The YFDG farm walks will take place in multiple locations during August.

The first farm up for this series was ag affairs committee member Diarmuid Murray’s farm in Co Roscommon.

Diarmuid runs a dairy-beef enterprise near Knockcroghery and is involved in the Thrive programme.

Wednesday 11 August then brought Macra members to Shane Fitzgerald’s farm in Co Waterford.

Shane is the current chair of the ag affairs committee. He is milking 200 dairy cows with a spring-calving system.

Shane’s farm is one of the Glanbia and Teagasc Future Farms and his farm is also involved in the Signpost programme.

Stay tuned to the Macra na Feirme social media pages and visit macra.ie/farmwalks for the announcement of more locations and dates.

These farm walks are available for registration on the Macra website and are open to all.

Macra shows its support for the ultra cyclists

In July, Macra na Feirme was grateful that its Make the Moove initiative was chosen as one of the charity partners for the 2021 Ultra Cycle. This saw five ultra cyclists take on a 2,100km cycle along the Wild Atlantic Way.

The ultra cyclists were joined by Macra national president John Keane and co-founder of Make the Moove Jonathan Dwyer for day three of the cycle, where the lads completed 305km.

To show their support, Macra asked its clubs to cycle their own Wild Atlantic Way in their local areas. Macra clubs, combined with the help of Macra na Feirme staff, clocked up a combined total of 3,432.5km cycled.

We wanted to show our appreciation to clubs who took part and offered up some prizes for participation.

Congratulations to the Kilmallock Macra team who clocked up the most kilometres, reaching a whopping combined total of 3,010km between them. Their team member Laoise Bennis clocked up the most kilometres as an individual, reaching an amazing 721.75km.

Brian Clune from the Clare Macra Na Feirme team was also randomly chosen to receive a prize for his participation. All prize winners will receive vouchers from Decathalon to spend how they please and continue to stay active to improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

Thanks again to all those who took part and of course to the ultra cyclists for choosing to support us. You can still make a donation at ultracyclingforcharity.ie.