Killarney

By Sean Moriarty
<h3>The manager of one of the first beef farms in Europe to go fully robotic will share some of her secrets at an event this weekend.</h3>
Tomies-resident Aine Sweeney is the manager of South Glen Farm near Banteer in Cork.
 She is one of the guest speakers at the Killarney Valley Classic and Vintage Club&rsquo;s tractor show at Killarney Racecourse on Sunday.
 South Glen is owned by Frank and Theresa Murphy from Killarney.
 Theresa&rsquo;s late father Gerry ran the farm as a dairy concern but the Murphy family wanted to streamline the operation so they could concentrate on other business interests.
 In 2014 they introduced a Lely Vector automated feeding system to the now dry-stock farm. It was the first feeding robot to be introduced to a beef unit in Europe although Lely technology was already popular in dairy farms.
 The robot allows manager Aine to spend more time on the operation and administrative side of the farm instead of the previous two times a day feeding regime.
 &ldquo;The robot does three things. It measures the amount of feed available, it delivers feed to areas once it knows feed is running low and pushes food back close to a wall to where the cattle will eat it,&rdquo; she explained.
 The robot operates 24/7 and Aine can manage it all from an App on her phone.
 Other guest speakers at Sunday&rsquo;s event include Michael Hoey who owns the biggest collection of vintage farm machinery in Ireland.
 Tralee-based farmer Tommy Moynihan will explain how to overcome a farm accident and Aeneas Horan, of event sponsor Buckley Agri, will be on hand to describe the latest in New Holland tractors and ambulances.
 All proceeds will be donated to CRITICAL &#8211; The Emergency Medical Response Charity, and gates open to the public at 11am.

Farm robotics a highlight of Sunday’s tractor show

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