From lambing to finishing, there’s never a dull moment,” says Zoe Payne, Cappanargid, Rathangan, Co Kildare.

Despite having such a keen interest and passion for farming, Zoe reveals she’s not actually from an agricultural background.

“I wasn’t born and raised on a farm. My interest for agriculture came as a result of meeting John.”

She now lives on the farm in Rathangan with her husband and son Rocky

Zoe’s husband John spends most of his time with their 300 Texel ewes, while Zoe looks after the 16 purebred Texels and cattle on the farm.

“We both put in a lot of hard work to keep both enterprising running. The commercial flock largely consists of Texel crosses.” Zoe explained.

“We’ve been very busy on the farm for the past couple of months. We’ve 18 of the Texel crosses and one purebred still to lamb. Thankfully, we weren’t hit by the schmallenberg virus. We were a little worried at the beginning but, overall, lambing has been a great success.”

“I love looking after the animals on the farm. It gives me a great sense of pride,” Zoe says, crediting her husband for the huge amount of work he puts into the farm.

“We’re a great team on the farm. It’s great that we both get to work at something that we love.”

John also works in Baltinglass mart so Zoe looks after the farm while he is away.”

The couple’s son, Rocky, is almost two-years-old and loves farming.

“It’s Rocky’s second year of lambing. He always out with us. It’s great that he has such a big interest in all the animals. In my spare time I like to go to the gym, but I usually get enough exercise from lifting buckets of meal and running after the ewes in the field.”