While farmers and experts debate the merits of grain and grass feeding regimes, Gerry Fitzsimons from Mullahoran in Co Cavan has committed to grass and the breeds that suit it for years.
Fitzsimons has been farming since 1990 on 30 acres. He switched to Organic farming in 2000 with his suckling to beef enterprise.
�I've 23 head of cattle - cows calves and beef animals - at the moment. I stock Aberdeen Angus, Shorthorn and crosses of both� he tells me.
�I keep the traditional breeds of cattle, for a variety of reasons. They are easier to finish. Their finishing qualities, the type of meat native breeds produce, with its marbling, gives a unique taste�.
�They also are of a very placid nature and the cows are great mothers� he continues. �I switched over to Angus even before I went organic, partly because they are easier to handle, especially at calving. The offspring suckle very early. Now, any animal can cause trouble, but these are very quiet. I can handle any of them, and people can walk through the field no problem. With the Continentals, any time they needed to be rounded up they were tough � especially the Limousins. The traditional breeds, especially Shorthorn, are very docile�.
Fitzsimons also likes the fact that they can stay outdoors and thrive in the winter, up until quite late in the season. �They certainly are hardier. Mine are still out eating grass, though this year was exceptional � its been very good grass-wise. They are in top class condition without any supplementary feeding, just grass� he says, also pointing out that since going organic he hasn't yet had to dose them for anything.
Biodiveristy is also important for this farmer, who's animals finish off grass completely:
�I'm very into biodiversity. Everything growing here is natural, the grasses are natural and they are different to those grown with chemical sprays. My weeds are controlled mechanically � everything is done either mechanically or by me�.
He continues �the fields are very biodiverse now � they are vastly different to how they were before going organic. Conventional fields are all even, as if they are clipped to a height. In organic, there are variations, we'd have far more white clover. Even red clover,which doesn't perpetuate itself, its spreading in my land � that doesn't seem to happen with fertilized fields�.
I asked him about the sward itself: �I have reseeded almost all of it over time. Some seed came from Fruithill farm, others were sourced locally. The Fruithill farm sward also has coltsfoot, timothy and various older type grasses in there as well, which I'd rather use. There's more management in it, it works well - in both wet and dry years. A typical ryegrass sward can be a hungry grass � it probably needs the chemicals its used to getting�.
Back to his thriving stock: �I had my own bull up to last year. But you do need to mix it up in a small herd, so I do use AI�. He puts an angus bull on a shorthorn cow, or visa versa, as �shorthorn is a little taller, so the crosses produce a slightly bigger carcass.�
An excellent outlet is available in much of the northwest for Irish organic meat, called, aptly enough, Irish Organic Meat.
Declan Mccarthy and his wife Deirdre have a mobile butchers outlet which travels to farmers' markets across the north west - from Carrick on Shannon (Thursdays) to Roscommon and Cavan towns (Fridays) and both Boyle and Sligo on Saturdays.
Butcher and farmer have a good working relationship:�Yes, I know what he needs, he knows what I have, and we don't haggle over price.�
Gerry Fitzsimons gets E4 per kg deadweight for his animals. Heifers kill out at 230-300 kg, bullocks from 260-380 kg. They are usually killed young, about 20-24 months for heifers and about 2 years for bullocks.
Local grasses, local markets, and a happy set of people, from farmer to butcher to customer. All told, a pure, simple and yet revelatory system.
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