A WEST CORK man is facing into the year on the back of being named the UK’s Farm Manager of the Year.
Breiffni Daly from Skibbereen is the farm manager on the sprawling Sansaw Estate in Shopshire in England, where he is responsible for 1,500 cows.
He received the award at a glittering ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, hosted by the renowned comedian and actor Stephen Mangan.
The Farmers Weekly Farm Manager of the Year is an annual award which is the pinnacle of the UK agricultural industry.
The judges hailed Breiffni’s ‘infectious’ enthusiasm.
Breiffni told The Southern Star the awards were ‘an amazing experience. I was a nominated by a farm business consultant. The award looks at various things: financial, animal welfare, sustainable farming and environmental measures. I’ve worked on the farm for the past seven years and I love what I do and I’m passionate about what I do.’
Breiffni’s dad Paudie – who is originally from Kilcrohane – and his mother Kathleen live in Toureen and are both rightly proud of Breiffni’s achievements.
Paudie works as a baker in Field’s while Kathleen is an online manager, while his brother Gavin works in aviation in Dublin.
Breiffni developed his love of farming at home in Toureen, and through relatives.
‘I’ve always had a passion for farming, growing up. I have farming in both bloodlines as my father came from a farm in Kilcrohane and my mother in Toureen. I spent a lot of time on the farm with my uncle Pat Hourihane on my mother’s side and my grandparents.’
Breiffni continued to develop that passion when he finished school at St Fachtna’s.
‘I went to Clonakilty Agricultural College and then spent a year in New Zealand. That was a real eye opener,’ he said.
He first went over to work in the UK in 2012, working there for four years as a herdsman.
In 2016 he went home to Ireland, and worked on a farm in Wicklow.
During Covid, Sansaw Farms proprietors James and Asa Thompson came over to meet Breiffni and asked him to return as farm manager, where he has worked as part of an equity arrangement.
‘There’s a staff of 13, and me,’ explains Breiffni.
‘We calve just shy of 1,600 cows in 10 weeks. We calve over 1,000 cows in February alone.’
The farm is a grass-based system, similar to Irish farms, with 700 replacement calves, 1,000 head of beef calves.
Breiffni maintains strong links between Sansaw Dairies and his home country, with students from UCD and MTU Cork taken on every year.
The judges at the Farmers Weekly awards in the UK hailed Breiffni’s financial acumen, saying he ‘manages many risks, budgets closely and spends wisely’.
For Breiffni, forward thinking is the key to the farm’s success.
‘You have to embrace change. No one likes change in any life but we have to embrace change. You try be ahead of it all the time.
‘We’re putting in mixed species, grass swards, planting hedgerows, separating waters, fencing off streams. We’re putting in buffer zones, and just trying to improve the environmental requirements.
‘The milk from cows at Sansaw supplies Arla, a large farmer-owned co-op. Animal welfare is huge here and we have a vet inspection every year and we send a monthly submission.
‘We’re striving to be ahead of the game. Arla is driving it with the best milk from the best farms coming in.’
The Sansaw Estate, in Shropshire is outside Shrewsbury, and the entire estate measures 4,500 acres, with 130 residental estates rented out on the estate.
Sansaw has various elements, including a business park, and James Thompson bought the estate in 2005.
Breiffni has responsibility for the farm.
Breiffni’s success with the Manager of the Year award was a source of immense pride for parents Paudie and Kathleen, who travelled to London for the black tie event at Grosvenor House.
Breiffni’s partner is a Cheshire woman, and they came back to Skibbereen after Christmas to enjoy the festive period with Breiffni’s family in Skibbereen.
When he returns home to West Cork, like Shropshire a centre for some of the best dairy produce in the world, how does it differ?
‘Scale is the big difference,’ reckons Breiffni.
‘I’m still a massive advocate of the family farm and it has an important place.
But in West Cork sometimes you have people competing over the same blocks of ground. There’s more scope in the UK, and not as much competition.’
