I farm: “21ac part-time, alongside my wife Bernadette here in Co Galway, on the border of Roscommon. We have always kept suckler cows. Bernadette came from a farming background, but I didn’t. When we got married we started farming together. Our daughters are fourth-generation farmers.”

Land: ”It is all permanent grassland. At times it can be heavy, depending on the weather.”

Weather: “September weather came quite good and because of that I think it will extend the grazing season well into October on the farm. Compared to this time last year, we had all the cattle in the sheds.”

Sucklers: “We have a mixed herd of 24 animals which consists of Belgian Blue, Aberdeen Angus, Charolais and Hereford cattle. We use AI on all the cows. It is handy as we are a small holding and it gives a better choice in terms if what bulls we can use. We find that the Aberdeen Angus breed probably thrives better on the kind of ground we have.”

Schemes: “It is our third year in GLAS and first year in the BEEP-S scheme. I find all those schemes fantastic, GLAS would be helping pay for farm buildings that were put up over the last number of years. It is an added income to the farm.”

Beef price: “Farming is one of the few businesses in life where someone sells a product and they don’t have control over the price. At the moment if you are in the weanling trade prices are good. I think top quality stock is always sought after at a good price.”

St Croan’s GAA: “I am the chair and minor manager of St Croan’s ladies football. The club is spread across two counties, so we are two half-parishes, the club is based in Roscommon. In order to raise money for the club this year we are raffling a five-year-old Simmential cow with an eight-month-old calf at foot. The cow was donated by a local farmer and is back in calf and due to calve in January 2021.”