‘Get ON my land!’ say local farmers

Every morning, we pour the milk onto our cereal or into our tea but do we ever stop to think about how the milk makes it from the farm to our tables?
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jun 2015, 08:05 BST
(Back Row) Barclay Bell, Deputy President of Ulster Farmers Union with Robert Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ross Beattie from Finvoy YFCU, Brian Knipe and Gillian Knipe from Vowgarve Farm and William Thompson, Agri-Manager, Bank of Ireland UK. (Front Row) Lorna and June Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ballymoney. INBM24-15 S(Back Row) Barclay Bell, Deputy President of Ulster Farmers Union with Robert Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ross Beattie from Finvoy YFCU, Brian Knipe and Gillian Knipe from Vowgarve Farm and William Thompson, Agri-Manager, Bank of Ireland UK. (Front Row) Lorna and June Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ballymoney. INBM24-15 S
(Back Row) Barclay Bell, Deputy President of Ulster Farmers Union with Robert Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ross Beattie from Finvoy YFCU, Brian Knipe and Gillian Knipe from Vowgarve Farm and William Thompson, Agri-Manager, Bank of Ireland UK. (Front Row) Lorna and June Skelton from Carnany Farm, Ballymoney. INBM24-15 S

This weekend you can learn all about dairy and livestock farming as a number of real, working farms in the Ballymoney and Ballycastle areas prepare to open their gates, fields and farmyards as part of Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend.

The initiative which takes places on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June this year, saw almost 20,000 people attend a free farm event in 2014. Now in its fourth year, event organisers are looking forward to another ‘bumper crop’ of farm visitors for the completely free, not-for-profit project which was created by the Ulster Farmers’ Union.

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The local farms taking part in the award-winning initiative are: Vowgarve Farm, 81 Vow Road, Ballymoney, BT53 7NX; Carnany Farm, 77 Kilraughts Road, Ballymoney, BT53 7HL and Broughgammon Farm, 50 Straid Road, Ballycastle, BT54 6NP

Robert Skelton of Carnany Farm will open his farm on Sunday 14th June to give people a real experience of a working farm.

He will also teach the public about the journey of their milk from the farm in Ballymoney right through to the shelves of their local Marks & Spencer store.

Robert, together with his brother Thomas, and son Philip, farm 550 acres of land in the area.

The range of activities on offer at each event will vary by farm, as will opening times, so please visit the website for full details of your nearest free farm event www.openfarmweekend.com.