Martin Crowe Agricultural Consultants in Doon, Co Limerick has built up a glowing business since being first established in 2002. Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with the man himself to learn more about the services he provides and how else he serves the industry.
So far as Agricultural Consultants go, not many more have a better reputation for the quality of the service in which they provide than Limerick man Martin Crowe.
Since setting up his consultancy firm, Martin has specialised in work in knowledge transfer (ie discussion groups), TAMS applications, Planning Permissions and Drawings for Agricultural Sheds.
A dairy farmer and Pure Friesian Breeder himself, Martin’s family has been steeped in farming for generations and his love for the agricultural industry has since led him towards a career where he now offers advice to others in the same field as him.
“We’re based in Carrigmore in Doon, Co Limerick,” explained Martin.
“I’d have set up the company 13 years ago and I do all forms of schemes for farmers, from general farm advice to discussion groups. Anything to do with farming schemes, I do it.”
A graduate from University College Dublin, Martin is an adviser to farmers with both technical and department of agriculture schemes advice and is currently specialising in dairying.
He is also a qualified facilitator for discussion groups of which he is running a number of.
“I’ve a degree in Agricultural Science from UCD and I would have started farming on my own back in 1998, doing small bits and pieces,” he stated. “Then I got into agri consultancy and haven’t really looked back from it, to be honest. I love the work I’m doing at the moment now.
“Business is very good. Right now I’m doing a lot of work on planning permission and then on top of that I work on my own farm myself, so there’s no let up for me really. At the moment, I’m farming about 180 acres and milking 120 cows.”
The past couple of years may have saw a stinging recession hit the industry, along with many others, but so far as Martin is concerned he has come away unscathed for the most part.
“It affected the department schemes alright but our line of work here wasn’t really hit,” he said.
“We’ve been benefiting from the recent upturn now with regards to new planning permissions being put in and other new projects going ahead, so we can’t have any complaints.”
The clientele base is close by, according to Martin, who has gained their business and trust through a reliable service and the valuable experience he has gained down the years.
“Our customers would be local enough. Most of them would be all within a 30-mile radius and a large portion of them would be dairy and beef farmers,” he explained.
“I’m a pure Friesian breeder myself and two years ago we celebrated over 60 years breeding Friesians of Dunum, which started back in 1953.”
In July of last year, the Irish Pure Friesian Club hosted its ‘Open Day’ at the farm of Martin and Paddy Crowe & family in Carrigmore, Doon, Co Limerick.
The day was a fitting tribute to the herd which celebrated over 60 years of Pedigree Friesian breeding.
Martin is the third generation to farm the land following in the footsteps of his father Paddy and grandfather Timothy H. The family began farming in Carrigmore, Doon in the 1800s by milking Shorthorns and today the milking herd consists of 102 spring calving pedigree registered Pure Friesian cows with all replacements reared on farm.
The ‘Dunum’ herd was founded in the spring of 1953 when Timothy H. Crowe bought three pedigree cows. He called the herd Dunum because he maintained it was the Latin name for Doon, the local village. Around that time AI was being introduced and he used the best bulls standing in local AI
Patrick Crowe, Timothy’s son, then took over the running of the herd and continued to breed Friesians.
As a result of the widespread switch to Holsteins in the late 80s and early 90s, Patrick had great difficulty in sourcing quality British Friesian AI bulls, but he has Dovea AI and the late Dermot Cahill (RIP) to thank for the supply of proven bulls during this time.
During his time at the helm, Paddy built up a large network of customers from Louth to Kerry and everywhere in between, who bought replacement heifers and breeding bulls.
Many loyal customers still return to the Dunum herd for breeding stock today and Patrick was also was a founding member of the Limerick and Clare Friesian Breeders club, serving as chairman of the club in the 1980s.
Martin would take over the reins when he took on the responsibility of the farm in 1998 and he continued the breeding policy adopted by his father. The reason for this was that he was impressed by the excellent fertility of the Pure Friesian whilst at the same time maintaining high production yields, with a herd average of 1,500 gallons at the time.
The success of the Friesian breeding policy is evidenced by the continued strong demand for Dunum breeding stock.
In 2007, the Dunum Sneacta 32 was the first Pure Friesian awarded the IHFA Diamond Lifetime Production Award.
The Dunum herd embarked on the show circuit with the introduction of Pure Friesian classes at the Emerald Expo and the Tullamore show and by 2011 the Dunum Sneacta 86 won the champion Pure Friesian at both shows.
Since first becoming involved, Martin has always placed great emphasis on herd health by screening the milk quarterly for diseases and also screening cows twice annually for Johnes. This has gone a long way in guaranteeing him a healthy and trouble free herd.
Martin is currently a member of the Agricultural Consultant Association and is a former chairman of his local GAA club Doon, whom compete in Limerick’s east division. He also currently serves as lotto chairman for the club.
Crowe Agricultural Consultants
Address: Carraigmore,
Doon, Co Limerick
Tel: 086 8290769
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 1, January 2016
