Features
Organic farming at Mellow's College
In spring 2000, 67 hectares (165 acres) of Mellow's College was converted to an organic management system. In the summer of 2001, it was decided to put the dairy unit and a further 43 hectares into the system. 110 hectares is now being farmed organically at Mellow's College.
The enterprises being established are Beef, Sheep, Dairying, Poultry and Tillage. This unit has great potential for demonstrating the feasibility of organic farming.
With the present trend towards lower stocking rates, the information obtained on clover would be very relevant to mainstream agriculture also. The control of animal diseases by relying mainly on good husbandry and feeding is of major significance at present.
Suckler Cows/Sheep: There is wide agreement in the food industry that this type of enterprise has huge potential. Performance at the College has been good to date with few "hiccups". This year 32 cows calved down producing 33 calves. The herd was mainly Hereford/Friesian cross but it is being changed as quickly as possible to Limousin/Simmental . The breeding policy is to alternate Limousin and Simmental bulls and to keep replacements from within the herd. The Limousin bulls will be selected from sires with good maternal traits. It is planned to finish all bullocks at two years and heifers at around 20 months.
Last year the best of the Suffolk x and Belclare x ewes were kept, the aim is to have a Belclare x Texel flock over time with roughly 50% Belclare blood. Texels have been found to have better resistance to intestinal parasites and this is critical in organic farming.
The Dairy unit has changed to organic management this summer. It is planned to carry 60 cows plus replacements, selling all the other calves. Present yield is 1500 gallons/cow and the intention is to maintain this. The herd will be shifted towards 40% autumn calving over the next few years, as it is felt that the liquid market offers the best chance of establishing a foothold for organic milk locally.
Some cows have been inseminated with Norwegian Red semen this year as this breed has been selected for high fertility and disease resistance, there should be 6 to 8 of these heifers born next spring.
Advisory Resource: The college will act as a demonstration farm for farmers showing organic farming at a commercial scale. There is already a good level of interest in the farm among a wide range of farmers and there is great potential to use it as an advisory resource. It will also provide a valuable training resource for Teagasc staff.
Poultry: It is planned to convert the free-range poultry unit to organic production and to keep layers, broilers, turkeys and geese.
Research: Through co-operation with researchers at the Athenry Research Centre, relevant research will be carried out without compromising the productivity of the farm. The possibility of links to third level colleges will be explored especially with regard to environmental research.
Environment: It is planned to carry out an extensive programme of hedge and shelterbelt planting over a five year period. This plan will draw on the wide range of expertise within Teagasc and will include a wide range of species and management practices. It will be a valuable training resource both for Teagasc staff and farmers.
Organic Courses at Mellows Agricultural College
Five short courses are being developed:
- Introduction to Organic Farming
- Organic Drystock Production
- Organic Dairying
- Organic Tillage
- Organic Horticulture
These 25 hour courses will be at a fairly basic level. More specialised courses will be added as required. All courses will be FETAC accredited.
Other short courses tailored to meet specific demands will be developed as necessary. For example, organic 180 hours and organic Reps 20 hour courses may be needed to meet DAFRD scheme requirements.
In the longer term it is planned to offer the National Vocational Certificate in Organic Farming. This would be an organic version of the courses run in conventional agricultural colleges.
While many would say it is early days yet, the performance to date has been quite impressive by any standards
Stocking rate at present is 1.6 Lu/ha.(as extra replacements are being carried.) A lower stocking rate would result in pastures being under-grazed.
Lambs weighed 35 kg on average at 100 days on the 15th June. This flock had not been dosed for 18 months!! (also the weaning rate was 163 and grass growth was poor in the early part of the season.). The lambing percentage was 182 but there were higher losses than usual due to the difficult spring.
Cattle performance was also excellent. In November, bullocks weighed 603 kg (average) and heifers 517 kg (average). These were born in March and April 2000. This year's weanlings are also on target at 348 kg for the March calves and 254 kg for the April/May calves.
The good weights for the bullocks and heifers could be due to the high clover content of the sward.
Most of the more mature pasture had clover stitched in. Clover was broadcast on silage aftermath after two runs of a disc. Clover establishment was quite satisfactory in most cases.
Observations
A strict grazing regime was introduced. Sheep and cattle are grazed separately. A three year grazing rotation is followed. (i.e cattle / conservation / sheep). It is important that sheep and lambs do not graze the same sward in successive springs.
Faecal samples are also very important. Luckily all samples were negative for fluke and nematodirus. There are some roundworm and lungworm present and coccidiosis has caused some problems in the lambs. All lambs but 13 had been sold by 2nd October. Coccidiosis was present in samples taken from these.
Clover establishment is also critical. On the dry soils in Co Galway a good clover content in the soil could double stock carrying capacity. To increase the clover content, 5 kg of seed per ha was broadcast on the silage aftermath after two runs of the disc. A mixture of varieties was used i.e. large, medium and small leaved varieties. The large leaved was Arran, the medium leaved Donna and Avoca and the small leaved was Tara. In most cases a successful establishment was achieved.
The intention in this short article was to give an outline of the plans for the college and the experience to date. The information has been provided by Ger Shortle, principal at the college and by Willie Hoyne, teacher and manager of the unit. One of the things that makes organic farming so interesting and challenging is that you have to rely on good husbandry and the natural immunity of plants and animals to combat disease and other problems. The potential for this unit and for organic farming is well expressed by Ger Shortle: "If organic farming is to grow and succeed as a sector of Irish farming, it has to be accepted and adopted by existing conventional farmers, who have a viable scale of operation and good husbandry and management skills. Mellows College can play a key role in showing farmers from this group what organic farming is about and how it can be done on ordinary Irish farms." Obviously the organic associations and organic farmers will have a major role in the development of this unit and in the courses and programs to be run.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
