Fun and Friesians mix at favourite farm for business world
THE legend tells how Ireland's patron saint blessed a spring well beside the Haydens' farmyard at Killaveney, Tinahely in South Wicklow more than 1,500 years ago. Some of that blessing was bound to rub off on the Haydens, who successfully built up their 120 hectares farm (296 acres) over four generations. Now, they manage 95 dairy cows, 100 breeding ewes, and 30 bullocks for fattening, and Joe Hayden is a past recipient of the European Farmer of the Year award. Joe and his brother Michael have also won the National Dairy Development Farmer award in recent years.
But it's not for their farming skills alone that the Haydens have earned the praise of leading companies like Microsoft, Baileys, and De La Rue Smurfit.