Farming has gone on in the Burren for countless generations. It has gone on through feast and famine for centuries and it is no different today,” says Michael Davoren, a beef farmer in the heart of the Burren in Kilfenora.

Michael prides himself on his suckler beef herd that he farms part-time with his son Gregory, with support from the BurrenLIFE programme.

“We have 40 suckler cows under 120 acres, but acreage doesn’t mean a lot around here,” says Michael.

Though faced with the challenges of farming the Burren, Michael and his family have created a successful beef enterprise in one of Ireland’s most unique landscapes.

Throughout our conversation, he harks back to a well-known quote, said by one of Cromwell’s men when they reached the Burren: “…there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him …and yet their cattle are very fat”.

“Everyone has the first three lines of it. But the next line puts it in context,” Michael points out.

Sometimes described as lunar, the landscape of the Burren is actually very diverse and has a wide variety of habitats which include limestone pavements, blanket bog, lakes, scrubs and woodland, wet grassland and agricultural grassland.

Enterprise

Michael and his son Gregory’s herd is comprised of Simmental and Limousin cows.

“We use a Blonde d’Aquitaine bull for breeding heifers and a Charlois bull for the saleable animals,” says Michael.

Most of Michael’s weanlings are sold off around autumn, except those kept for breeding.

Winterage

Unique to the Burren, animals go up the mountainside to what is known as the winterage, the limestone uplands, from October onwards and stay there until they calve.

This is an ancient tradition within the Burren and is important for keeping the region’s famous flora and fauna intact.

Winter is a time when most flowers are dormant and the cows grazing on this land slow down the growth of scrub that would otherwise damage the flora and the fauna. This makes it a good practice for the environment as well as being low-cost for the farmer.

“In the winterage, we feed acres to the cattle, not cattle to the acres,” Michael admits.

“Rank grasses in the winterage are more of a maintenance diet than a production diet. Supplementation needs to be fed,” he continues.

“As the cattle calve, they are taken down off the mountainside and put into the lush green valleys where they graze for the summer. Here, the calf is reared until weaning stage, where almost 50% of them are exported to the top end of the market.”

Grass on the Burren

Silage cannot be fed on the land, because in the past it has caused pollution to the waterways.

To combat this, the BurrenLIFE programme created a specialised concentrate to compensate for silage and the shortfall of the winterage grasses.

“The grasses are low in proteins and minerals. Any mineral the cow would ever need is in 2kg of the Burren ration.

“It has enough protein for the cow to carry a healthy calf to gestation. It creates a craving in the rumen [one of the four stomachs] of the animal, making the animal hoover up all of the rank grasses that would otherwise be unpalatable,” Michael explains.

West Coast air

Michael credits the fresh crisp air of the Burren to his overall herd health.

“You don’t have pneumonia or diseases with calves because of the fresh air. It is amazing, a calf can be born during snow, be up, have suckled and have found a cosy spot by the wall with his mother.”

Michael believes calving difficulties are kept to a minimum due to the fitness of the cattle.

“They must be doing their pre-natal exercises on the side of the mountain,” he laughs.

Everything is not always plain sailing, with Michael saying, “Redwater, or Morn as we call it down here, can be a problem when you take cattle from cold stone and heavy mineral areas where there are ticks and insects to indoors. It can be very problematic, even killing cattle.”

BurrenLIFE programme

Michael is a pioneer of the BurrenLIFE programme and enjoys the freedom it brings.

“Whether you have Charolais or elephants, it is completely up to the farmer on how they improve. The better the environment, the better the product he produces,” he says.

“The greatest asset the Burren has is its people. Without them, it would revert to its type and disappear from the vision of the masses,” he concludes.