The Irish Aubrac Cattle Society hosted its annual open day on the farm of Michael and Mireille McCall, Kilcullen, Co Kildare, where the Calverstown Aubrac herd graze on the 214-acre settlement.

This year’s herd walk focused primarily on the sustainability of the breed and the part it played in tackling climate change. The herd of 75 purebred cows was established in 1996 and since then has worked a low-input system with regards to everything that happens on the farm.

This is particularly evident in the farm's grassland management. All paddocks on the farm are old permanent pastured, and the farm hasn't been reseeded in about 50 years.

This is coupled with no use of nitrogen on the land, with slurry used instead. Slurry is mixed heavily with water along with additives such as humates, biochar, penergetics, molasses and seawater.

This is a way to reverse global warming, taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and sequestering it back into the soil

Making use of biochar

The most important part of this mix is the homemade biochar which is added to the slurry and manure. The family say that by adding biochar, the more soluble nutrients will be locked in the pores of the char instead of leaching away and is made available to plants when needed.

Biochar will stay in the soil for many hundreds of years and according to the family: “This is a way to reverse global warming, taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and sequestering it back into the soil, from where it came in the first place.”

This homemade biochar is produced in a flame cap kiln, burning scrap wood in a way that the flame itself excludes oxygen from the bottom layer, which will pyrolise rather than turn to ash.

Animals

The purebred Aubrac herd roams this land and receives no meal, with the exception of the young breeding bulls which recieve approximately 2kg/day.

Animals do not receive any mineral lick buckets or rocksalt, as the McCalls say they get the minerals they need through the nutrient-rich grasses.

The farm is situated on prime land in Co Kildare suitable for any type of enterprise. While it must be said that cost of running the system did come across as very low, one must also look at output. One has to wonder what could be achieved on a 214-acre farm of prime land if intensely grazed compared to the current system.