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I farm: “83ac at Grange, Stradbally, Co Laois.”
Barley: “I grow 80ac of mainly malting barley for Boortmalt. The crop looks good, thank God, but it’s about a week away from cutting. I cut some winter barley for feeding. It did 3.7t/ac. That’s rolled now for the winter.”
Beef finishing: “I buy in 80 stores in the autumn and finish them over the winter. They are bedded on straw and I feed them a lot of my own rolled barley, with ration on top.”
Buying stock: “I buy most of them from my neighbour Alo Corcoran, who’s a cattle dealer. I usually go for Charolais and Limousins around 400kg but I’ll buy whatever is value at the time. They go to the factory in Kildare or Kilbeggan, depending on price, in March or April.”
Contracting: “I do all my own work and do some contracting. We have three Massey Ferguson tractors, with a new 5713 coming next week from Condells. We have a Welger baler and a McHale wrapper. We do around 10,000 bales of silage, hay and straw and wrap about 13,000 bales.”
Family: “My son Richard is 16 and he works with me at weekends and on his school holidays. He’s heading into fifth year now and is big into music; he’s even after directing shows. He has a keen interest in machinery too. My nephews Seamus and Rory Tierney work with us at busy times too.”
Fire brigade: “I work part-time with Laois County Fire and Rescue Service in Stradbally. I’m with them 27 years and I’m a driver-mechanic for the past 10 years. There are nine of us in the crew and we all live within a mile of the station in Stradbally. We are mainly called to fires and road traffic accidents but we sometimes get calls to farm accidents too.”
Quotable quote: “With the fire brigade, I have to be ready to drop everything at a minute’s notice. You never know how serious an incident will be until you get there.”
In pictures: Laois fire crews train for farm accidents
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