Paula Hynes: Lights, camera, action - 'My Story, Georgie' hits the screens
Behind the scenes filming 'My Story Georgie - Cow Queen' in 2024. Picture: Paula Hynes
Some of you might remember that Georgie had a film crew following her in 2024, well it is finally coming to light.
is being aired on RTÉ 2 on Wednesday, September 3, at 4.05pm and again on Friday, September 5, at 12.45pm and will also be available on RTÉ Player.
The documentary is part of an EBU Eurovision project and will be aired in 15 European countries as well as Japan. They started filming in June 2024 and finished up in September of that year.
The camera crew attended agricultural shows with her and were also at the IHFA National YMA Finals in Kilkenny, besides the numerous days on the farm. Her best friend, Aisling, also spent time with her while they were filming.
I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t go into any more detail, but some of you may also see yourselves on the program at shows.
Declan Smiddy did a fantastic job of directing and producing the program. It is amazing how we all discussed a potential angle for the story in April 2024, and as filming progressed everything fell into place.
We are not strangers to having TV crews on the farm, such as during the Kenya documentary in 2017, , and on , as well as numerous news channels and a couple of occasions on . It is fantastic for Georgie to have her own documentary where she had to take the lead role.
The hours and hours of filming that takes place to make a TV show is amazing, when I was filmed for the , there was over 280 hours of filming which then has to be edited down into 45 minutes to allow for ad breaks.
When you're filming real life, and especially with animals involved, you can’t really do a take two, as it just wouldn’t look the same, so it’s generally go with the flow.
We have always had great craic with the film crews, directors and producers, it is crucial to have light-hearted moments as the hours can be so long and I think in many ways the TV viewers see part of the story. We see the full story with the crew and time passes so some parts become distant memories.
So when the project comes to light, we all feel a great sense of pride in what we all worked on together. In the build-up to the program airing, Georgie has also been doing a few interviews for newspaper articles so I can’t wait to read about her as we generally give the girls space to do the interviews by themselves.
Becky will have to watch the program on the RTÉ player as she is in Battice in Belguim for European Young Breeders. Matt Flanagan, Lauren Doran, Sarah O Connell, Aoife Prunty and Sarah Williamson are also on the Irish team.
They have a hectic schedule ahead of them where they will learn and compete against the best from around the world with a total of 20 countries involved this year.
A youth team always requires chaperons who will also mentor and keep them motivated when they get tired. Andrea Rafferty and Damien Storan have been given the task of travelling with the team this year.
Luckily for Becky she knows them both through the show circuit and even more importantly they know her very well and know what she is capable of. She is used to travelling and putting in extremely long hours at shows and we will be following closely on the EYBS Facebook page along with the IHFA YMA social media.
The team flies back into Dublin late on Sunday night, and Becky spends the night there as she catches the first flight out to Birmingham on her way to UK Dairy Day in Telford, where she will be working with James and Steph Doherty of Firstlook Genetics.
Our Red Holstein cow is housed at Firstlook Genetics, so it will be a great chance for Becky to catch up with Magic after the show before she flies back into Cork late on Thursday evening.
At home on the farm, we are just starting autumn calving. The autumn calvers calve outdoors in a field in front of the house.
As we get to see them numerous times every day, they have ad lib access to haylage and also get a mix of oats, maize and dry cow minerals along with having mineral lick buckets.
We find minerals are crucial to avoid issues post-calving and some of the autumn calvers can get a little on the fat side. Haylage also gives them great rumen fill.
We have a number of jerseys calving, including the dam of Kasey and Kali, as well as some exciting Holsteins calving, a Fame heifer and the Capital Gain cow.
It also helps to wash them regularly while they are tied up. Most importantly, they have to enjoy the process and want to work with you as they progress.
There is a brief respite from the workload and madness as we attend the AETE25 gala reception at Cork City Hall on Wednesday evening, a chance to socialise and have some interesting chats with many of the international delegates who are attending the conference as it visits Cork for the very first time.
Pete will be attending the conference on Thursday as he is part of a panel debating the importance of IP protection on genetics.
We have had so much fine weather all summer. East Cork has been in a drought recently, one which we experienced earlier in the summer, but now our attention turns to keeping an eye on the weather forecast again as we contemplate harvesting our Maize crop, which looks really good at the moment.
A decision will be made relatively quickly on how soon the harvester goes into the field.
