I farm: “On a nearly 100ac organic suckler farm with my son Alan, who is in Australia at the minute, and my wife Geraldine who helps out with off-farm work.”
Cows: “We have 12 Limousin and Shorthorn-cross cows, six heifers and we run a Charolais bull with them. Those cows would be popular in this part of the country, they’d be a hardy breed for out-wintering. We calve the cows between March and April, hopefully they are not inside for too long. It’s later because they’re on the marginal land, there wouldn’t be any grass until the end of April.”
Suckler: “Prices are brilliant, they are up a lot since last year. We’ve nothing to sell but if we did it would be a good time to sell.”
ACRES: “We’re working as part of ACRES Breifne to show other farmers wader scrapes we’ve put in. They’re small shallow ponds by the lake. In years gone by it was a sanctuary for wild birds there, but sadly it has declined in recent years so hopefully the wader scrapes will encourage new biodiversity and wildlife. The home farm is right along the lake, where the Shannon meets Lough Allen, there’s 20ha. It’s low-lying, very suitable because it’s along the lake and it’s peaty soil. It has to be where the water table is high for the scrapes to fill with water.”
Biodiversity: “I’m trying to entice the curlew back, there used to be a lot of them but they’re very rare now. They make a sort of a cry, it’s a lovely sound. Work with the land you have; don’t be trying to perform miracles on marginal land. The low stocking rate and biodiversity seem to work for us.”
Technology: “The only technology on the farm would be a calving camera and the ACRES trail cameras they set up on the ponds to monitor the wildlife. There’s no need for [technology], it’s such a simple setup and a small number of stock.”
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