Footprint Farmer Ciara Kinsella is busy preparing her qualifying horses for the Dublin Horse Show while also taking lambs to the factory this week.
Ciara had lambs born in February this year and was faced with a difficult spring in terms of weather and even grass growth on her farm located in Crossabeg, Co Wexford.
At the end of July, the Irish Farmers Journal visited the farm and spoke with Ciara and her mother, Frances, who said it has been the first time this year they have managed to have good grass covers in front of the lambs.
After weaning in June and putting a pour-on product on the lambs to prevent against blowfly strike, there is finally a full load of lambs ready for the factory.
She will take them at the start of August when the 40-day withdrawal is up.
Ciara has been involved in the Footprint Farmers programme since the beginning.
She is also part of a producer group that sells lambs to Irish Country Meats (ICM) in Camolin. This limits where Ciara can sell her lambs as all lambs must be finished for ICM. The price is based on the average of the three factories with the highest quotes, if their quotes are higher than what ICM is offering.
She also receives an extra few cents per kilo for being part of the group, which gives her an overall good price for the lambs. Ciara’s lambs are all finished off grass, which has added to the struggle of getting lambs fit and ready for the factory this year, whereas most years they have none of these issues.
By September, she hopes to have 70% of the lambs drafted off the farm.
Lleyn sheep are harder to finish according to Ciara as they have big frames and it’s hard to get them with good flesh. Adding in the Blue Texel has helped to get smaller lambs that finish earlier and meet the factory specifications, which are more stringent when part of a producer group. The finishing system on this Wexford farm suits Ciara as she works off the farm as a vet a few days each week.
However, a downside to being part of a producer group is that it limits her social interactions with other farmers as she rarely visits the mart to buy or sell sheep.
By September, 70% of these lambs will be sold to the factory.
Name: Ciara Kinsella.Location: Crossabeg, Co Wexford.Farm size: 25ha.Farm enterprise: sheep, sporthorses, forestry and beekeeping.Schemes: ACRES.The Kinsellas have sowed another hectare of multispecies sward this year, where there used to be wild bird cover in GLAS. For the last four years, the multispecies has been doing very well on the farm. However, this year, there is little to no chicory or plantain left in the first sward.
The weeds are also coming into the paddock this year with docks becoming prominent in areas.
Despite it only lasting the four years, Ciara was very impressed with how well the sward performed overall and made the decision to plant the same mix this year in another field.
Sheep will graze the newly sown multispecies to prevent weeds emerging.
Ciara is hoping to get the second cut of haylage made in mid-August. There was a great yield from the first cut and around 50 bales would be sufficient, she said, as they bought some hay to have as a buffer this winter.
There were three bags of cut sward per acre spread on these silage fields and 2,000gl/ac of pig slurry from a local piggery was spread on the grazing paddocks this year. Some pig slurry might get spread on the silage ground after the second cut, depending on the weather.
The haylage is used for the sheep and horses and is particularly good for the horses as the need for concentrates is reduced.
Ciara explained that they haven’t cut back on nitrogen this year as it’s been such a tough year to grow grass.
A good selection of the paddocks have good clover emerging in the last few weeks.
Ciara noted that it has been tough to get a contractor to spread lime as the area is small but the silage fields need lime this autumn.
Dublin Horse Show
Three homebred event horses are taking on the Dublin Horse Show this year, one five-year-old and two four-year-olds.
Ciara sold one of the four-year-old horses in the last few weeks and she will be riding the other two herself at the show this year.
Preparations are well under way, and the new sand arena on the farm is getting great use.
The family is very excited as having three homebred horses in the Dublin Horse Show is unique.
Show season runs from March to August, so lambing the sheep early in February allows time for riding the horses and this year welcoming three new foals on to the farm in April.
It’s a balancing act to keep all areas of the farm running, but the horses and the show days keep Ciara and her family energised and in good spirits, making all the hard work worthwhile.
Both the sheep and horses graze the fields together as this prevents dung patches in the grass.
Footprint Farmer Ciara Kinsella is busy preparing her qualifying horses for the Dublin Horse Show while also taking lambs to the factory this week.
Ciara had lambs born in February this year and was faced with a difficult spring in terms of weather and even grass growth on her farm located in Crossabeg, Co Wexford.
At the end of July, the Irish Farmers Journal visited the farm and spoke with Ciara and her mother, Frances, who said it has been the first time this year they have managed to have good grass covers in front of the lambs.
After weaning in June and putting a pour-on product on the lambs to prevent against blowfly strike, there is finally a full load of lambs ready for the factory.
She will take them at the start of August when the 40-day withdrawal is up.
Ciara has been involved in the Footprint Farmers programme since the beginning.
She is also part of a producer group that sells lambs to Irish Country Meats (ICM) in Camolin. This limits where Ciara can sell her lambs as all lambs must be finished for ICM. The price is based on the average of the three factories with the highest quotes, if their quotes are higher than what ICM is offering.
She also receives an extra few cents per kilo for being part of the group, which gives her an overall good price for the lambs. Ciara’s lambs are all finished off grass, which has added to the struggle of getting lambs fit and ready for the factory this year, whereas most years they have none of these issues.
By September, she hopes to have 70% of the lambs drafted off the farm.
Lleyn sheep are harder to finish according to Ciara as they have big frames and it’s hard to get them with good flesh. Adding in the Blue Texel has helped to get smaller lambs that finish earlier and meet the factory specifications, which are more stringent when part of a producer group. The finishing system on this Wexford farm suits Ciara as she works off the farm as a vet a few days each week.
However, a downside to being part of a producer group is that it limits her social interactions with other farmers as she rarely visits the mart to buy or sell sheep.
By September, 70% of these lambs will be sold to the factory.
Name: Ciara Kinsella.Location: Crossabeg, Co Wexford.Farm size: 25ha.Farm enterprise: sheep, sporthorses, forestry and beekeeping.Schemes: ACRES.The Kinsellas have sowed another hectare of multispecies sward this year, where there used to be wild bird cover in GLAS. For the last four years, the multispecies has been doing very well on the farm. However, this year, there is little to no chicory or plantain left in the first sward.
The weeds are also coming into the paddock this year with docks becoming prominent in areas.
Despite it only lasting the four years, Ciara was very impressed with how well the sward performed overall and made the decision to plant the same mix this year in another field.
Sheep will graze the newly sown multispecies to prevent weeds emerging.
Ciara is hoping to get the second cut of haylage made in mid-August. There was a great yield from the first cut and around 50 bales would be sufficient, she said, as they bought some hay to have as a buffer this winter.
There were three bags of cut sward per acre spread on these silage fields and 2,000gl/ac of pig slurry from a local piggery was spread on the grazing paddocks this year. Some pig slurry might get spread on the silage ground after the second cut, depending on the weather.
The haylage is used for the sheep and horses and is particularly good for the horses as the need for concentrates is reduced.
Ciara explained that they haven’t cut back on nitrogen this year as it’s been such a tough year to grow grass.
A good selection of the paddocks have good clover emerging in the last few weeks.
Ciara noted that it has been tough to get a contractor to spread lime as the area is small but the silage fields need lime this autumn.
Dublin Horse Show
Three homebred event horses are taking on the Dublin Horse Show this year, one five-year-old and two four-year-olds.
Ciara sold one of the four-year-old horses in the last few weeks and she will be riding the other two herself at the show this year.
Preparations are well under way, and the new sand arena on the farm is getting great use.
The family is very excited as having three homebred horses in the Dublin Horse Show is unique.
Show season runs from March to August, so lambing the sheep early in February allows time for riding the horses and this year welcoming three new foals on to the farm in April.
It’s a balancing act to keep all areas of the farm running, but the horses and the show days keep Ciara and her family energised and in good spirits, making all the hard work worthwhile.
Both the sheep and horses graze the fields together as this prevents dung patches in the grass.
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