In these troubled times, here’s a heartwarming story.
Little Fiadh O’Connor has been battling a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Her chances of survival would be boosted by groundbreaking treatment in the US.
Parents Laura and Rory, from The Ballagh in Wexford, decided to try to raise the €375,000 needed. Plans for a monster raffle of a tractor were in train.
The likes of Tadhg Furlong, Paul McGrath and Davy Fitzgerald came on board.
But what happened next took everyone by surprise.
A massive public reaction to the GoFundMe page last weekend saw the money pour in. After only five days, the target had been surpassed, with a staggering €432,168 raised in total.
That tractor raffle is now not needed, and a rural community has done itself proud.
Herefords push social media and alcohol limits
Organisers of the first Hereford photo competition were delighted (if taken aback) with well over 1,000 likes and 100,000 people reached on Facebook. As one insider told The Dealer: “Things got very exciting in the Hereford world ... for a minute.”
The winner of the competition Aidan Wrynne might be able to give the insider something to settle him, as Aidan posed his four-legged models next to a bottle of Drumshanbo whiskey, supplied by his son Keane, who helps make it.
The winner of the Hereford photo competition which gained considerable interest online.
Records were smashed in Roscommon over the weekend, with a Simmental bull selling for a whopping €52,000.
Clonagh Lucky Explorer was the bull’s name, but I’m told the sale was far from a bit of luck. My sources tell me that breeder Garrett Behan made quite the substantial investment to be able to produce a bull of that standard.
The Laois breeder forked out £23,100 (€25,531) at the Stirling bull sales three years ago for Lucky’s sire, Manor Park Hansome. Last Saturday Behan sold four of his sons for an average of €17,400.
That’s a pretty shrewd investment by anyone’s standard. I wonder how many more five-figure Hansome sons are roaming the fields of Ballyfin?
Nosy neighbour enjoys online sale
Like a lot of farmers around the country, I had cattle to sell this week which, under new Level 5 restrictions, could only be sold online.
I confess I was suspicious of the system but as luck would have it everything turned out very well and I was able to phone Mrs Dealer to get the prosecco out.
After that, I got a call from a neighbour of mine who every year rings me up to find out what I made in the sale. This time he smartly informed me: “I don’t need to ask you what you got. I already know, I was watching online.”
The young lad texted me from home to say there had been a share of people watching the sale, and now I wonder if “Mart TV” is the new form of peering over your neighbours’ hedges?
Bringing farming into the classroom
The phenomenon of online mart sales is touching every aspect of Irish life, even the classroom. Parents I know were shocked and disappointed to hear their son had been handed a suspension from school recently.
It transpired that he was watching – and bidding – on cattle in a live sale while in class. The father, I understand, had to feign anger at this turn of events. Perhaps if it had been ag science, or even economics, the student could have claimed it was classwork.
Co Kildare man William Corrigan has been appointed as UK and Ireland Country Leader for the crop protection and seed company Corteva Agriscience.
William is well known in the Irish crop protection industry. Having grown up on a mixed livestock and tillage farm, he joined the company in 2010 after completing a research Masters at UCD. Since then he has held several regional and national business roles.
William will replace Adrian Gough who has been with the company for 36 years.
The Dealer knows that water is one of the world’s most precious resources, but an Irish Water bill I saw this week beats all.
The charge for a new build rural house was for connecting to a county council water supply in the south of the country.
The council pipe runs past the proposed new house, approximately six feet from the new entrance.
The fee? A jaw-dropping €68,000.
The envelope should have come with a health warning.
I sense a call to the local water diviner and well driller will be the next move.
In these troubled times, here’s a heartwarming story.
Little Fiadh O’Connor has been battling a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Her chances of survival would be boosted by groundbreaking treatment in the US.
Parents Laura and Rory, from The Ballagh in Wexford, decided to try to raise the €375,000 needed. Plans for a monster raffle of a tractor were in train.
The likes of Tadhg Furlong, Paul McGrath and Davy Fitzgerald came on board.
But what happened next took everyone by surprise.
A massive public reaction to the GoFundMe page last weekend saw the money pour in. After only five days, the target had been surpassed, with a staggering €432,168 raised in total.
That tractor raffle is now not needed, and a rural community has done itself proud.
Herefords push social media and alcohol limits
Organisers of the first Hereford photo competition were delighted (if taken aback) with well over 1,000 likes and 100,000 people reached on Facebook. As one insider told The Dealer: “Things got very exciting in the Hereford world ... for a minute.”
The winner of the competition Aidan Wrynne might be able to give the insider something to settle him, as Aidan posed his four-legged models next to a bottle of Drumshanbo whiskey, supplied by his son Keane, who helps make it.
The winner of the Hereford photo competition which gained considerable interest online.
Records were smashed in Roscommon over the weekend, with a Simmental bull selling for a whopping €52,000.
Clonagh Lucky Explorer was the bull’s name, but I’m told the sale was far from a bit of luck. My sources tell me that breeder Garrett Behan made quite the substantial investment to be able to produce a bull of that standard.
The Laois breeder forked out £23,100 (€25,531) at the Stirling bull sales three years ago for Lucky’s sire, Manor Park Hansome. Last Saturday Behan sold four of his sons for an average of €17,400.
That’s a pretty shrewd investment by anyone’s standard. I wonder how many more five-figure Hansome sons are roaming the fields of Ballyfin?
Nosy neighbour enjoys online sale
Like a lot of farmers around the country, I had cattle to sell this week which, under new Level 5 restrictions, could only be sold online.
I confess I was suspicious of the system but as luck would have it everything turned out very well and I was able to phone Mrs Dealer to get the prosecco out.
After that, I got a call from a neighbour of mine who every year rings me up to find out what I made in the sale. This time he smartly informed me: “I don’t need to ask you what you got. I already know, I was watching online.”
The young lad texted me from home to say there had been a share of people watching the sale, and now I wonder if “Mart TV” is the new form of peering over your neighbours’ hedges?
Bringing farming into the classroom
The phenomenon of online mart sales is touching every aspect of Irish life, even the classroom. Parents I know were shocked and disappointed to hear their son had been handed a suspension from school recently.
It transpired that he was watching – and bidding – on cattle in a live sale while in class. The father, I understand, had to feign anger at this turn of events. Perhaps if it had been ag science, or even economics, the student could have claimed it was classwork.
Co Kildare man William Corrigan has been appointed as UK and Ireland Country Leader for the crop protection and seed company Corteva Agriscience.
William is well known in the Irish crop protection industry. Having grown up on a mixed livestock and tillage farm, he joined the company in 2010 after completing a research Masters at UCD. Since then he has held several regional and national business roles.
William will replace Adrian Gough who has been with the company for 36 years.
The Dealer knows that water is one of the world’s most precious resources, but an Irish Water bill I saw this week beats all.
The charge for a new build rural house was for connecting to a county council water supply in the south of the country.
The council pipe runs past the proposed new house, approximately six feet from the new entrance.
The fee? A jaw-dropping €68,000.
The envelope should have come with a health warning.
I sense a call to the local water diviner and well driller will be the next move.
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