I see international rugby ref-turned-farmer Nigel Owens has been called up to rank at the National Federation of the Young Farmers Club (YFC).

Young farmers voted unanimously to elect Owens as the new president at the federation’s online AGM in August.

As a former member of Llanarthne YFC, Owens is no stranger to the farm organisation. He held the positions of secretary and chair for the club and was also a former president of the Wales Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs.

The world-famous Welshman recently rekindled his farming career and officially became a suckler farmer earlier this year, as his first calf hit the ground.

His first purchase, a pedigree Hereford heifer, was dubbed 'Hannah'.

Keeping an eye on the trade

Lot 13 proved an interesting lot at the Millburn Limousin herd dispersal sale in Elphin Mart last Saturday. The hammer dropped at €1,700 to an online bidder, seller happy, job done. However, a phone call quickly came through to the mart from an agitated father a few minutes later.

It turned out he had been watching the Irish Farmers Journal Martbids app at the kitchen table and left the room for a split second, during which his four-year-old son got his phone. The young farmer in the house stepped up to the table and threw a few bids on Lot 13 while his father was gone, with the hammer dropping to the budding young breeder at €1,700.

Auctioneer Denis Barrett did the decent thing and re-ran the animal at the end of the sale, only for it to make €2,400 the second time around. Like any dealer, he knew value when he saw it. The phone was kept up high for Lot 35A, which sold for €20,000.

What goes around comes around

The Dealer had a chuckle when the hammer dropped on Sportsman Double Diamond in Lanark last week. The six-month-old Texel ram lamb sold for a cool €413,000.

With finished lambs currently selling for €120/head, Double Diamond has a busy few autumns ahead. He has to sire over 3,500 lambs to get his money back. The ram was always destined for good things, with breeder Charlie Boden forking out €73,000 for the sire the previous year, along with taking a 50% share in last year’s high seller at €224,000, bred by one the purchasers of Double Diamond.

Aurivo farm for sale in Sligo?

I’m actually not on the lookout for land at the moment, but a little birdy told me that the Aurivo farm around the former Sligo AI station and vet labs might be coming up for sale soon.

My understanding was that the Doonally farm in north Sligo was on lease for 15 years, but I must be wrong, or else maybe the last of the lease is being bought out.

Don’t hold me to it, but the nosey part of me would be interested to hear what’s happening – why sell now? Is it all for sale? How would you compensate a lessee? Is this Aurivo consolidation or asset stripping?

It’s not often a 60ha block of land comes to the market in north Sligo. Stand on.

A calf nose job

The Dealer has heard of nose jobs for celebrities, but never thought he’d hear of one for a calf.

But it seems a Holstein Friesian heifer in Japan was born with three nostrils and the farmer requested cosmetic surgery be carried out to remove its middle nostril.

The Dealer has seen the before and after photos and can’t really see much of an improvement, but perhaps the other calves in the school-yard will be less likely to bully the little suck calf now.

A Holstein Friesian calf in Japan who had a nose job after being born with three nostrils.

Remote control cattle herding

It seems tech billionaire and creator of the Tesla car Elon Musk, now has plans to put computer chips in human heads. He’s started with a coin-sized chip in the head of a pig named Gertrude.

While Musk claims the chips could allow people with Parkinson’s or spinal injuries to control computers with their minds, sceptics fear that chips could be used to control a human host.

Amid the conspiracy theories, The Dealer would like to invite Mr Musk to plant a few chips in the heads of his cows. Remote control cattle herding could solve a lot of issues as the “stand in gap” recruits return to school this week.

Tullyallen tractor run raises over €115,000 for charity

Some €115,465.50 has been raised for charity to-date by the Tullyallen tractor run. Established in 2015, the event takes place each Christmas.

This year, COVID-19 delayed the presentation of the cheques to the local charities, which took place on 18 August.

The Tullyallen Carers Group was presented with a cheque for €3,000 and the local Oncology Unit received €25,060.35.

XLVets general manager

I see that XLVets has announced Mike Curran as its general manager.

Interestingly, Mike comes from a pharmacy background. He takes over from Geoff Dooley.

Started in 2010, XLVets now has over 260 vets, nurses and a further 200 support team members.