The farm
The farm was purchased by the McCall family in 1958. Kim’s father bred racehorses and fattened bullocks. In 1986 Kim took over and opted for suckler cows and sheep instead of horses. He also planted woods, reintroduced ponds that had been filled in over the years and gave the farm an environmental orientation. The farm is on 85 hectares of land, 75 in permanent pasture and 10 in forestry. We keep approximately 70 cows and 80 breeding ewes. 350 tonnes of farmyard manure and 105.000 litres of slurry are spread on average. Bacteriolit is added to the straw in the shed and to the slurry. 3 tonnes of Bacteriosol have been spread on 10 ha and nitrogen at a rate of 67 ½ units per ha on 40 ha. Bacteriolit and Bacterioso l are a natural product from Sobac which speeds up composting and we have found a noticeable improvement in the pastures since using it. The grass is sweeter and the animals eat more of the field. It also helps to rectify compaction problems and reduce weeds.
The farm was in REPS for a number of years and was demonstration farm for REPS 1. We have now joined AEOS and for this scheme have planted hedges, managed species rich meadows and replanted an orchard.
The farm is not organic but every care is taken to protect environment and wildlife in simple measures that do not interfere with the profitability. In 1990 the farm won the “National Farming and Conservation Award”, in 1998, the “Profitable Farming and Conservation Award”, in 2000 it won first prize for REPS for the Leinster region and in 2009, a RDS sponsored Forestry Award.