On the back of the Irish bullock

would allow him to spend more time with his own kids rather than spending days and nights on the road as a salesman.

However, as he says himself, the farm had never really been able to prov ide an income that would keep a family going.

Hughes, who has two children under the age of si x, applied and qualif ied for farm assist but he also star ted working on ways to make his suckler cows pay their way.

“I decided to tr y selling beef burgers from some of the animals from the farm at a festival in the local town of Castlef inn,” he recalls. “It was a watershed moment. With just a little mobile hob and a 10f t gazebo we took in €1,500 in one day from selling 300 burgers at €5 a go.”

Buoyed by this initial foray, Hughes realised that he could go a step f ur ther if he got pigmeat on the menu too.

“I realised that nobody was that interested in eating beef before lunch, but ever ybody would go for a bit of pork if we stuck it in a break fa st bap,” he says.

A year on Thomas has bought a new cattle trailer and conver ted it into a foodgrade wagon, teamed up with well-know n chef Brian McDermott and developed a business keeping the heav ing hordes f uelled at festivals and open- days all over the countr y under the Lisnamulligan brand.

“T his farm has never know n the like of the cashf low that this has been able to create. I’m really look ing for ward to this season and getting a real buzz of f the fact that I’m creating some- thing for the family.”

T hursday saw me rev isiting the ever- entrepreneurial Eoin Sharkey who has developed a thriv ing business supply ing freerange turkeys, geese and occa sionally rabbit to restaurants and the public. A nother income from a farm of less than 50ac.

By their nature, small businesses making ar tisan food tend to be labour intensive. T hey are also perfect f its with areas where the need for employ ment is g reatest. A ll are proof that there’s more ways to skin a cat, rabbit or whatever you’re hav ing yourself.

A nd there’s more ways to build an ag r icultural sector than just milking cows, fattening steers or ploughing hundreds of acres for corn.