Independent columnists

agcons

I see the farming indo has replaced its teagasc columnists with a whole new stable of independent (pardon the pun) writers. A badly needed breath of fresh air judging by what was in yesterdays paper.

BeeDI

agcons wrote: »

I see the farming indo has replaced its teagasc columnists with a whole new stable of independent (pardon the pun) writers. A badly needed breath of fresh air judging by what was in yesterdays paper.

What's your definition of independent??????:mad::mad:

whelan1

agcons wrote: »

I see the farming indo has replaced its teagasc columnists with a whole new stable of independent (pardon the pun) writers. A badly needed breath of fresh air judging by what was in yesterdays paper.

plugging your own business there by any chance:rolleyes:

blue5000

whelan1 wrote: »

plugging your own business there by any chance:rolleyes:

Nice one whelan! I bought the paper and I didn't notice any difference.

agcons

BeeDI wrote: »

What's your definition of independent??????:mad::mad:

Guys like Joe Barry and John Shirley, not afraid to call it as they see it without looking over their shoulder to see if official ireland approves, or worried about whose toes they might be stepping on.

agcons

whelan1 wrote: »

plugging your own business there by any chance:rolleyes:

Talk about stepping on toes!! and whats the point of the sarky?

blue5000

well you're not doctor dan anyway cos hes v busy scanning cows!

John_F

blue5000 wrote: »

well you're not doctor dan anyway cos hes v busy scanning cows!

haha v. good

pakalasa

John Shirley was good, in fairness...and a gentleman to add.
I always valued his opinion.

agcons

blue5000 wrote: »

well you're not doctor dan anyway cos hes v busy scanning cows!

Too true. He is recognised as world class in his field and a seriously hard worker, have heard stories of him being in farmers yards at 6.30 am working away when the farmer arrives to see what the commotion is. 'First thing in the morning' really is 'first thing' when he is on the job

poor farmer

i will miss john donsworth .he is a good dairy adviser

squarebale

please tell me that Joe Healy is gone and I will never have to read his braindead 2-line intros on the previous weekends sport. Does this guy have any idea how predictably facile this is

kenny d

agcons wrote: »

Too true. He is recognised as world class in his field and a seriously hard worker, have heard stories of him being in farmers yards at 6.30 am working away when the farmer arrives to see what the commotion is. 'First thing in the morning' really is 'first thing' when he is on the job

No doubt he picked up the early starts when he was being trained how to PD cows ( and it wasn't in Ireland ! ! )

Birdnuts

agcons wrote: »

Guys like Joe Barry and John Shirley, not afraid to call it as they see it without looking over their shoulder to see if official ireland approves, or worried about whose toes they might be stepping on.

Not a regular reader but Joe Barry rarely disappoints - rock of sense on most issues:)

Tora Bora

Speaking of farming indo, did ye all send in the tokens for the nice red New Holland.:D
Er, I mean Case tractor. :P

whelan1

john shirley talks alot of sense also

funny man

agcons wrote: »

I see the farming indo has replaced its teagasc columnists with a whole new stable of independent (pardon the pun) writers. A badly needed breath of fresh air judging by what was in yesterdays paper.

Guys like Joe Barry and John Shirley, not afraid to call it as they see it without looking over their shoulder to see if official ireland approves, or worried about whose toes they might be stepping on.

Joe and John are there for years now, the guys that replaced the teagasc crew are Mary Kingston who is excellent replacement for john donworth, Dan Ryan who i don't know much about but rarely fails to mention getting cows scanned, who is the other guy i think he's a dairy farmer from up north?

5live

funny man wrote: »

Joe and John are there for years now, the guys that replaced the teagasc crew are Mary Kingston who is excellent replacement for john donworth, Dan Ryan who i don't know much about but rarely fails to mention getting cows scanned, who is the other guy i think he's a dairy farmer from up north?

Oliver Mcdonnell?:D:D:D

funny man

5live wrote: »

Oliver Mcdonnell?:D:D:D

oh yea i remember him, why did he quit?
There is a new guy writing on the dairy section anther dairy farmer can't think of his name.

johngalway

funny man wrote: »

oh yea i remember him, why did he quit?
There is a new guy writing on the dairy section anther dairy farmer can't think of his name.

He probably no longer had the time, still out looking for the few blackies he bought once upon a time, put them in an unsuitably fenced (hedged) field then gave out reams about them escaping :pac:

Bodacious

funny man wrote: »

oh yea i remember him, why did he quit?
There is a new guy writing on the dairy section anther dairy farmer can't think of his name.

Oliver McDonnell ....Wasnt he the boy that got in trouble for slagging off conception rates and semen from an AI company and the paper had to issue an apology... no sign of him after that!!

He used always say "the lads, the lads, the lads" ... "as i write now the lads are chasing the cows down the lane, the lads reckon..etc" ???:D:)

flatout11

ah dr dan part myth part legend...... he is one tough operator!!!!!
tis a pity the indo cant expand god knows a bit of competition would keep the journal on its toes tis getting fair boring these days same stuff every week

pakalasa

flatout11 wrote: »

.....competition would keep the journal on its toes tis getting fair boring these days same stuff every week

I agree. Before, I always read it cover to cover. Now it's a case of, glancing through it to see it there's anything new.:(

vanderbadger

pakalasa wrote: »

I agree. Before, I always read it cover to cover. Now it's a case of, glancing through it to see it there's anything new.:(

+1
its like one big classified section now, I like the the part where they cover a new building or yard. i think they could do alot more with machinery reviewing and it would be nice if they gave a accurate price for new gear as well.

Muckit

vanderbadger wrote: »

+1
its like one big classified section now, I like the the part where they cover a new building or yard. i think they could do alot more with machinery reviewing and it would be nice if they gave a accurate price for new gear as well.

Are you talking about the Farming independent or the Journal Vander?

I think the J3 supplement in the journal is a little laughable to be honest. Yes the first 6-8 pages can have interesting and relevant topics, the rest...... classifieds!!! I can't get my head around it. I'd understand if it had a few full or half page corporate ads to pay for the reporting, but lumping in classifieds for the whole paper to 'bulk' up the supplement isn't wise or fooling anyone. If there is only 4,6 or 8 pages of reporting and the supplement is small.... so be it!

They claim it's a 'pullout'. My take on 'pullouts' is that they should cover an important topic and contain lots of important information, information that is worth keeping or hanging onto! You'd then pull it out and keep it for future reference. How many people do? Who wants to be keeping a supplement that is 60-70% small ad classifieds that are going to date????

flatout11

the machinery section was an after thought pity though
as for the rest ...... the dairy section well enough said, the livestock section is the same old story about a fella putting cattle out in january or a lad doing a great job on ewes or some other nonsense .... same old news oh and did i forget and the 10 commandments and the 2 pages of Better farms ...!!!! to be fair the crops section looks ok!!!!
yet i buy it every week, still it has pictures to look at :rolleyes:
tis a pity there is not enough straight forward articles bit of technical info interesting farm profiles (see the TSF for an example) ah well i guess we are stuck with it

vanderbadger

Muckit wrote: »

Are you talking about the Farming independent or the Journal Vander?

I think the J3 supplement in the journal is a little laughable to be honest. Yes the first 6-8 pages can have interesting and relevant topics, the rest...... classifieds!!! I can't get my head around it. I'd understand if it had a few full or half page corporate ads to pay for the reporting, but lumping in classifieds for the whole paper to 'bulk' up the supplement isn't wise or fooling anyone. If there is only 4,6 or 8 pages of reporting and the supplement is small.... so be it!

They claim it's a 'pullout'. My take on 'pullouts' is that they should cover an important topic and contain lots of important information, information that is worth keeping or hanging onto! You'd then pull it out and keep it for future reference. How many people do? Who wants to be keeping a supplement that is 60-70% small ad classifieds that are going to date????

sorry meant journal, dont actually bother with daily newpaper so never really see farming indo, the online ver seems crap.. i think the problem the journal have is they are very reliant on advertising revenue so they probably cant give rubbish reviews very often as its such a small pond.

redzerologhlen

flatout11 wrote: »

the machinery section was an after thought pity though
as for the rest ...... the dairy section well enough said, the livestock section is the same old story about a fella putting cattle out in january or a lad doing a great job on ewes or some other nonsense .... same old news oh and did i forget and the 10 commandments and the 2 pages of Better farms ...!!!! to be fair the crops section looks ok!!!!
yet i buy it every week, still it has pictures to look at :rolleyes:
tis a pity there is not enough straight forward articles bit of technical info interesting farm profiles (see the TSF for an example) ah well i guess we are stuck with it

I quite like the article's on the better farm program, At least they give good info and figures on whats going on. I like the articles on different beef farmers around the country and abroad too, Its good to see different setups and systems. Its a pity they dont do a weekly update on grange which is supposed to be setting the standard for suckler/beef farmers. As for most of the rest of it...a load of poo!!

flatout11

redzerologhlen wrote: »

I quite like the article's on the better farm program, At least they give good info and figures on whats going on. I like the articles on different beef farmers around the country and abroad too, Its good to see different setups and systems. Its a pity they dont do a weekly update on grange which is supposed to be setting the standard for suckler/beef farmers. As for most of the rest of it...a load of poo!!

never found all that much really interesting in it each week so stopped reading it, i find the weekly updates a bit boring you seet up a system and manage it i dont really want to know if you weaned 5 calves this week!!!!
after 3 years of them i would like to see a critical article comparing cow type or systems from them- thats the kind of info id find interesting
i agree with you the articles from scotland etc were good - different approach to farming may not allways be applicable here but gives you ideas none the less!!!

Bitten & Hisses

vanderbadger wrote: »

+1
its like one big classified section now, I like the the part where they cover a new building or yard. i think they could do alot more with machinery reviewing and it would be nice if they gave a accurate price for new gear as well.

Agreed on the whole machinery pricing thing, but trying to get accurate prices in any form of publication in this country is impossible and a pet hate of mine. Why the secrecy?
The buildings part is a good idea, executed with mediocrity. The pictures are good, but Paul Mooney writes at a Senior Infants level and is prone to errors. A few years back, he wrote an article stating that VAT was reclaimable on farm building materials but not on the labour!

As for the BETTER farmers, I always got the impression that their reports were choreographed to ensure they were giving the same opinions as the Journal's own experts, e.g. Justin McCarthy.

Bogman Billy

squarebale wrote: »

please tell me that Joe Healy is gone and I will never have to read his braindead 2-line intros on the previous weekends sport. Does this guy have any idea how predictably facile this is

He's at it again today

flatout11

Bogman Billy wrote: »

He's at it again today

maybe he is waiting for a call up from RTE for the sunday game

Muckit

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

The buildings part is a good idea, executed with mediocrity. The pictures are good, but Paul Mooney writes at a Senior Infants level and is prone to errors.

I totally agree I wrote to both himself and the editor regarding the poor quality of an article recently, but never heard back from them! I wasn't looking for a long winded full blown response, I know they must be inundated with emails/letters. But just an acknowledgement even of receipt of my email would have sufficed....but no, not a word back.

You never see any 'letters to the editor' than God forbid find fault with them. It seems to be the same heads there too that get their letters published also.... back and forth about the dairy industry. And do they have to keep to the recommended word count, ah not at all. Take up half the page why don't ya, not a bother. Who you know, not what you know. So typically Irish :rolleyes:

Muckit

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

Paul Mooney writes at a Senior Infants level

JUst thinking... sure if his writing is at that level, perhaps his IT skills and comprehension of my email were equally poor.... how could he respond?

Paul, if your reading this, sorry for being so harsh.