‘You can’t turn a stone without an official butting in’
DAVID Diggins is an optimist by nature, despite the odd trauma which life can bring — like the accidental burning down of one of his cattle sheds at the beginning of spring in which six of his calves perished.
A faulty wire in a lunger over-heated, and it was a drama which any farmer could do without, especially in this weather-affected year.
Everything is now back to normal at David’s dairy enterprise, including the shed, which was replaced last week.
David farms 74 acres of “good land” outside Ballybunion, Co Kerry, where he milks a herd of 54 cross breeds (Friesians, Jerseys and Rotbunt), supplying Kerry Group.
He doesn’t dwell too much on the current Kerry milk price except to say: “It is down but okay — things can only get better.”
David (54) has been farming since he was 13 — initially with his late father, John, and now on his own, though his mother, Rose, keeps a watchful eye on the enterprise from her home on the farm.
“I’ve been farming since I was a kid. I did the Leaving Cert and all that but farming was always my main thing,” David says.
He has four siblings: Mairead, “who farms with her husband Tom up the road”, Pat, who is a teacher locally, Maura, a solicitor in Dunboyne, Co Meath, and Brendan, who works with Pfizer in Cork.
David is unmarried — he says he has never found a woman “tough enough for the job”.
He is holding his own on fodder for the cows so far this year despite a fall in the tonnage of his first cut and a predicted fall in his second cut, but he expects real fodder problems come wintertime.
“It’s not for me to tell Agriculture Minister Michael Creed what his job is or what to do, but there will be fodder problems in a few months’ time throughout the country,” David predicts.
However, he would like to tell the minister that he could cut back on the amount of red tape emanating from Agriculture House in Dublin.
“There seems to be two officials around for everything a farmer does. You can’t turn a stone without an official butting in,” David remarks.
On the home front he is underwhelmed by the proposal that the Kerry Coop should spin out its stake in Kerry Group. David feels that liquidating the shares would only be a boon for the taxman and would deprive the shareholders of a valuable asset.
I THINK THE KERRY SHARES SHOULD BE HELD ON TO UNTIL A PROPER OFFER IS PUT ON THE TABLE
“There are different views on the issue among the shareholders but I believe it is a bad idea because most of the value in the shares would go to the taxman,” he says.
“But then I am a glass half full man and I think the shares should be held onto until a proper proposal is put on the table.”
Off farm, David’s main interests are card-playing — ‘41’ with friends in local pubs — and the fortunes and misfortunes of the Kerry football team.
“I don’t know what’s happening these days and I don’t know what is going on