The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE IT’
Ireland rugby captain Ciara Griffin’s verdict on farming:
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-
ever, he also pointed out that the latest available CSO figures from 2010 show that the number of family farms owned by women in Ireland remains low at 12.4%.
For Ciara, getting into farming was all about family. “My father and mother have always encouraged me, and my grandparents, too,” she said. “We used to have sheep and, you know, when you are young they are lovely to have around, especially at this time of year. Plus, when you are young there are still plenty of jobs you can do minding sheep.
“Nowadays, I can basically do most anything around the farm and I love leaving everything else behind and getting stuck in.”
However, with the uncertain fortunes of up-and-down beef prices, Ciara won’t be giving up the day job anytime soon. “You have to love it [farming]. It’s a vocation, really,” she said.
“I see some people and they have their day job as well as the farm – but then they can end up working 15-16 hours a day, and that’s tough. So, yes, yo have to love it.”
But, then, Ciara does clearly love life on the farm - “it’s my mindfulness time” - and with the kind of schedule she keeps having a bolthole she loves is just the medicine after a bruiser on the pitch.