Sixteen-year-old Stephen Hurley on his farm in Schull. \ Andy Gibson.
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I farm: “With my grandad Mackie and uncle Alan Hurley. I try get to the farm after school and I work there most Saturdays. The farm has 92 spring-calving suckler cows and we rear all calves to sell as stores in Kenmare.”
Cattle: “There’s Limousin, Charolais, Hereford, Simmental and a few Polly cows and they’re put to Limousin and Charolais stock bulls. My favourites are the Charolais as they’re the quietest and the nicest to work with. There’s one calved and the rest aren’t far off. It’ll get very busy then.”
Work: “I do a bit of everything on the farm. I enjoy being out and around with the animals and doing something useful. It could be dosing or de-horning. On Saturday, I moved a trailer load of bales, broke up a load of timber and fed cattle. The cows are on just silage but the weanlings are getting a bit of meal and sugar beet as well. I like the work, the mixture of animals and the mechanics. It’s nice talking to the lads and having a bit of craic as well.”
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Off farm: “I play rugby with Skibbereen RFC and GAA with Gabriel Rangers.”
School: “My project to test the old wives’ tale of letting silage bales air to prevent pink eye in cattle went the whole way to the RDS for the BT Young Scientist this year. We were always opening the silage wrap 10-12 hours before feeding on the farm and I wanted to see if it makes a difference. With the help of my teachers at Schull Community School, I tested bales from different areas of the farm by swabbing them for bacteria once opened and then again, the following morning. I found that there was a reduction in the number and types of bacteria colonies present. Leaving it out in the air made all the anaerobic bacteria die off and I reckon it would reduce the winter pink eye incidence in cattle.”
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I farm: “With my grandad Mackie and uncle Alan Hurley. I try get to the farm after school and I work there most Saturdays. The farm has 92 spring-calving suckler cows and we rear all calves to sell as stores in Kenmare.”
Cattle: “There’s Limousin, Charolais, Hereford, Simmental and a few Polly cows and they’re put to Limousin and Charolais stock bulls. My favourites are the Charolais as they’re the quietest and the nicest to work with. There’s one calved and the rest aren’t far off. It’ll get very busy then.”
Work: “I do a bit of everything on the farm. I enjoy being out and around with the animals and doing something useful. It could be dosing or de-horning. On Saturday, I moved a trailer load of bales, broke up a load of timber and fed cattle. The cows are on just silage but the weanlings are getting a bit of meal and sugar beet as well. I like the work, the mixture of animals and the mechanics. It’s nice talking to the lads and having a bit of craic as well.”
Off farm: “I play rugby with Skibbereen RFC and GAA with Gabriel Rangers.”
School: “My project to test the old wives’ tale of letting silage bales air to prevent pink eye in cattle went the whole way to the RDS for the BT Young Scientist this year. We were always opening the silage wrap 10-12 hours before feeding on the farm and I wanted to see if it makes a difference. With the help of my teachers at Schull Community School, I tested bales from different areas of the farm by swabbing them for bacteria once opened and then again, the following morning. I found that there was a reduction in the number and types of bacteria colonies present. Leaving it out in the air made all the anaerobic bacteria die off and I reckon it would reduce the winter pink eye incidence in cattle.”
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