Summer hit Ireland today and we embraced it with open arms. The temperature last night was to be between zero and -5 degrees Celsius and there was plenty of white frost on the ground this morning but by the time all the calves were fed, it was already becoming warm.
Here’s some tips for any sales rep hoping to make a sale with a farmer (or his wife!). By the way, it started out as ten tips and then became 14 or 15 – I promise I can count!!
Where’s the pride gone in Irish farming? Most American farming blogs communicate a sense of pride in their chosen career, in how they farm, their farming practices, their ability to produce food for so many people, the fact that they are a 4th or 5th or even a 6th generation family farm. ?Irish farmers seem to be stereotyped as looking for [...]
I feed the calves twice a day (apart from some evenings when the kids have activities and I’m home too late – although it has been known for Brian to still be milking when we get home and out I go!). They get three litres of milk twice a day, just over 120 calves at the moment so that’s 60 gallons being carried in 2 x 3 gallon buckets around the yards. Brian did look at getting a pump and [...]
One of the reasons I write this blog is so that it can be a sort of journal or diary. I’d love to be able to read a diary from my grandmother’s time – what they paid for items, how much they got for their calves, her daily chores, what she enjoyed, what she found tedious, how she managed bringing up 9 children. Some time ago I found a document from 1973 and it was so interesting reading about milk [...]
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