Kennelly clan rules Kingdom
Kerry family honoured for four decades of true dedication, reports Martin Ryan
FARMING on the edge of Banna Strand in North Kerry has not deterred Peter Kennelly from having a huge input into the activities of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association (IHFA) nationwide over the last four decades.
Tradition in the black and white breed runs deep into the fertile soil at Akeragh, outside Ardfert, where for generations they have been the chosen breed to receive a very strong family commitment.
While the herd has quadrupled in size, contributing its own share to the growth in popularity for dairy farming, it is still a family-run enterprise, something that is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future, because of the strong commitment to the breed by generation after generation.
Nonetheless, Peter’s colleagues in the IHFA, will talk freely about the equal commitment which the Kerryman, and his family, have shown by support for the association and their regular presence at most association events, almost regardless of location or distance to be travelled over the decades.
Such is their appreciation of his involvement, they have decided to accord to him the highest honour in the IHFA and within a couple of months he will be wearing the ceremonial chain of office as IHFA national president.
“I am looking forward to it,” he says from his home in the Kingdom last week. “It will mean a bit more travel for me — it will involve a two-and-a-half hour drive to the meetings at Portlaoise — but it is a great honour.”
A colleague in the IHFA tells me that Peter will take it all in his stride because of his enthusiasm and dedication, recalling, “I was having a chat with him on the morning of the National Livestock Show at Tullamore Show as he was preparing cattle and he told me that he had left home at 3am.”
Commitment
He was equally full of praise for the family commitment. “His daughters always accompany him at the shows, at times there will be three generations of the family taking part in the show ring.
“I was born into Friesian breeding,” he says, pointing out that his father Teddy’s choice of dairy breed was the black and white Friesians.
“I remember when he kept 25 cows here,” adding that “they were milking cows on nearly every farm at that time but the number of dairy farmers has reduced and the herd size has increased a lot.”
The same is true of the Akeragh herd which now numbers 100 Holstein Friesians.
“I don’t think we are any better off today, because the price of all farm inputs has increased a lot since the 1980s and we were getting nearly as much for the milk that time as we are getting now,” says Peter.
Nevertheless, expansion was necessary for survival and like other farmers he has become part of that trend.
“I started off with a few Jerseys when I was going to national school but I didn’t stay with them and the black and white would always be my number one breed,” he says.
“We had half and half British Friesian and Holstein up to 2003 when the herd was liquidated and when I restocked the herd I went for all Holstein-Friesian,” he explains. The herd was rebuilt following the brucellosis by selecting cows and heifers from
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