Organic farming enterprises make up a very small proportion of farming systems in Ireland. There are just 1,600 organic farmers currently involved in the organic farming scheme. Many conventional farmers ponder at how organic farmers can get by with the added layer of rules they must comply with to maintain the organic status. A recent Teagasc organic farm walk on Frank O’Brien’s farm in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, gave a great insight into the workings of a well-established organic sheep and suckler farm. Frank says he is happy in organics and, like all systems, it has its pluses and minuses. “It’s like driving a Nissan Micra on the motorway – there will always be faster cars whizzing by you but occasionally you catch up and even bypass them,” he joked.

System

The main enterprise on the farm consists of a mid-season lambing flock of 160 mature ewes and a further 40 ewe lambs (lambing as yearlings). The breeds used are Texel, Belclare and Suffock cross ewes. They are bred to Texel and Charollais sires. Ewes are housed in January in converted mushroom tunnels and remain indoors until early March.

“I like to build up some grass for ewes and lambs to have available in March if possible, that’s why housing is so long,” said Frank. Grazed grass and clover is the main diet for the lambs and this is usually sufficient for bringing the majority of lambs to slaughter weight. Lambs are drafted for sale from now on; Frank is fearful though that the drought is going to have an impact on performance this year. “We are really starting to burn up now and there is very little grass about,” he said.

Frank also has a suckler to beef enterprise. There are 10 suckler cows, some of which are double-suckled with bought in organic Hereford cross calves. Cows start calving when lambing is over in May. This gives Frank more time to devote to training in the double-suckled calves. About 15 cattle are slaughtered in January annually at 24 to 30 months. The average carcase weights for these cattle is 340kg, ranging from 280kg to 410kg. Approximately 10t of an organic combi crop of a pea and cereal mix is bought in every year and costs just under €400/t. This is used to feed ewes pre-lambing, to finish cattle and to feed end-of-season lambs/hoggets.

Soil fertility

Frank converted to organics 20 years ago for two main reasons. “At the time I was not making much out of my drystock enterprises and the organic scheme significantly increased my REPS payment. Some steep hills on the farm make it almost impossible to farm conventionally anyways,” explained Frank.

When he converted initially he was also a mushroom grower, which meant he had a lot of compost to hand for spreading on the fields. This was a ready source of organic matter, phosphorus and potassium and really helped boost soil fertility without chemical inputs. He said it took two years to adjust to the new system.

“The main aspect of conventional farming [which] I missed was the boost chemical nitrogen gives to grass in the spring,” said Frank. Adjustments to the system had to be made for this. Stocking rate was reduced and he also reduced his expectations for silage yields.

Farmyard manure (FYM) is the main nutrient input on the farm now. In organic livestock systems at least 50% of the floor area must be bedded therefore FYM is not in short supply on these farms. This year Frank also bought in some slurry and a contractor spread it using a trailing shoe. Soil fertility is very good on the farm. It has a naturally high pH ranging from 6.3 to 7.7. This means no additional lime needs to be applied. Almost half the soils are index 4 for phosphorus.

At the farm walk, Paul Fox from Teagasc outlined a number of ways organic farms can correct soil fertility issues. Like all farms, maintaining soil at the correct pH should be the first action taken because a balanced pH will make more nutrients available for growth.

“If I had a cup of acid and asked you to put your fingers into it, would you do it?” Paul asked the crowd. “The grass plant is the same – its roots do not like acidic conditions,” he explained.

Because chemical nitrogen cannot be bought-in, organic farmers make use of clover to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Most organic farmers incorporate clover in their seed mix when reseeding.

He said slurry is the most obvious choice to build fertility, with 1,000 gallons of slurry on average offering the equivalent nutrients to a 50kg bag of 6:5:30 fertiliser. Table 1 shows some other nutrient input options available to organic farms to maintain soil fertility.

Other options include dairy sludge from milk processing plants, free-range or organic chicken manure, rock phosphate and sulphate of potash.

Animal health

Teagasc adviser John Kelly told the crowd there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to animal health and organics. “You can dose livestock once your vet recommends a treatment, but withdrawal periods may have to be doubled or tripled,” explained John.

John says organic farmers should aim to reduce the need to dose animals. He said vaccinations should be used to avoid an outbreak of a particular disease. Faecal samples for cattle and sheep should be taken regularly to ascertain worm burdens and the presence of fluke, according to John. He said spending €14 on a faecal test is small money compared with paying multiples of that by dosing unnecessarily.

The nutrient input options for organic farms were on display at the farm walk.

“Organic farmers should weigh their lambs before dosing so that lambs coming near slaughter fit do not receive a treatment and have to remain on-farm for a long period,” said John. Frank said the long withdrawal periods take a while to get used to and that you always have to be thinking ahead. Animal health planning with a vet is essential to prevent disease outbreaks in organic systems.

Frank has also made significant investments in fencing to set the farm up for paddock grazing. This he hopes will make grassland management easier, improve liveweight gains in lambs, make it easier to manage ewe condition and hopefully reduce worm burdens in sheep.

Profitability

According to the Teagasc 2016 eProfit monitor, Frank has a gross margin of €882/ha. This compares favourably with the average conventional sheep and suckler to beef enterprises nationally where average gross margins were €525/ha and €727/ha respectively in 2016. The better margins on Frank’s farm can be put down to a number of factors:

  • Good management: he makes a big effort to reduce mortality at lambing time and this can be seen in his weaning rates with 1.6 lambs usually reared per ewe put to the ram.
  • Price premium: organic beef and lamb prices are generally 15% to 20% ahead of conventional price.
  • Lower production costs: no artificial fertiliser is bought in which is a big saving and very little organic manures are bought in currently because soil fertility is still strong. However, more organic manures may have to be purchased in the future if soil fertility begins to slide. There is also a very small spend on concentrates annually. The higher costs for special organic concentrates helps incentivise the better utilisation of grass.
  • Vet spend: In 2016 Frank spent just €56/ha on veterinary costs compared with the national average spend of €93/ha.