Mary Conway farms full time with her parents Lv and Rita, on the family farm in Co Carlow. Having gone to an all-girls school, St Leo’s College, Carlow, Mary’s career decision seemed quite unusual, especially to her career guidance teacher.

Mary continued her education in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, where she completed her Green Cert. Being the only child, Mary was always helping out at home and travelling the country with her dad, which she claims developed her love and great interest in agriculture from a young age.

“It was what I always wanted to do, there was never a question about it.”

The farm consists of beef, sheep and tillage. Mary keeps 30 suckler cows and finishes the calves at 30 months for beef. They also buy in cattle for fattening. The cows are mainly Limousin and Charolais crosses. They use AI for breeding and breed heifers to Aberdeen Angus bulls, for easy calving.

“I firmly believe in using AI. We have great success, the calves grade well and we have minimal problems calving. It takes extra work, but it’s worth it. Dad is great at observing the cows and they are kept close to the yard to keep an eye on them too.”

Mary had her first E grade this year with her beef, however the downturn in beef prices is disheartening.

“The price we are getting for our beef does not reflect the hard work, time and effort we have put into it. It just doesn’t seem fair or reasonable.”

Mary also keeps 150 breeding ewes, mainly Suffolk crosses. She divides the flock into two groups, 80 early-lambing for the Easter market and 70 mid-season lambing.

“I was very happy with the price I got for my early lamb, I couldn’t complain. However, I have sold the first half of my mid-season and the price has gone way back unfortunately.”

Mary ensures that she has a compact lambing season and lambs her ewes in three weeks.

She keeps the ram away for four or five weeks before introducing a teaser ram and then four or five Suffolk and Charollais rams to 80 ewes.

“I don’t plan to get into any more sheep. With the amount of labour units we have, we are able to do what we have well and efficiently. We get busy in the fields in March so it’s important to have a tight lambing season and have the ewes finished before the machinery starts going.”

On the tillage side, the Conways grow winter barley, winter wheat, winter oats and spring barley.

Mary is part of a beef and sheep discussion group and was a member of a tillage discussion group.

“I was the only woman in two out of the three discussion groups, which is daunting when you first start attending. Women are becoming more prevalent in agriculture. I’ve many female friends who are at home farming and making a success of it and I know a good few who studied agriculture in college.

“It is physically challenging work, but there are so many contraptions and machinery now that make it much easier for girls to farm without the massive physical strain of bygone days.”

Mary has a great interest in horse racing and follows the GAA.

“I’m a very active, outdoor person. You have to be with my way of life.”

Although farming life means that Mary doesn’t have much free time, she loves her work.

“I enjoy being kept busy. There’s never a dull moment, lambing, calving, harvesting, seeding, it never ends. It is the most satisfying of all occupations, from seeding and calves being born, right through to the end product and influencing every step along the way. It’s a great feeling, you couldn’t beat it.”