Paul Kennedy farms organically with his family in Stamullen, Co Meath. He runs a mixed enterprise consisting of sucklers, store lambs and tillage and is a member of the recently launched Organic Beef and Lamb Innovation Group (OBLIG).

“My feeling in general, in terms of the market outlook – global economies, fertiliser supplies, oil and everything else – is that organics is a resilient system. It is future-proofing and brings a lot of diversification into the farm. We are two years fully organic and are happy to be part of it, it is going quite well.

"I am part-time farming, so the farm must stand on its own, and we need to make a profit."

On the OBLIG EIP project, he said that it has got a lot of scope: "It's about networking, collaborating with stakeholders, leaning on advice and trying to make the industry viable."

"It is very positive; it has been working well for us so far."

Suckler herd

Paul runs 35 suckler cows in a predominantly spring-calving herd, all are AI’ed, there is no bull on the farm. He breeds all his own replacements, mainly using Charolais bulls.

“I know a lot of the organic people would say to go back to the traditional breeds, but we like the continentals, we like a bit of shape and size.

“We’re using a team of three to four Charolais bulls. We were terminal for a number years, so we're trying to pick more maternal traits.

“For replacement heifers, we're breeding Angus, we want to get them out and running early.”

Paul said that they were badly hit with the drought three weeks ago, resulting in the farm completely drying up.

“Any bit of rotation that we had, or paddocks that we were saving totally went askew, so we put out three ring feeders. We're feeding a mixture of silage and a bit of hay. We're using three or four bales every couple of days, so we've probably gone through about 25 bales so far, in the last three weeks.

“We’ve a crop of red clover silage to harvest, so that might fill up the deficit, and hopefully we will be okay in terms of forage supplies.

“There’s roughly about 100 cattle on the farm at the moment. I put in a bit more grain this year, so that probably put more pressure on the grass supply."

In terms of soil fertility, Kennedy is using farmyard manure, importing slurry, applying lime, and soil testing every four or five years to keep fertility correct.

“I'm very conscious of putting something back into the soil; we can't just keep taking and expecting big yields and everything to go right.

“There are a lot of options available. That's where the organic bodies come in – in terms of giving you advice and support and connecting with other farmers and figuring out what they're using.”

Some of the farm is in paddocks, while the rest of it is set stocked.

Management

“Since I converted into organics, I am trying to finish all the heifers. They're marketed either through Good Herdsman, or wherever we can get a good buyer for them. The bulls are currently going conventional and sold as weanlings, but the aim is to look at the system there and see how we can maybe get them into the organic system as well.”

Cows are housed over the winter, and Paul hopes to have more shed space this winter.

“As the heifers approach finish, they get a bit of a combi-crop or rolled oats, to put some flesh on them, but other than that, it’s a forage-based diet.

“We haven't castrated any bulls here for a good while for a long number of years. I'm toying with the idea of using the rubber band method at a few days old, but I’d like to get some more information on animal performance and practicalities before I adopt this method.”

Store lambs

Kennedy has around 110 store lambs on the farm at the moment. He usually buys the lambs in July or August at around 35 to 36kg and brings them up to 49 to 50kg liveweight.

All the lambs are rams, and he prefers a lowland, tight-wooled lamb, but isn’t fussy with breeds.

“I find they are very good for cleaning up the towards the end of the season. We have a good long growing season here, it's a relatively dry farm.

“When it comes into December, I’ll start feeding a bit of the combi crop or rolled oats to push them on a bit.

“Up until last season, all the organic was only available to be processed in Camolin, but ICM now have approval in Navan – it's half an hour away, which is great.”

He intends to invest in sheep fencing over the next few years, which would allow him to keep more store lambs.

“The challenge in the organic market is having supply all year round, so I aim to have the lambs finished in January or February, when supplies can be tight.

“For me it works out quite well. It's relatively short keep, you can turn them quickly, there's no major inputs in terms of feeding or anything like that.

“One of the benefits of being in the OBLIG scheme is better communication with the processor and the farmer to co-ordinate the timing of supply.”

Tillage

On the tillage side, Kennedy grew 33ac of spring oats and 5ac of combi crop this year.

“All the advice I’ve been getting is to go with the spring crops. The spring oats variety I chose was Husky.

“The field got an application of farmyard manure, was ploughed, went through with a one pass, rolled and then seeded on 20 April."

The crop was harvested on 14 August and yielded roughly 2.3t/acre, which he was happy with. The moisture came in under 14%, so no drying was needed and he supplied to Flahavan's.

“I'm going to put a cover crop into this – stubble turnip. We are just going to run it over with a power harrow and put the seeds on top and roll it in. It should be ready for grazing in seven or eight weeks with some lighter cattle and store lambs.

“Being in organic, I had to apply for a seed derogation as there is no certified organic seed available for stubble turnips. This will be the first year stubble turnips will be grown on the farm so I’m looking forward to that.”

Combi crop

The 5ac of combi crop was a combination of oats, barley and peas, and yielded around 2t/ac, which Kennedy admitted is a little shy of what he needs for winter feed. He doesn't buy in concentrates but will make up the deficit with oats that were left over from last year.

With regards to weeds, they “are always going to be part of the system”, he said.

“It’s a battle between weed and crop in terms of what gets ahead of the other. The oats can give a good canopy – I go in a bit higher with the seeding rate, and have it as bare as possible when starting, that’s what I find works well.

“Shank can be a bit of a problem; most organic farmers would say that. But other than that, it’s not too bad.”

Red clover

Paul sowed his red clover field last autumn, and went with the Semopur 2.3 Red Clover Silage Mix from Fruit Hill Farm.

“I have taken two cuts of silage off it so far, and the aim is to get another cut off it in a few weeks."

The Meath farmer believes the key to managing the clover is not cutting it too low, and making sure you are going above the growing point when cutting.

“Yes, the red clover is expensive to put in – it’s a full reseed, but I have never taken three cuts of anything off this farm before now. The two cuts I got were very good. Because I’m not buying in concentrates, I’m conscious I need a bit of protein for the younger cattle.

“The return on investment is good, the clover continued to grow over the last few weeks and showed resilience in the drought."

OBLIG

"Under the OBLIG scheme, there is commercial support to grow multi-species swards, and I hope to avail of that for some reseeding in autumn of this year.

"Farming part-time wouldn’t be possible without the support of my family. I get great help and support from my father Michael, brother George, wife Nessa and son Oliver when I’m away from the farm. It’s a family enterprise, as is similar to many farmers around the country.

"Since joining the OBLIG scheme the support I’ve got from Julian Pawlowski, members of the Organic Trust team and ifac have been great. It’s a growing network and organic farmers are very willing to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas with each other."