‘The roof just flew away from the calf shed’

THE ROOF was blown off Paudy O’Brien’s calving shed in Co Cork by Storm Ophelia, but he has no further farm damage to report apart from a couple of trees falling to earth on his farm. “The power didn’t go, like it did in 2014 when I was cut off for five days. So it wasn’t so bad and anyway we are alive,” the 38-year-old says very matter of factly.

The cattle finisher and businessman, farms 120 acres of “good land” near Doneraile and he is philosophical about damage to the farm buildings.

“We rear the calves in a shed which looks like a greenhouse and the roof just flew away. But it had a 10-year guarantee and it was 10 years old.”

The lessons Paudy has learned from the latest extreme weather event is how we are all very dependent on the ESB and its ability to maintain power throughout the country and also how reliant we are on social media for information.

Paudy, is married to Dubliner Samantha, a Slimming World consultant whose grandparents ran a dairy farm in Donard, Co Wicklow. The couple have a one-yearold boy Patrick.

After completing his Green Cert in Clonakilty College, Paudy took over the family farm when his father Patrick retired nearly 20 years ago. Three years ago he took the unusual step of switching the from dairying to cattle finishing, but he has no regrets.

“I had around 70 British