Although he is just 12 years old, Donnacha McPartlin knows exactly what he wants to do with his life. Come September, he will start secondary school, but the rest of his time will be spent focused on what he loves most: helping out on the family farm and following traditional methods of farming he’s learned from his family.

Raised alongside his younger sisters Michaela (10) and Aoibhín (7) on the farm in Co Leitrim, Donnacha has been learning to work with cows and sheep since he was a baby. In fact, he’s so mad about agriculture that his parents, Linda and Michéal McPartlin, report that one of his very first words was ''tractor''.

Now, Donnacha splits his time helping with his own family’s farm, cycling to the nearby farms owned by his uncles and his grandparents to lend a hand, and, most excitingly, managing his own herd of heifers.

While you can’t officially get a herd number until you’re 18 years old, Donnacha has been managing his own mini-herd within his father’s since 2018 when he won a heifer in a local GAA draw.

“I’d had pet lambs before that, but I put my number in a local draw and won a heifer, my first ever cow. She had twins two years in a row, which was brilliant,” says Donnacha. “She had a good bull calf last year that made €2,400 when I sold him at the mart. I still have that first heifer, and I’ve kept all of her heifer calves, but I’ve sold the bull calves. I used some of the money to buy a suck calf that I fed myself, my dad had three other suck calves so I was used to feeding them.”

Family farm

As with many rural children, Donnacha’s childhood is very centred around farm life – however, perhaps unlike some others, he is so enamoured with it that whenever he isn’t out and about on the farm, his mam Linda says that he''s not happy.

“Now, I’m on the farm every day and I love it. My sister and I have five sheep that we look after too, and I play football and rugby, and I go to school, of course, so it’s fairly busy, but it’s great,” says Donnacha. “For my confirmation in May this year, one of my presents was a ewe lamb and that was the best gift I could get.”

For Donnacha, working with and learning from family is the best part about his life on the farm. Both sets of grandparents, Tom and Philomena McPartlin and Martin and Phil McGourty, live on farms in close proximity to his own home, with various uncles’ farms also nearby. Because of this Donnacha spends much of his time cycling between the different family farms to help out where he can and learn more about agriculture.

“Grandad and Granny McPartlin live just across the field from where we live, while Granny and Grandad McGourty live only a little while away, so I like to go and help. Recently, Granda McGorty was baling so I was up helping him for three days, then my other Grandad was clipping sheep, so I went down to help him for a few days,” says Donnacha.

“I was also helping out clear the gaps for safety, because we were making silage – to help get the tractors out on the road. I go everywhere I can and wherever I’m needed to help. Every day is a bit different. ”

While he has a little more time now to help out on the farm, due to the summer holidays, Donnacha is busy all year, assisting where he can and soaking up knowledge from the generations before him.

While modern farming has rapidly digitised, he has also observed the established methods employed by those around him and learned to employ them too.

“I have a book and I keep all the tag numbers written down in it, when the cows are dosed with vaccines, and that sort of stuff. I saw Grandad and Dad doing it, so I got my own one and have been keeping track of my own heifers that way ever since,” explains Donnacha.

“It’s a really great way to do it and I want to keep going like this when I’m older, farming sheep and cattle. I really enjoy farming, all of the animals and learning about the machinery too, but I really love working with my family and learning with them. Even with my own heifers, it can be hard, so Grandad and Dad will help me out, but my sisters will also come down and give a hand when I need them.”

Grandad and Granny McPartlin live just across the field from where we live, while Granny and Grandad McGourty live only a little while away, so I like to go and help

Throughout the year, his tasks can change day to day, but it’s clear that Donnacha loves the challenge of it all. Whether it’s getting up at 6am during lambing time or rising a little later – about 8am – during the winter, he’s eagerly ready to assist where he can, with the family’s trusty sheepdog Ben – which they rescued from the pound earlier this year – at his side.

“I like to help keep things in order, like tidying up around the shed and checking on the calves in the morning. Today I helped to power wash the sheds, but every two years, we need to paint the gates that aren’t aluminium. There’s around 15 sheds and we paint them all, which would take around a week, so there’s lots to be kept busy with,” says Donnacha. “I’m going into secondary school in September so I’ll be really busy, but I’ll still be able to help everyone out, because when I need help with my herd, they help me.”

Farming finanicals

At just 12, he already has a great head for farming and financials, stating that one of his favourite parts of the process is when he and his dad sell the calves and bulls and get a good price for them. Of course, Donnacha keeps meticulous records of everything in his notebook, just like his father and grandfather do, but he also cites calving season as another highlight of the year for him.

According to his parents, Donnacha truly loves the farm. They say that from a very young age, it was clear that he eats, drinks, and sleeps for it all, and that they won’t see him from dawn until dusk during the summer because he keeps himself so busy.

Keenly curious, he asks questions of his father, uncles, and grandparents to compare all of the things he sees around him, figuring out why each one might do things differently. This, he says, helps him to decide which way is best, but Donnacha says that he’s lucky to also be able to learn from such good teachers.

“The way I think of it is that even though everything is busy, like power-washing the sheds or doing the painting, I know that at the end of it all, all of that work helps everyone out,” explains Donnacha. “I learn a lot, getting to ask questions, and that’s why I like to write everything in my notebook, because I can keep a record of it all.

"I’m very lucky to have them all around to learn from.”