Paula Hynes: Trump's victory is a reminder to politicians - forget rural voters at your peril

They have a wonderful pet farm, which is a huge novelty for kids and, in many ways, made us feel right at home listening to the faint sound of geese, hens and sheep in the distance.

The hotel has a great focus on quality food, and it was lovely to read through the list of local suppliers. They didn’t stray too far for the milk and butter, and the Avonmore label was very prominent at the breakfast table.

With both of us missing in action, life on the farm continued with Acclaim calving and back to the office for her second term, giving birth to a smashing Sidekick heifer calf.

Claimy, as we call her, has always known her job, which is to eat, sleep, make milk and walk to the milking parlour, and she certainly is straight back to her job, cleaning out her feed pots and taking a nap once her belly is full.

The psychology of animals always amazes me, JayZ has got tremendously jealous of Acclaim coming back to work and being housed beside her, she has become a lot more aggressive to eat and walks to the parlour quicker as well. 

The pair would know each other well as they have travelled to shows together; she probably sees Acclaim as the matriarch and may also have her nose out of joint that she now goes to the parlour in second place. Regardless, it's a positive as I love to see cows who are aggressive to eat and keen to fill their bellies.

Another new arrival this week was the Crushable heifer calf from our Lenora cow; it seems like new life replaces the old as all the cull cows have left the farm now, with the last two heading to the factory this week. Beef prices have been high since the first batch of cows went to the mart. The two we sent to the factory were older cows, and while they were still fit, we purposely didn’t breed them this year. 

New arrivals weren’t restricted to calves either, as it is the first time we have had maize silage on the slab; CCS Contracting did a super job in getting it harvested efficiently. 

We housed the spring-calving cows by night this week. However, they are still grazing by day; ground conditions are so good that they are still grazing on the lower part of the farm. This time last year, it wasn’t even possible to walk across those paddocks, never mind grazing cows there, and with the weather still being so mild, grass growth is still good for the time of year. 

The seasons really are changing with climate change; no two years are the same, and it seems somewhat ridiculous that amongst all these changing weather patterns, we as farmers are still being asked to calendar farm. 

Weather over the last few weeks would have been ideal to spread small amounts of slurry; however, the regulations calendar does not allow it, yet even if we have horrendous weather next January and February, we will be allowed to spread away again according to regulations. 

Perhaps policy and regulations will get a notification sometime in the near future that climate change has been changing weather patterns.

As disillusioned as we farmers are with Ag policy within the EU and Ireland, it would seem the EU is even more disillusioned with American voters this week.

In what was being called a neck-and-neck battle for the White House, Mr Trump had a landslide victory and will step back into office again. 

Now, I’m by no means the biggest fan of Trump, but it is pretty interesting to see how wrong the election was called by so many; looking back, it would seem many pundits were simply willing Harris to succeed rather than looking at the hard facts as the campaign unfolded.

Outsiders seem mystified with the result, but American voters aren’t stupid, and they were clearly not happy with how their country was managed for the last four years. 

I feel Trump will bring a touch of reality back to global politics; some might be surprised with me, as a woman, thinking him a good president. But I’m not alone as the latest figure I saw showed 44% of female voters in the US voted for him. 

We are being told it will be doom and gloom ahead with Trump at the White House. The reality is we all survived his last term in office and while we are now being told he will be bad for climate policy, but in reality, his Ag policy will most likely drive the biofuel and energy economy in the US, which will be a plus for corn and soybean farmers. 

An opinion poll showed 77% believed he would provide certainty around Ag policy and crop insurance, 76% felt he would expand trade for Ag produce and address trade disputes, 73% feel his policies will benefit the biofuel economy, and 78% of farmers felt he would address inflation. Us EU farmers know only too well how crippling inflation has been to our farms along with high energy prices. 

Beef markets have been booming in the US for some time, US dairy is recovering, which, with the right support, will continue to help the rural economy, and while multi-nationals might be wary of Robert Kennedy Junior getting a role in the Ag administration, his stance on ultra-processed foods should in turn be a plus for farmers. 

Love him or hate him, Trump captured the rural vote in America, and if nothing else, that should be a reminder to anyone canvassing in our upcoming elections: Rural voters are very wary and don’t like being forgotten, the EU has constantly struggled to keep the farming community content, French farmers are back protesting with plans to scale up protests again. 

Our UK neighbours trusted their vote with a Labour government and are now paying a hefty price with crippling taxes being introduced on farmers in their recent budget. Ag is a key part of the Irish economy, and it is vital those election hopefuls in Ireland remember that in the run-up to our elections in late November.