I farm: With my son John, wife Kathleen and daughter Mary. I have two other daughters, Katherine and Gillian, who are married and living in England.

Home farm: I farm 125ac and it is all top class land, with not an inch of bog in it. We bought the farm in 1997.

Starting farming: When I started farming in the late 1940s, I only had 24ac and that was poor land prone to flooding. My father didn’t have a chance to teach me about farming, as he died when I was only five and a half. My mother was left with a house full of children.

I wouldn’t consider myself the best farmer in the world but I met some great people who helped me with farming and gave me advice through the years.

Cattle: I buy weanlings. I sell most of the bullocks as two-year-old stores and finish the heifers myself. I’d have roughly 70 cattle at any one time.

Breed: I have mostly Hereford crosses, with some Angus crosses as well because I can get the bonus on them.

I go to Newport Mart in Tipperary for a lot of them.

Pedigree Herefords: I must be about 35 years in Herefords. They’re easy to handle, peaceful cattle.

I sold all the Herefords when I had a heart bypass a few years ago. But I couldn’t keep away from them, so despite family concern about my age, I went and bought four heifers and they’ve developed into top class animals.

Showing: At 87, I still train the animals myself and show them in the ring.

I’ve never had a blow dryer or anything, we just use towels and a few buckets of water and they come out looking well.

My daughter Mary and wife Kathleen are a great help and Mary has a real knack for the showing.

AI: I have never used a stock bull, I have always used AI.

I was only ever a small breeder so I read up about bulls and saw their progeny in shows and had a good idea about what to use.

Quotable quote: The showing has kept me young, it gave me a real interest in what I was doing on the farm.

Read more

My farming week: Ronan and Noel Lally, Ballycumber, Co Offaly

ABP, Dawn and Slaney Foods injunctions made permanent