I farm: “Around 400ac, alongside my mother, Mary. Three-quarters is commonage, the rest is rough lowland and land on two islands off Mulranny; they’re tidal so we can walk to them.”
Sheep: “We have around 300 ewes. The lowland is a commercial flock of Texel-Suffolk-crosses, with a bit of Lleyn through them. Some have a Cheviot mix as well. The mountain flock are Mayo Mountain ewes. The Texel ram can cross with a Mountain ewe for the Hiltex, just to produce a better lamb that’s worth something at the end of the year. You’re committed to farming the land, so you’re as well off having something that’s worthwhile on it. We’ve pushed out lambing until the start of April. That’s all got to do with weather, because we lamb our sheep outdoors.”
This week: “Pneumonia is an issue for young lambs and it’s been an issue that we can’t get access to [Heptavac P] so we’ve to use a different vaccination, so hopefully we get through that. If the weather is in our favour, it would be a lot of help.”
Price: “The costs associated with producing lambs have gone up, but we can’t complain at the moment.”
Nature: “The Wild Atlantic Nature project was a scheme on the Nephin range with around 150 farmers, to see what they could do with managing the hills more environmentally. We felt it would only work if all the farmers were involved, especially in hills with commonages. Also, we’re temporarily fencing off 30ac of our private mountain to see how it can recover in the next 10 years.”
ACRES: “It’s been treating us okay. It has been a bit of a mess with payments, but it will sort itself out eventually.”
Quotable quote:”Farming is about management now. The hill farmer is dying out; we’re a rare breed. If that goes in areas like this what else is there for it?”
Colum Ginnelly the February Farming for Nature ambassador of the month, farms 400 acres spread across islands in Clew Bay, lowland and commonage on the Nephin Beg Mountain range, near Mulranny, Co Mayo, and is a participant in the Wild Atlantic Nature pilot scheme. \ Michael McLaughlin
I farm: “Around 400ac, alongside my mother, Mary. Three-quarters is commonage, the rest is rough lowland and land on two islands off Mulranny; they’re tidal so we can walk to them.”
Sheep: “We have around 300 ewes. The lowland is a commercial flock of Texel-Suffolk-crosses, with a bit of Lleyn through them. Some have a Cheviot mix as well. The mountain flock are Mayo Mountain ewes. The Texel ram can cross with a Mountain ewe for the Hiltex, just to produce a better lamb that’s worth something at the end of the year. You’re committed to farming the land, so you’re as well off having something that’s worthwhile on it. We’ve pushed out lambing until the start of April. That’s all got to do with weather, because we lamb our sheep outdoors.”
This week: “Pneumonia is an issue for young lambs and it’s been an issue that we can’t get access to [Heptavac P] so we’ve to use a different vaccination, so hopefully we get through that. If the weather is in our favour, it would be a lot of help.”
Price: “The costs associated with producing lambs have gone up, but we can’t complain at the moment.”
Nature: “The Wild Atlantic Nature project was a scheme on the Nephin range with around 150 farmers, to see what they could do with managing the hills more environmentally. We felt it would only work if all the farmers were involved, especially in hills with commonages. Also, we’re temporarily fencing off 30ac of our private mountain to see how it can recover in the next 10 years.”
ACRES: “It’s been treating us okay. It has been a bit of a mess with payments, but it will sort itself out eventually.”
Quotable quote:”Farming is about management now. The hill farmer is dying out; we’re a rare breed. If that goes in areas like this what else is there for it?”
Colum Ginnelly the February Farming for Nature ambassador of the month, farms 400 acres spread across islands in Clew Bay, lowland and commonage on the Nephin Beg Mountain range, near Mulranny, Co Mayo, and is a participant in the Wild Atlantic Nature pilot scheme. \ Michael McLaughlin
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