“Be decisive and the opportunities will start appearing” is Andrew Doyle’s advice to young farmers or those looking to get into farming.
Opening Dairy Day 2026 in UL Arena in Limerick on the 'Inside the Farm Gate' stage was Daire Cregg’s panel discussion on succession.
From a beef farm in Wicklow, Andrew Doyle has always wanted to go into dairy.
He told the audience that he knew he wanted to own cows, but didn’t know how that was going to look.
Andrew is now in a registered farm partnership in Wexford, farming 210 cows in a spring-calving system.
On moving into a management role on farm, he said: “You don’t feel ready, but you adapt.
“There’s a lot of learning on the go, you don’t know until you’re the depth of it.”
Looking back, he said: “If I was to go back, I’d buy youngstock sooner or take out a loan – I’d build a relationship with the bank sooner.”
Take opportunities
To others in his position looking to get into dairy farming, he told them to “build your reputation, build a good track record”.
“People say don’t rush into it – and they’re right. But I think you can talk yourself into any opportunity and you can talk yourself out of any opportunity,” he said.
Aoife Dullean’s succession story had a tragic beginning, with her brother passing away a number of years ago.
From a dairy farm outside Clonakilty in Cork, a decision was made under difficult circumstances that she would take over the farm.
The farm structure is a limited company and Aoife works full-time off farm.
On working with family while running a business, Aoife said she thinks the key to success is all parties wanting the same outcome for the farm, which, in their case, is to create a sustainable farm, not to grow numbers.
“Rotas are a book on the kitchen table, you write when you’re not around, as opposed to when you are around, and we have a group chat too,” she told the audience.
She credited her parents for stepping back and letting them make decisions.
“My parents are laid back and forthcoming with information and experience, they let us make mistakes.”
Organising jobs
With regards to deciding who does what jobs, Aoife said it “happened naturally”.
“I’m more into animal husbandry, so I make decisions on cows and calves. I look after the calves on my own in spring, that’s what works for us.
“Dad is more into grass and machinery – he makes decisions around silage and paddocks. My partner Tom does the farm walks.”
She explained that her story of succession is in the transitional phase.
“When we look out the front door, we see seven other dairy farms – there isn’t the opportunity to expand. We are going back to basics, get those things right.”
On taking their experiences on board and going through the succession process, she said: “They’ve been through it with their parents; times have changed, but the basics stay the same, they know what works and what doesn’t work.”
With regards to the next steps in terms of investments and decisions, Aoife said: “We are taking it slow, doing our research and chatting to other people.”
Work with people
Darragh Scully’s advice for those looking to get into farming is to “work with the person you are working with and taking the opportunities as they come”.
Darragh is not from a farm, but spent a lot of time on his uncle’s farm in Clare. As a teenager, he worked with neighbours, who he said steered him in the right direction.
As part of his college placement in CIT, he worked on Shane Horgan’s farm.
He spent a few months in Australia and, the following spring, organised to go back working with Shane, this time in a shared farming structure.
“Shane was very fair, I knew I wasn’t getting screwed. Shane backed me to get going, financially. I started at 20%, now we are at 50-50; he let me grow. We did two separate profit monitors and came together.”
He said that Shane let him figure things out himself.
Now, he says he is managing the farm by himself, with a phone call from Shane for a catch-up every second week or so.
Darragh’s advice to other young people is to make sure “you’ve the best of people around you”.
“When you are around them, talk to them. I’m sure if I hadn’t told Shane I was saving, he wouldn’t have rang me in two years’ time [to go into shared farming].”
