Farmer’s daughter Clíona grew up on a beef farm near Roscommon in the West of Ireland. Having always wanted to work within the agricultural sector, she is currently studying a four-year course at University College Dublin.

Farmer’s daughter Clíona grew up on a beef farm near Roscommon in the West of Ireland. Having always wanted to work within the agricultural sector, she is currently studying a four-year course at University College Dublin.

Under the Agricultural Sciences umbrella, Clíona’s course is in Animal and Crop Production and as part of her third year on the course, she is required to do a total of 30 weeks of work placement across all sectors of agriculture.

Dourie has been lucky enough to be Clíona’s home for the last seven weeks as she undertakes the dairy sector of her placement.

Clíona chatted to us about her experiences at Dourie:

“What I have loved most of all about working at Dourie is the fact that I am given a chance to work in every sector of the business. Each day I wake up and have something different to do. I’ve milked, I’ve done calving, I’ve worked with young stock and I’ve even done some fencing.  This cross-sector of jobs has meant that I’ve gained a wider range of knowledge and skills than I expected. Not only that but it’s helped me to understand how the whole process works – the better you look after the cows during calving, and the better you take care of the calves, the better the cows will ultimately perform in the dairy. It makes sense.

“Milking was the hardest work for me. I am used to much smaller herds and so to milk 600 cows in one go was physically exhausting. Likewise with calving – we calved 40 in one day and yet our entire herd at home in Ireland is 40!  I’ve been very tired, but it’s also given me such an incredible sense of achievement every day. The larger herd has meant that I’ve also learned a great deal about animal health and welfare, something that I can carry across to other sector placements.

“Dourie, and working with Rory, has been an eye opener for me in a number of ways. I love Rory’s very business focused outlook and his forward-thinking nature. I’ve learned about his carbon monitoring on the farm, as well as his interest in DNA and I have seen first-hand that being analytical and having attention to detail is so important. When it comes to farm practices and processes, these small details are what’s needed to make that extra improvement.

“The ways in which Rory works on larger industry wide issues such as milk price have also been so interesting. All too often people in the industry can just moan but in Rory’s case he takes action to do something about issues and seeks both innovation and improvement in everything.

“I’ve also learned some amazing communication skills. With such a large team of staff, effective and efficient communication is key. The whole Dourie Farming Company team demonstrate dedication and it’s really made me realise the importance of the right people and of training them well.

“The other great thing about my placement has been the nice warm mobile home that’s been my accommodation whilst here! It’s been really cosy!

“I’d say to anyone thinking about a placement at Dourie to go for it. The culture and the mindset here have taught me so much, as has the wide range of jobs I’ve been doing.”