Sheep and a Farm Enhancement Lease

Dave Heraty is a sheep farmer from Co. Mayo. Along with his home farm Dave rents a block of 35 acres in Kilquire Co. Mayo, running a flock of 120 New Zealand Romney ewes. Farming always played an integral role in Dave’s life; he took over the family farm full time 10 years ago at the age of 21 after the tragic passing of his father. Dave approached Service facilitator Mícheál Larkin for help in finding an opportunity that would best complement his home farm. Mícheál helped Dave engage with a landowner in a long-term lease agreement, which ensures Dave is protected and has security of tenure to protect and allow payback on any investment that he makes on the farm. As there was such a high level of investment, the rate paid for rental is reflective of this and also changes from an agreed lower band to slightly higher band as the term progresses. Within the lease both Dave and the landowner agreed on measures to improve the farm, land and infrastructure while maintaining and growing biodiversity initiatives, with the landowner paying particular focus on improving and maintaining biodiversity. Dave has divided thefarm into paddocks with each paddock having drinkers, along with this he’s reseeded incorporating clover into the swards while increasing both P&K levels on the land. Dave has also maintained old stone walls and fenced off all turloughs on the farm. Dave plans to continue to improve the land he’s rented and to work closely with the landowner to ensure the land and infrastructure are maintained. It’s the security of tenure, farm plan and good communication with the landowner that enables this arrangement to work well for all parties, especially in terms of high levels of investment. Dave aims to also look at expanding his enterprise and work closely with Land Mobility if any such opportunities should arise.

Young Farmer Expanding in Tillage & Cattle

“Economically, it didn’t make sense to buy land in the area around my home farm but without more land I wouldn’t be able to farm full-time which was my dream, so I had to look at other options.” This is the view of Donal Phelan, Kilkenny an experienced young trained farmer with limited owned land. The 30 acres of land he owned wasn’t sufficient for him to be able to farm full time and while some advised him just to lease it out, he wanted to farm. This led him to The Land Mobility Service, of whom he was aware from Macra. He wanted help in finding a landowner looking to step back and give an opportunity to a young person. As it happened The Land Mobility Service had been engaging and exploring options with a landowner who knew Donal and was his second cousin. The Service initiated discussions, they spoke and explored options. Plans became more concrete and when both were happy to move ahead with an arrangement the Service facilitated and formalised same. The Landowner Paddy ran a beef and tillage enterprise and was looking to take a step back from full-time farming but still wanted to be involved in some casual way and wanted the farm to be properly cared for. The Farmer, Donal on the grass side is operating a dairy calf to beef system and some contract rearing. He has expanded the tillage adopting newer technologies and a more environmental focus. Donal also does some hedge cutting and tractor work for hire for income security. Paddy and Donal have respect for each other, Donal appreciates his opinions and advice while Paddy admires Donal’s can-do attitude and how clued in he is with new technologies and ideas. There are particular jobs Paddy likes for example combining, which Donal is happy to let him do.

No Farming Successor in Donegal

Farming in Donegal, just outside Rathmelton, Billy and Anne McMahon ran a dairy enterprise comprising 80 cows up until 2019. The husband- and-wife team wanted to take a step back from the farm but had no farming successor in the family to take over so other options had to be considered as they did not want to sell their farm. A lease deal was entered into with Christopher Digimas, it was arranged with the help of The Land Mobility Service and started in 2020. Christopher came from a small farm which was never going to be viable in is own right, he studied farm management and worked on different farms until he was ready to take on a farm. He had managed to build equity in cows through a share arrangement in Mayo. The McMahon farm was in excellent condition with good grass and nutrient status, excellent infrastructure and good cows. Land Mobility helped Christopher with budgets and financial projections for the farm, he remembers Austin Finn saying “if you look after the farm and the owners the farm will work for you” and this has proven to be the case.

Great Land Opportunities

Although not originally from a farming background, Rikki Bayer has always had a passion for animals and farming. This was the career path she chose to pursue. Rikki completed an honours degree in Agriculture and then worked on multiple farms around the world. While working in Ireland, she responded to a Land Mobility Service opportunity in the Irish Farmers Journal, a farm for long-term lease to a young farmer with experience in robotic milking. Having provided the farmer with a business proposal, Rikki was successful with her application and ready to take on the challenge. The farm, based in Ballythomas, Co Cork, was very well set up and did not require any major changes to the infrastructure. Rikki changed the production pattern from a spring calving herd to split Spring / Autumn calving in order to make the best use of cows, infrastructure and her labour. Transitional arrangements that worked for both her and the landowner operated in the first year, the hand over process between the owner and Rikki is now nearly complete. Rikki found the help of the Land Mobility hugely beneficial. The Land Mobility team were there at every stage of the process and provided advise on financial, labour, and Dept of Agriculture queries. They greatly assisted with getting set up and taking over the farm.  

Opportunities for Young Farmers

Thomas and Aoife O’Reilly are dairy farmers in Granard, Adare, Co Limerick on a long-term lease. Thomas comes from a dairy farm in Co Cavan and has always been interested in farming. Following the completion of a Dairy Business course, through Teagasc Ballyhaise and Dundalk IT, Thomas traveled the world and gained vast experience working on dairy farms in England, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia. After a number of years abroad and with desire to run his own farm in Ireland, Thomas spotted an opportunity to lease a dairy farm through The Land Mobility Service. Following a viewing, this farm had the scale and potential that Thomas wanted. Thomas’s prior experience managing farms combined with the fact he had built up equity and had support from family were vital in the owner’s decision to shortlist him to the point of developing a business proposal, and outline of his vision to the owner. This plan including on farm capital investment, stock purchase and enabling the owner to have a contracting role attached to the farm ticked the owners’ boxes. A more detailed plan and a lease arrangement was facilitated by the Service. Thomas is now running a spring calving herd and aims to expand to over 200 cows in the coming years. To reduce his fertiliser bills and make the farm more sustainable Thomas is in the process of reseeding the entire grazing block. He is sowing clover and mixed species. The Land Mobility Team has always been on hand to assist Thomas with any queries.