Paula Hynes: 15 years in Irish dairy farming

Imagine if you stood up at a farm walk 15 years ago and said beef prices would hit €8 a kilo in 2025 and the cost of producing a litre of milk from grass would rise to 42 cent and the EU would look to reduce dairy herds 10 years after allowing them to expand

Pete and Paula Hynes enjoying 15 years of farming together as a big birthday looms. Picture: Clare Keogh

Life is all about milestones, and we have had plenty of them this year. 

Our first national champion at the National YMA calf show, Becky's major success at home and abroad clipping dairy animals in competition, the birth of our granddaughter Fiadh, dual Jersey champion at the National Dairy Show along with premier breeder and exhibitor, and of course our first time competing at the Baileys in Virginia, Co. Cavan. But two more very important milestones are upon us now.