Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Monday, Jim Cummins said the family was “over the moon” following the win. The family beat the McCarthys from Co Clare and the Ryans from Co Donegal in the final, which was aired on Sunday evening.

Jim was on the team with his two sons Henry and Mark as well as his daughter Ciara.

“We’ve always been very active and always did things as a family,” Jim said.

“We’re always doing something together. That’s the way we’ve always been. Whether it’s cycling together on a Sunday morning or doing water sports, we have always tried to work together as a family.

“Mark plays rugby for the Thurles first team and is in the Munster Cup final now. Ciara is a fine athlete too, a really good performer. She’s on a sports scholarship in DCU and won athlete of the year in the Ursuline College a couple of years back. I played a bit of rugby too, but we always try to keep active and together as a family.

“If we were going on a holiday to France or Holland, we’d have the bikes with us,” Jim said.

Farming

We had to be up harvesting at 2am to then be in the yard competing at 7am. We were back that evening again at 6.30 to continue the harvest

As well as being fine athletes, the Cummins are also heavily involved in tillage farming.

“Between rented and owned, we have about 350 acres,” Jim said.

“We grow oats, wheat and winter barley. I looked over at tillage farmers in the west and west Cork and saw how difficult it was for them this year. Thankfully, we got away OK and everything is sown again.

“We sell mostly to Centenary Thurles, but we keep a bit too. We roll some of it and store the rest. We sell a bit direct to farms.”

Jim explained that one day of filming and competing on the show coincided with a busy day on the farm. The show was filmed over a couple of months in the summer and autumn.

“There was one morning where we had to be filmed competing on the show. We had to be up harvesting at 2am to then be in the yard competing at 7am. We were back that evening again at 6.30 to continue the harvest. It wasn’t ideal, but we got there,” he said.

The Cummins also have their own lorries and they transport straw to farmers mainly in the west of the country.

“My two sons are on the farm and they help out. They work with machinery too, they keep everything working and repaired. It’s a great help to keep me going!”

So what is the plan for the €15,000 they won for coming first in the TV show?

“We’ll do something as a family anyway. We’ll sit down together, plan together and do something together. There are seven of us in all in the family. I’ve two other daughters; it’s not just the four of us on the telly. We’ll look forward to that,” Jim concluded.

Previous winners

The Cummins family is the second farming family after the Kingstons from Co Cork in 2014. The Kingstons farmed the Cradenhill farm near Kinsale.

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