My grandparents were dairy farmers (my mum’s parents) but we didn’t grow up on the farm, but always, from when I was very young, I was just obsessed with livestock and animals. I was obsessed with wanting to farm.
I wasn’t smart enough to be a vet. There’s not much you can do about that – if you’re not smart enough, you’re not smart enough. The school I went to, it’s not that going to agricultural college was frowned upon, but they were geared towards pushing you to be doctors, lawyers and the like. So I decided to do nursing.
I fell in with the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) then as well, which has potentially been the most fantastic organisation I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. Young Farmers’ has provided me with so many opportunities and given me so many experiences.
I literally just finished my second year as county secretary. I’m part of the agri and rural affairs committee and I sit on the board of directors for Young Farmers’ as well. This year I won Senior Member of the Year in the whole of Northern Ireland.
Andrew and Margaret Little met when they both joined Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, they have been married for four years.
I actually met my husband Andrew at a Young Farmers’ meeting. If I hadn’t been a part of Young Farmers’, I probably never would have met Andrew. I think it played a massive role in helping me redirect my life to farming, to what I really am so passionate about doing.
Home on the farm
Andrew and I got married four years ago. I farm with Andrew and his daddy Raymond. We live on Drumderg Farm in Co Fermanagh. I left nursing in January 2019 and I came home to farm full time. I really love being on the farm.
I still did the odd nursing shift after that. If I had to go and do a nursing shift now, I’ll go and I’ll do it. Nursing’s not a bad career, but I just found nursing a very stressful environment. Why would you work being stressed, when you can be at home doing something you love instead?
When Andrew was younger, Raymond was milking 40 cows and was year round calving. When Andrew was about 16, Raymond pushed on to milk 70 cows. Then the year after we got married we pushed on to milk 100 cows. We’re still milking 100 cows, predominantly Holstein Friesian crosses.
Andrew has been pushing the last couple of years and we’ve been really tightening up on our calving pattern
We’re autumn calvers now. We start calving in September and calve round to about February time. We do all our own silage and everything during the summer, so time wise it would be tighter to rear calves then. Winter seems to be a quieter time for us to do that.
Andrew has been pushing the last couple of years and we’ve been really tightening up on our calving pattern. We’re trying to leave it so that 70% to 80% of our herd has calved before Christmas. Ideally we would like the most of them calved before mid-November.
I nearly took on the calves with a vengeance, because I was like, oh my God there’s a wee area that no one is really overly dying about, I’ll do it and I’ll make it great
We dried off our first cow last week. It’s nice seeing less and less cows coming into the parlour at this time of year, because obviously the days are longer and there’s loads of other things you want to be doing on the farm too. I get wild excited for calving, because I rear the calves and, och, I’d just be so excited about it.
When I married into the farm, you know you’re really trying to find where your niche is in the family. I nearly took on the calves with a vengeance, because I was like, oh my God there’s a wee area that no one is really overly dying about, I’ll do it and I’ll make it great.
Simmentals and silage
I was going to say I have a small herd of pedigree Simmentals, but really it’s an ever expanding herd of pedigree Simmentals, that keep me very entertained. There’s nine at the minute with five more calves on the way. I’ve shown them for the past three years now.
My great-grandfather was into showing shorthorn cattle. My grandfather hated showing cattle. He would have done it for his father when he was younger, but he didn’t enjoy showing cattle at all.
When you’ve just walked into a farm, there’s a lot to learn
I always thought it was really something I would love to do. Obviously I’m down here on Andrew’s farm, but I do come from a farm family myself, so you want to maybe bring some of your own heritage and your own traditions to the table, that’s why I wanted to show cattle.
When you’ve just walked into a farm, there’s a lot to learn. There are a lot of skills that you don’t necessarily have ingrained in you from a young age.
The first cut is the highlight of my year
You haven’t been working with livestock from a young age or driving machinery. I know I personally feel a huge sense of pride whenever I can do something new.
I love silage. The first cut is the highlight of my year. I didn’t grow up driving tractors. To be fit to say I actually can go and mow a field of grass, is great. I had tried to lift grass last year, and unfortunately, I don’t know if there was more grass on the field after I had attempted to lift it or not. But this year I had another go at it and everything just seemed to fall into place. I was able to do it.
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My grandparents were dairy farmers (my mum’s parents) but we didn’t grow up on the farm, but always, from when I was very young, I was just obsessed with livestock and animals. I was obsessed with wanting to farm.
I wasn’t smart enough to be a vet. There’s not much you can do about that – if you’re not smart enough, you’re not smart enough. The school I went to, it’s not that going to agricultural college was frowned upon, but they were geared towards pushing you to be doctors, lawyers and the like. So I decided to do nursing.
I fell in with the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) then as well, which has potentially been the most fantastic organisation I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. Young Farmers’ has provided me with so many opportunities and given me so many experiences.
I literally just finished my second year as county secretary. I’m part of the agri and rural affairs committee and I sit on the board of directors for Young Farmers’ as well. This year I won Senior Member of the Year in the whole of Northern Ireland.
Andrew and Margaret Little met when they both joined Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, they have been married for four years.
I actually met my husband Andrew at a Young Farmers’ meeting. If I hadn’t been a part of Young Farmers’, I probably never would have met Andrew. I think it played a massive role in helping me redirect my life to farming, to what I really am so passionate about doing.
Home on the farm
Andrew and I got married four years ago. I farm with Andrew and his daddy Raymond. We live on Drumderg Farm in Co Fermanagh. I left nursing in January 2019 and I came home to farm full time. I really love being on the farm.
I still did the odd nursing shift after that. If I had to go and do a nursing shift now, I’ll go and I’ll do it. Nursing’s not a bad career, but I just found nursing a very stressful environment. Why would you work being stressed, when you can be at home doing something you love instead?
When Andrew was younger, Raymond was milking 40 cows and was year round calving. When Andrew was about 16, Raymond pushed on to milk 70 cows. Then the year after we got married we pushed on to milk 100 cows. We’re still milking 100 cows, predominantly Holstein Friesian crosses.
Andrew has been pushing the last couple of years and we’ve been really tightening up on our calving pattern
We’re autumn calvers now. We start calving in September and calve round to about February time. We do all our own silage and everything during the summer, so time wise it would be tighter to rear calves then. Winter seems to be a quieter time for us to do that.
Andrew has been pushing the last couple of years and we’ve been really tightening up on our calving pattern. We’re trying to leave it so that 70% to 80% of our herd has calved before Christmas. Ideally we would like the most of them calved before mid-November.
I nearly took on the calves with a vengeance, because I was like, oh my God there’s a wee area that no one is really overly dying about, I’ll do it and I’ll make it great
We dried off our first cow last week. It’s nice seeing less and less cows coming into the parlour at this time of year, because obviously the days are longer and there’s loads of other things you want to be doing on the farm too. I get wild excited for calving, because I rear the calves and, och, I’d just be so excited about it.
When I married into the farm, you know you’re really trying to find where your niche is in the family. I nearly took on the calves with a vengeance, because I was like, oh my God there’s a wee area that no one is really overly dying about, I’ll do it and I’ll make it great.
Simmentals and silage
I was going to say I have a small herd of pedigree Simmentals, but really it’s an ever expanding herd of pedigree Simmentals, that keep me very entertained. There’s nine at the minute with five more calves on the way. I’ve shown them for the past three years now.
My great-grandfather was into showing shorthorn cattle. My grandfather hated showing cattle. He would have done it for his father when he was younger, but he didn’t enjoy showing cattle at all.
When you’ve just walked into a farm, there’s a lot to learn
I always thought it was really something I would love to do. Obviously I’m down here on Andrew’s farm, but I do come from a farm family myself, so you want to maybe bring some of your own heritage and your own traditions to the table, that’s why I wanted to show cattle.
When you’ve just walked into a farm, there’s a lot to learn. There are a lot of skills that you don’t necessarily have ingrained in you from a young age.
The first cut is the highlight of my year
You haven’t been working with livestock from a young age or driving machinery. I know I personally feel a huge sense of pride whenever I can do something new.
I love silage. The first cut is the highlight of my year. I didn’t grow up driving tractors. To be fit to say I actually can go and mow a field of grass, is great. I had tried to lift grass last year, and unfortunately, I don’t know if there was more grass on the field after I had attempted to lift it or not. But this year I had another go at it and everything just seemed to fall into place. I was able to do it.
Read more
‘Since I was a child I was always with my da up the yard’
My Country Living: ‘Shiny metal disease I think they call it’
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