Clongowes farm on show

In the 1931 Clongownian, Editor Arthur Little pictured a well-endowed shorthorn bull in his editorial, over the caption: “The only prize-winner in the community”. His flippancy seems to have cost him his editorial job, and the farm, 400 acres of prime Kildare land, learned to keep a low profile in Clongowes publications. In 1976 it began to establish a commercial dairy herd. Now, under the management of Pat Fanning, it boasts an outstanding milking herd of 550 cows, heifers and calves, and supplies milk to Glanbia all the year round, with an average of 8990 litres. The Irish Farmers Journal for 21 June gives a glowing write-up of the farm, which will be hosting the Open Day of the IFHA on 26 June.