CountryWide

Countrywide Full Episode 14/02/2026

Duration:00:43:18

Ireland’s Brainiest Bovine

Dan Hanley in Kildorrery nominates 1255 from his Holstein Friesian herd who has mastered pulling the hopper cord to feed herself and her herd mates.

Duration:00:02:55

Dairy Gothic

Writer Dennis Ryan reads an excerpt from his memoir about the last day his father milked his cows.

Duration:00:03:37

Irish dairy farmers more exposed than most

Agri-economist Prof Alan Matthews on why efforts to reduce supply and increase the international price are unlikely to work.

Duration:00:07:06

Cork Butter Museum

Regan Hutchins pays a visit to the museum that explores Irish history through a dairy lens.

Duration:00:07:32

Powdered Milk

Only 10% of Irish milk is sold in Ireland. The rest is sold mostly as powdered milk in three quarters of the countries around the world. Suzanne Campbell reports on how that ingredient is used in everything from dry roasted peanuts to shampoo.

Duration:00:06:04

Milk Price Collapse

A drop in the price of milk in the international markets threatens to cut average dairy farm incomes by €70,000 this year. Dairy Farmers Aoife Ladd, Liam Walshe and Dan Hanley. Paul Smyth from the ICMSA.

Duration:00:10:23

Countrywide Full Episode 07/02/2026

Countrywide Full Episode 07/02/2026

Duration:00:45:00

Financing nature-based flood relief

Rob Gardner, Natural Asset Investment manager argues nature-based flooding solutions give you more bang for your buck than traditional concrete and steel protection.

Duration:00:07:35

The Jet Stream is stuck

Leading Jet Stream expert Dr Jennifer Francis explains how the fast-moving current that used to ensure changeable weather is increasingly getting stuck.

Duration:00:07:59

Flood Prevention

Is the way we are farming partly responsible for flooding, and what changes might decrease damage in the future? Geomorphologist Prof Mary Bourke. Sligo Farmers Eddie Davitt and Joe Leonard. Farming For Water EIP, dairy farmer, Alan Poole. We also spoke to Orla Heffernan, a homeowner in Ballina who suffered a major flooding event in 2015.

Duration:00:21:04

Countrywide Full Episode 31/01/2026

Countrywide Full Episode 31/01/2026

Duration:00:45:08

Why are modern tractors so big?

Charles Hutchenson from Armstrong Machinery answers the question frequently asked by Countrywide’s listeners.

Duration:00:05:19

Richard Lovell Edgeworth

In the 18th century, the father of the author Maria Edgeworth from Longford was the inventor of many agri-mechanical innovations still in use today.

Duration:00:05:55

Tractor collector Kieran Geoghegan

The 91-year old farmer from Westmeath still gets out on his Massey Ferguson 165 every day to do jobs around the yard.

Duration:00:07:55

Safety around farm machinery

40% of workplace fatalities happen on farms. Half of those involve machinery. Suzanne Campbell accompanies a HSA inspector doing a farm safety audit.

Duration:00:06:50

Seamus O’Rourke: Leaning On Gates

An excerpt from Seamus’s memoir Leaning On Gates about what “innovating” with tractors in the eighties.

Duration:00:04:17

Farm Machinery Sector