Oliver Davey and his wife Eleanor are in conversion to organic for over a year. Here is the story so far.
My farm is located in the townland of Tubbertelly, south Sligo. The marginal land consists of 44 hectares of owned land, 8 hectares of long term lease land, 12 hectares of shared commonage and 35 hectares of short- term hillside rented land.
From the early 1980�s to 2005 this farm carried a suckler herd- Simmental, Limousin, Shorthorn and Vosgienne. I sold all male weanlings at 8 to 9 months, and heifers for breeding at 15 to 18 months. I would also retain some heifers for replacements, and used A.I. bulls.
A number of factors led me to organic farming. The change in weather conditions over the past 12 years had started to take its toll on my farm. Longer winter housing was required along with more silage and nuts, as well as extra manure and fertiliser to strengthen the land. Profits were suffering due to these added expenses.
I began attending the Teagasc organic farm walks. David Notley�s farm, Aughamore, Carrick-on-Shannon had land much the same as mine. Having had a good look around and after asking numerous questions I knew this was the way I wanted to farm in the future: I came away realising that if I did organic farming I would know exactly what was on my farm and what I would be eating. I visited two more organic farms - Jimmy Barlow�s in Ballymoe, Galway and Danny Kilcullen�s in Enniscrone, Co. Sligo - before I decided to change.
Dan Clavin, an Organic Advisor with Teagasc, helped with the Organic Conversion Plan. It took me about three months to get all the requirements in place - a Soil Analysis report, a Faecal Parasite Examination Report, a detailed Health Plan signed off by a veterinary surgeon, maps, a detailed plan of animal housing, livestock details and anticipated numbers of stock during conversion.
There have been a few ups and downs. Having changed my animal housing to straw bedding in February 2009, my slurry supply dropped by 60% and the bedding took at least 6 months to mature.
I usually cut silage during late June however last year the weather was poor and silage was not cut until the end of July. While the quantity was okay the quality was poor for my standards due to the weather conditions and cutting the silage this late.
I had also reseeded three and a half hectares to provide additional winter feed however this too failed due to the poor weather conditions.
Consequently I had to reduce my stock numbers for my first winter in conversion. I also had to buy my own machinery for cleaning sheds and spreading farm yard manure. The plus side to this is that with my own machinery its me who decides when the work will be done.
Even though my work load has increased - I spend more time with my animals feeding and bedding and straw bedding is rather expensive - I can see a great change in my animals and have noticed a drop in veterinary expenses.
So far I have no regrets. There will always be unforeseen problems in any new venture and a lot of things are new to me but IOFGA and especially other farmers who have already converted have been very helpful.
As well as converting my farm to organic, I have also recently added the Irish rare breed Dexter cows and heifers. Pedigree Dexters, both short and non short, now make up 60% of my herd. They suit my land and are less expensive to manage. Their meat very highly rated.
I have a fixed price two-year contract with a Northern Ireland meat factory, once the Dexters are under 30 months and grass fed.
Once I receive my full symbol as an organic producer I will get a slight increase in the price premium from the meat factory. I also hope to be in a position to sell my beef direct to the customer.
