BY MICHAEL BRESLIN

Watching Maurice Hurst conducting a meeting of the Ulster farmers Union in Fermanagh, of which he is chairman, one gets the immediate feeling of statesmanship, an unasuming individual at ease with complex issues.

Not surprisingly, his hero is Abraham Lincoln, the American President who steered his country away from slavery and through an ensuing Civil war to freedom. He likes America and he likes reading up on American history, but he won't be tempted away from his native Aghavea ('the field of the birds') near Brookeborough and the family farm where he runs a herd of 100 dairy cows.

Nor, even at the age of 58, has he had enough of farming, save, as he put it, 'it is very hard to come to terms with the fact I am getting older because I wish I was only 21 again').

"If you are content with what you are doing, it is hard to beat. I was at the Winter Fair recently in Belfast and I had a great day, meeting people. The older you get, the more you appreciate the quality of things in life, the real things in life".

Maurice is a third generation farmer and, fingers crossed, he is hopeful that his son, John will become the fourth. He and his wife, Marlene ('she looks after the baby calves') also have a daughter, Catherine.

It all began for Maurice, this love for the country, at Stranafelly Primary School between Brookeborough and Lisnaskea: "It was up in the hills. It's closed a long time now and the forestry have planted a lot of trees around it, so there are no children playing, no voices heard. It's sad.

"We were taught by Mrs Kingston, the wife of Chancellor Kingston who was the rector of our church. She was a wonderful woman, someone who had a great influence on an awful lot of people in their formative years".

From there, young Master Hurst headed off to the intermediate school in Lisnaskea, then a year at the then Enniskillen Technical College before transferring to the newly-opened Enniskillen Agricultural College in its first intake of students.

Completing the one-year basic course was only part of what he came away with: "I made friends that I held for life, which is very important. It is very sad it isn't there now. There was a good mix, a wonderful mix of people who got on well together. Thankfully, it's coming back".

Greenmount beckoned for the brighter students, one suspected, but Maurice and his brother opted to run the family farm when their father's health broke down.

"We started farming immediately and I never rued the day. I got married to Marlene when I was 24. The two of us, my brother and me, have separate farms. We bought land and borrowed money to be able to do that and we tried to pay it all back as best we could".

Maurice has a theory that land is 'sacred' to Irish people and that goes a long way to explaining his concern about people dropping out of farming.

"I am very passionate about farming and everything to do with farming. The land is sacred to the true farming people of Ireland, and it isn't even dying through the generations. I think it goes back to the Famine days. Those who had land largely survived better".

So, what about farming per se?: "It's a very rewarding life. Farming people do their job to the best of their ability and there is great satisfaction producing good food for people".

A typical day in the Hurst household sees Maurice, and his wife, up at 6 o'clock and, after a quick cuppa and toast, it's out to the milking parlour and back in around 9.30-10 o'clock for breakfast. But, his day's work is far from over when milking ends for, between that and when the cows are milked again in the evening, there's much to be done.

"The first thing you check on is if any of the cows are near calving or if any are calved or if you have an ill animal, you always go and see the sick one first. You're working with them all day and it's the last thing you do at night is to check on them.

"And, if there's a cow calving during the night, I awaken and go out to help, and I don't even need an alarm clock. You do waken. There's just such an affinity between people and animals".

Not surprisingly, Maurice Hurst derives a lot of job satisfaction from his chosen career: "You can't put a price on it. There are loads of people better than me who do farming, and I would have thought it's the same for them. You do of course get the odd set-back, but mostly, things are good. That's why it's a pity to see so many people forced out of agriculture because there are a lot of skills, and a lot of things passed on from generation to generation, from father to son.

"It means there is a smaller percentage of people on the land and, therefore, those skills are in the hands of fewer people".

This time last year, dairy farmers like Mr Hurst were struggling due to very low milk prices in the shops.

"There was a lot of money lost because people like myself were producing milk well below the cost of production. OK, we had our dairy calves that are exported at three weeks old, but what you got for them just about covered the cost of the milk you fed them with.

"So, farmers like myself are dependant on the milk. There were those who had to sell some of their cows to pay the bills and others had to sell off sites to keep things afloat. Thankfully I hadn't to do it but there were a few people who had".

Asked how he had become interested in the farmers' union, he explained that when one has an interest in farming, one has an interest in farm politics. He progressed to being the current chairman of the union in Fermanagh from being chairman of the Fermanagh South East branch, one of three in the county, and then representing Fermanagh on the county dairying commodity committee.

The chairmanship, he explained, is busier by night than by day: "It is an honour to be asked. It's a two-year appointment, and I'll have one year done next March. There is quite a bit of work involved at night. Farmers come to you with a problem and you try to put him in touch with somebody who can help".

The farming community, he suggested, were like that ('we stick together fairly well') and, whether it's buying or selling, there's no jealousy.

"Farmers have always got on well together. Politics never came into it and I think we could give the rest of society an example on how to live. So, I would recommend farming to young people, but it's something you have to be brought up with.

"There are very few businesses where you can have your independence and do your own thing. That is why I love to see people go into farming, and there are still people doing that".

Family apart, Maurice listed a number of events among the 'most memorable' category in his life. There was his election as chairman of the farmers' union in Fermanagh but, further back than that, there was the time he was runner-up in the Dairy Farmer of the Year competition and, just recently, an unheralded meeting, organised by the union's South West Group, where two local female Ministers, Michelle Gildernew (DARD) and Arlene Foster (DoE) shared the platform.

"The fact the two women were there and everybody got on so well made it a brilliant meeting", he said. "The chairman asked a very good question, and I would say the women were gonked. He suggested that, where two schools in an area were under threat of closure, that a room could be put in one of them where each other's religious education could be taught.

"In that way, he suggested, there would be no need to bus the children out of the area. You know, he got a standing ovation, and neither of the women wanted to commit themselves".

That's the kind of alert and playful mind that Maurice Hurst possesses. Aside from American history, he reads farming journals, of course, but he is a keen devotee of local history through his membership of Brookeborough Historical Society.

"It is something that has been very beneficial to us", he explained. "I have found it very fulfiling to discuss the past together. You can respect each other's point of view".