Lorraine Killen: Passionate farming advocate says the role 'encapsulates every single industry in Northern Ireland'

Lorraine, a mother of two young boys, from Newbuildings in Co Londonderry, said: “I always say to people who don’t understand farming is that a farmer can be an accountant, a vet, a businessman, a financial planner, an agronomist, a builder, an engineer and an environmentalist before he even has his breakfast.

“It is the only job out there that encapsulates every single industry working in Northern Ireland.

“When you say that to people, they never have thought about it like that. That is a conversation I have had with a number of politicians, making them see how complex the industry is.

“Farmers have to have so many different hats,” she added.

The 36-year-old said she “fell into doing TikToks and Facebook posts on Farming by accident”.

"I just fell into TikTok and posting on Facebook, but it was whenever inheritance tax changes started to come about and I spoke at the Eikon centre,” she said.

"That kicked the whole thing off completely.

"And it has now come to the stage that whenever something happens I get messages asking me what I think and I always tell them I feel the same as them".

In November 2024 in the Eikon Centre 4,000-plus attendees at the farmers’ rally burst into applause and got to their feet in support of Lorraine, who was one of the speakers at the protest against the government’s new 20% inheritance tax for farms.

Lorraine said that farmers are not now prepared to accept changes in farming without speaking up.

"If I think back to my parents who thought their opinions didn’t really matter so there is no point in speaking up.

"Those generations placed so much faith in the government thinking that they would speak for them.

“I am passionate about educating the younger generations that they need to get out to the polling stations and they need to vote.

“Over the years there has been a lot pushed out under farmers noses. But you have to think about the next generation and I will eat my hat if either of them decide they don’t want to farm”.

She added that for them he “busy time starts on February 1 when the slurry ban lifts”.

She added “that will be us right through to November, between slurry and cutting maize then juggling that with the farm at home”.

"We have Autumn calving and we have 600 cows calving October to March”.

"So there is plenty going on and you are never stuck for something to do,” she added. “Part of the attraction is that there are always people about and we are employing 20 people at the peak as well so there is always lots of craic and carry on.

“There is always plenty of company – the yard is like a wee community in itself.

“It can be tight going at this time of the year and he boys don’t see much of their daddy.

“But he misses them as much as they miss him”.

Lorraine said she is enthused to see “young girls driving tractors and getting involved in farming” after she was discouraged from it at grammar school.

“Those conversations have never left me because all they saw was farming as a job for old men,” she added.

"They didn’t see how lucrative the industry was and the opportunities there were.

“The role of women has really evolved and we are now expected to wear so many hats”.

Originally from a farm in Ballyrashane, outside Coleraine, Lorraine said their Newbuildings farm now has “600 cows and 1800 beef cattle”.

"My husband is one of six boys and they are all involved in it,” she added.

“I have been with my husband 12 years now and I have never met a family who worked as hard.

“We are all very much hands-on. You could drive into my yard and find one sister-in-law in the milking parlour, another in the calf shed and another one in the field bringing the cows in. It works well. “The yard is a community in itself.”

But Lorraine said she is also working to fix “miscommunication about farming” in the public arena.

"Something I am passionate about is getting agriculture taught in the school curriculum to try to address some of the misconceptions and that disconnect between farmers and consumers”.

"It is with the education board at the minute so hopefully in time we will see something soon.

“This wee country we call home has so many industries that rely on agriculture.

"I am also passionate that agriculture holds the key for young people who are not interested in the academic side of school, but are very good with their hands and the outdoors.

"All those people need is an opportunity. I think those people are being lost in translation and that loss is a major problem in this country”.