This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

Tag: Causeway

Macra in 1968, Athea and Dairymaster, a Kerry Success Story

A Rook

Photo: Graham Davies

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Macra na Feirme Dance in 1968

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The Giant’s Garden, Athea


Athea always looks super neat and tidy thanks to the hard work off its Tidy Town Committee.

Wind turbines on the hills above Athea

This crucifix stands by the graveyard on the site of a old church.

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From little acorns……..


This is a mega North Kerry success story.

Causeway is a small village in North Kerry, sixteen kms from Tralee. 

It is nestled in an area rich in dairy and agricultural enterprise.

The village has a population of 257 souls.

This number is boosted everyday with the influx of second level students to Causeway Comprehensive School.

(Photo from the internet)
But there is another complex which sees a huge influx of people into Causeway every day.

(photo from the internet)

Dairymaster in Causeway is the global headquarters of the acknowledged world leader in agricultural technology.

Dairymaster is 50 years old this year, having been set up by Edmond Harty, senior.

Dr. Edmond Harty, son of the founder,  and now CEO of Dairymaster has moved the company to the top of the dairy technology industry.

Edmond is Adjunct Full Professor in the School of Biosystems and Food Engineering at UCD College of Engineering and Architecture.  But it is not for this that he is famous.

Dairymaster harnesses all of today’s internet of things, embedded sensors, wearable technology (for cows) and cloud computing to make a dairy farmers job easier.

These cows are wearing their Moomonitors which take millions of readings daily about everything about the cows health and fertility and feeds that information back to the farmer.

A modern milking parlour, photos from Dairymaster’s website

And now the latest news is that Dairymaster has teamed up with IT Tralee and Science Foundation Ireland to research a millions of dollar project to improve farmers output while decreasing their work.

Dr. Ednond Harty is a world class entrepreneur and innovator. He is my nomination for Kerryman of the century.

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Down Memory Lane


I recently met up with Jean Kiely and her girlhood friend, Eileen Greaney.  Jean was on a birthday visit to The Kingdom.  She was kind enough to bring me some old photos for our Presentation Secondary 75 commemoration.

Dairymaster, Moo monitor and Tadhg’s party

Have you ever heard of a Moo Monitor?

This is the latest ingenious device developed just down the road from Listowel at Dairymaster in Causeway.

Dairymaster is a massive international success story in the dairying industry. Its dynamic CEO, Edmond Harty, is shortlisted for one of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. I hope he wins. 

The programme will be broadcast live on RTE 1 at 10.50p.m. on Thursday next.

Even if you know nothing about dairy farming, you will be amazed at the achievements of this local company at the cutting edge of farming technology.

http://www.dairymaster.com/

Dr.Edmond Harty is the Technical Director of Kerry-based Dairymaster, a world leader in the development and manufacture of dairy farm equipment.

A Mechanical Engineer by profession, Edmond joined the family business in 1998, whilst studying for a PhD in UCD where he focused on the area of milking performance.This focus on in-house R&D, manufacturing and the application of advancements in engineering technology has remained core to the business’ international success, and has enabled the company to be at the cutting-edge of product innovation while retaining jobs locally – a factor that is very important to Harty.Dairymaster’s innovative product range encompasses five key areas: Milking Equipment; Automated Feeding Systems; Hydraulic Manure Scrapers; Cow Fertility Monitors; and Milk Cooling Tanks.By milking each cow an average of one minute faster than the competition, Dairymaster’s state-of-the-art milking equipment delivers 5% more yield in scientific trials and.In turn, this superior milk-out, natural milking and a focus on automation allows the dairy farmer to make smarter management decisions.The range of automated feeding systems identifies each animal via a chip in the cow’s ear tag and its Smart Feeder System has been recently developed to provide custom-feeding to cows during the dry period.Connection to The Cloud allows remote monitoring of the farm which ensures the correct allocation of energy and minerals within the animal’s feed and this subsequently results in fewer health issues for the dairy herd and improved milk yields.Dairymaster’s hydraulic manure scrapers are recognised as market leaders and provide significant labour and cost-saving efficiencies to farmers, while its recently developed MooMonitor has revolutionised the highly-problematic and costly area of herd fertility.This pioneering nanotechnology monitors animal behaviour on a 24-hour basis and allows those challenged cows to be identified at the earliest possible stage.A complementary smartphone app has also been developed which allows the system to be viewed remotely.The addition of the SwiftCool milk-cooling tank to its product portfolio has provided the dairy industry with further opportunities to improve milk production performance and can even advise the farmer when milk has been collected from his farm.Headquartered in Causeway, County Kerry, the company also has operations in the UK and the US, and employs 220 people internationally.Over 70% of production is exported to customers in over 40 countries worldwide.Products: Dairymaster is regarded as the world leader in the development and manufacture of labour saving, automated devices for the global dairy industry.Customers: Clients of the Kerry firm include wholesale and retail customers located in over 40 countries that include Ireland, UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Iran.What role does CSR play in your business strategy? We are involved in a number of projects that range from facilitating interaction with schools and colleges, and donating equipment to Dublin Zoo, to supplying product to third world countries.We also take cognisance of our carbon footprint when designing Dairymaster equipment and ensure that it is energy efficient.What is the best business advice you ever received? If you have a problem, tackle it head on and deal with it.Sort it out as quickly as possible as it will not go away by itself.

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1924

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Royal George Hotel, Limerick 1960s

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The hotel on Saturday was awaiting the arrival of Tadhg and Nicole for the party of the year in town.

Don’t forget RTE 1 7.00p.m. tomorrow night for the same Tadhg in The Gathering; Homeward Bound



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