In Billy Joel’s 1989 hit ‘We didn’t start the fire’ he chronicles the 40 years between 1949 and 1989 simply by stitching a series of headlines from the period together. Listening to it, hearing the words sets off images of the story behind each headline and leads to a bit […]

One of the most frustrating things in farming is the uncontrollables, which can throw the best-laid plans out of kilter. Being flexible with your system is the best way to counter them. Animals, markets and weather would be among the most common in terms of unpredictability. Certainly the beef market […]

Farming has changed and will keep changing: Consumer, market and social trends all play a part. All you need do is ask any of the older generation in West Cork and they will tell you how the countryside has evolved. In the 1950s and 60s and there would have been […]

August 2019 will be remembered as a tumultuous month in the annals of Irish beef history. A series of protests outside beef factories brought production to a standstill at a number of plants throughout the country, the ABP plant in Bandon included. Indeed the site at Kilbrogan was where the […]

It’s been a hectic few weeks on the agriculture scene. The more I think about it – manic might even be a better description. Right across the board – from fields and yards, through to the corridors of power in Dublin and Brussels.  There’s so much happening at policy level […]

My farming life has taught me you have to be prepared for many different possibilities. These can happen over a number of years or at times you have to be prepared for a few eventualities happening on a single day. There’s times when it feels like you need an alphabet […]