As I drove out through west Limerick last Thursday morning, my passenger commented on the surroundings.

“This is the real Golden Vale."

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I knew I was a long way from my home. The fields were neatly lined with limestone walls and electric fences divided the fields into uniform paddocks. Cow tracks meandered through fields and across roads to reach that extra grazing block.

Cow country

This was cow country. Each yard I entered from Adare to Askeaton and back to Newcastle West and Croom, black and white heads peered out though sheds doors. There was a hum of a distant milking parlour and baby calves could be heard calling for their breakfast. The mild winter was evident in the fields and a lush green colour was present with big covers of high quality grass awaiting turnout of dairy cows to start another cycle.

Diversity

My travels brought home the diverse nature of Irish farming. Limerick is prominent cow country. As we move north towards the west of the Shannon, suckler herds take over.

Back into the midlands the herds of beef steers and heifers can be seen grazing and fattening on the rich fertile plains. As I move back into my own area, Meath’s culture of growing main crop potatoes is evident on the deep loamy soils, with a mixed farming enterprise of fattening beef not as popular as it was in past.

Further east on the lighter loams of county Louth, fields of cereals can be seen moving into distance.

My own farm is spread out over two soil types, from the block in Monaghan, with its light sandy nature sitting over a limestone bed, to the Meath block with its deep clay loam. Both farms share the rolling Drumlins nature which is a specific landmark for this area of Ireland.

The fields are surrounded with high Whitethorn hedging and dotted with Ash trees, a long way from west Limerick.

Support

I think this mixed farming jigsaw is vital to the culture of Irish farming with all enterprises supporting each system. With the switch to dairying seen as favourable in the current climate of depressed prices, in other sectors it would be a shame to lose the other enterprises which once were the basis for a diverse mixed farming enterprise.

These enterprises provide the basis for more sustainable farming and our soils in particular benefit from a mixed farm with a diverse rotation.

Soil health

But in recent times real opportunities have arose with the increase awareness of soil health. Cover crops have become very popular and in some areas livestock are been brought in to graze these crops.

This to me seems ideal as it would shorten the winter for us livestock farmers by grazing these crops from January onwards and also allow the tillage grower to process this tall vegetation into readily available nutrients. I know this would not apply to all areas of Ireland but definitely a large chunk all down the east coast, across the midlands and into the south of the country.