Overall winners and dairy enterprise
category winners
John and Brendan Walsh, Co Tipperary
“Try everything, but don’t be afraid to fail. Surround yourself with good advice from Teagasc and other farmers. Speak to those that are positive.”
The farm produced 503kg of milk solids per cow in 2023, with 750kg of concentrates per cow. Herd average EBI is €245. The Walshs’ carbon footprint is 0.81 kg CO2eq/kg FPCM, while total emissions are 1,011 tonnes CO2eq on the farm. On-farm chemical nitrogen (N) use has been reduced from 220kg N/ha in 2020 to 115kg N/ha in 2023. At the same time, the farm produced 14.9 tonnes of grass DM/ha in 2023, demonstrating that a reduction in chemical N use can be achieved, while still maintaining or increasing output. There has been an emphasis on biodiversity on the farm from Brendan’s grandfather’s time. Topped hedges are managed differently now, being allowed to grow up and out. John does the hedge trimming himself so that he can get it right. A whitethorn is allowed grow up every 50m in each hedge.
Native tree species
There are groves of trees dotted around the farm, including a 3ha forestry block, which is gradually being converted from spruce to native tree species, including oak and alder. They plant trees every year on the farm. There are barn owls and herons nesting on the farm and recently they spotted a curlew. “That’s a good indication that we are encouraging biodiversity on the farm,” says Brendan.
The nitrogen surplus on the farm is 80kg N/ha. The lower this is, the better as it reduces the risk of nitrogen leaching into waterways. According to the Teagasc National Farm Survey data, the average nitrogen surplus in Ireland in 2023 was 147kg N/ha.
John and Brendan Walsh
Dairy beef enterprise category winner
Aidan Maguire, Co Meath
“I’d say the one environmentally good thing that I’ve done is I’ve actually planted forestry on the farm. They’ll be there for my lifetime and a lot of them will be there for my son’s lifetime.”
A standout for the judging panel of the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards was the attention Aidan pays to calf sourcing.
Over the last 15 years, Aidan has endeavoured to build such relationships to ensure the calves he is buying are healthy, and to maximise the calves’ genetic potential to to thrive on his farm.
Aidan selects calves from farms with the genetics for good beef traits. Central to this is the use of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV), a tool employed to make informed decisions on what calves to purchase.
In 2023, they purchased calves with a CBV of +€2 for dairy x dairy calves and +€98 for dairy x beef animals.
Beef-sub index
In 2024, with the help of his Teagasc advisers, David
Argue and Fergal Maguire, Aidan selected a list of bulls suitable for improving the genetics of the calves he is purchasing.
These bulls had a beef-sub index of at least €100 and a carcase weight of +10kg. The trust built up between Aidan and the dairy farmers gives him the confidence that the calves he is buying will deliver in terms of animal performance while the dairy farmer is securing a market for his/her calves.
All the beef x dairy calves will need to be ranked in the top 40% on CBV, which means Angus and Hereford calves will have a CBV greater than €80.
He expects that the Friesian bull calves purchased will have a CBV greater than €1.
Aidan Maguire
Sheep enterprise
category winner
Brian Nicholson, Co Kilkenny
“The transition to organics wasn’t so difficult, as I was already doing a lot of the things required under organics. There is certainly more paperwork.”
Brian is farming 98ha of agricultural land with a further 20ha of forestry: 70ha of this in organic production, the remainder is conventional. He started the conversion to organic production in the past year, choosing to convert 70% of the agricultural land to organic farming.
Partial conversion of the farm to organic farming is allowed, subject to the following conditions.
If both organic and conventional crops are to be produced, different species of plant, or different varieties that can be easily differentiated at all stages of growth and production, must be used.If both organic and conventional livestock are to be produced, different species must be involved.He converted to partial organics for economic, social and environmental reasons.
Reduced ewe numbers
The value of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) payment to the farm was attractive. Brian was operating a 1,000 ewe unit and sourcing labour was an issue, so it made sense to reduce ewe numbers to 550-600. Switching to organic production also helps Brian meet his emissions targets.
He is one year into conversion and says that while there is additional paperwork, there is otherwise little change. His system had also moved more towards organic farming in recent years, making the change easier.
Brian has received approval for 19ha of agroforestry to be planted alongside the river. He says he is incorporating agroforestry for a number of reasons: the financial benefit of the scheme; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; water quality benefits, and biodiversity.
Brian Nicholson
Tillage enterprise
category winner
Tom Barry, Co Cork
“I’m most proud of growing a crop, cutting back on nutrients and cutting back on what would have been deemed essential items –and being brave enough to make it happen.”
The crops grown on this farm include winter beans, winter barley, winter wheat, winter oats, spring barley, spring, oats, spring beans, cover crops and wild bird cover. There is a strong crop rotation in place.
Tom also imports a lot of slurry from dairy and pig farms. He has reduced bagged nitrogen usage by 50% and is also slashing fungicides’ usage.
There has been a significant emphasis on maximising the use of organic manures on this farm over the last number of years.
Tom has built a very large tank to store 30 lorry loads of slurry. All slurries are tested for nutrient content. This allows Tom to make informed decisions on what slurry to apply and where. The slurry can be pumped up to two kilometres to spread on the fields with an umbilical system, limiting the damage to soil structure.
Technology
There is new NIR technology becoming available, which can tell the farmer exactly what nutrients are going on every inch of the field – Tom is really interested in using this in the near future.
Satellite mapping means the application rate and the quantity applied can be tracked.
Tom is soil-sampling all his fields annually. The nutrient management plan is very current because of the data used and this is helping to improve the accuracy of fertiliser application.
Tom likes having a spade to hand. There is a big emphasis on soil health on this farm so the spade is pulled out regularly to check for compaction, check for life, for humus and for earthworms.
Tom Barry and Cathy Barry.
Suckler beef enterprise category winner
Shane Keaveney, Co Roscommon
“Entering the likes of this competition is upping the profile of the farm and it’s helping them [the children] to be more proud of the farm they come from.”
Shane, with the help of his wife Gráinne and three children, operates a successful suckler farming enterprise consisting of around 38 cows. He participates in the Teagasc Future Beef Programme. Male progeny from the system enter an under 16-month bull production system, while non-replacement heifers are carried to forward store stage before being marketed.
Split between four blocks, the 35ha farm is heavy in nature due to the underlying clay and peat soils.
One of the things done really well on the farm is breeding and cows are calving at 365 days. Heifers calve down at 24 months. The cow replacement index is 110 and heifer replacement index is 144. They are producing 0.97 calves per cow per year. The cow type is mainly LM/SA crosses.
One of the farm’s targets is to reduce the bulls age at finishing from 16 months to 15. The heifers are sold as forward stores. They hope to finish dairy calves at 19/20 months.
Reduced age of slaughter
Reducing age of slaughter is a big lever to reduce overall emissions on the farm. The age has been reduced by three weeks in 2024 and the bulls are 9kg heavier than last year.
This has been achieved through: the bulls being weaned earlier in autumn 2023 and given 2kg of meal/head/day out on good grass prior to housing; good practice at weaning, ie vaccinations, and less stress at weaning.
Once the weather deteriorated, the bulls were housed immediately for the winter. Shane used a high-quality red clover silage (76%DMD) from housing until ad-lib feeding. He separated the bulls into two groups and the heavier bulls were on ad-lib meal earlier.
Shane Keaveney
Improving water quality category winner
Martin Crowe, dairy farmer, Co Limerick
“Mark Little, formerly of RTÉ, put forward a very good question one time: ‘What would you say to your grandchildren in 20 years’ time when they ask you – grandad, what did you do?’ So in 20 years, please God I will have grandchildren, and I’d like to be able to tell them that we did this and this to secure their future.”
Martin won the water quality category award for a number of reasons. He has a very good understanding of the status of his local river and has used the PIP maps to help him identify the potential risk from N and phosphorus (P) on the farm.
Martin participated in the River Mulkear water EIP in recent years, giving him the support to implement measures on his farm to improve water quality.
He has significantly reduced his chemical N use on the farm and the N balance for the farm is now 105kg N/ ha.
Soil fertility
This has been achieved by a combination of better soil fertility, increased incorporation of clover into swards and better use of slurries.
Martin has increased slurry storage on the farm in recent years, as well as investing in LESS equipment.
This additional storage gives him the flexibility to use slurry on the farm when he is going to get the greatest benefit from it.
A bunded drain was created alongside the farmyard, capturing runoff from the yard.
Martin has created a wetland pond on the farm. This pond is a biodiversity feature, but can also act as a sediment trap. It also has wellbeing benefits for Martin and the family.
Martin Crowe
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
category winner
Edwin Thompson, dairy farmer, Co Tipperary
“I love getting up in the morning and heading over to the farm and planning my day. For me, there’s no stress involved, there’s no traffic. I’m out in the countryside, working with beautiful animals, making a good living. It doesn’t get much better.”
Edwin is milking 160 cows, farmed on about 86ha. When he first joined the Signpost programme, he identified areas that he could improve on. So he immediately reseeded some land and got some clover going.
He currently has about 50% of the farm growing in clover or multi-species swards, and he is spreading about 40% to 50% less chemical nitrogen. All of the chemical N is spread in a protected form (NBPT-protected urea). Chemical N usage was reduced last year to about 110 kg of N/ha. He has the tractor set up with GPS, so spreading is very accurate. He walks the farm weekly and uses a combination of plate meter and eyeballing for grass measuring.
Edwin places an emphasis on picking beef sires that have a high DBI Index, producing calves with high CBV. This gives the beef farmer greater confidence when purchasing calves that these animals have the genetic potential to perform.
Edwin and his family are quite happy to leave a little bit of land for nature in the form of hedges, ponds and reed beds. They are not obsessed with farming every square inch of the land. In the past they kept the hedges neatly trimmed and manicured, but now are allowing them to grow and produce flowers, cover and food for wildlife and for birds. This in turn increases carbon sequestration potential.
Edwin Thompson
Enhancing
biodiversity
category winner
Ken Gill, organic suckler farmer, Co Offaly
“If you look at the list that Teagasc has, the 12 things to reduce your gaseous emissions on the farm, 10 of them only affect me because two are to do with spreading fertiliser, which I don’t do. But there is not one thing on that list that isn’t good for the environment and good for your bottom line.”
Ken operates an organic suckler-to-beef system with 70 autumn-calving suckler cows. This farm is a really good example of an organic farm operating at a high level of technical efficiency, while also looking after the environment. There has been an emphasis on good hedgerow management and the field boundary management, making sure there is plenty of flowering plants in the hedgerows. He cuts one side every third year and one quarter of hedges are cut every four years. He has recently planted 500m of new hedgerows on the farm and has worked closely with Woodlands of Ireland on native woodland creation and hedge laying. The margins are fenced and being organic are free from pesticides and herbicides, providing a useful habitat for wildlife.
Ken has always planted a lot of trees. The farm has an old, semi-natural woodland (14ha) which was planted over 20 years ago. He is managing that by coppicing of standards to provide continuous cover, something Ken is very proud of. Being organic means that crop rotation is very important in the system. Ken is growing oats and red clover silage, as well as winter fodder crops, including turnips, rape and kale in autumn. This is good for soil health and weed control. Ken is very aware of what’s going on under the soil – the soil biodiversity. He believes that good crop rotation is important for this, but also retains one third of the farm in old permanent pasture.
Ken Gill
Improving soil health category winner
James O’Keeffe, organic tillage farmer, Co Meath
“Like any farm, you are only minding it for a short time, so I definitely would love to be able to hand over to my son, Michael. We are here for about six generations and Michael would be the seventh.”
James is operating an organic tillage farm at Crossakill in Co Meath. Cereals are grown for a food market – oats for porridge and milling wheat – and James is also exploring potential to supply the distilling market.
The remainder of the grain is sold directly to farmers for animal feed. James has installed solar panels on the sheds in the yard and sells electricity to the grid.
He is growing and marketing miscanthus as an alternative animal bedding source. It has worked well for him and he has put in more.
It’s an important crop to sequester carbon, alongside the forestry that James has, and he is also incorporating straw.
Rotation
There is a strong and diverse rotation in place on the farm, with cereals, beans, combi crops (peas and barley, peas and wheat) as well as red clover.
The rotation length is typically six years and there are always cover crops to protect the soils over the winter where there are crops going in the following spring.
James will contract-graze sheep to eat those down, but also to recycle nutrients.
He highlights combi crops as being important for soil biodiversity, and says these result in a more rich mix of microorganisms compared to a monoculture.
He avoids physical damage (compaction) to soil as much as possible. Because the farm is organic, he is completely reliant on organic manures.
He is purchasing farmyard manure, chicken litter and slurry, and he has installed a purpose-built slab to store this all year round for composting.
James o'Keeffe
Overall winners and dairy enterprise
category winners
John and Brendan Walsh, Co Tipperary
“Try everything, but don’t be afraid to fail. Surround yourself with good advice from Teagasc and other farmers. Speak to those that are positive.”
The farm produced 503kg of milk solids per cow in 2023, with 750kg of concentrates per cow. Herd average EBI is €245. The Walshs’ carbon footprint is 0.81 kg CO2eq/kg FPCM, while total emissions are 1,011 tonnes CO2eq on the farm. On-farm chemical nitrogen (N) use has been reduced from 220kg N/ha in 2020 to 115kg N/ha in 2023. At the same time, the farm produced 14.9 tonnes of grass DM/ha in 2023, demonstrating that a reduction in chemical N use can be achieved, while still maintaining or increasing output. There has been an emphasis on biodiversity on the farm from Brendan’s grandfather’s time. Topped hedges are managed differently now, being allowed to grow up and out. John does the hedge trimming himself so that he can get it right. A whitethorn is allowed grow up every 50m in each hedge.
Native tree species
There are groves of trees dotted around the farm, including a 3ha forestry block, which is gradually being converted from spruce to native tree species, including oak and alder. They plant trees every year on the farm. There are barn owls and herons nesting on the farm and recently they spotted a curlew. “That’s a good indication that we are encouraging biodiversity on the farm,” says Brendan.
The nitrogen surplus on the farm is 80kg N/ha. The lower this is, the better as it reduces the risk of nitrogen leaching into waterways. According to the Teagasc National Farm Survey data, the average nitrogen surplus in Ireland in 2023 was 147kg N/ha.
John and Brendan Walsh
Dairy beef enterprise category winner
Aidan Maguire, Co Meath
“I’d say the one environmentally good thing that I’ve done is I’ve actually planted forestry on the farm. They’ll be there for my lifetime and a lot of them will be there for my son’s lifetime.”
A standout for the judging panel of the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards was the attention Aidan pays to calf sourcing.
Over the last 15 years, Aidan has endeavoured to build such relationships to ensure the calves he is buying are healthy, and to maximise the calves’ genetic potential to to thrive on his farm.
Aidan selects calves from farms with the genetics for good beef traits. Central to this is the use of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV), a tool employed to make informed decisions on what calves to purchase.
In 2023, they purchased calves with a CBV of +€2 for dairy x dairy calves and +€98 for dairy x beef animals.
Beef-sub index
In 2024, with the help of his Teagasc advisers, David
Argue and Fergal Maguire, Aidan selected a list of bulls suitable for improving the genetics of the calves he is purchasing.
These bulls had a beef-sub index of at least €100 and a carcase weight of +10kg. The trust built up between Aidan and the dairy farmers gives him the confidence that the calves he is buying will deliver in terms of animal performance while the dairy farmer is securing a market for his/her calves.
All the beef x dairy calves will need to be ranked in the top 40% on CBV, which means Angus and Hereford calves will have a CBV greater than €80.
He expects that the Friesian bull calves purchased will have a CBV greater than €1.
Aidan Maguire
Sheep enterprise
category winner
Brian Nicholson, Co Kilkenny
“The transition to organics wasn’t so difficult, as I was already doing a lot of the things required under organics. There is certainly more paperwork.”
Brian is farming 98ha of agricultural land with a further 20ha of forestry: 70ha of this in organic production, the remainder is conventional. He started the conversion to organic production in the past year, choosing to convert 70% of the agricultural land to organic farming.
Partial conversion of the farm to organic farming is allowed, subject to the following conditions.
If both organic and conventional crops are to be produced, different species of plant, or different varieties that can be easily differentiated at all stages of growth and production, must be used.If both organic and conventional livestock are to be produced, different species must be involved.He converted to partial organics for economic, social and environmental reasons.
Reduced ewe numbers
The value of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) payment to the farm was attractive. Brian was operating a 1,000 ewe unit and sourcing labour was an issue, so it made sense to reduce ewe numbers to 550-600. Switching to organic production also helps Brian meet his emissions targets.
He is one year into conversion and says that while there is additional paperwork, there is otherwise little change. His system had also moved more towards organic farming in recent years, making the change easier.
Brian has received approval for 19ha of agroforestry to be planted alongside the river. He says he is incorporating agroforestry for a number of reasons: the financial benefit of the scheme; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; water quality benefits, and biodiversity.
Brian Nicholson
Tillage enterprise
category winner
Tom Barry, Co Cork
“I’m most proud of growing a crop, cutting back on nutrients and cutting back on what would have been deemed essential items –and being brave enough to make it happen.”
The crops grown on this farm include winter beans, winter barley, winter wheat, winter oats, spring barley, spring, oats, spring beans, cover crops and wild bird cover. There is a strong crop rotation in place.
Tom also imports a lot of slurry from dairy and pig farms. He has reduced bagged nitrogen usage by 50% and is also slashing fungicides’ usage.
There has been a significant emphasis on maximising the use of organic manures on this farm over the last number of years.
Tom has built a very large tank to store 30 lorry loads of slurry. All slurries are tested for nutrient content. This allows Tom to make informed decisions on what slurry to apply and where. The slurry can be pumped up to two kilometres to spread on the fields with an umbilical system, limiting the damage to soil structure.
Technology
There is new NIR technology becoming available, which can tell the farmer exactly what nutrients are going on every inch of the field – Tom is really interested in using this in the near future.
Satellite mapping means the application rate and the quantity applied can be tracked.
Tom is soil-sampling all his fields annually. The nutrient management plan is very current because of the data used and this is helping to improve the accuracy of fertiliser application.
Tom likes having a spade to hand. There is a big emphasis on soil health on this farm so the spade is pulled out regularly to check for compaction, check for life, for humus and for earthworms.
Tom Barry and Cathy Barry.
Suckler beef enterprise category winner
Shane Keaveney, Co Roscommon
“Entering the likes of this competition is upping the profile of the farm and it’s helping them [the children] to be more proud of the farm they come from.”
Shane, with the help of his wife Gráinne and three children, operates a successful suckler farming enterprise consisting of around 38 cows. He participates in the Teagasc Future Beef Programme. Male progeny from the system enter an under 16-month bull production system, while non-replacement heifers are carried to forward store stage before being marketed.
Split between four blocks, the 35ha farm is heavy in nature due to the underlying clay and peat soils.
One of the things done really well on the farm is breeding and cows are calving at 365 days. Heifers calve down at 24 months. The cow replacement index is 110 and heifer replacement index is 144. They are producing 0.97 calves per cow per year. The cow type is mainly LM/SA crosses.
One of the farm’s targets is to reduce the bulls age at finishing from 16 months to 15. The heifers are sold as forward stores. They hope to finish dairy calves at 19/20 months.
Reduced age of slaughter
Reducing age of slaughter is a big lever to reduce overall emissions on the farm. The age has been reduced by three weeks in 2024 and the bulls are 9kg heavier than last year.
This has been achieved through: the bulls being weaned earlier in autumn 2023 and given 2kg of meal/head/day out on good grass prior to housing; good practice at weaning, ie vaccinations, and less stress at weaning.
Once the weather deteriorated, the bulls were housed immediately for the winter. Shane used a high-quality red clover silage (76%DMD) from housing until ad-lib feeding. He separated the bulls into two groups and the heavier bulls were on ad-lib meal earlier.
Shane Keaveney
Improving water quality category winner
Martin Crowe, dairy farmer, Co Limerick
“Mark Little, formerly of RTÉ, put forward a very good question one time: ‘What would you say to your grandchildren in 20 years’ time when they ask you – grandad, what did you do?’ So in 20 years, please God I will have grandchildren, and I’d like to be able to tell them that we did this and this to secure their future.”
Martin won the water quality category award for a number of reasons. He has a very good understanding of the status of his local river and has used the PIP maps to help him identify the potential risk from N and phosphorus (P) on the farm.
Martin participated in the River Mulkear water EIP in recent years, giving him the support to implement measures on his farm to improve water quality.
He has significantly reduced his chemical N use on the farm and the N balance for the farm is now 105kg N/ ha.
Soil fertility
This has been achieved by a combination of better soil fertility, increased incorporation of clover into swards and better use of slurries.
Martin has increased slurry storage on the farm in recent years, as well as investing in LESS equipment.
This additional storage gives him the flexibility to use slurry on the farm when he is going to get the greatest benefit from it.
A bunded drain was created alongside the farmyard, capturing runoff from the yard.
Martin has created a wetland pond on the farm. This pond is a biodiversity feature, but can also act as a sediment trap. It also has wellbeing benefits for Martin and the family.
Martin Crowe
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
category winner
Edwin Thompson, dairy farmer, Co Tipperary
“I love getting up in the morning and heading over to the farm and planning my day. For me, there’s no stress involved, there’s no traffic. I’m out in the countryside, working with beautiful animals, making a good living. It doesn’t get much better.”
Edwin is milking 160 cows, farmed on about 86ha. When he first joined the Signpost programme, he identified areas that he could improve on. So he immediately reseeded some land and got some clover going.
He currently has about 50% of the farm growing in clover or multi-species swards, and he is spreading about 40% to 50% less chemical nitrogen. All of the chemical N is spread in a protected form (NBPT-protected urea). Chemical N usage was reduced last year to about 110 kg of N/ha. He has the tractor set up with GPS, so spreading is very accurate. He walks the farm weekly and uses a combination of plate meter and eyeballing for grass measuring.
Edwin places an emphasis on picking beef sires that have a high DBI Index, producing calves with high CBV. This gives the beef farmer greater confidence when purchasing calves that these animals have the genetic potential to perform.
Edwin and his family are quite happy to leave a little bit of land for nature in the form of hedges, ponds and reed beds. They are not obsessed with farming every square inch of the land. In the past they kept the hedges neatly trimmed and manicured, but now are allowing them to grow and produce flowers, cover and food for wildlife and for birds. This in turn increases carbon sequestration potential.
Edwin Thompson
Enhancing
biodiversity
category winner
Ken Gill, organic suckler farmer, Co Offaly
“If you look at the list that Teagasc has, the 12 things to reduce your gaseous emissions on the farm, 10 of them only affect me because two are to do with spreading fertiliser, which I don’t do. But there is not one thing on that list that isn’t good for the environment and good for your bottom line.”
Ken operates an organic suckler-to-beef system with 70 autumn-calving suckler cows. This farm is a really good example of an organic farm operating at a high level of technical efficiency, while also looking after the environment. There has been an emphasis on good hedgerow management and the field boundary management, making sure there is plenty of flowering plants in the hedgerows. He cuts one side every third year and one quarter of hedges are cut every four years. He has recently planted 500m of new hedgerows on the farm and has worked closely with Woodlands of Ireland on native woodland creation and hedge laying. The margins are fenced and being organic are free from pesticides and herbicides, providing a useful habitat for wildlife.
Ken has always planted a lot of trees. The farm has an old, semi-natural woodland (14ha) which was planted over 20 years ago. He is managing that by coppicing of standards to provide continuous cover, something Ken is very proud of. Being organic means that crop rotation is very important in the system. Ken is growing oats and red clover silage, as well as winter fodder crops, including turnips, rape and kale in autumn. This is good for soil health and weed control. Ken is very aware of what’s going on under the soil – the soil biodiversity. He believes that good crop rotation is important for this, but also retains one third of the farm in old permanent pasture.
Ken Gill
Improving soil health category winner
James O’Keeffe, organic tillage farmer, Co Meath
“Like any farm, you are only minding it for a short time, so I definitely would love to be able to hand over to my son, Michael. We are here for about six generations and Michael would be the seventh.”
James is operating an organic tillage farm at Crossakill in Co Meath. Cereals are grown for a food market – oats for porridge and milling wheat – and James is also exploring potential to supply the distilling market.
The remainder of the grain is sold directly to farmers for animal feed. James has installed solar panels on the sheds in the yard and sells electricity to the grid.
He is growing and marketing miscanthus as an alternative animal bedding source. It has worked well for him and he has put in more.
It’s an important crop to sequester carbon, alongside the forestry that James has, and he is also incorporating straw.
Rotation
There is a strong and diverse rotation in place on the farm, with cereals, beans, combi crops (peas and barley, peas and wheat) as well as red clover.
The rotation length is typically six years and there are always cover crops to protect the soils over the winter where there are crops going in the following spring.
James will contract-graze sheep to eat those down, but also to recycle nutrients.
He highlights combi crops as being important for soil biodiversity, and says these result in a more rich mix of microorganisms compared to a monoculture.
He avoids physical damage (compaction) to soil as much as possible. Because the farm is organic, he is completely reliant on organic manures.
He is purchasing farmyard manure, chicken litter and slurry, and he has installed a purpose-built slab to store this all year round for composting.
James o'Keeffe
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