Gill and Wright win NI ploughing titles

Andrew Gill and David Wright took home the top honours at the Northern Ireland ploughing championships held at Limavady on 18 and 19 August. Both competitors will now advance to represent NI at the 2024 World Championships in Estonia.

Saintfield’s Andrew Gill was the leading competitor in the conventional class, while Magherafelt’s David Wright was the top ploughman in the reversible classes. Strong performances in the vintage competition from James Coulter and Adrian Jamison see both competitors progressing to the European Championships in France next year.

Fermanagh estate on the market for £7.5m

A large country estate with 448 acres of land has been offered up for sale in Co Fermanagh.

Belle Isle Estate is located on the banks of Lough Erne and includes a grade B+ listed castle, 17 cottages and apartments, four private islands, agricultural land, woodland, and gardens.

The property has a guide price of £7.5m and its sale is being managed by real estate firm Savills.

James Butler from Savills said the property could be of interest “for those wishing to offset their carbon footprint or mitigate the effects of climate change”.

APHIS technical problems resolved

Technical issues across the civil service IT networks on Monday 21 August also impacted DAERA, with the Department’s Animal and Public Health Information System (APHIS) unavailable for nearly 24 hours.

With APHIS not operational it caused major problems for farmers, livestock marts and abattoirs.

Due to farmers being unable to permit animals off their holdings, several marts cancelled sales, while some abattoirs temporarily suspended activity on kill lines.

APHIS, which is used to track births, deaths and movements of cattle and sheep on NI farms, first went offline on Sunday 20 August.

DAERA confirmed that functions on APHIS were fully restored on Monday afternoon.

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