Two Donegal farmers to feature on TG4 series 'Mná na Talún'

Hannah Doherty from Glencolumbkille and Gaoth Dobhair’s Bríd Ní hIcí will feature on a four-part TG4 series later this month documenting a year for female farmers.

‘Mná na Talún’ (Women of the Land) follows female farmers across the four seasons of a single farming year, with Hannah, a young, enterprising sheep farmer based in Burt just next door to the Grianan Ringfort, and Bríd - who aims to be as self-sufficient as possible growing vegetables and keeping pigs and goats on her small-holding in the west of the county - two of the four featured.

Úna Ní Bhroin has spent 20 years building up Beechlawn Organic farm in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, along with her husband Pádraig and Clíona Ní Conghaile raises cattle in the traditional style on the unique landscape of Inis Mór, one of the most important areas of biodiversity in Ireland. 

In the first episode of the series, spring is upon the farmers. Hannah is in the middle of lambing season, the busiest time of the year for her and husband Tommy.  Hannah handles a difficult birth that thankfully results in a safe delivery before she hand feeds the safely delivered lamb.

Bríd is gathering seaweed on the beach; it's a natural fertiliser for use in her polytunnel, and reflects her interest in self-sufficiency and natural farming methods. Her small family of animals – goats and horses, as well as Séamus and Pádraig, two young pigs being reared for their meat - will also be introduced.

The first part in the series will be on TG4 on Wednesday, November 23 at 8:30pm Episode two, a week later, focuses on the work taking place on each of the farms during the summer months before the final two parts will hone in on autumn and winter. The four-part series for TG4 made with the support of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF) was produced by Dearcán Media.