There are CEOs who have a less hectic schedule than Fia Finnerty. Aged eight years old and in first class in High Park NS, she juggles her school day alongside athletics, soccer, Gaelic football, Irish dancing, speech and drama, and, most importantly, farming.

Fia lives with her mother and father Eileen and Francis, as well as her two older brothers Niall (12) and JJ (10), outside the village of Dromard, Co Sligo.

Farming is her passion, with some of her first memories being down in the lambing shed in spring, watching ewes give birth. As the years have progressed, her involvement and love for farming has only grown bigger and bigger.

“I have five ewes of my own; Dutch Spotted and Kerry Hill are some of my favourites. I love the Dutch Spotted because of their colours and they are also great mothers, just like the Kerry Hills. I want to try and build up numbers through keeping some of the ewe lambs and possibly buying some more. One of my Kerry Hill ewes, named Z, I purchased after I won the local 50:50 draw.’’

Despite her young age, Fia is capable of assisting a ewe give birth.

“If they need help, you put a glove on and try to find the feet first, then the head before you pull the lamb out. Once you get them out, you have to make sure there is no slime [mucus] around their nose or mouth, and then you put iodine on their navel to stop any infections’’ she explains.

Fia with some of her own sheep. \ James Connolly

Summertime doesn’t mean that Fia will be taking it easy. Show season is approaching and the budding young shepherd has her eyes set on collecting more young handler prizes, having won at the local Beltra show in 2024. A trip to Athlone Show with her aunty Laura is also on the agenda.

Shearing has already been completed, with Fia acting as chief wool packer. Routine tasks such as drenching and foot bathing the flock will have to be completed.

With no sheepdog on the farm, Fia puts her high achievements on the athletics field to good use.

Despite her small size, Fia is also more than capable of tackling some of the tanks of Suffolk-cross ewes on the farm, so rugby may be on her sporting path too.

Future ambitions

Fia hopes to pursue farming as a career in the future. She plans to hopefully expand her ewe numbers and become a full-time shepherd. If provided with a cheque book and a limitless bank account, “more sheep and cows” are the first big ticket items on her shopping list.

“Some Dutch Spotted, Texels, Kerry Hills and some horned ewes would be what I would buy,’’ she says. There’s no doubt that she has a huge passion for sheep farming, something her father Francis echoes.

“When we are lambing, she is my shadow. I could be in the shed late at night tending to ewes and lose track of time. Next thing her mother will ring wondering where she is because it’s 10 or 11 o’clock at night.’’

Fia is also known for being able to match ewes with their lambs months after the sprayed on colours wear off, showing just how much time and affection she has for the flock.

Mart trips

One of Fia’s favourite places to spend a day is Coolaney mart. The family sell most of their sheep there in the summer and autumn months, with Fia never missing a trip to the mart.

Like any good farmer, the mart breakfast is also high on the day’s agenda, sourced from the aptly named Café Fia. Collaney is also where Fia sourced one of her current ewes, with a GAA lotto draw funding another private purchase as well.

Having been entered in to the local 50:50 draw, Fia came away with €350, the majority of which she reinvested through purchasing an in-lamb Kerry Hill ewe who now has two fine ram lambs at foot. When asked about her farming idol, she says it’s dad Francis – and not Irish Farmers Journal sheep editor Darren Carty.

“He shows me so much and brings me everywhere he goes,’’ she says.

Fia is a hero herself, having grown out her hair at the age of six. She then donated 10 inches of it to the Rapunzel Foundation, while at the same time raising over €1,000 for the very worthy Laura Lynn Children’s Foundation.