I started driving properly when I was 16 – as soon as I could get my licence – drawing silage and corn. When you are brought up in this type of background, you just go with it. There was no getting out of it. If you were idle on a summer’s day, it was a bad sign.

Before I got my licence there wasn’t much I could do for the business really, but I always sat in the cab with daddy, or whoever would let me up. I loved pottering around the place, watching what was going on. My dad originally came from a dairy farm, but was mad into machinery, so that is where it started off. He began agri contracting when he was 16, in 1975. My two older brothers have an interest too.

Louise Carroll.

I would have looked up to my father and my brothers. They always said I was well able to do things, it didn’t matter that I was a girl.

When I was in school, none of my girlfriends had a clue about machinery or agriculture. College, however, was great in this regard as we had similar interests. It was strange, but good, because it is nice to have a conversation with someone who actually knows what you are talking about.

I did my Level 5 in agriculture, then a Level 6 in advanced machinery and crops at Kildalton. I was the first girl to do the advanced machinery and crops course. It was very daunting at the start, I didn’t know if I could stick it, but you get used to it after a while. The opportunity to transfer to Waterford IT is there, so I took that and I am now in my third and final year of a BSc in agriculture. Of the 47 in my class, there are 11 girls, with two of us involved in the agri contracting world.

I don’t know what the figures are for women in agri contracting, but I would say there are a lot less of us than men. I was at a women in agri contracting conference recently and of the women who attended, many were doing the paperwork and accounts, not driving. At the moment, I am the only girl working for my father.

Louise Carroll and her father Niall min-tilling winter wheat at Rathmore, Tullow, Co Carlow.

There is always going to be the odd comment like: ‘What are you doing out here? You should be in making the tea and sandwiches.’ But I just let that go over my head. I don’t pay too much heed to it. I let them off because they obviously don’t know any better. They are only a minority. Most people are used to me and it is grand going in with the lads for dinner. It’s a bit of craic really.

I started leasing a farm myself in January 2018. I cut silage off it this year. I sold some on the flat and baled the rest. I also sowed corn, which will hopefully be harvested in 2019. I haven’t really looked into sowing beet. But beet is making good money at the minute, so I might consider it in a few years.

We cut corn, silage and do everything in between – like baling, slurry, spraying and all that craic. The only thing we don’t do is maize. We do about 1,000 acres of corn cutting and over 1,500 acres of silage every year. There are about eight of us working here during the silage season. The labour shortage has definitely hit contracting too. It is impossible to get people to help.

You can’t blame them either because it isn’t very stable work. If it is a wet day they won’t be working and you can’t expect them to hang around waiting for a call. We have a couple of lads who are in their 60s. They are reliable and know what they are doing. That is great because you don’t have to worry about them as well as the weather.

It can be stressful when you have silage on the ground, rain is being forecast and you still have a couple of lads to cut for. You would be up at 5.30am and ready to leave the yard before 6.30am during silage season. Corn is different, you have to wait for the dew to lift before going out. You always get there in the end though. CL

Louise Carroll (21) is from Tullow in Co Carlow and studies ag science at Waterford IT. She also works with her father, Niall, in his agri contracting business.