Be wary buying fertilizer

A Munster farmer has been in touch with The Dealer after he purchased 12 tonnes of fertilizer in February and noticed that the half-tonne bags did not seem as full as usual. Having spread a few bags, the issue continued to annoy him, so he drove down to the local weighbridge and weighed the jeep and trailer.

He came back and loaded on one bag to get it weighed. The scales showed 480kg – not the 500kg that he had bought. To confirm his suspicions, he weighed again, only to get the same result.

Phone calls were made and within hours the fertilizer rep was out.

The company took back the bags and refunded him for the missing fertilizer. He wants to make farmers aware that they should check to see if they are also missing any of their expensive “stuff”.

Best wishes to Anna May

Best wishes to the legendary Anna May McHugh of the National Ploughing Association (NPA). She is recovering well from a hip replacement operation, and with the Ploughing over six months away, she should be back in full form.

Meanwhile, the talk within the higher echelons of the NPA is how they should celebrate the legendary lady’s upcoming 80th birthday. Do they have a full public bash or is something more discreet more appropriate?

I am sure suggestions would be welcome.

McGuinness’s campaign gallops along

Nobody can accuse MEP Mairead McGuinness of not putting in the hours for the forthcoming EU elections and she is not ignoring any constituency that might hold potential voters, including the horse-based one.

With the change in the EU constituencies, Mairead’s cosy Ireland East has been transformed with a huge slice of the west and northwest.

When the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney couldn’t make it to one of the Irish Sport Horse seminars in Gort, he had a special message by video link, but the real replacement was Mairead. Then at the biggest National Hunt race of the year, the Grand National, held on Easter Monday at Fairyhouse, Mairead was never far from Enda Kenny’s side as he presented the winning trophy and shook hands with the jockeys.

All the TV stations were in attendance and busy filming not just Enda and the jockeys, but also Mairead. One would have thought that her seat would be secure, but she certainly isn’t taking it for granted.

One eye on the next big race in 2018, methinks.