Join us on Thursday, 27 June at 2pm for an Organic Suckler Beef, Sheep & Tillage Farm Walk on the farm of John Hamilton, Tonyhabboc, Newtowncunningham, Co. Donegal (The Outfarm). Eircode: F93 C598.
About the Farm
John runs a mixed farming enterprise, with a mix of Sucklers, Mid-season lambing flock of ewes and a Tillage enterprise.
There is a herd of 20 suckler cows on the farm with all cattle brought through to finish and sold to Goodherdsman.
The sheep flock consists of 50 ewes with a scanning rate of approximately 1.8 lambs per ewe. All lambs are finished on farm.
The tillage enterprise consists of mixed cropping/combi crop, arable silage and also a pea bean mix which is being trialled on the farm for 2024.
John places a big emphasis on making good quality silage through the use of red clover, and focuses on having a good rotation plan for the tillage and grassland system for the management of weeds, plant pests and soil fertility. As part of the rotation on the farm a forage rape is established with the aim of managing weeds/rushes. The aim for 2024 is to incorporate a multispecies sward mix into the rotation also.
Discussions on the day will include:
- John's farming system
- Growing your own feed- combi crop
- Feed value/sourcing high quality protein feed in Organics
- Red Clover
- Forage rape
