Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy runs a 107ha (275-acre) farm in partnership
with his parents in County Waterford on the south-east
coast of Ireland. Dairying is the main enterprise with
emphasis on milk from grass. The mainly all-grass unit
carries 110 Holstein Friesian cows and also grows forage
maize and cereals for home consumption.
I have never been as glad that we owned a generator as I was on Christmas Eve. It was nice to find out how on the ball the weather men are (ie not very). As I was feeding out on Christmas Eve morning I heard the first storm warning.
At this stage, the front loader jib was swaying over and back by 6in to 1ft, in the teeth of what must have been the 90mph winds they warned us about some three hours later.
It sometimes seems as if the weather forecast has changed into one of two things:
1) A weather review: When they give us a scientific explanation as to why the electricity went off and why half the sheds in the country now have big chunks of their roofs missing – after it happens.
2) Dublin weather: If its not going to happen to our fair capital, its not going to happen at all. The rest of us out in the boonies can just expect whatever we see coming over the horizon.
We should not complain too much, however, as we seem to have got off very lightly compared with many people. The only damage we sustained is our lost roof light and two slates off the dwelling house.
A number of farmers have lost complete spans of roofing and in one particular incident the roof of a dwelling house started to go and caused the walls of the house to crack. These are only some of the local stories – it seems to be much of the same over most of the southern half of the country.
Now, after all this doom and gloom and feeling sorry for oneself, I would like to extend good wishes to all the readers and the best of luck for 1998.n
Storm warnings came a little late for Gerald Murphy on Christmas Eve, luckily the farm owns a generator and suffered very little damage.