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farming in Ireland

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courtesy of farming in Ireland

Cattle Grazing in the Burren

The Burren is Ireland's most distinctive and internationally celebrated landscape, while the burren is inhospiabble it is used for farming.

Calf rearing

A group of Holstein Friesian calves gather around a milk feeder on the farm of Ann Moore in Middleton, Co Cork. The system is and example of low labour techniques imported from New Zealand that allow large numbers of animals to be managed by one person. Milk is placed in the central drum and brought by ATV or tractor to the field where the calves gather around and suck mild from plastic teats. Once they are well fed and have good shelter, calves are very healthy outdoors. In 2011, Ann was awarded the European Innovation award for farm women.

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Farm organisations

A high proportion of Irish farmers are members of representative organisations that provide information, offer strength in numbers as well as lobbying politicians and Government on their behalf. The largest organisation is the Irish Farmer's Association (IFA) (www.ifa.ie), with over 85,000 members in 947 branches nationwide. The picture shows a 2011 protest calling for farmers to receive a fair share of the retail price. For young farmers aged 17-35, Macra na Feirme (www.macra.ie), founded in 1944, offers a network of clubs active in agriculture, sports, travel, public speaking, community involvement and the arts. Thousands of Irish dairy farmers are also members of the Limerick based Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) (www.icmsa.ie). Drystock farmers are also represented by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (www.icsaireland.com)

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farming in Ireland, overview

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courtesy farming in Ireland

Cows grazing

Weather permitting, Irish dairy cows are generally grazed on grass pastures from March to October when the grass is in plentiful supply. Average milk yield per cow in Ireland in 2010 was 4,567 litres with constituents of 3.84% butterfat and 3.35% protine. This is relatively low by international standards; in the United States and Continental Europe, average milk yields are close to 9,000 litres per cow. However, the yields in Ireland reflect the prevalence of cost grass based systems rather than intensive indoor confinement systems based on concentrate feeds.

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Amenity horticulture

Amenity horticulture covers a range of non food plants grown in Ireland. Our mild temperate climate provides ideal growing conditions for a comparatively large range of garden/landscape plants and flowers. Commercial amenity crops are grown either indoors in permanent structures such as glasshouses, fixed and mobile polythene tunnels or in open field/plant bed situations. While protected food horticultural production i.e. growing in glasshouses/polythene tunnels, is mostly concentrated in the area just north of Dublin and along the East Coast, containerised nursery stock production is centred in Kildare.

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