How John has enjoyed half a century of the college life

The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards winner for the month of July is John Murphy from Clonakilty

WHEN John Murphy arrived at Clonakilty Agricultural College, 51-years-ago as a student in 1973, little did he know that it would be where he’d spend his entire career – and love every minute of it too.

Originally from Clonmel in Co Tipperary, John grew up on a mixed farm comprising 20 cows, 30 cattle, 25 ewes, and 10 acres of cereal.

The second eldest, and the eldest boy, he always had a huge interest in farming. ‘There was never going to be anything else for me,’ he said.

After his Leaving Cert, the obvious route for him was to attend the college in West Cork – despite having never been that far from home before.

‘There was very little travel back then, and I had never been to West Cork before. Having said that, even people in Clonakilty didn’t know where the college was. My brother in law drove me down and we enquired in the town for directions and no one could tell us! Eventually someone in a butchers put us on the right track!’ John remembered.

As an 18-year-old he relished the one-year course, and made friends for life.

‘The original plan had been for me to go back home farming, but the reality was that my father was still a young man, and the farm really wasn’t big enough for all of us. Fortunately I got offered three months’ work tagging sheep in Kerry as part of a sheep subsidy scheme, with a member of staff from the college. At the time, that was a great adventure – I got to see all of Kerry, a lot of it from the hills,’ he said.

By that Christmas, another adventure came his way.

‘I had stayed in contact with a housemaster in the college and I wrote wondering if there were any jobs going – he told me about a position in the college garden. I applied and got it and started in January 1974,’ recalls John.

At the time, the college was self-sufficient in vegetable produce so it was a busy role, but one that John had a flair for. However, a vacancy came up in the dairy after a few years, which he went for, and was successful.

‘I was thrilled as I loved animals and would have been watching the cows all the time while I was working in the garden. The role involved milking the cows at the college, and pretty much having full run of the dairy there including all calving, fencing etc. When the college first started there wasn’t any parlour, but a 10-unit parlour with recording jars was built when I started as a student,’ he said.

When he started in the job, there were around 100 cows, and in 2002 a Dairymaster 20-unit parlour was installed, where John milked 180 cows. The college is currently milking 185 cows on 84 hectares. Some 112 of the cows are on a large scale research trial conducted by Moorepark, with some on clover sward and some on grass to determine performance.

‘What that meant was that there were five herds of cows to bring in and monitor,’ explained John.

His role also included overseeing students in the dairy and mentoring them. He enjoyed all aspects of the role.

‘I’ve an awful lot of really good memories, but one stand-out one would be coming second in the Quality Milk Awards soon after they started,’ he said.

John has a genuine affection for cows, and it shows.

‘They’re a very clever animal. Some of the cows at the college were almost like pets to me, they were so quiet. I’ve been lucky too as I’ve never been injured by a cow, but I think a lot of that comes back to showing them respect,’ he said.

Among his proudest achievements was replacing the college’s mainly shorthorn herd with Friesians, getting improved milk production as a result.

‘When we knew quotas were coming, and over 50% of the herd were Shorthorns, but the best would only have milked 750 gallons a year, so I started culling them and replacing them with Friesians and we ultimately ended up with a fine quota of 103,000 gallons,’ he said.

John (70) lived in Timoleague until 2000 and now lives in Clonakilty with his wife Teresa.

He has two sons, a daughter and stepdaughter, and four grandkids. Anthony, his youngest, farms at John’s home place in Clonmel and John travels up to help every second Saturday. It hardly feels like work to him and he’s confident about the future of farming: ‘The biggest challenge is labour shortage,’ he pointed out.

In fact despite retiring last December, he’s still milking at the college every weekend, having joined relief milking services.

‘I’ve worked all my life and still enjoy the relief milking and keeping in touch with people,’ he said.

When he’s not working he enjoys travel, including trips to the US to see daughter Colette, who has lived in Boston for over 20 years.

Winning The Southern Star monthly farming award is a ‘big honour.’

‘It’s really nice to be recognised. I’m delighted with it and want to thank all involved in the awards – I think they’re a brilliant idea,’ he said.

Tributes were also paid to him by his former colleagues.

‘The staff in the college are delighted that John is being recognised in this way for the input he has had, not only for Teagasc, but in his role in mentoring many generations of dairy farmers in West Cork and across Munster. At his recent retirement party, past colleagues spoke warmly of the times they worked with him and the changes that have happened in farming since he came to Clonakilty from his native Tipperary over 50 years ago. ‘We congratulate him on well- deserved award,’ said college principal Keith Kennedy.

Reflecting on his career spanning more than five decades John realises how lucky he’s been: ‘I loved my job and I’ve worked with some great people from Teagasc and the college, and still get to keep in touch through the relief milking. I’m also lucky in that I’m fit and healthy – I’m definitely not ready to hang up my wellingtons for good just yet!’ he said.

Why we support West Cork farming

Michael and Eibhlin Keohane of Keohane Readymix.

Michael and Eibhlin Keohane of Keohane Readymix speak of the crucial role the agricultural sector plays in their construction materials business, supplying readymix concrete, aggregates, and blocks.

The West Cork Farming Awards recognise excellence within a highly competitive farming sector that truly deserves this acknowledgment, and we’re honoured to provide our support.

With over 45 years of experience supplying to farmers in West Cork, we understand the unique needs of the farming community. Managing and containing silage, effluent, and run-off, the daily wear and tear on roadways and animal enclosures from heavy livestock and machinery – we know better than most the challenges farmers face.

In our in-house lab, we’ve developed our own Keohane Agrimix concrete, specifically designed for farmyards, farm roadways, milking parlours, livestock buildings, silage pits, and silage effluent tanks. It fully complies with department specifications, a must for grant-aided farm buildings.

Our team of over 100 staff includes extended family and those we consider family, all of whom live in the surrounding West Cork region. In 1979, our father, Paddy Keohane, founded the company with the goal of providing high- quality construction materials to farmers in West Cork, and we’ve been dedicated to doing that ever since.

Over the years, we’ve expanded our business to supply home builders and larger industrial construction projects. We operate state-of-the-art automated readymix plants and quarries at Ballygurteen, Innishannon, Dunmanway, Clonakilty, and Rosscarbery. Our construction arm specialises in farm buildings.

The agricultural sector in West Cork and our long-established relationships with customers in the farming community remain a top priority for us now and will continue to do so into the future.