Rory Best to speak of passion for farming on new TV show

As Ireland’s captain and leader it’s Rory Best’s job to provide experience and inspiration.

However during filming for Home Ground, Gavin Andrews drops in on Rory as he undertakes an altogether different job - prepping his bull calves ahead of the Balmoral Show.

As Gavin chats with Rory, the Irish captain reveals that returning to the family farm helps to relieve the pressures of his day job.

“It definitely does and depending on how the day’s training has gone I can come down here and spend an hour, and the cattle don’t talk back to you,” Rory said.

“So no matter what you tell them they don’t understand you, whereas our boys do understand and just choose not to do it sometimes – so it’s nice just to come down here and deal with proper animals, instead of the animals I deal with!”

The family farms mostly cereal crops and pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle and Rory is just one of a generation of Bests to grow up there.

Talking about growing up and working on the farm, Rory added: “It was never really something you thought of as work. It was just what you did, you went out and you helped and you did whatever you could.”

Gavin also talks to Rory’s father John and brother Simon, himself a former international rugby player.

Rory Best’s full interview will be on Home Ground.

The new programme will cover topics ranging from dry stone walling in the Mourne Mountains to exploring the lack of rural GPs, to the devastating impact on some farmers of the poor market for potatoes.

The new six-part series for BBC One Northern Ireland begins on Monday 25 April at 7.30pm