Irish Independent - Farming

Golf fanatic cuts loose in silage field

- LOUISE HOGAN

WE’VE all heard of crop circles but beef farmer Pat Shortt couldn’t believe his eyes when he found golf greens cut into his silage crop.

One of his neighbours spotted a golf fanatic with a lawn mower cutting three circles into the silage field near Clane, Co Kildare.

“A neighbour alerted me as he was spraying. He called and said he saw a fellow in it with a lawnmower,” said Pat, adding the neighbour found it very funny. “I went up last Sunday morning. I found a pile of golf balls and two clubs.”

The three circles in his rented field varied in size between six metre diameter to 10 metre diameter.

“At the end of the day you wouldn’t lose a bale of silage to all of the greens. It doesn’t worry me too much,” said Pat who is the fourth generation of the family to farm at Clane. However, he felt it was a bit on the “cheeky side”.

“That is the problem when you are near housing,” said Pat, adding the area has become built up over the years and he did occasional­ly find stray golf balls in another field near a residentia­l area.

“I don’t want to lose a bullock to a golf ball,” he said, adding he was a bit worried that when he cut the crop in July that there might be stray balls in it.

“There are four or five courses within about 5km of Clane – there are plenty of places to play golf rather than in the silage field.”

 ??  ?? Pat Shortt on the improvised golf green cut into his silage field near Clane, Co Kildare
Pat Shortt on the improvised golf green cut into his silage field near Clane, Co Kildare

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