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Queen of the Land winner Louise Crowley admits that when she first entered into a farm partnership with her father, it raised a few eyebrows.
“I have two younger sisters, who have absolutely no interest in farming. I definitely think if I had brothers it would be different. When people heard that dad and I were getting in to a farm partnership they were saying: ‘Do you not have an aul’ nephew somewhere?’ It gets on my nerves, because a farm should be given to the most capable person, whether that is the eldest son or the youngest daughter,” says the Limerick woman and CIT agricultural science graduate, who farms full time alongside her father in Croom, milking 150 Friesian cows.
Reflecting on this year’s challenges, Louise describes the many hard choices she and her father had to make.
“I started milking with the farm relief four years ago. I took a break from it, but had to go back this year, as this summer went so bad. We had to feed out 500 bales of silage and sell 30 cows because of the drought. So, I decided to go back to relief milking for the extra few pound,” she explains.
Irish weather was not going to get the better of this determined young lady however, who at 23 years old has invested in a farming future.
“In March this year I purchased the out farm that dad had rented for many years. It has always been farming. I don’t really know anything else. It was either milking at home, drawing silage and maize for contractors, or working at farm relief. I went to New Zealand last year to milk cows for six months too,” she says.
As Macra club and county secretary, as well as a member of the Limerick Young Farmers Development Group (YFDG) group and agri affairs committee, Louise recognises and shares in the undying love for the perpetual Macra na Feirme festival.
“Queen of the Land is the biggest event in the Macra calendar. For any event to continue for 54 years is phenomenal. A lot of the girls I met over the weekend said that this was their holiday. They were getting out of the yard for the weekend,” she says.
“It is far from a beauty pageant. We had a discussion on Friday evening about the issues in farming across Ireland. Everyone had genuine concerns to share. Farm succession, rural broadband and the mental health of farming families were some of the things brought up.”
Mental health
Touching on farmers’ mental health status, Queen of the Land gave voice to the young farming women who often suffer indirectly.
“It is so easy to go down the road of isolation in farming. There are times during the summer that I am so busy with the cows and silage, I don’t even realise I have not gone anywhere for three weeks. That is why Macra is so great. If I say I am not going, the lads from the club will pull up in the yard and I have no choice. For yourself and for the farm, you are better off stepping away from it and forgetting about it every now and then,” she says.
“A lot of people talk about farmers’ mental health, but something that was highlighted over the weekend was the wife and children behind that farmer, who have to live with the struggles too. This is what Queen of the Land does, it gives us a chance to talk about and highlight these issues. Like, how many opportunities do you have to say this to Anna Marie McHugh and Joe Healy?”
Although Louise’s return to the parlour was immediate, her experience at Queen of the Land 2018 will not be left in Tullamore.
“The only other Limerick woman to have ever won Queen of the Land was Chris Clifford in 1990. On Friday night she came and found me to wish me luck. It turns out that she only lives down the road from the farm I bought this year. It was such a coincidence. But that shows how much Queen of the Land still means to her and to everyone involved.”
Honour
Louise is overjoyed with her Clarke Machinery Group trophy, Linda O’Brien Jewellery crown and the opportunity to represent Limerick in what has been a glorious year for the Treaty county.
“I am still in shock. It is amazing. I plan to highlight the festival more in the next year. I want to talk about the incredible women who come up to Offaly every year. I want to get it out there that yes there was great fun and well-deserved pampering over the weekend, but it is not a beauty pageant. It is a reunion, a forum for discussion and a great way to connect with other great women in Irish agriculture.”
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