No feed costs, no energy costs, no diseases – why wintering on the Burren works
Clare farmer John Hynes will not see his herd of 40 cows until spring if all goes according to plan, after driving them up the hills on his Burren farm last month.
ohn, who runs a 160ac external farm in the Burren and a home farm in Kilfenora, says almost every farmer in his area practices the age-old tradition of overwintering.
“The cows are herded up the hills in October and forage up there on the grasses and mosses during the winter months.
“They come down in February or March so they can be closer to home for calving in late March and early April.
“This means that farming here is a very low-cost system: the cows are fed what grows naturally for the winter; they don’t need to be housed, so you don’t have energy costs associated with the farm; and the disease level is much lower.
“Here is rarely a sick animal.”
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Damien O’Loughlin helps herd John O’Brien’s suckler cows to the winter pastures high up on the Burren
The cows come down from the hills to calve fit and healthy as they have been active over the winter, says John.
“They usually calve unassisted, with no problems, and they recover well because they’ve been feeding on a natural diet of a variety of herbs, grasses and plants that are full of good ingredients.”
According to John, there are few injuries or deaths on the hills because the cows can move around easily instead of being cramped in the shed or having to walk on slats.
“It’s a healthy lifestyle for them – being outside in this environment is completely natural for the animals here.
“It depends on the farmer, but usually the cows come up in good condition and instead of gaining or losing weight they keep it.
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John says, “Usually the cows come up in good condition and instead of gaining or losing weight, they keep it.”
“They are never overweight because they move and stay active.
“We give them some nuts from mid-February and just sprinkle them on the land.”
The limestone in the Burren landscape retains warmth all winter long, keeping cows warm and comfortable in even the harshest conditions, says John.
“The Burren mountains are full of limestone, which heats up in the summer months and retains that heat. In winter, the stone then serves as geothermal heat for the cattle. Even though they’re outside all winter, they don’t freeze.”
John joined the Burren program 12 years ago and has made a number of improvements to his farm as a result. Without participating in the program, full-time farming probably wouldn’t have been an option for him.
“In order to get into this period, you had to reach a minimum threshold,” he says. “We had a lot of monuments and forts on our farm, under the control of the National Monuments Service, and some lands that were designated as a Special Area of Conservation, which helped us get in.
“On our land there are potato combs that are thousands of years old. If you walk across the country in late spring when it is well eaten you can see them.
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The outlines of potato ridges in the tall grass on John’s land
“Back then the land was divided into small gardens and a few families would have lived on this property, which I now farm.”
Through the program, John was funded to maintain the stone walls on his land that were built centuries ago.
Limestone was formed after the Ice Age. According to the founders of the Burren program, the stone ended up mainly on hilly landscapes as it was carried across land by the water.
“We’ve also received funding to clear brush and set up a cattle shed, which has been very helpful with inventory management,” says John.
“And the funding for a new water system. We always pumped water from our neighbor’s water point – he gave us one of his springs.
“The new irrigation system allowed us to pump the water from his watering hole to the highest point of our winter quarters and then direct it into troughs by gravity.
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John says, “Along with all the work that has been done on the farm as part of the program, it has really transformed the place and made it possible and enjoyable to farm full-time.”
“Recently I drilled for water on our own land and was successful.
“Our next project is installing a solar irrigation pump, that’s the last piece of the puzzle.
“Besides all the work done on the farm as part of the program, it has really transformed the place and made it possible and enjoyable to be a full-time farmer.”
When he signed up for the Burren program, John agreed that he would not engage in land reclamation and would not replant land with grass.
“As part of the program you will also receive financial support for how well you take care of your grasses – you should eat them fairly bare so there are no dead plants left and spring has the best chance of blooming.
“The Burren program team doesn’t tell you how to run your farm – they advise you.
“Every year a planner comes out that evaluates your fields individually.”
There is “great disappointment” among Burren farmers, according to John, as the Burren program “as we know it is coming to an end” and “some farmers will lose up to 60 per cent of their income”.
“Christmas comes to an end and in January ACRES begins,” he says.
“It’s like a big step backwards. I was in the Burren program and the GLAS program but now ACRES takes over and everything changes. It’s great for some but not for the farmers in the Burren area.
“There is a huge disappointment here because so many farmers are going to take a big financial hit – some will lose 60 per cent of their income. For many farmers, the program was the main source of income.
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John says that under the new ACRES, which replaces the Burren program, “the level of improvement you can make to your farm is much lower, it’s a big step backwards. The land here will suffer from the biodiversity point of view.
“Previously we all got a score for each field on the farm and our payments were result based, whereas with the new system we will get an overall score for the country as a whole and will make a massive down payment.
“With the new regulation, the entire farm is included in the assessment, i.e. meadows and grassland as well as the wintering area
“Before that, farmers had a great incentive to maintain their farms and strive to improve them because the better they did, the better the Burren program paid them. It was a reward system. There is not the same incentive now.”
The “labour fee,” which funds farmers to make improvements on their farms, is much less under ACRES than under the Burren program, John says.
“So the level of improvement you can make to your operation is much smaller, it’s a big step backwards.
“The land here will suffer from a biodiversity point of view.
“We’ve tried to get the message across to the Minister of Agriculture, but he’s not listening.”
“The only way to control this invasive grass is through grazing…and under REPS it was against the law.”
according to dr Brendan Dunford, who has lived and worked in the area for over 20 years, the Burren is known for its flora, home to three quarters of Ireland’s native plant species.
“We have arctic plants, alpine plants and Mediterranean plants all growing together and providing nutrient-rich diet for livestock,” says Dr. Dunford, who co-directs the Burren program.
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dr Brendan Dunford, Manager of the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme, and Michael Davoren (Burren IFA Chairman) in Carron, Co. Clare
“Some of the unusual flowering species found here are sea campion, Irish eyebright and yarrow.
“At this time of year only the daisies and yarrow bloom. Yarrow was picked years ago as a cure for arthritis—it was boiled in milk and rubbed into bones.”
This diverse cover can only be maintained and kept alive in the Burren by having livestock grazing on the land, says Dr. Dunford.
“There’s quite a lot of bracken and that can be a problem in parts of the Burren,” he says.
“But the biggest problem is yellow grass/Molinia grass.
“It’s very invasive and can take over entire farms and instead of having 40 plants per square meter like you should have, this can smother a lot of them and then very few are left.
“The only way to control it is through grazing. The best time for grazing, based on the nutritional curve, is in early summer – June and July are at their best.
“But what happened, particularly with REPS, was that farmers weren’t allowed to graze part of the land in the summer … it was against the law and if you had a cow there in the summer you lost €2,000.
“Now we have to try to convince the farmers that they have to bring their cattle back here in the summer to lightly graze the grass to control it, otherwise they will lose their species and the food for their winter.”
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/beef/beef-farm-profiles/no-feed-costs-no-energy-costs-no-disease-why-winterage-works-on-the-burren-42162580.html No feed costs, no energy costs, no diseases – why wintering on the Burren works