My Farming Week: John Crawford, Dowra, Co Leitrim

Family affair: “Myself, my father Robert and uncle Mick run an in-calf heifer business together. We all have our own herd numbers and our home farms are where we’re from in Dowra, Co Leitrim.”

I farm: “55ac of rented ground in my own right on the Galway-Roscommon border.”

Heifers: “The business started off about 24 years ago with my father and uncle, they established it. We breed the heifers and sell them together in-calf. We’ve an annual sale every year, usually the first weekend in November.

These roan heifers are becoming the big market now. Anything with a bit of colour.”

Triplets: “One of Mick’s heifers had triplet heifer calves last week. It’s great, a one in 400,000 chance. This is actually Mick’s second set of triplets in five years. They’re doing very well, three healthy heifer calves. We had the vet, Grzegorz Rutkowski, with us when the heifer was calving, just in case.”

Galway: “My father keeps 30 suckler cows and I rear 20 heifers in Galway. It’s an hour and 20 away. It’s tricky at times.

I work off-farm as a forestry consultant. I’m in Tipperary and Limerick for work three days a week, so I go by Galway. I run into them nearly three times a week on my way down and on my way home.”

Coming up: “We still have eight heifers to calve in the next few weeks. We calve our heifers early and our cows late. Our own cows are only starting to calve from now on.

I’m the oldest in my house. I have six younger brothers and sisters, believe it or not. During the summer when you’re testing, scanning and dosing, you definitely need the extra bit of help on the ground.”

Land: “When I started on my own in 2020, renting or leasing land wasn’t that expensive. It’s just increased so much, to take land now is just impossible.

We’re from Dowra, Leitrim, in and around there we probably have some of the most marginal land in the country. That’s why we’re taking land in Galway.”