Young farmer Amie is top of the class
In a man's world, expertise in livestock husbandry and management is a speciality that's hugely beneficial to success, but a young Tipperary woman has now proven that she is tops in the specialised field of livestock farming.
Amie Coonan was crowned National Drystock winner of the 2025 FBD Young Farmer of the Year contest at the awards ceremony at the Killashee Hotel, Co Kildare, last week.
The Templemore native, now farming very successfully locally, has been chosen for her knowledge, expertise and management skills as a practical farmer in stiff competition against both male and female challengers nationwide.
Amie (31) runs a 25-strong Spring calving suckler herd and buys in 45-50 calves annually for a calf-to-beef enterprise, with attention to detail that is faultless on livestock and grassland management to maximise profitability.
The land near Newport was purchased a few years ago following the sale of a holding in South Tipperary and work on the farm features on her very popular YouTube videos which have been attracting up to 20,000 viewers weekly and averages close to 10,000 viewers with a new episode being added each weekend.
But she holds a full-time, off-farm job as the Farm Liaison Team Leader of the ABP Food Group, one of the largest beef processing operations in the world, and her partner, Shane, also works full time off the farm.
Growing up on a dairy farm near Templemore, where suckler farming is now practiced, she graduated with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science Honours Degree in Animal and Crop Production from UCD and a Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Chartered Management Institute (UK), a leading institute in management and leadership training.
She spent almost six years as Area Sales Manager for Dairygold Co-op in South Tipperary, West Limerick and Kerry and nutritionist at the co-op animal feed mill at Lombardstown.
It is broadly acknowledged that she “has a passion for the agricultural industry which is strengthened through her background in the beef and dairy industry within her professional role and on her home farm”.
Her breath of expertise is aided by her personality and communication skills in getting her massage through to farmers countrywide.