A key event in the calendar for many people living in rural Ireland, is the Mr Personality Festival organised by Kilkenny Macra.  This week, we have a special Young Stock Podcast as Sarah McIntosh and Martin Merrick take us behind the scenes as they judge this year’s competition.  Taking place in Clonmel, from the 5 to 7 April, a weekend full of events saw 25 contestants from Macra clubs across the country battle it out in order to be named Mr Personality 2024.  From making the judges ham and cheese sandwiches, to milking a cow on stage, this year’s contestants didn’t make it an easy task to pick a winner with a high calibre of talent’s displayed during the on-stage interviews. Last year’s winner Andrew Dunne speaks to us about what he has been up to since winning the title in 2023, and the impact it has had on his life. We also managed to catch up with a few of the contestants during the weekend to find out why they wanted to enter the competition and how they found the experience. The event wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of the organising committee, we spoke to Christine O’Neill chairperson on the work that goes on behind the scenes.Taking home the Mr Personality 2024 title was Mark Riordan from Kenmare, Co Kerry. Speaking to us the day after he won, Mark emphasises the importance of staying together during the tough challenges young farmers are currently facing.  “We talk about silage; we talk about breeding and we talk about all the challenges with farming but there is a lot happening on farm and there is a lot happening in farmers heads that we don’t talk about enough. Its not easy out there at the moment and if you look at the weather for the next week especially, it’s probably disheartening but I think as a community, as Macra we have to be there for each other, were all in the same boat and this will pass,” says Mark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.