James Gough and his father, Edmond, formed a farm partnership three years ago. The Waterford natives run a beef and sheep enterprise and both work full-time off-farm.
Edmond inherited the holding from his father in the 1980s and purchased an additional twenty-acres in the early 1990s. His son, James, became involved in the family enterprise from a young age.
“I was a carpenter by trade, the building went quiet and I found myself at home with not a whole pit to do,” James explained.
“We reclaimed a lot of our hill ground. I had completed the Green Cert and rented some marginal land and got my own herd number.”
Flexibility
The father-and-son duo then looked at the possibility of forming a farm partnership before they took the plunge. “It isn’t a thing that you will decide today, and it will happen tomorrow,” Edmond admitted.
Three years later, they have increased their herd size to fifty suckler cows and also farm up to 100 breeding ewes. “There are benefits [of a farm partnership] - you can get away for a weekend, you can have a life or go to a match.”
“From my point of view, it is good to see the farm staying within the family, continuing on the tradition. By enhancing it, James is going in the direction I would like to see it going in.” Edmond concluded.
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