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The Finn Valley in Co Donegal is famous for its fertile soil and rolling hills. The 63km River Finn runs through east Donegal before joining with the Foyle river.
The area has a wide variety of farming systems with dairy, beef, tillage and sheep farming carried out in the area.
Margaret and Jack Stevenson farm just outside the small village of Liscooley in east Donegal. Their farm extends to 157 acres with the mother-and-son team running just over 500 ewes and 25 suckler cows.
The Stevensons also lamb down 80 ewe lambs each year. The suckler herd consists of 25 suckler cows with cows calving in spring and weanlings sold in autumn. Cow type is predominantly Limousin and Simmental with some Angus cows also in the herd.
A lot of the cows would be third and fourth cross from the dairy herd. Cows are crossed with a terminal sire Charolais bull. The Stevensons are achieving some very high weight gains with bull calves gaining 1.47kg/day since birth to weaning and heifer calves gaining 1.35kg/day since birth.
A combination of really milky cows, excellent health and grass management, coupled with good genetics, is driving weight gain on the farm.
Margaret said: “We’re really happy with the Charolais bull. He is sired by Texan GIE and his calves are born small, around 35kg, but they change really quickly after a few weeks.”
Weanlings are sold in local marts and are generally over 400kg at sale time.
The Stevensons are participants in the SCEP, ACRES, NBWS and ewe scheme.
ACRES options
Traditional meadows, owl boxes and hedge planting were all chosen as part of their options for ACRES. A huge emphasis is placed on grassland management.
Margaret remembers going to a Teagasc event many years ago in Letterkenny where one of the speakers spoke about Vitamin G (grass), which many farmers forget about.
Everything on the farm is geared towards maximising the amount of grass in the diet of ewes and cows.
Cows and ewes are grazed in a paddock system with all stock moving to fresh grass at regular intervals. Fields are closed in rotation in autumn with all ewes housed by Chistmas to allow for grass buildup for early grazing.
The sheep system is a typical mid-season lambing flock with a Suffolk x Texel breeding programme being used.
Last year, the ewes scanned 2.1 lambs per ewe. The cattle and sheep systems complement each other with mixed grazing driving both grass quality and stock performance.
Lambing is geared towards Jack’s Easter holidays for help at lambing time.
The Stevensons aim to have the majority of slurry spread in spring, which is done using a local contractor with a trailing shoe. Protected urea is also being used on the farm.
Speaking on behalf of the competition sponsors, Joe Burke from Bord Bia said: “Farm sustainability is increasingly important in driving purchasing decisions of global buyers and through the participation of Irish farmers in Origin Green, we can continue to build on the positive reputation of Ireland.
“Critical to this is recognising the achievements of farmers such as the sustainable farmer award winners selected from Bord Bia’s Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme. They provide clear examples of the practical actions that can enhance environmental footprint at farm level.
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