‘YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE IT’
OCEANBLU seaweed meal is a natural source of vital vitamins & minerals which contains beneficial sugars to support the healthy growth and development of animals.
The seaweed is hand harvested in accordance with a traidtional and sustainable method that has been used for centuries along the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
The meal contains a wide range of Vitamins including B vitamins and E (Tocopherol). It is high in Minerals essential for healthy growth and development. The micro and Macro minerals include Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iodine, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Selenium, Cobalt, Boron and Copper.
It is high in Dietary Fibres promoting healthy gut flora and digestion with Alginic Acids, Laminarins and Fucoidans, as well as high in Natural Antioxidants. From vitamins and Phenolic compounds. And Last but not Least it is produced from fresh, clean and hand-harvested Irish seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum)
For more information or to place an order, contact Denis at Sustainable Farming Ireland, 087 2383900. TEACHER, international rugby player and farmer Ciara Griffin simply didn’t have time to talk on Monday.
After a bruising defeat to Scotland on Sunday – the first in 11 years - the Ireland captain was back at work teaching on Monday. That day was extra long as Ciara did a stint of what teachers call ‘Croke Park [deal] hours’, and then, travelling back from Limerick to Kerry she picked up some calves along the way. Speaking on Tuesday morning, she said she was due “back in camp tomorrow [ Wed] in preparation for the game with England on Friday night”.
That games comes on the eve of the Six Nations grand finale in Twickenham on Saturday, St Patrick’s Day, when already tournament champions Ireland take on the English in a bid for the grand slam.
With schedule that busy it is, perhaps, no surprise when Ciara talks so enthusiastically about her farming life – it’s her bolthole as well as her passion.
“Oh yes, I do miss it when I’m not farming, especially at times like now when it’s so busy with everything else,” she said. “I love getting out there, looking after the animals. Even just watching the cattle chewing the cud, or getting various jobs done around the farm; that’s the kind of thing I love and I really miss it when I’m away from it.”
Ciara’s family have a beef farm and also rear dairy heifers - and any spare hours are spent doing this. “It’s lovely ‘off ’ time, you forget about everything. You’re doing what you love, and it’s just time for yourself to think and clear your head,” she says.
Ciara also has her own cattle and is rearing a number of beef heifers into two year olds; and she’s aiming to sell some bulls in the coming weeks.
On International Women’s Day last Friday (March 8), IFA president Joe Healy called for more supports and incentives to encourage women to take a central role in farming. “Encouraging more women to become actively involved in farming will improve the viability of both family farms and rural communities,” he said. “There are a number of practical, social and cultural barriers to women’s participation in agriculture that must be addressed. The role played by women is vital to agricultural productivity but is traditionally understated.”
The IFA president said women account for a quarter of the agricultural workforce. How-