Over 1,000 cattle put on sale following court judgment

A Co Cork farmer has vowed to fight on as his prize herd of more than 1,000 cows and calves was sold off, after ACC Loan Management obtained judgment against him for loans of almost €2.5 million.

Peter Kingston (51), who was a winner on Ireland's Fittest Family in 2014, watched from his family home as the auction began a field away at his Craden Hill Farm at Novohal.

“The phoenix rose from the ashes and I will too .

“People ask me how do I manage to cope with it? To be honest with you, I turn to the Lord and I ask him for help.”

The 175 acre farm was shrouded in heavy fog as potential buyers arrived in their 4x4s and were guided by a posse of security men to the huge sheds where the auction of 1,026 cattle was scheduled to take place.

About 30 or so protesters, many of them neighbours of Peter Kingston, lined the narrow road leading to the Kingston farm.

They stopped those attending the auction and asked them whether they knew that the sale of the prizewinning Holstein herd was “a forced sale”.

“This is a family farm and the Kingstons are my neighbours - I didn’t come here today to see them being forced off their farm - there are two elderly parents there and children too - this should not be happening,” said one woman, as a handful of gardaí watched on.

Another protester said he was an agricultural contractor who was owed money by Peter Kingston, but whatever hope he had of getting paid would evaporate once the auction went ahead.

“It shouldn’t be happening - the man should be allowed to continue farming the holding.

“He would make a go of it again - it might take him five years to be able to pay me but I’m willing to wait - this way with the sheriff and the receiver selling the stock, I’m never going to get my money.”

Political support

Among those joining the protesters was Cork South-West Independent TD Michael Collins, who was refused entry to the auction by the security men at the entrance.

Mr Collins pledged to raise the case in the Dáil.

“The bottom line here is that there is a family struggling. I am a farmer myself and I know exactly the position they are in today.

“There are people having their homes and their farms repossessed every day and this heavy-handed attitude is not good enough - it’s wrong and the banks are wrong.”

Inside a huge shed, the auctioneer raced through the sale, with many cows fetching €1,000.

"They're good-looking cows but it's a terrible time to be holding an auction with milk prices so low. Nobody's going to be paying top prices at the moment with the market so depressed," said one man who had travelled from Northern Ireland.

Cork County Sheriff Sinead McNamara declined to comment on claims by Peter Kingston that she had run up inordinate costs since taking over the running of the farm in December on foot of the court order.

“I have a statutory duty to execute orders that are lodged with my office for execution,” she said.

Ms McNamara said sales were “brisk”, with 150 or so attending the sale.

Among those observing proceedings was Peter Kingston’s father George, who bought the holding in 1972.

While George did not comment, Peter Kingston said: “No one has died but it is very tough.

“It’s hard to watch everything you and your family have worked for be destroyed in front of your very eyes, but however tough it has been for me, I can’t even put words on what it must be like for my father - farming wasn’t just his life, it was his therapy.”