Tips For Attracting An Eligible Farmer

Tips for attracting an eligible farmer at an agricultural show!

The lovely Denis Lehane posted these 5 tips within his feature in the Irish Examiner – just before the Ploughing Championships – and I’d sent them to him. These tips (and the book of course) got me 8 radio interviews that week?

Irish Examiner – September 2014

5 Tips For Attracting An Eligible Farmer

1. Decide on the type of farmer you would like to meet ? dairy, sheep, suckler, tillage, full time or part time? This will determine the section where you will spend most of your time. If you are after a tillage farmer, head for the ‘big boys and their toys’ machinery section where they will all be admiring the latest in tractor technology. Just be aware that his new purchase will probably carry large loan repayments!
2. Learn how to plough – Watching the ploughing competitions will give you an opportunity to watch the talent too although don?t be surprised if most of the farmers don?t have eyes for anything else other than straight lines until the competition is over. If you know how to plough, you will win the admiration of many.
3. Bring a hairbrush with you ? not for your own hair! Although the cattle judging is small at the Ploughing, the pedigree breeders will be there, coiffeuring and brushing their prize cattle with incredible attention to detail. If you are armed with a hairbrush, you could offer to help with the hairbrushing of his prize bull.
4. Brush up on your farming lingo so you can converse with the best of them.? If he is referring to someone being ‘locked up’, it doesn’t mean he was in prison but that his herd is restricted due to tuberculosis. Greeting someone with the expression ‘how’s she cutting’ doesn’t mean he is talking about a hair clippers or a grass mower but is a general ‘how are you’ term.? If he mentions having to ‘draw cattle’ the next day, it’s actually unlikely that he’s an artist but is going to be bringing cattle from one part of the farm to another. ‘Stopping a gap’ means that you stand in a space that is minus a gate in order to prevent the livestock going in that direction.
5. Wear the Right Wellies – your wellies will communicate much about you so pay attention to the ones you wear. Brand new pink or polka dot wellies might suggest you’ve never been on a farm before and that you’re going to need training before you know how to ‘stop a gap’. Bright or floral wellies displaying wear and tear, even if only bearing the scars of a muddy Electric Picnic, will suggest that you’re fashionable but not afraid of a bit of muck. Plain wellies purchased at the local creamery convey that you work hard on a farm and are well able for a busy farming life, they will signify your matter-of-fact, down-to-earth personality perfectly.

What do you reckon? Any tips to add?