I farm: “About 150 ewes and run a contracting business. All my land is rented in Sligo, but it is only seven or eight miles across the border. It consists of 50ac of lowland grazing ground and 50ac of a hill.”
The flock: “They are Mayo mountain-cross ewes. We run a Suffolk and Texel ram with the ewes. We don’t start lambing until the middle of March and normally sell the lambs as stores through Manorhamilton Mart.”
Selling: “Lambs are still running with the ewes. I probably won’t be selling any for another couple of weeks. Sheep were clipped last week and lambs were dosed with cobalt, worm drenched and treated with Click for blowfly.”
This week: “We will finish up spreading lime and slurry spreading will quieten down after about four months. Mowing and pit silage will be our main jobs. We are going to do our own pit on the home farm this week, where my father has suckler cows.”
Contracting: ”My father was contracting here before I took over the business. His name is Michael and he has been contracting since the seventies. He still helps out a bit to keep things going.”
Machines: “I have five New Holland tractors. Slurry would be our main thing here from early spring. We have an umbilical system with a dribble bar.”
Lime spreading: “Compared to other years, there has been an awful lot of lime spread. We would have probably spread up to 300t of lime in the past couple of months. It’s more than we have spread in a long time.”
Silage 2020: “We cover north Leitrim into Sligo. There are very few first cuts of silage done around here, but there is some to be done this week. Farmers were due to cut their silage last week, but held off with the weather. Any crop we have cut has been noticeably lighter compared to last year.”
Family: “I am married to Cary and we have three children, Alisha, Kyle and Cian. They all like getting out and about on the farm.”
Read more
My Farming Week: Colin Goulden, Gortnadrass, Co Sligo
My Farming Week: Joe Martin, Maguiresbridge, Co Fermangh
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