Birr man making waves as horse breeder in Oz

Birr's Damien Kirwan has been “fortunate enough” to meet and work with some amazing people during his time in the horse breeding industry, including His Highness the Aga Khan and the late Queen Elizabeth. He said that they were extremely pleasant and respectful and that the late Queen, in particular, came across as very warm and had a genuine love of horses.

Now based in New South Wales, Damien last year purchased Pepper Tree Farm in Cowra with his partner Bree Vandyke, which they had previously leased for five years. The farm consists of 450 acres, it has a foaling unit and four barns with stables and Bree has her own veterinary clinic and surgery on site. They also provide a complete range of services from foaling mares, surgeries if required, mare reproduction and sales preparation. “When it became available to purchase early last year we jumped at the chance to buy such a beautiful property," Damien said.

He explained that it's a dream come true to own and operate their own farm and something that they never thought possible. ”We are very fortunate, of course we put in an awful lot of hard work and long hours, but have also had some luck along the way too which I guess everyone needs from time to time to get ahead.

"The first mare that Bree and I bought together was a mare called Superego and she has a home for life at Pepper Tree Farm. We paid 10k for her and her first three foals have grossed 550k so she has played a massive role in allowing us to purchase the farm.”

The Offaly man said that the best aspect of his job is that it never really feels like a job. “I love what I do and also it is rare that any two days are the same. I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with some amazing people including His Highness the Aga Khan and also Queen Elizabeth when she visited Ireland,” he explained.

Speaking about why he made the move to Australia, the Birr native said: “I moved to Australia twelve years ago mainly due to the greater opportunities over here for young people in the industry. I had gained fantastic experience and knowledge working at Gilltown stud (Kilcullen, in Kildare) but felt I couldn’t really progress any further up the ladder there at that time so I started looking at opportunities overseas and moved to West Australia to take up a role as Stud Manager at a farm.”

Damien feels that the biggest difference between farming in Australia and Ireland is the weather as he said the farm experienced an awful drought for three years. "It got pretty desperate as the running costs went through the roof with the amount of hay and hard feed we were having to supply for the horses as the paddocks were literally reduced to clay. But thankfully, the last three years have been fantastic, we have had regular rainfall which has resulted in us being able to plan and implement pasture improvements confident that we were going to get the necessary rain required for growth."

Despite his success in the industry, Damien said that he has very little background in farming but gained an interest in watching racing on TV during his early teens. He also began to take an interest in the career Irish horse racing trainer Aidan O'Brien which led to him developing a big interest in flat racing. He added that he was particularly fascinated by "the breeding and pedigree side of things" and from that point on it was all Damien ever wanted to do.

The Australian resident enjoys returning home to Birr whenever he can. He said: "It’s a great town and I try to get home as often as possible. My partner Bree is Australian and she loves visiting Ireland, she always finds the people so warm and welcoming which is great."

Damien is the son of Paddy Kirwan and Sandra Kirwan née Delaney. Paddy hurled with Birr and Offaly and Sandra has worked for An Post in Birr for the majority of her working life.