Robert lives on Hillview Farm in Droumgarriffe with his wife Shirley, their four children – Dyane (14), Claire (12), Stephen (11), Sarah (4), and 70 dairy cows. All the kids help out on the farm, and there’s plenty to keep them entertained. Until recently, Stephen had dreams of growing up to play for Manchester United. Now, Robert has given Stephen some responsibilities on the farm, and Stephen wants to be a farmer himself!

Hillview farm has been passed down to Shirley Shannon from her parents, and has been in her family for as long as anyone can remember. Both Robert and Shirley’s family love farming - everyone in both of their families has been a farmer.

Robert is a member of two farming discussion groups, where farmers from the local area get together at a different farm every month. Each month, the group discusses what is happening at that particular farm (which is often the same thing that is happening at all their farms), and discuss the best way to manage any problems that may arise.

Recently one of the discussion groups won a discussion group competition, where the group had to present their figures, discuss their techniques and the benefits of working as a group. The group won 10,000 euros, and used the money to fund an educational farming trip to Missouri. They visited 7 farms, and learnt a great deal about time management, managing farms on a much bigger scale, and the development of grass farming.

Robert is very technical about his farming, and correctly runs his farm as a family business. He carefully rotates his cows to ensure they are always grazing on fresh new grass, and carries out regular grass budgets, so he knows exactly how much grass is available on his farm to feed the cows.

Robert loves farming, as he gets to be his own boss. For him, farming is not a 9-5 job, and although he works extremely hard, he can work at his own pace. He also loves his journey to work – rather than having to battle through traffic jams, he simply has to step out of his front door and he’s on his farm!