Dairy farmer Patrick McCarthy uses the social media app to connect with others and provide advice
ONE West Cork farmer’s TikTok page has become a hub for advice and mentorship for young farmers across the country.
Patrick McCarthy is a dairy farmer from Ballydehob and has amassed hundreds of thousands of views on his videos since 2022, when he started to post on the social media platform where he provides a series of updates and advice to fellow farmers on a regular basis.
‘I’ve been actually doing the weekly farming update on Facebook since 2009,’ Patrick says.
‘I took a chance to try TikTok and it was slow at first but it’s progressed and now I do videos about cow performance and weekly updates of what I’m doing, especially in the Spring.’
Farming can be a lonely business, and Patrick credits his involvement with rural youth organisation Macra – where he was a member of the Caheragh club for 16 years – as the original inspiration for wanting to connect with other farmers.
Patrick is a longtime member of Macra, and was winner of the Macra na Feirme National Leadership Awards in 2017, alongside Cara O’Mahony (left) and James Barber (centre).
‘Seeing young members develop, especially young farmers, who are one of the key areas of Macra, was part of it,’ says Patrick.
‘I’m 42 now and I was mentored by people that are older than me and as a young farmer I found it very, very good. I think the training I got in Macra helped build my confidence in public speaking and stuff like that.’
He’s paying the favour forward, in terms of offering mentorship to younger farmers via his page – although Patrick is quick to outline his opinion is just that, an opinion.
‘I don’t tell anyone what to do, but I give food for thought and I do have a few young farmers asking me for advice. I don’t like putting labels on myself but if I was to, I don’t like thinking of myself as an ‘influencer’, but maybe as a mentor to young farmers to a certain degree.
The advice flows both ways as well, with many people commenting on Patrick’s videos with their own thoughts on best practices or how to manage situations that arise.
‘On my videos I get a lot of advice and a lot of feedback, which is great – it makes me rethink some decisions and ask “am I doing it right?”. So I might end up compromising on some decisions on the farm and say I won’t do it exactly this way and tweak it a little bit.’
Calving is going well on Patrick’s farm so far this year.
A 2024 study from Teagasc and DCU found that farmers face higher levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation than the general population.
Patrick hopes pages like his can help provide an outlet for those who start to struggle on and off the farm.
‘When you’re in your early 20s taking on a farm, it’s a challenge and it is daunting at times,’ he says.
‘There are fantastic opportunities for young farmers now, but to have someone you can just throw ideas off of, it’s fantastic to have someone like that because farming can be very isolating. Even with Macra, it’s one thing they are trying to tackle and it’s obviously one thing it does for young farmers – it’s a social outlet for young farmers, and non farmers as well.
‘I’m not the only one, there are a lot of farmers who use TikTok and it helps to see other young farmers your own age and maybe slightly older talking about things that are happening, whether it’s bad weather or whatever. What it does is it takes a weight off a lot of young farmers because if they’re not in discussion groups and if they’re on the farm seven days a week, when something goes wrong they’re thinking to themselves “oh my god I made a mistake there”, but if they’re on TikTok they’ll see lads having the same problem.’
While social media is a great outlet for farmers, the opportunity to meet other people in person that Macra events give young farmers is just as important, according to Patrick.
He has been Caheragh club chair, public relations officer, secretary and treasurer in his time and was also elected secretary of Carbery in 2009.
In 2014, he was elected as Carbery’s national council representative, serving for two years.
He also served on Macra’s agriculture affairs committee including a year as vice-chair of the committee.
‘Without me being in Macra, there’s not a hope I would’ve had the confidence to start putting up TikTok videos.’
Follow Patrick on TikTok – @paddy2pint.
