Agriland Media Group has announced the appointment of Hugh Harney as technical dairy writer for the media publication.
Hugh joins the technical team which already includes well-known names Breifne O’Brien (beef); Justin Roberts (machinery); Richard Halloren (tillage).
He comes from from a 120-cow autumn/spring calving dairy farm in Eadestown, just outside Naas, Co. Kildare where he has honed his skills in breeding and economic breeding index (EBI), calving, nutrition and milk quality analysis, grass measuring and management.
He is also keenly aware of the environmental challenges faced by dairy and has experience of ensuring best practice husbandry and ensuring optimal animal welfare.
Hugh has a dairy business degree from in University College Dublin (UCD) and spent some time on a 1,000 cow dairy farm in New Zealand.
He has also worked as part of a tillage farm during harvest and planting season.
Managing director of Agriland Media Group Cormac Farrelly said: “Hugh is an enterprising young dairy farmer with the experience and acumen to bring great insight to the dairy offering on Agriland.
“He understands the challenges and opportunities for dairy farming in Ireland at the moment and his business expertise allows him measure its economic sustainability in a comprehensive way.
“He is out in the parlour and fields and can give the Agriland audience the information they need to know to keep them up to date with all the developments in dairy and agriculture.
“We are delighted he has joined the thriving and innovative editorial team at Agriland and we are sure he will make a significant contribution to high standard of content our audience has come to expect.”
Other Agriland appointments
The appointment of Hugh Harney follows the appointment of Tomás Cooney as Agriland commercial director last month.
After spending eight years selling the Keenan system in France, Cooney went on to lead the development of the Lely grassland machinery division in Ireland before becoming involved in robotic milking with the dairy division.
Cooney hails from a suckler and sheep farm in south Roscommon and most recently worked with Dutch company Reesink Agri where he was responsible for the agri and turfcare divisions.