Background? I grew up on a farm in Millbrook, Oldcastle, Co Meath, and was the second eldest of six children. My father bred Hereford and Simmental cattle along with suckler cows on the farm. I left school at 15 to help out on the farm with the intention of going to agricultural college when my older brother, John, finished school and was going to stay home for a year. Unfortunately, John got leukaemia before this happened and died at the age of 19. It was a tough time for all the family, especially my parents. What got you into breeding Limousins? A very good friend of my father, William Mulligan from Banbridge, Co Down, would visit regularly and, to hear him talk about the breed and what it had to offer, lit a fuse within me.