Big Week on the Farm in Westmeath

For one week only, RTÉ One is upping sticks to Westmeath, for Big Week on the Farm, a special week-long event.

The programme will broadcast live nightly from a purpose-built studio on the sheep farm of John Fagan at Gartlandstown, Crookedwood in North Westmeath, in front of a studio audience.

Also based on a series of ten other farms around the country, Big Week on the Farm will bring viewers on a journey to the heart of the farm as nature springs to life.

Big Week On The Farm will broadcast nightly at 7pm from Monday, April 4 to Friday, April 8.

A studio audience will join Ella McSweeney, Áine Lawlor and celebrity guests and reporters in a lambing shed on the farm just outside Castlepollard, for one of the busiest weeks of the year for farmers and their animals.

Spring is a fascinating time on the farm, and our presenters Ella and Áine, along with location presenters Darragh McCullough and Helen Carroll and celebrity guest presenters, including Roz Purcell, Anna Geary, Mairead Ronan, Sinead Kennedy and Nathan Carter, will document it all.

From lambing, calving, kidding and hatching, Big Week on the Farm will chart the life-cycle of farm animals; providing the nation with real-time access to the captivating world of Ireland’s farming countryside.

The live studio will be assembled in John Fagan’s lambing shed on the beautiful shores of Derravaragh Lake in Co. Westmeath. John is a young farmer in his mid-30s, and during the week of broadcast, with his partner Claire Marshall, he will oversee the birth of over 120 lambs.

The farm is a hub of activity in the heart of Ireland where wildlife and farm-life compete for space and food, as John will soon discover. Badgers, swans, pine-martens, cows, sheep and foxes all live on his land. With the help of our presenters, experts and hidden wildlife cameras, the covert world of his farm-yard will soon be uncovered.

Each programme will provide intimate insights into the hectic happenings on other farms too. From a pig farm in Kerry to a high-tech tillage farm in Carlow and a fish-farm in Donegal, between them, our location presenters Darragh McCullough and Helen Carroll will broadcast live from ten farms across the country over the course of the week.

Each night, on Big Week on the Farm, Áine, Ella and celebrity guests will present live studio demos, discussions, stunning short animal behaviour films and features from the previous 24 hours’ unfolding drama.

Evelyn Cusack, Jean Byrne, Siobhan Ryan and Gerry Murphy will be presenting the evening weather forecast live from our farm location every night.
From the births, the feeding, the vaccinating the breeding, the veterinary interventions, the fixing and mending, Big Week on the Farm will tell the real story of where our food comes from.

This new series will explore how a new era of farming is emerging, with technology and science innovations, like precision farming and beef genomics transforming the industry.

Big Week on the Farm is a programme for a family audience and RTE is asking schools and families to take part.
Viewers can tweet us @RTEOne using the hashtag #onthefarm or email us at onthefarm@rte.ie where they can send us videos, photographs and messages for broadcast.