Our story
CulchieOS is built by Dún na Dev, a small Irish software company founded in Co. Donegal. The story behind it is as Irish as it gets.
Who we are
Our founder grew up on the west coast of Co. Donegal, battered by Atlantic gales. He worked the fields for his grandfather and laboured on construction sites for his father, then grew into carpentry, taking that trade across Ireland, the UK, Australia and the USA and working on some of the world's largest infrastructure and housing projects.
He did not stop there. While working at the highest levels of the construction industry he kept learning, adding honours degrees to his trades credentials and moving from site work into senior management. He spotted where the industry was failing and built software to fix it. That software took off. The shareholders of a new construction software company asked him to come on board as director to lead and develop it, and it became one of the most competitive platforms in the sector, purpose-built and price-beating, made by people who had actually worn the boots.
But the hills of Donegal were calling. As the old song goes, no matter where I go, I come home to my Donegal. He came back, and the idea began not in an office but out in a field, trying to measure land for fencing his sheep. He built a quick app to walk the boundary, plot it, and get the perimeter and area. That grew into a full 3D land mapping tool using elevation data for accurate measurements on real hilly ground. Then one day, standing in the field feeding the sheep, he realised he could keep going, crops, livestock, tasks, accounts, staff, the whole farm on one platform, at a price that would not take the last coin from a farmer already being squeezed from every direction.
Dún na Dev was born from that decision, a software company that would be small, sustainable and built to put the needs of its clients before profit. CulchieOS, a complete farm operating system, is its first flagship product.
Company
Dún na Dev
Irish software development
Founded
Co. Donegal, Ireland
Atlantic coast · Gaeltacht region
Roots
Trades to Director
Fields, sites, global projects, software
Mission
Clients before profits
Low cost · Sustainable · Built with care
Product
CulchieOS
Farm OS for Ireland & the UK
As Gaeilge
Proud to be from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Built with heart from the west of Ireland.
The journey
The early years
It started young. Growing up on the rugged west coast of Donegal, our founder worked the fields for his grandfather and laboured on sites for his father. From there he grew into carpentry, and took that trade across Ireland, to the UK, to Australia and to the USA, working on some of the largest infrastructure and housing projects anywhere in the world.
Moving up
He did not stand still. While working on major projects he kept qualifying, adding honours degrees to his trades credentials and moving from site work into senior management. He learned the construction industry from the ground up in every sense. He saw how it worked at every level, and more importantly, he saw where it did not.
A software breakthrough
Frustrated with the inefficiencies around him, he built a system for his employer to streamline how they operated. It worked better than anyone expected. Word spread quickly. The shareholders of a new construction software company saw what he had built and asked him to come on board as director, to lead and develop it into something that could compete with the best in the industry. It did, purpose-built, price-beating and made by people who had actually worn the boots.
The call of Donegal
He could have stayed. The career was going well. But the hills of Donegal have a way of pulling you back, and those Atlantic gales never really leave you. He came home, back to the west coast, back to where it all started. The question then was what to build next.
Where it started
The spark came not from a boardroom but from a field in Donegal. He was out measuring land that needed fencing for his sheep and had nothing useful to work with. So he built a quick app that would let him simply walk the boundary and plot it as he went, giving him the perimeter length for fencing and the total area of the land. Simple, practical and exactly what was needed.
It grew fast
Once the boundary tool worked he kept going. He added the ability to capture elevation as you walk, feed it into the app and render a proper 3D map of the land. That meant the area measurements could account for slopes and uneven ground rather than just giving a flat plan view, which on hilly Donegal land makes a real difference. At that point he started to see how much further this could go.
The big idea
Out in the field one day, feeding his mother's sheep, he stood back and looked at everything around him. The land tool was useful but why stop there? Crops in those fields, livestock in those paddocks, tasks to manage, staff to coordinate, grants to track, accounts to keep. All of it being done across notebooks, spreadsheets and expensive, disconnected software packages. He decided to put it all in one place, built properly, at a price that would not take the last coin from a farmer who was already being squeezed from every direction. As he put it himself: farmers are screwed out of every penny as it is, I do not want to take their last coin, I want to build something that will help them save.
Dún na Dev
Dún na Dev was founded with a clear purpose: build brilliant software for Irish people, keep it affordable and put clients before profit margins. Lower overheads but just as much skill, built with a passion for the people it serves. CulchieOS, a complete farm operating system, is the first flagship product and it is being improved continuously. It will not be the last.
2026 and beyond
CulchieOS is live across hundreds of farms in Ireland and the UK. The goal remains the same as it was out in that field in Donegal: one platform, one fair price, built by someone who actually understands what Irish farmers need.
What drives us
Dún na Dev was built on a simple rule: the needs of the people using our software come before margins. That is not a marketing line, it is why the pricing is what it is and why it will stay that way.
Farm software is too expensive. It should not be. We set out to build something comprehensive that a one-man operation in Connaught could afford just as easily as a large estate. That means keeping costs low and ego lower.
The founder grew up working the fields on the west coast of Donegal. He knows what it means to be outdoors in all weathers with little time and a lot to do. That experience is in every screen of CulchieOS.
Years building enterprise software for the global construction industry, on some of the world's biggest projects, taught us how to build systems that hold up under real pressure. We brought those standards home.
We are from An Rós, Co. Donegal, the Gaeltacht, the Atlantic coast, the real west of Ireland. That is not a postcode, it is a point of view. Everything we build is for rural Ireland first.
No venture capital. No board of investors. No pressure to grow at the expense of the product. Just a small team that ships, listens and keeps improving, because this is the work that matters to us.
Farmers are screwed out of every penny as it is. I do not want to take their last coin. I want to build something that will help them save and stop them having to pay crazy prices for software that does not even do everything in one place.
Founder, Dún na Dev, Co. Donegal, Ireland
By the numbers
500+
Farms registered
12
Platform modules
Donegal
Home base
100% Irish
Built & owned
Free plan available forever. 3-month Premium trial with every new farm account. No card needed.
Questions? info@culchieos.com · Based in Co. Donegal, Ireland