My Country Living: ‘What’s for you won’t pass you’

We’re dairy farming here in Watergrasshill, Co Cork. It was my great-grandfather that moved here, he was originally from back around by the airport somewhere. It was relations that owned the farm before him.

It would have been more of a mixed farm back in the day. There probably would have been only 20 or 30 cows here. There would have been a bit of tillage and a bit of beef as well. They would have had a couple of pigs and things like that, a self-sufficient operation.

We’re milking 200 cows here, myself, my father James and my mother Sheila. My brother Con then, with COVID his college year got cut short, he was doing the work online. So he was home for a good bit of the spring, which was a mighty help around the place. My sister Mairead as well, she’s working full time, but growing up she would have been good to get stuck in. She would still do the odd day of powerwashing and things like that.

You don’t really have to answer to anyone – that’s the nice part about it

Growing up, I had thoughts of doing different things, but at the end of the day it was always at the back of my mind to come home. I did two years in Clonakilty Ag College, the last year was a cert in dairy herd management. I did a year of mechanical engineering in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), but it didn’t work out. As they say, ‘What’s for you won’t pass you’. I came home then in 2014.

It’s a way of life really. If you want an extra half an hour to lie in, you can. You don’t really have to answer to anyone – that’s the nice part about it. The cows might be giving out to you alright if you’re half an hour late, but it’s easy please them with a pull of ration inside in the parlour.

Macra

I joined Glanmire Macra in 2011. I suppose I’m starting to fall into retirement mode now. You have to leave new, fresh people come in. My time in Macra, it has stood to me massively. I would have gained a lot of confidence in public speaking and being on stage.

It has given me a core group of friends as well. When you’re in college, everyone goes home to their own place.

Our club won a lot of national finals; capers, public speaking, volleyball, bowling

You just tend to maybe only see them a couple of times a year or give them a call every few weeks. Macra gave me that core group of friends that are nearby and that you see on a more regular basis.

Our club won a lot of national finals; capers, public speaking, volleyball, bowling. I was very lucky to be a part of some of those teams.

Two very treasured national finals I got to take part in were winning the farm skills back in 2017 and, just last December, I managed to win the national welding final. It was just nice to finally come out on top after the couple of years trying them.

Rose of Tralee

It’s almost two years exactly since I hit the road to Tralee. I was a Rose escort in 2018. The Rose of Tralee Festival would have been starting this week. If you had asked me three or four years ago, I would never have said I would have done something like it.

I was on Instagram one night and there was a sponsored ad for Rose escorts, that the application form was now available. I said I would give a look at the form and sure before I knew it, I was filling it out.

We had to do interviews in Maynooth and go to bootcamp, which was one of the best weekends ever. We all landed down to Kerry on the Friday afternoon and nobody knew anybody. When it came to Monday morning and we were leaving, it was like as if we had known each other with ages.

I can safely say I now know someone from every county in Ireland and a lot of countries across the world. We got the chance to travel to the parade in New York on Paddy’s Day. Now you’re probably saying to yourself: “How does a dairy farmer get away in the month of March, especially going to New York?”

I just said I would never get the chance again. I made sure my brother would be around. Mam and Dad were all hands on deck anyway. It was mind-blowing parading down Fifth Avenue. It’s nice to be a part of what we call “the Rose Family”. There are generations of families involved in the Rose of Tralee at this stage. It’s lovely to have been given the chance to be part of it.

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