Now that spring has arrived and the days are a little longer maybe its time to carry out a spring clean around the farm. Every year the local GAA club organises a cleanup of the roadsides around the parish and this year was no different. I volunteered my services for an hour and filled a couple of bags. It’s amazing the amount of rubbish collected and plastic bags filed from one year’s roadside rubbish around a small parish.

The Wild Atlantic Way runs directly by the home farm on the main Sligo to Ballina road while rented land is also along the route on a coast road. This gives an extra incentive to keep the farm and yard clean and tidy. I normally keep the yard and surroundings fairly tidy all year round but I find this time of year is a good time to get all plastic and netting gathered up and ready for collection.

Any odd bits of rubbish that have built up during the winter can be collected and readied for disposal. It’s also a good time, as cattle get out of the sheds, to compile a list of items that will need repairing over the summer, such as gates, doors, hinges and barriers.

A tidy yard, that has everything in its place, is not only more visually pleasing, but also helps in terms of health and safety. Less items thrown around the yard reduces the chance of injury from trips and falls and is safer for both man and beast.

Under the previous environment scheme, REPS, there was a measure to maintain and improve the visual appearance of farmyards. There is no mention of this measure under the new GLAS scheme, however there is still an onus on us as farmers to try and improve the overall visual appearance of our farms yards.

There are plenty of measures which will help improve the overall appearance of farms in the new GLAS scheme, such as, traditional stone wall maintenance, laying of hedgerows and the planting of new hedgerows. While the money element of each of these measures will make no farmer rich, the farm will look more pleasing for the passing tourists.

Ireland is commonly known as the Emerald Isle and the vast majority of farmers will qualify for a greening payment as part of the new direct payments regime. So between greening, GLAS and general upkeep of farms around the country, Ireland should be able to maintain it green reputation, that is, as long as the passing motorists remember to “Bring your rubbish home”.