The farm: “I farm with my grandfather Dan McCarthy. Together we farm sheep and sucklers. We have around 80ha, half of it would be commonage. I have been farming with him since I was small, he lives right next door so I am always over in the yard with him.”
Sheep: “There are 120 ewes, a mix of Swaledale, Scottish Blackface and Cheviot-cross. For the past two years we’ve been trying to bring the Scotch breed back into the flock so we have been using a Scotch ram. We want to put more ewes to the hill so we keep all our replacements.”
Thriving on commonage: ”Whatever was on the hill this year, the lambs came down savage. It was the same with the cows as well last year, we put a few up on the commonage and they came down in really good condition.”
Sucklers: “We have 20 suckler cows, mainly Simmental-cross, and run a three-star Simmental bull with the herd, he brings us very good calves. Calving is split between spring and autumn because it’s easier to manage with lambing in March. We had two cows calve since they came in for the winter last week.”
Online mart sales: “Farmers in Kenmare are finding them tough, we are finding them tough ourselves. Grandad brought a cow to the mart last week and I knew the price before he did because I was watching online. The cow was 15 years old and made €535, weighing 510kg.”
Macra and college: “I joined Kenmare Macra in 2018 and this year we were runners-up in ‘Club of the Year’, which was the best thing ever, and we also came joint third in the ‘Know Your Ag Quiz.’ I’m in my third year of college in CIT studying Ag Science. Everything is online at the moment which takes a bit of getting used to.”
Quotable quote: “I love the farming lifestyle. When you go out to gather the sheep off the mountain looking out over Kenmare Bay, it’s surreal. I know a lot of farmers find peace in the scenery.”
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