Joe Nolan is farming in Kilconnor, Fenagh, Co. Carlow along with his wife Clair and their son Ciaran. Joe began his conversion to organic farming in March 2022 and will reach full organic status in March 2024. The farm which is 98 ha’s comprises of a mix of tillage and sheep production with 13 ha’s in tillage and 85 ha’s in grass/red clover.
The sheep enterprise consists of approximately 600 ewes which lamb outdoors in March and April. The main breeds of sheep on the farm are Mule/Lleyn/Belclare X. The rams used are Belclare & Charollais. The rams are introduced to the flock at the end of October and left with them for 4 weeks. Lambs are grazed on a mix of old leys (which are been re-seeded in rotation), Multi Species Grasses (MSS), white clover and red clover grass swards. Along with the main flock, Joe also has a pedigree flock of Charollais on the farm and sells grass fed hogget rams from this pedigree flock.
The target weights of lambs for slaughter are 42 – 44 Kg’s. All finished lambs are sold to I.C.M. in Camolin, Co Wexford. Some lambs are sold as stores in the mart and then the remainder are held over the winter and fed according to their weights on winter cover crops of stubble turnips/rape/vetch or arable silage with the aim to be finished by January.
Joe makes red clover and arable silage to meet his winter feeding requirement along with Oats and Combi-crops that are all grown on the farm. No concentrate feed is purchased for his flock. Joe would like to expand his tillage enterprise by growing Oats for human consumption and also would love to grow crops for other organic farmers and build up farm to farm trading relationships.
Soil fertility is very good on the farm, the most recent soil sample results show 80% of the farm is optimum for P, 70% of the farm is optimum for K and 60% of the farm has a pH between 6.2 – 6.8. Joe believes “that the grazing of sheep is a significant contributor to maintaining soil fertility, along with the chopping and incorporation of straw each year and sowing of cover crops and the regular spreading of lime which has been a traditional since the beet growing days on the farm.”
Joe is very happy to have made the move into an organic farming system. “It suits the way I want to farm and my lifestyle. I like the way I can sow a crop and close the gate on it. I also find there is much more of a need to plan ahead and make decisions in advance. You also need to understand your own farm and stock and know what they need and what you can achieve with your land and animals under the organic system.”
