Farmers Feed Families launched a social initiative earlier this summer to raise awareness of daily life in farms across Ireland. Each week Anne Brady of Farmers Feed Families will interview the tweeting Irish farmer on AgriLand.
This week’s Farmer of the Tweet is Catherina Cunnane from Derrybrack, Kilkelly, Co Mayo. Catherina is our youngest Tweeting Farmer at just 15. She attends St Louis community school in Kiltimagh, but farms every evening, on weekends and in the summer holidays. Her dad is a full-time farmer but she likes to help out as much as possible.
Getting started
“We established our herd, Derrybrack Aubracs in 2010 after purchasing Aubrac crosses. After winning the Aubrac x Limousin in the Irish Farmers Journal Heifer and Hoggot competition in 2011 we joined the Irish Aubrac Society. Since then we have purchased a pedigree Aubrac stockbull, pedigree Aubrac cows and heifers. We aren’t showing our Aubracs yet, but we plan to show them at various agricultural shows including the Tullamore Show next summer.
Why Aubracs
“We run a herd of Aubrac and Aubrac Crosses because we have found them easier calved than any other breed. We had other breeds previously, but then we went in search for an easy calved and easy managed breed and the Aubrac seemed to be perfect! We are extremely happy with how they are performing for us. We are particularly impressed with their high longevity, high fertility, kill out results and their easy calving. They also give very good kill out results, have brilliant carcasses and they easily grade Rs & Us and some often make Es. We also think they are the perfect suckler breed. They produce one calf every year, but some cows even produce two in the year.
Social media
“I made my twitter account @Aubracs a year and a half a go. I made the account out of pure interest, but looking back on it now I am glad that I did. It is a very easy way of connecting with people all over the world. I’ve made contact with other Aubrac breeders from all over the world including France and America.
And finally
“The thing I love most about farming is the cattle. I have loved to be out and about with them ever since I could walk. A challenging aspect however is farm safety. With all the machinery that is operated nowadays it is definitely a worry for everyone’s safety.