
Brian’s preferred cow- is one that can produce a top-quality weanling but is capable of calving naturally.
He often discusses breeding strategies for his suckler herd with his good friend from Co. Longford, John Kane, a name well known in commercial cattle show rings across Ireland.
“We want functional cattle that are going to develop into top-quality livestock,” he said.
Brian sells the progeny from his suckler herd as weanlings and focuses on achieving the top-end prices for his livestock.
“If you have a top-quality weanling calf to sell, there’s a massive market for it,” Brian added.
He previously took all his cattle to beef with a focus on high carcass weights but with a growing emphasis on the farm’s equine enterprise, the weanling production system began to suit the farm better.
“I always had great interest in horses and we’re now taking a big step into the horses with regards showjumping and breeding,” he added.
“I spend a few hours every week following up breed lines and reading up on them.”
Brian has an impressive collection of horses and amongst them is one which has achieved international success in show-jumping arenas worldwide, MJM Pursuit.
Views on farming
He believes there is a growing number of people across Ireland, the UK, mainland Europe and further afield who are becoming ever-more conscious of how their food is produced and where it comes from.
He believes affluent markets worldwide should be targeted with top-quality agricultural produce being supplied to these markets that can command a premium price and says there is a growing global market for this.
“Servicing higher-value markets globally with top-quality product is the direction I believe agriculture here should go,” he said.
His return to agriculture in his retirement was a natural move as he and his wife Connie both came from farming backgrounds.
“You can take the man out of the farm but you can’t take the farming out of the man,” he laughed.
Brian also grows a range of crops on his farm which are primarily used on-farm for livestock feed but he also supplies grain to a merchant.
Commenting on his plans for the farm in the future, Brian hopes continue his cattle and cereal enterprises in a manner that also compliments his equestrian enterprise.
“As a man once told me when I was starting out in life, ‘Go slow, don’t blow and fly low’,” he said.