Alo Mohan is originally from Clones, Co. Monaghan but now lives in Drumkeenan in Co. Cavan in the heartland of traditional Irish chicken farming country. He lives on his ever expanding farm with his wife and 3 children. Alo's parents started poultry farming in the 1950's but Alo did not start full time until 1990. He admits that he has always enjoyed poultry and got deeper into it because of the joy and interest in the industry. Alo is currently Chairman of the Poultry Group within the IFA. He thus represents all chicken farmers in Ireland.
In 1995 Alo built a new poultry farm in Redhills in Co. Cavan. He also runs a beef farm with mostly finishing animals. The beef farm is Bord Bía approved and is farmed in an environmentally friendly manner. This is done under the R.E.P.S. scheme. The land goes all around the poultry farm.
He is proud of the quality of his farm and the extra dimension that Carton Brothers brings to the infrastructure of the farm. The guidelines laid down by the company are very rigorous and are constantly supervised daily by Alo himself and also by regular visits from the Carton Brothers Farms Advisor who also continually checks on the welfare of the birds. The feed diet that the birds eat comes from the Carton Brothers Chicken only Feed Mill and this feed constituent changes depending on the age of the birds. A typical day which revolves around the chickens starts early in the morning when Alo walks among the chickens to check that all are OK and feeding well. He checks on the ventilation systems, makes sure that the temperature and humidity is at the optimum for the age of the birds and also ensures that there is adequate feed in the silos as well as checking that the bedding is OK. Everything is then recorded and charted. This is repeated a number of times during the day. The afternoons are generally spent keeping the stores clean and tidy as well as the site.
The Bord Bia and Department of Agriculture required paperwork is also filled out daily. Because of the nature of looking after chickens this is a job that runs 24 hours a day and 7 days a week which makes it difficult to take a break without huge support. It is also for this reason that makes Chicken Farming well suited to families. These families in turn pass on their skill, knowledge and experience to their future generations.
Outside of farming Alo enjoys reading books and following current affairs. Soccer is his favourite sport with Liverpool the team he has supported since he was a boy. He also supports Clones FC which is the oldest club in the Republic of Ireland. 2010 sees the club 125 years old!
Alo as with all our chicken Farmers also loves to eat chicken and among his favourite chicken dishes (and cooking tips) he has:
Alo says "....even working as I do with poultry my favourite dish is chicken. The 2 recipes above are my favourites."