Farming: “I farm on the Cavan-Leitrim border. I summer graze heifers buying them in local marts such as Dowra and Drumshanbo. I buy weanling heifers weighing around 250-300kg and sell them again at the back end.”

Weather: "You need a dry summer up here to leave things easy worked and we did get good spells of dry weather, but we also got some rain at the right times as well. There has been loads of fodder made and hopefully we get a good back end to keep cattle out.”

Cattle trade: “The cattle trade is flying, but for people like me who are going out to buy again it’s tough when prices are so high. It’s great to see local suckler farmers getting on very well with weanlings. They took low prices for long enough.”

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This week: “I’m busy preparing for the FBD National Livestock Show in Tullamore which takes place next Sunday 10 August. I have been helping out at the show for the last 20 years looking after the commercial cattle section up until last year. It’s a huge team effort for the executive, staff, volunteers, trade exhibitors, show exhibitors and sponsors. There are over 400 entries for the commercial cattle section this year. A feature of the show is the sustainability village which aims to demonstrate and communicate how farmers are working towards meeting our climate change goals. I have chaired this committee for the last three years. It’s a collaborative effort with 10 industry stakeholders involved on the day.”

Big win: “I went up to Balmoral Show in May and I was walking by the Lucky Day competition stand and decided I’d go in a buy ticket for a competition to win two Simmental heifers and a new 14-foot Mtec cattle trailer. I never thought anything else about it until I got a phone call a few weeks later to say my name was pulled out as the winner. I got the heifers home a few weeks after that and I’m delighted with them. They are just over one year old and I plan to breed them this autumn. I haven’t showed cattle before myself but intend on bringing them to our local show in Ballinamore on Tuesday 12 August.”