With Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist

Look out for yellow rattle with small yellow flowers. They have an upper overhanging lip and a lower lip with two purplish flaps protruding in between. Flowers emerge from large green pouches. As flowers fade and plants dry out, seeds rattle inside the pouch, giving the plant its name. Toothed leaves are shaped like spear-heads and held in pairs directly on the stem. The green leaves photosynthesise but yellow rattle is also parasitic with its roots latching on to the roots of grasses to absorb nutrients, reducing the vigour of grasses and enabling it to compete. Yellow rattle nó gliográn is part of our native Irish biodiversity.

Olde Fair Day

The picturesque village of Ballinamuck in Co Longford will be a hive of activity this weekend for the eagerly awaited Olde Fair Day, the first held in four years.

Kicking off the festivities on Saturday, 13 July, there is a boxty-making demonstration in Johnny’s Cottage, beside the 98’ Bar from 3pm to 5pm.

On Sunday, 14 July the Olde Fair Day begins with a vintage parade led by Longford Pipe Band from Gaigue Cross to the ’98 Bar, starting at 1pm sharp. The action then moves to an adjacent field (N39CP04) and encompasses a family fun day, cow bingo, a puppet show, dog show, jiving competition, trade stalls, raffles, a vintage display and an U10 blitz. There will also be events in Johnny’s Cottage in the village throughout the day.

Ballinamuck ICA will run a café on the day with delicious treats and home baking served. In addition, there will be live music on the field from 2pm – 4pm with Nite Fever, and special guest Brid Shaughnessy, followed by DJ Pete Masterson.

Call Hugh Donnelly on 087 2941226.

There are now 108,500 people working in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors as of Q1 2024. As a result, employment has increased by 6,500 or 6.4% in the last year. Agri Careers

There are so many farms struggling to get labour and that isn’t likely to change so Lord only knows what things will be like when these lads are young men, deciding on whether to farm the land or earn a living elsewhere. Galway farmer Pat Burke

Dear editor,

Thank you for highlighing the The Garda Property App in Irish Country Living 6 July edition. As a rural homeowner in Tipperary, we have been targeted by criminals over the years, as have many others. The topic of rural crime really needs to be discussed more, because the lack of resourcing in rural areas is making these regions easy targets for criminals, particularly gangs seeking to steal expensive farming machinery or tools which they can sell on.

We attended the Garda Community Engagement Roadshow event, which was held in north Tipperary recently where they offered a free service to people to have their Eircode engraved on to a range of items. I would encourage farmers to protect their property by doing this, as it makes it much easier to recover goods if they are stolen.

Farm crime is becoming increasingly prevalent and we all need to look out for one another.

Yours sincerely, (name with editor)