Mona is a full-time farmer in Galway, working alongside her husband Shay and her brother Mark. She has one daughter, 10-year-old Ella. Coming from a suckler farm, Mona always had a love and affiliation for animals. After completing a business management degree in Galway, Mona met Shay.

“It seemed like the most natural thing to do, to farm alongside him. We got married five years ago and began to set up the farm. Shay’s parents, Sean and Marie, retired and he inherited the farm from them. We also leased a neighbouring farm in Claregalway.”

The farm is made up of predominantly dairy and a suckler herd. The dairy herd is made up of 33% Shorthorn, 33% Montbeliarde and 33% British Friesian.

“The farm originally had Montbeliarde and British Friesians. With the way our farm is laid out, the cows have to walk about a mile to the parlour. I took to researching Shorthorns as they have good feet, are easy to manage and are known for their longevity.”

The dairy herd are all spring-calving and calve down between February and March.

“We run pedigree bulls with the replacement heifers. This year, we ran a Montbeliarde, last year it was a Shorthorn. For the pedigree cows, we AI with the corresponding breed bull. We keep all the heifer calves for replacements and we raise the bull calves to a year and sell as commercial for further fattening.”

There are 20 cows in the suckler herd, made up of purebred beef Shorthorns, Simmentals, Angus and Limousins. They select a certain amount of cows and put them in-calf to a beef breed, such as Simmental. These are then bucket-fed by Mona.

Shay and Mona hope to increase both enterprises.

“We are currently milking 50 cows. This time next year we will increase to 75. This will be our full capacity, as this is a very wet farm. We have a grazing block of 75 acres, however, most of the land spends some part of the year in flood, as we are part of the river floodplain.

“We have undergone a great deal of expansion in the last five years. We have upgraded our parlour to a nine-unit for the upcoming increase in milking cows. We also put in a new calving unit and calf facilities. I have a great fear of the upcoming quota abolition, a fear that farmers like us, who cannot expand to a 200-head herd, will not be able to compete.”

Mona also takes care of all the paperwork, as well as researching and selecting the bulls for AI.

“I have a huge interest in the breeding side of things. Next year, I hope to do my Green Cert online. It has always been a dream of mine to have an open farm. My brother Mark helps us on the farm too. Mark has a brain injury from a car accident in 1997. He is very involved with the milking and calf rearing, as well as all the other jobs on the farm. Shay’s father Sean is always in the background for advice, which is great.”

Mona was on the Macra National Council for the last six years, but she stepped down in May.

“I believed it was time for some fresh blood. After six years, I felt I had given all I could and it was time for someone new to have a shot. Macra is a very evolving organisation.”

She is now moving onto the IFA scene and is a delegate for the Claregalway IFA. Mona is also currently chairperson of Claregalway Tidy Towns, as well as being on the board of the Montbeliarde Society. She set up the Irish Milking Shorthorn Club two years ago with her friends and the club is growing from strength to strength.

“The aim was to try and get more recognition for Shorthorns as milking cows. We now have 20 members and we had our first open farm walk three weeks ago. We have had two sales this year, which were very successful, and we will be at the National Ploughing Championships this year,” says Mona.