Barty Begley, Co Limerick

DEAR SIR: I read with interest your 13 August article “Land Reclamation – one year on” (and watched the accompanying video), on improving the Roscommon farm where “rough grasses, rushes and scrub were endemic throughout”.

A couple of questions, if I may: how bad were the rushes (could you perhaps show some more before-and-after photos?) and what methods were used to get rid of them? No mention is made in the article of any herbicides. Did the improved drainage alone do the job?

That would be great news and more details would be much appreciated, given our struggles with rushes down here on the foot of the Galtees over the years.

DEAR MR BEGLEY: Many thanks for your letter regarding the land reclamation article published earlier this month.

The article was the finale of a series and all articles can be found on the Irish Farmers Journal website with numerous photos displaying before and after shots. In response to your question: firstly, the farmer brought in suckler cows to graze off the rough grass.

He then got a tractor and mulcher in and cleaned off the remaining stem, rushes and flaggers. The wet areas where there was heavy rushes present were all sprayed off with glyphosate at the regrowth stage.

These areas were also drained using the method described in the previous articles and reseeded. To help prevent rushes becoming established again the farmer will farm the land more intensively and carefully.

The lime application will improve the pH and more frequent compound fertiliser applications will increase fertility.

These basic fundamentals combined with properly managed rotational grazing should encourage strong grass growth and this will pump more water out of the ground making conditions for rush growth more challenging. Where rushes do reappear he will spot spray.

Sincerely,

Peter Varley, Irish Farmers Journal