02 April 2025
Signpost update: The happenings from Tom Tierney’s farm in Co. Kildare
Tom Tierney, a participant in the Teagasc Signpost Programme, tells us of the latest happenings from his farm in Prosperous, Co. Kildare, including an update on winter bean performance, winter tasks and his participation in a regenerative agriculture programme.
Winter beans and spring malting barley
With the dry autumn in 2024, we took the opportunity to sow winter beans, whereas in previous years we only grew spring-sown beans. Beans are an ideal break crop on the farm, with no fertiliser nitrogen requirement and a decent protein aid payment to make them worthwhile.
The variety was Wizard sown at 280kg/ha. For this job, we used a 3m Claydon strip till drill, modifying the shares to place the seed deeper at 100mm. We also replaced the leading legs with discs to prevent blockages from the chopped barley straw from the previous crop. The row spacing was 220mm. This worked extremely well, as there was a large volume of chopped straw on the ground.
The beans now look a picture as they all struck. There was no crow damage even though there is a rookery on the farm.
By getting a chance to sow winter beans instead of spring beans, we have a 75%:25% winter:spring crop split for 2025, with very little sowing left and only spring malting barley remaining.
My malting barley ground has had the overwintered cover crop sprayed off on the 4th of March with Glyphosate 450 at 2.7L/ha. The next task will be to broadcast N, P, K fertiliser onto the stubble followed by a shallow 10mm stubble disking before direct drilling. This year, I am growing Planet and a new malting variety Florence.
Ash dieback
The dry days in the winter months where spent clearfelling forestry. My ash plantation, like many others, had been decimated with ash dieback and, as a consequence, it has been harvested and is destined for replanting under the Ash Dieback Scheme.
I will replant with a multi species mix of Douglas fir and Silver Birch, to move forward from monocrop tree planting. Replanting will be designed to remove the Silver Birch first, as it will be the first to mature, with the Douglas fir removed about 15 to 20 years later.
Back to the ash harvest, I decided to take this project on myself rather than use contractors. I imported a machine called a Syketec JOBO ST55 from Finland, which fits onto the 360 excavator which I have on the farm. This machine clamps onto the tree, saws it, fells it, de-limbs it and logs it into required lengths, 3m in my case. My intention at this stage is to firewood these logs when they dry age next year as a farm diversification project.
Regenerative agriculture and Farming for Water EIP Project
In January, I joined a Regenerative Agriculture Programme partnered by Boortmalt and Soil Capital. This aims to pay growers a bonus for regenerative farming practices and carbon capture on their farms. I look forward to working with them on measures to reduce Scope 3 emissions, and feel this programme is ideal for my farming system.
Finally, I received my approval for the Farming for Water EIP Project, which I applied for a few months ago. We will delve more into the environmental measures I will implement on the farm as the year progresses.
Tom Tierney is a Signpost Tillage Farmer based in Prosperous, Co. Kildare, working closely with Teagasc Signpost Tillage Advisor, John Mahon and Local Teagasc Advisor, John Brophy.
The above article first appeared in the Farming Independent.
Find out more about the Teagasc Signpost Programme here.