Coote Geelan

Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim

I’m Coote Geelan and I am farming near Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim.

We have Herefords alongside some pedigree Suffolk and Border Leicester sheep as well as some commercial sheep too. I started farming with my father once I finished school. Then I went and worked as an agricultural contractor for several years. In 1979 I came back to farming full time and my father passed the farm on to me.

We still use a lot of our older machinery on the farm including a Leyland 2100 and a Leyland 285 Leyland as well as several 272s and a 262 – all Leyland. We pull a JF900 precision chop harvester and for as long as we can still get parts for them, we will use them day to day on the farm. When I was contracting, I worked on a lot of different machines, and I suppose I got a bug for it, and I enjoy doing our own work and want to keep working on them when I can.

In 1973 we bought our first Hereford, which was an in-calf heifer called Kildrum Fairy and she was the start of our Hereford herd here. Then over the next few years we added several other heifers, but the Kildrum Fairy blood line is still here, 40 or 50 years later. I’ll be turning 70 next year but I’ll continue to breed Herefords here as long as I am able.