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00:00And with Christmas almost upon us, Ella is in Kilkenny playing elf to a farmer turned toy maker.
00:08How big an object can you scan?
00:10I could scan you if I wanted to scan you, I suppose, yeah.
00:13With the recent outbreak of Bluetongue in Northern Ireland, Stephen looks at the implications for Irish farming.
00:20I think we need to be really wary of the idea that potentially this virus has crossed the border.
00:25And I'll be taking a chilli dip off the coast of Wartford.
00:29There's a reason most people don't feel this on a Sunday morning.
00:33Before relaxing in a brand new off-farm venture.
00:37In just a week's time thousands of people across the country will be jumping into the sea for their annual Christmas swim.
00:51Before heading for one of the many mobile saunas that have opened up on almost every shoreline.
00:57But our story begins back in October in a milking parlour in Ardmore in County Waterford.
01:05It's a regular Sunday morning on the Keane family farm.
01:09Tony Keane and his son Jack are busy milking their 180 cow herd.
01:13So far so normal on your average Irish dairy farm.
01:17But next door there's something you wouldn't expect to find.
01:19A mobile sauna and hot tub.
01:20It's all to do with the business that Jack set up last July.
01:25So how long will it take to fill this?
01:27So it takes about half an hour to fill the hot tub.
01:28Yeah.
01:29Then we'll get to fire lighting and it takes about two hours then to heat up the hot tub.
01:34So how long will it take to fill this?
01:36So it takes about half an hour to fill the hot tub.
01:40Then we'll get to fire lighting and it takes about two hours then to heat up the hot tub to have it ready for the first session.
01:58So the first session's at 12. So once we have a lighten by 10 we'll be ready to go.
02:04Jack graduated in Ag Science from University College Cork in 2023 before starting a job at the Chagas Advisory Office in Middleton.
02:16I learned a lot there, but the office side of things wasn't really for me. I liked being out in the open, outdoors and stuff.
02:24So I went back farming this year until April and then I decided to try something else out.
02:30Living so close to the sea and with an interest in health and fitness, Jack settled pretty quickly on the idea of starting his sauna and hot tub venture.
02:40I kind of wanted my own little project that I could work on. I wanted something that I'm my own boss in some regard. So I decided to go down this route.
02:48I played GA and sports like that. So I was kind of interested in recovery and there's loads of health benefits around it. Like just even for stress, mental health and all the rest of it.
03:00I used to be going to saunas maybe every weekend, every second weekend myself. The fact that we're so close to the sea here as well, I thought that that was just a good idea to go down that route.
03:12It's lovely down there. So I was kind of looking into different saunas and all the rest of it. And I saw that the mobile option was probably the easiest because if it didn't work out for me, I could always set it on or move it. That it wasn't fixed. I wasn't kind of stuck with it.
03:26Jack purchased his hot tub and saunas from Lithuania at a cost of around 20,000 euros. Until it landed in the yard, his father Tony didn't really know what to think.
03:40I actually thought he was joking the first time. Even the second time to be honest, I thought he was joking.
03:46Maybe you still think it's a bit of a joke, do you? Well, it wouldn't be for me. It wouldn't be what I think. I wouldn't Google it first thing in the morning when I get up.
03:52Yeah. And he had this idea and I said, fine, if you want to go for it, go for it.
03:58Jack has two sisters and a younger brother, but he's the one most interested in farming and the plan is that he will eventually take over here.
04:06But Tony is still far from retiring and it's not easy stepping back from something you've worked hard at building up.
04:14It's hard to know. More than likely he will. More than likely he will, but that's his decision. I won't stop him.
04:20Yeah. But he's got to make it for himself.
04:24I'm only after arriving where I am very lately and you're going to hand it all to the next generation straight away.
04:31I don't know. I don't know. If he shows enough interest then he's willing to take over, yeah, I'd say it is as well to step over the way.
04:39Because it's difficult to have two bosses in the same yard, isn't it?
04:42And we wouldn't be the greatest two bosses to work together, to be honest with you, no.
04:47It's not that easy to hand something straight to a fella.
04:51Just, even besides a good education, he might not have enough suffering to do it.
04:55Yeah.
04:57He has to earn it.
04:59Yeah.
05:01I'll be doing my own suffering a little later on, but first we have to get to today's location.
05:06Jack mostly sets up at popular spots along the Waterford coast.
05:14Today we've only travelled a couple of miles down the road to the end of their farm at Ballyquin Beach.
05:20The Ballyquin mermaids have just been in for their daily dip and are ready for their Sunday treat.
05:27The sauna, is that part of the routine at this stage?
05:30It's fabulous.
05:31Brings a whole other cohort of people here, young people, and the young ones love it.
05:37The younger people are really embracing the whole positivity, you know, and Jack is a young man himself.
05:42All that age group are coming. It's fantastic for them.
05:45It really is, and then they're jumping into the sea below.
05:47OK, well, I've been told I have to first endure the ocean before I'm allowed the comfort of the sauna,
05:54but you're heading that way and I'm heading this way, yeah?
05:57And you have to embrace it, not endure it.
05:58OK, well, I'll do my best to embrace, but it'll be a small, short embrace, OK?
06:06As the mermaids head into the steamy warmth of the sauna,
06:10I've stupidly agreed to brave the bitterly cold Celtic sea.
06:15OK, this is gorgeous and all that, but it's actually feeling freezing,
06:19so it's going to be short and sharp. The sauna better be good!
06:21Oh, my God. Yes!
06:22There's a reason most people don't feel this on Sunday morning.
06:27Oh, my God. Yes!
06:28There's a reason most people don't feel this on Sunday morning.
06:30I surprised myself and lasted all of two minutes.
06:34But not without the sense of achievement.
06:35OK, so, Daniel Craig, I may not be, but...
06:36Daniel Craig, I may not be, but...
06:37Oh, my God.
06:38Oh, my God.
06:39Oh, my God.
06:40Yes!
06:41There's a reason most people don't feel this on Sunday morning.
06:44Oh, zijn jullie nummgelijk?
06:47Oh, my God.
06:50What're you supposed to be?
06:51You're supposed to be?
06:52Oh, my God.
06:53Where's theíve?
06:54How's the boat going in season?
06:55berfelly, there's nothing more and more and more!
06:56Well, in many of these days...
06:59I know that they're not the only day long.
07:02Oh, my God.
07:03It's all the big food.
07:04You're looking to go in there?
07:05All your legends, even if you know what size connaissance care are,
07:08the wildlife determine the űvee,
07:10they're provincial.
07:11Are you رprea BELF?
07:13sauna experience now that's pretty sexy felt hat in place to protect my head from
07:21the heat I was soon in my element with the growth in popularity of saunas like
07:27this Jack feels he's in the right place at the right time when you were
07:33studying your Ag science degree you never imagined to be perched on a rock
07:37here no I didn't it's a small bit different from what I had taught maybe
07:42a few years back when I was studying agricultural science everything's after
07:47settling down a small bit and things seem to be going very very well so far
07:51yeah so hopefully it stays going that way for me is there a danger that this
07:55tempts you away from the farm in a bigger way um I'd say maybe maybe what I say
08:01there'll always be plenty of jobs at home for for me to do I don't think I'll ever
08:05be short of a job to do down there for some yeah some strange reason at least
08:09now you have options yeah I do I do
08:12that's it for part one coming up after the break blue tongue disease is in
08:23Ireland but are we ready to combat it if you don't stop it early then you run the
08:28risk of it becoming something that we may have to live with long term I'm making
08:313d toys in Kilkenny
08:40for the very first time the diseased blue tongue is now on the island of
08:45Ireland discovered in cattle here in Northern Ireland the implications of this
08:50are already being felt north and south of the border I'm here at the Royal
08:55Ulster Winter Fair in County Antrim where this area behind me should be filled with
09:00the very best breeds of cattle but due to the outbreak no animals are allowed
09:05into the fair this year for the past three weeks temporary control zones
09:09restricting animal movement have been in place in Northern Ireland around farms
09:14where blue tongue has been detected even though it lies outside these zones the
09:19Royal Ulster Winter Fair has cancelled all animal classes this year has this ever
09:25happened before no this is the 39th year of the Royal Ulster Winter Fair and we've
09:29never had it without livestock before and that is very very disappointing that
09:33we've had to do it this year do you think would there be a financial
09:36implication for some of the competitors I would imagine there would be but
09:40unfortunately there's nothing that we could do it we had to take the advice and
09:43go with canceling the classes the first positive tests for the disease
09:47occurred during routine sampling at an abattoir as part of the surveillance and
09:52tracking program for blue tongue in Northern Ireland since then it has been
09:57discovered in more herds David Kyle is deputy chief veterinary officer was the
10:02Department of Agriculture in Northern Ireland it's not really a surprise to us
10:07we've been tracking this disease for quite some time it landed in England in the
10:11southeast of England in about October 23 and we've been monitoring its
10:15progress across Great Britain blue tongue is spread by midges and the so called
10:20because one of the symptoms can be a swelling and discoloration of the tongue
10:24it can also cause fever lameness fetal deformities and stillbirths clinical
10:31signs are much more severe in sheep blue tongue poses no public health risk though
10:37or threat to food safety were those animals showing symptoms absolutely no
10:42symptoms they would have left the farm perfectly healthy and in the abattoir the
10:46vet would have seen them and there were no comments at all on their health with
10:50temporary control zones of 20 kilometres around affected farms now in operation
10:55movement of animals within these zones is severely restricted it spreads by midges
11:01not necessarily from animal to animal so why are there restrictions on why
11:04animals can move well pregnant animals can certainly carry the virus and the fear
11:10would be that pregnant animal could go to an area where there is no disease calve and
11:14then midges subsequently set off a new wave of infection in response to the outbreak here the
11:21Irish Department of Agriculture is now stepping up testing according to a
11:26spokesperson that will include on farm blood sampling of cattle and sheep testing
11:31livestock submitted to regional veterinary laboratories and sampling of cattle
11:36routinely slaughtered at meat plants dr. Gerald Barry is a virologist at the UCD
11:42school of veterinary medicine midges don't respect borders right so they're gonna move where
11:48the wind blows them essentially they don't tend to move over massive distances but we
11:53couldn't discount it and I think we need to be really wary of the idea that
11:57potentially this virus has crossed the border climate change is causing warmer and
12:02shorter winters a factor that could be contributing to these recent outbreaks given
12:08that this winter has been quite mild is there a general increase of of more midges about the
12:15fact that there is milder winters definitely encourages that prolonged season of activity even into
12:21November and of course remember as well within barns and sheds where the temperature might be
12:26slightly higher you might have more midge activity potentially even into the deep winter in response to an
12:34anticipated outbreak on the island a new vaccine program was announced in the north this summer
12:39Andrew Moore is the Minister of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs responsible for its introduction
12:46do we need to have an all-Ireland approach to this in terms of vaccinations the island of Ireland is
12:51one single epidemiological area that's why we must cooperate on this in terms of vaccinations I made a
12:57decision as minister to allow farmers to make their own decisions whether to make this available for
13:02themselves it's for my counterpart in the south to consider this as the picture emerges the Irish
13:08Department of Agriculture has said it is now closely examining the potential role for blue tongue vaccines
13:14to help protect Irish livestock when the higher risk disease transmission period begins in late spring
13:20early summer of next year it is also engaging with vaccine companies in preparation for this the vaccine
13:28doesn't stop infection and it doesn't stop onward transmission of the virus from an infected animal
13:35what the vaccine will do is it'll reduce clinical signs and it'll reduce a little bit the amount of virus
13:43in the animal but it doesn't get rid of it and it doesn't block infection so while the vaccine does help
13:48it's not a kind of a magic bullet that's going to stop an outbreak in the north the decision to
13:54vaccinate has been left to individual farmers at the Royal Ulster Winter Fair the ones I spoke to
14:01were broadly supportive the vaccine currently is costing £2.50 per year or £5 per pound so it's a
14:09considerable cost if you have to do it every year but if it prevents animals dying it's very cheap I don't
14:15think there'll be any going to vaccinate right at this moment I think coming closer to maybe January
14:19February time we're maybe going to have to look into it until there's a lot more positive cases I
14:23don't think we'll do a lot about it so will you vaccinate probably if it started to show its face more
14:30I would be vaccinating yeah if blue tongue was to be detected in the republic the sector most impacted
14:38would be live exports which in 2024 was worth 340 million euro cattle accounted for 75 percent of
14:47that Adam Woods is beef editor with the Irish farmers journal we export thousands of calves in the
14:53springtime and thousands of weanlings as well so that puts huge pressure then on in terms of beef
14:58price possibly in two years time the initial thinking now is because the disease is so prevalent across
15:03Europe they won't be as strict measures put in place heretofore it was that we had to be blue
15:08tongue free to export to those countries but because blue tongue is prevalent across Europe those health
15:13certs it's thought that could be amended and we can still maybe export some cattle and some sheep
15:18from 2026 onwards the fact that blue tongue has finally been detected on the island confirms a fear
15:25we've been living with since it was found in England two years ago whether it's here to stay will
15:31be down to how we respond the key really is rapid early response we need to wrap up dramatically our
15:39surveillance to stamp out any potentially infected animals and then vaccinating that region as well
15:47as an added layer to try and mitigate against onward transmission of the infection next year if you
15:54don't stop it early then you run the risk of it becoming something that we may have to live with long term
16:01it is not long now until children all over the country will be unwrapping their new toys
16:11but not all of them will have been made in santa's workshop
16:15i'm in kilkenny to meet a young man on his family farm whose future lies in something completely different
16:22something he's building layer by layer adam brennan lives just outside castle comber he works as a
16:31substitute secondary school teacher but helps out on the farm when he can two years ago he also started
16:39his own 3d printing company and like many startups it all began in the family home so this is where it all
16:48started out up up in the attic yeah actually the first printer was there and then by the end of
16:55five or six months i had six printers up here and i had no sockets left six printers six printers
17:00yeah was it very noisy it they weren't they're not too bad nice it's sure dad might say different
17:06no this room is in there but um it was fairly warm up here adam lives with his father jackie
17:12and grandmother mary mary and her late husband tom originally owned this farm but things of course
17:19were very different here in the 1950s what did you do what kind of farming
17:24we were making that time weren't we were milking yeah milking yeah very different from now we're
17:29very different from now we hadn't that many clothes i was sitting on the store making the cows
17:35when i came here first you were hand milking the cows unbelievable that went on for a few years
17:41jackie has developed the farm over the years and now has 70 fleck fee cattle a dual-purpose milk and beef
17:48breed he was just 18 years old when he first took over here do you remember the first morning after
17:54you had had the farm handed over to you i wouldn't really remember it wouldn't have been any different
17:59than the morning before like you still had to go up to milk the cows like and it was sure but an amazing
18:03feeling surely yeah yeah but sure look you had more responsibility to take on from there like so
18:09another 10 years i'd be handing over the rails only 10 years
18:12it's adam's brother liam who is the most interested in agriculture having studied it in college he's
18:19currently working in australia adam has an educational degree in graphics engineering and technology
18:27was it always in your mind like design engineering the idea that you might set something up
18:33i think it was yeah i suppose i would have been thinking about different businesses to set up
18:38and kind of thinking it through before actually deciding on one so i ended up a 3d printed in the
18:42end yeah what what do you make of it now and couldn't understand what 3d printing was in the camp
18:47clear what was going on i'd say what the hell is this like doing upstairs didn't know what it was in
18:52the beginning like so i was wondering was there something that was going to milk the cows for me
18:56did it make sense that adam started to go into that i mean was he always into those he always had a good
19:02interest in them things like and i knew whatever he was going to do he was going to do it right like
19:06good girl come on come on when i was in ty dad got me into farm supply shop in kenny and i kind of
19:14kept on that job then after ty i was working every summer and every saturday i was doing a lot of
19:18repairs and the farm repairs and there was always something different coming in that you had to
19:22had to fix there was always learning involved you never knew what was going to come through the door
19:27you give that one to the headquarters there we go it was during an open night at school when
19:31he was teaching that adam first saw a 3d printer in action it was something that immediately caught
19:38his attention i kind of did a bit of research i kind of realized there was no one actually offering
19:423d printing as a service so i went and bought my own one then in january 24. where did you get the money
19:48for that how much did they cost i'm sure i suppose i was living at home so i had a little bit of saves in
19:52the bank so um they range from about 500 to a thousand there's different models coming out then
19:58so they are somewhat affordable in april of this year adam moved his operation into the local enterprise
20:06center in castlecomer having more space has allowed him to add more machines the two new printers he's
20:15bringing here today will mean he now has 25 machines in total these are the printers yeah these are all
20:23the printers so it's not what i had taught what did you think i had thought of a printer printer oh yeah
20:28yeah yeah it's a bit different yeah having taught children with autism and special educational needs
20:35adam decided to focus his 3d printing business on making sensory toys they're made using bio-based
20:43plastic imported from asia which are derived from plant materials such as cornstarch and sugarcane
20:50so it's building up layer by layer here one at a time and then the first layer is made on the base
20:55of it so the first layer on this one is all that part there oh it's hot yeah and then it's hot when it
21:01comes out of the printer but kind of cools down fairly quickly yeah and how long does it take to build
21:05that and that one there takes five hours adam's tactile and colorful toys are largely based on
21:20animals and dinosaurs but he also makes fidget type objects you're a teacher when you go into a class
21:28where you think that the kids would benefit from these what happens when you give it to them
21:32it's like clicking the pen there with the kids to have energy that they're trying to release so when
21:36they have something in their hand like a fidget tie they're releasing energy so they're more inclined
21:40to be focused then when that energy is being output somewhere else okay so they can concentrate
21:44a bit they can concentrate a lot more yeah do you design them yourself um i design some things myself
21:51most of the ties i pay a commercial license on them and then i get them tested and then they're
21:56available to sell them after that adam is also looking to grow his business in other directions
22:03everything from making molds for use by sculptors to manufacturing industrial parts so that's the
22:09scanner there and it picks up the dimensions when i put it close to the object yeah so these markers
22:14there that are around that screwdriver there that's giving the scanner a signal of where it actually is
22:20and what i'm scanning so you can take an object like this yeah put it on this table scan it yeah yeah
22:26and replicate it down into a plastic and then just replicators that's incredible exactly and how big
22:30an object can you scan um i could scan you if i wanted to scan you i suppose yeah so the the potential
22:36is massive yeah there's loads of potential yeah adam sells his sensory toys and fidgets online and at
22:43markets and they are now stocked in places like dublin zoo dingle aquarium and the national reptile zoo
22:50here in kilkenny is it financially a good prospect are you making a return now um suppose any business
22:58as well like at the start i did have an input with my own funds but then after a couple months then
23:04as well it was paying for itself and like i am still in the first two years so i am reinvesting
23:09reinvesting why i'm making and you've developed three careers yes suppose there's three careers
23:14are on the go now yeah so trying to keep it all tied into one and have a balance between it all is
23:19the main focus it's not a stage yet where i want to even though i do have a lot there by me though
23:24i still have a long way to go i think
23:30well that's it for this episode and this year we'll be back on your screens on the 8th of january
23:36in the meantime have a lovely christmas and a happy new year don't forget this program will be repeated
23:43on sunday at lunchtime after the farming weather you can contact us on facebook and follow us on x
23:50and you can hear more farming stories on countrywide this sashurday morning on rte radio one
24:20so
24:27is
24:37so
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