Calverstown House, Calverstown, We Are Promoting Is Excellent Biological Activity We Are Looking Forward to fi Rst of Kilcullen, Co
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
cross for terminal. They are fed on home grown hay and like the cattle REFLECTIONS If every farm across the world could growing, living, breeding where we intend are fed a controlled amount of fodder. keep a green cover on the ground for as to farm. Just because what is there is not The pregnant ewes get approximately exactly what we want, it doesn’t mean it CALVERSTOWN long as possible, we could restore the 1 pound of concentrates in the last 6 carbon in soils. should not be there at all. weeks of pregnancy. No meal is fed to the lambs. 80% of the world soils have been depleted Maybe plants and creatures can just be or lost and soil organic matter has dropped moved over slightly to the side instead of HOUSE Biodiversity is life and the more on average from 5% to 1%. That is a huge being eradicated. biodiversity you have, the more life you amount of carbon that has been gasifi ed. have, from the smallest to the largest. Every farm has little corners that are We fi rmly believe that the suckler cow can awkward. Let biodiversity live there, let The more habitats you can provide Farming for nature be a friend rather than a foe in keeping your hedgerows be wildlife corridors, and the more biodiversity you will carbon in the soil, as well as being a let just a few of your “weeds” fl ower and have: old trees, hedges, dark valuable food source (most trees are not), support life. Those small areas can make places, sunny sheltered if the appropriate breeds are used and a big difference, cost nothing and have no spots, wet areas, dry areas managed in an appropriate manner. They impact on your farming income. The Aubrac is a solid, all etc… if you provide a can be a positive tool in enhancing high round effi cient breed. suitable space, Nature biodiversity grassland. The cows produce a will fi ll it. On this farm, For advice look up: quality calf per year at a we have many such As farmers, collectively, we have control FarmingForNature.ie or Pollinators.ie minimum cost (mother’s habitats and we have the over vast areas of land. Not everyone has amongst others. Life on earth has had 3.5 milk and grass). They wildlife to match it. There that chance. Many people who have no billion years of research and development, calve unassisted. Vet bills will always be room for land would love that opportunity to make a it has always swung either side of balance and meal bills are small. They new ones. It would be better difference on the ground. Let us not waste and is constantly evolving. have good beefi ng ability (even not to have invasive species the huge opportunity we, as farmers, have. We as a species should listen to these on a grass only diet) and their kill-out but if they are there, you have to live Unlike someone sitting at a desk in front of a systems because Planet comes fi rst and is high. They are the perfect breed for with them and Nature will work it out. computer, a farmer never has a blank page individual species come a very distant true sustainable farming. All creatures are welcome as they all in front of him. There is always something second. The herd is a pedigree herd and most contribute something. All they need is, animals are registered in the Aubrac like ourselves, a safe place to live and Herd-Book. It is fully monitored and part rear the next generation. of Herd Plus, BDGP and the Whole Herd With the help of Birdwatch Kildare, Recording Program from ICBF. Most of we have put up several types of the animals are sold as breeding stock. nest boxes. We also participate in There are also 60 ewes. They produce monitoring schemes with the National on average 1.65 lambs/per year. Biodiversity Data Centre (butterfl ies The ewes are a Rouge de l’Ouest and bumblebees), but all species can cross, the rams used are Rouge for be recorded and anyone can do it from replacement and Beltex or Beltex beginners to professionals. Who knows, you could become a world authority on The farm has received multiple awards: a less known species…. Just give it a go! 1989 winner of All Ireland ICI-Farmers Journal Farming Conservation Awards; A 214 acre farm situated on the ancient settlement The farm will be involved in a European 1999 winner, RDS-Bank of Ireland Profi table Farming And Conservation Awards; Innovation Project coordinated by the of Calverstown. In 1280, a Norman Knight named also Award winner for Leinster of REPS 2000; National Biodiversity Centre. It will Thomas Calf took possession of the domain, giving involve 40 farms of different types. Runner up of RDS National Forestry Awards in 2011. The aim is to monitor pollinators his name to the village. on those farms, advise farmers Featured on Ear-To-The-Ground in the late 90s on how to improve the habitat and in December 2016 (carbon footprint). The farm was purchased by Peter McCall in 1958 and come up with a general In 2018 it was one of six fi nalists in the new Farming For Nature Awards. scale which could be applied to and taken over by his son Kim in 1986. The modern all farms across the country to day farm is managed in a holistic manner. What measure their pollinator habitat. Contact details: Calverstown House, Calverstown, we are promoting is excellent biological activity We are looking forward to fi rst of Kilcullen, Co. Kildare R56 AY82 all knowing more about the species and interaction between plants, soils and animals. that live on our farm and then learning Kim McCall: 086 844 82 84 how to look after them better. Mireille McCall: 086 345 13 73 www.calverstownaubrac.com www.calverstownaubrac.com As an experiment in May 2019 we direct are purposely left wide and surplus to be attacked by predators the soil for many hundreds of drilled 20 different types of plants fallen branches can be added and a healthy soil will grow a years, some say thousands. PLANTS in one fi eld – grasses, cereals at the base to create yet healthy plant. A cover of grass This method produces ANIMALS Pasture management has changed The farm carries 75 pedigree Aubrac and legumes directly into an another habitat. Anything is left on the soil for the winter nutrient dense forage which dramatically in the last 10 years from set suckler cows and followers and stock existing living pasture (no use of goes except excessive and mowed in the spring in turn has the potential stocking to rotational paddock grazing. bulls. The average number of bovines on roundup). spraying and cutting. as the space is needed. Hay of producing truly forage Paddock grazing can go now from 1 the farm all year round is approximately Nutrients to pastures: Slurry There are a number of wet or straw reclaimed from the fi nished animals, without week to 2 days, depending on age of 150. in January/February depending on the farm. sheds is used to mulch along the need for cereals. This animals and group size and topography. grasslands on year: 1100 gallons + 2000 These can be productive with lawn mowings. Seedlings is a way to reverse global In winter the cows are fed only on The idea is to leave grass to grow grass, gallons of water per acre go on 60 as well as rich in diversity are grown mostly in the warming, taking CO2 out hay, haylage or silage depending on so the cows are removed before re- acres. Slurry in May, 1000 but need a more careful polytunnel and transplanted of the atmosphere and the year. They are fed a set amount in growth occurs. This allows the grass not gallons + 2500 gallons management than conventional outdoors when the weather sequestering it back into the morning and a small amount in to be checked and photosynthesis not to of water/acre go on grassland as you are trying to permits. The potatoes are the soil, from where it came the evening. All cows can feed at the be impeded. 50 different acres. achieve a number of different aims. In a placed on the soil surface and from in the fi rst place. Home same time. They do not get meal. The At the end of the day we all live on Additives to slurry: nutshell, cattle are excluded in the mulched with compost, old made biochar is produced heifers are fed mostly silage in the same hay or cut grass. We are not photosynthesis, be it ancient (petrol in humates, biochar, summer time from these areas and in a fl ame cap kiln, burning manner. Bulls for sale are fed silage ad afraid of weeds, they all make your car) or recent (milk on your cereals). penergetics or allowed to graze from September to scrap wood, in a way that lib and approximately 2kg/day of ration excellent mulch with added minerals. We try to graze effectively so we don’t Sobac, boron, end of April. This creates fl owering the fl ame itself excludes oxygen from over the winter. Almost all the fodder need to top. The sheep move around, molasses, sea habitat that will re-seed naturally and A series of ponds that were present in the bottom layer, which will pyrolise is produced on the farm water on agitation areas for various species to breed.