Messages

[Neither side can defend very well]

Spurs have Villa next in the league. 0-0 written all over it but will do neither side any good.

Cant see it. This will be the game Spurs score in.

Neither side can defend very well

Spurs last two games were clean sheets.

Watched that Cross game today on tv.  Our championship is played at such a slow pace compared to that, it was like a different sport.

[And let county players play for their club AND their county, how about that for a mad idea]

Back door format is the only way to go in my humble opinion. 2 chances max and your gone. Let league placing directly impact championship seedings, home venue etc. And let county players play for their club AND their county, how about that for a mad idea.

Knockout championship for me.  On your county footballer proposal, completely agree.  We've held them back from their clubs for 30 years and have achieved almost zero.  Let them play at their clubs and it'll keep the County set-up mentally fresh.

Quite a bit of bad blood in here. Dirty digs, poor discipline and bad refereeing has been a vicious circle in Antrim football for many's a day - can't comment on other counties and not really interested anyway. Every club/coach has a responsibility to clean up their act and play the game hard and fair.  How any player thinks there's honour in headbutts/elbows/rabbit punches/goading the opposition etc is beyond me. Don't know what the answer is when there's a lack of leadership all round, and it's always easier to blame the other crowd unfortunately.

But farming is a business.

Probably more accurately described as the most expensive hobby in Ireland!

Not when you break even

£2200 av other day on 3 bullocks.

Dont mention fertiliser or meal cost

Farm incomes were up 40% last year (in the North) - which is great by the way, wouldn't begrudge anyone a good living, but most farmers seem programmed to plead poverty.

Where'd you hear that? Would be very doubtful given the weather and costs of feed/fertiliser etc

All over the news.

But farming is a business.

Probably more accurately described as the most expensive hobby in Ireland!

Not when you break even

£2200 av other day on 3 bullocks.

Dont mention fertiliser or meal cost

Farm incomes were up 40% last year (in the North) - which is great by the way, wouldn't begrudge anyone a good living, but most farmers seem programmed to plead poverty.

Yeah it's frustrating to see someone of that ability underachieving which I think she is. I don't want to be too harsh on her and hope she'll learn but there is a real world class runner in there if only she believed it.

She looked very light weight and got bumped and barged repeatedly which must really break your stride.  Maybe she'd be better sitting at the back out of trouble and then go for it with X hundred metres to go?

Another great night and nice to not be geo-blocked in the north.  RTE must regret not having their panel in the stadium, it would capture the atmosphere even better.

If anyone thinks DAERA choose culling the cows as the easy option then they should compare the reaction to it to the complete non event rounding them up and taking the cows away would have been. From a reputational and paperwork point of view culling would always be the worst choice and likely more expensive.
Any marksman would have been present as part of the risk assessment. They wouldn't be much use if at home and something went wrong. It may be a balls up but the primary cause was a farmer incapable of looking after his animals.

? You think they did this expecting a backlash but thought "it's the right thing to do, we'll bear all the stick we get"

Or were they expecting it to be a routine culling job and were too lazy/stupid/incompetent or combination of all to gather the cattle up and take them to a mart?

What mart could they be taken to?

DAERA have state of the art handling facilities at the ports - somewhere to pen the cattle until next steps were sorted really shouldn't have been a problem.
 
Would also like to say that I don't believe anyone should lose their job (very highly unlikely given NICS culture).  In my opinion mistakes were made but calling for heads is just performative by the UFU to get the social media activists off their case, which is pretty poor on their part.
I'll stand corrected if the inquiry throws up something that hasn't been revealed yet which might shed new light. 

What next steps are you suggesting?

Onward disposal to a meat plant / onward sale to another herd... 

50% of the animals were unfit for human consumption so cant go to a meat plant and what other herd would take animals that are restricted?

I meant onwards to a meat plant for slaughter.  If they're condemned, still the correct place for slaughter rather than an open air large scale turkey shoot (imho).

As an aside, it's pretty amazing in this day and age that there are no videos of the event.

If anyone thinks DAERA choose culling the cows as the easy option then they should compare the reaction to it to the complete non event rounding them up and taking the cows away would have been. From a reputational and paperwork point of view culling would always be the worst choice and likely more expensive.
Any marksman would have been present as part of the risk assessment. They wouldn't be much use if at home and something went wrong. It may be a balls up but the primary cause was a farmer incapable of looking after his animals.

? You think they did this expecting a backlash but thought "it's the right thing to do, we'll bear all the stick we get"

Or were they expecting it to be a routine culling job and were too lazy/stupid/incompetent or combination of all to gather the cattle up and take them to a mart?

What mart could they be taken to?

DAERA have state of the art handling facilities at the ports - somewhere to pen the cattle until next steps were sorted really shouldn't have been a problem.
 
Would also like to say that I don't believe anyone should lose their job (very highly unlikely given NICS culture).  In my opinion mistakes were made but calling for heads is just performative by the UFU to get the social media activists off their case, which is pretty poor on their part.
I'll stand corrected if the inquiry throws up something that hasn't been revealed yet which might shed new light. 

What next steps are you suggesting?

Onward disposal to a meat plant / onward sale to another herd... 

If anyone thinks DAERA choose culling the cows as the easy option then they should compare the reaction to it to the complete non event rounding them up and taking the cows away would have been. From a reputational and paperwork point of view culling would always be the worst choice and likely more expensive.
Any marksman would have been present as part of the risk assessment. They wouldn't be much use if at home and something went wrong. It may be a balls up but the primary cause was a farmer incapable of looking after his animals.

? You think they did this expecting a backlash but thought "it's the right thing to do, we'll bear all the stick we get"

Or were they expecting it to be a routine culling job and were too lazy/stupid/incompetent or combination of all to gather the cattle up and take them to a mart?

What mart could they be taken to?

DAERA have state of the art handling facilities at the ports - somewhere to pen the cattle until next steps were sorted really shouldn't have been a problem.
 
Would also like to say that I don't believe anyone should lose their job (very highly unlikely given NICS culture).  In my opinion mistakes were made but calling for heads is just performative by the UFU to get the social media activists off their case, which is pretty poor on their part.
I'll stand corrected if the inquiry throws up something that hasn't been revealed yet which might shed new light. 

What would a risk assessment say about the possibility of a stray bullet injuring someone (or worse) in a public space with people watching on?

No idea do you have evidence of stray bullets?

Common sense would say that it was a fair possibility, no?

If the team is highly trained in firearms???

Yeah stray bullets have never injured anyone ever, you're right.

Did I say that? We are discussing this incident. Do you know if there were any reports of stray bullets?

Shooting running cattle from presumably a distance if they were that wild no one could get near them to round them up? Not saying it was likely but certainly a possibility.

The point about stray bullets is wouldn't that be in a risk assessment. That's dozens of shots fired - surely a major consideration?

I've no evidence of stray bullets by the way, but if several calves were injured, does that suggest every shot was pinpoint?

I'd assume so. I'm no expert but this is talked about in the video. The vets talked at length about the training the team has had and their experience in carrying out these actions.The injured calf on social media was also discussed. The private vet and the Daera vet could not confirm if the injury was caused by a gunshot.Watch the video I found it very interesting.

If you ask me which is the greater risk, I'd say the firearms option every time.  That's the long and the short of it.  Just my opinion.

What would a risk assessment say about the possibility of a stray bullet injuring someone (or worse) in a public space with people watching on?

No idea do you have evidence of stray bullets?

Common sense would say that it was a fair possibility, no?

If the team is highly trained in firearms???

Yeah stray bullets have never injured anyone ever, you're right.

Did I say that? We are discussing this incident. Do you know if there were any reports of stray bullets?

Shooting running cattle from presumably a distance if they were that wild no one could get near them to round them up? Not saying it was likely but certainly a possibility.

The point about stray bullets is wouldn't that be in a risk assessment. That's dozens of shots fired - surely a major consideration?

I've no evidence of stray bullets by the way, but if several calves were injured, does that suggest every shot was pinpoint?

What would a risk assessment say about the possibility of a stray bullet injuring someone (or worse) in a public space with people watching on?