I see the original Mr cattle tags has retired from Mullinahone Co-op. Way back in the day, Co Offaly cattle farmer Liam Egan agreed to work one day per week with the Tipperary Co-op – but was soon appointed full-time manager of its Eurotags division and joined the co-op board.

His understanding of farming made Egan ideal for dealing one to one with thousands of cattle farmers sorting out all kinds of issues relating to tags for both cattle and sheep.

His diplomacy was called into use dealing closely with the Department of Agriculture which has kept the tightest control it can on the cattle identification – given it’s a trust issue for consumers.

Over 20 years he helped steer through electronic tagging of sheep, tissue tagging of cattle for BVD and increasingly, electronic tagging of cattle. At this stage it’s fair to say no man or woman in the country knows more about cattle ears than the Birr farmer.

Liam Egan (left) retiring from Mullinahone Co-op.

Industry figures on the move

I see Dale Farm’s Nick Whelan has recently scooped Aurivo’s CFO (chief financial officer) Donal Tierney for the Northern Irish co-op.

Ex Glanbia man Whelan has turned the co-op’s fortunes around since taking over two years ago.

Tierney has been Aaron Forde’s right hand man at Aurivo for almost nine years.

This move sees Aurivo’s top management team completely transformed in the past year.

I also understand Eoghan Sweeney, who was head of Aurivo’s ingredients division, is to take up a role as commercial manager of the ingredients division in Lakeland Dairies.

And I see Tipp Co-op’s finance man, Barry Hannon has moved on to become CEO at International Rugby Experience.

Then we have former Macra president James Healy, who has taken up a position of business development and IP manager with Vistamilk, which works out of Teagasc Moorepark.

Further south I see the Kerry Co-op board has upgraded Thomas Hunter McGowan to CEO from secretary.

Finally, I see Nora Peters, general manager of Agri Aware, is departing soon. She’s off to join the ranks of the Irish Primary Principals Network.

IFA branch holds AGM in the UK

The Pettigo branch of the IFA believes it may have set a first on Monday by holding its annual general meeting in the UK. The AGM and voting in the IFA elections took place in Pettigo - but across the bridge in the Northern Ireland end of the village.

Previous AGMs were held in a pub on the southern side. This one was held in the former Methodist Hall, now known as the Youth Hall. The border runs more or less along the course of the River Termon, through the middle of Pettigo.

Some 14 farmers were present to vote at the meeting, run by branch chairman Kevin Kelly. Afterwards members observed that the venue mightn’t have worked out so well if Brexit had already taken place.

Importance of replacements

Tommy Walsh, who lorded it in the Kilkenny backline for years, caught my attention this week as the Tullaroan hurlers just keep on trucking.

After winning the intermediate county final, they took home Leinster silverware at the weekend.

When asked about young lads coming onto the team and older lads leaving the jersey in a better place, Walsh simply said: “I often said it, I’m not a farmer myself, but good farmers they get rid of the old cows and bring in the new heifers. And that’s how we keep it going, we do the same thing with young players, we have to trust them and believe in them and drive them on and encourage them.” The Dealer couldn’t agree more.

Scottish tractors grind to halt

Too much biofuel in diesel has been blamed for clogging up the filters in hundreds of tractors in Scotland.

After 380 complaints to the farmers union, Petroineos, which runs Scotland’s only crude oil refinery, has agreed to reduce the amount of biofuel in its tractor diesel. The colder weather brought tractors to a standstill as solidifying fuel blocked engines and ground farms to a halt. I don’t think using the barrow to feed the cattle will work either. With an average herd of 54 suckler cows it could take some time, even worse if they are wintered on Highland mountains.

Rural romantics sought

A new TV series is looking for “rural romantics”.

The show creators say they “want to help rural singletons find their perfect partner”.

They stated that “Love is love!” What they might have meant to say was: “Love is love and nothing says romance like road frontage.”

If you’re interested or you know someone who should be interested you can get in touch via email on leah.wallace

@kiteentertainment.com or call 087-230 1210.

Putting the Bó in banking

British bank NatWest has decided to name its digital banking service “Bó” (Irish for cow for those rusty in the Gaeilge department). The bank says: “We also like [the word] because Bó doesn’t mean anything in English so it’s a word that we can own ... We love our fada, it’s unique, changes how we look and how we sound.”

The Dealer wonders does this bring a new meaning to the term “cash cow”?