I see Teagasc has filled its chief dairy adviser position, replacing Tom O’Dwyer with dairy specialist Joe Patton.

Patton, a regular contributor to these pages, hails from Monaghan and has worked his way up the ranks in the Teagasc specialist team, working primarily in the nutrition and winter milk side of the house.

Widely acknowledged for his flamboyant hairstyle, he tells me he has no notion of a tidy-up even with his new lofty position and the barbers back open after the COVID-19 holiday.

When not in the office, Joe can be found milking cows with his brother Donal.

In other Teagasc news I see Mark Gibson has been appointed as head of the new outreach and innovation department within Teagasc’s Knowledge Transfer (KT) directorate.

Mark previously led the Teagasc ConnectEd programme.