While most 18-year-olds are obsessing over CAO points, campus life and what colour bed sheets to bring to college, Niamh O’Regan from Kilcorney in Cork is swapping lecture halls for livestock – and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Fresh out of her Leaving Cert, Niamh is already clear on what she wants from life. Not a business degree. Not a marketing job in a glass tower in Dublin. She wants muck on her boots, cattle in the yard, and mart days with her family. In an age when farming can often be dismissed as old-fashioned or gruelling, Niamh sees beauty in the graft – and it’s something that’s been in her bones since she was five.
“I just remember being on the farm, and something about it stuck with me,” she tells All About Cork.
It’s not a new story that farming runs deep in rural Ireland, but it is refreshing to hear it told from the mouth of a young woman, full of passion and ambition. Farming is still seen by some as a man’s world – all road frontage and heavy machinery but Niamh’s generation is quietly rewriting that narrative. And she’s doing it with overalls on, her hair tucked under a cap, and just the tiniest bit of makeup when she ventures out to the mart – “just in case I might meet someone!” she laughs.
When asked what it is about farming that she loves so much, she doesn’t pause for a second. “It’s all of that,” she says. “The cattle, the lifestyle, the nature. I love watching the cattle grow. There’s something nice about it.”
There’s a quiet wisdom in the way she speaks about her work. While others her age are planning Erasmus years, Niamh’s focus is on feeding cattle, minding her herd and watching the calendar for mart days. “Definitely the highlight of the week,” she says with a grin. “You’re with family, the lads, the buzz of it all.”
She talks through a typical mart day with the ease of someone who has it down to a fine art. “Cattle collected by 9, out there by half 10. You walk the rings, check the lot numbers, maybe buy something, into the office, then home.” It’s something that might sound dull to the average teenager – but to Niamh, it’s where she’s happiest.
And while the days can be long and the weather brutal – like last January when Ireland was covered with heavy snow and she was out on the tractor “in the thick of it” – Niamh doesn’t flinch. “That’s just the job,” she shrugs. “You go out and do what needs doing.”
Even her teachers were a bit shocked when she declared farming was her future. “I think they thought I’d go down another path,” she says. But for Niamh, the decision to stick with farming was never about rebelling against expectations – it was just about being true to herself.
That’s not to say she’s ignoring education altogether. She plans to study agriculture formally – “you kind of have to these days,” she notes – and she’s keen to keep learning. “Not everything yet,” she says when asked about her skills. “But I’m learning.”
And what about love? Does she dream of a fellow farmer to share the workload – and the life with? “Yeah,” she smiles. “That would be ideal. A good farmer who gets it.”
She’s part of a new wave of young women who aren’t just entering farming – they’re owning it. “There are a few of us,” she says, when asked if she knows other girls her age doing the same. There’s no sense of competitiveness – just quiet pride in a shared path.
And despite the stereotypes of farmers being flush with land and cash, Niamh is quick to correct it. “Just because someone owns a farm doesn’t mean they’re loaded,” she says firmly. “It’s hard work, and there’s way more to it than people think.”
Still, even with the early mornings, the unpredictable weather and the physical toll, Niamh wouldn’t swap it for anything. Farming, to her, isn’t just a job – it’s a calling. And it’s not about sticking with tradition for the sake of it, either. It’s about forging a future that’s grounded, meaningful, and real.
So if you’re wondering what the next generation of Irish farmers looks like, don’t look to the past. Look to Killcorney, where an 18-year-old girl is trading classrooms for cattle and carving out a life – and legacy – of her own.
And to any young woman wondering if farming could be for her? Niamh has just four words: “Go for it. Honestly.”
