WATERFALL FARM ENNISKERRY
Monday 24 June 2013
Farming can be a lonely life, particularly for young people who sometimes feel a bit isolated. However, social media has opened up a new world for many and added a lot to the voices of young farmers who blog about daily life through the seasons, and about their animals and crops. It helps them to communicate with other people in their industry but it also gets them out there business wise.
Michael and Hannah Keegan are a young couple who farm pedigree Lleyn sheep on 170 acres in the shadows of Powerscourt Waterfall in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, aptly named Waterfall Farm. The location offers stunning views and they have recently opened a farm shop on Saturdays and Sundays selling Irish artisan foods, which is proving very popular with both locals and tourists. They also have a Pets' Corner with some really cute rabbits and pygmy goats.
Michael is 33 and is from a long line of Wicklow farmers. "I believe we are here certainly in excess of 250 years. I have documents dating back to the early 1800s of things that were going on here. My grandfather, Charlie Keegan, was also a champion ploughman who won the 1964 World Championships. We have been sheep farming here for a long time, it's been handed down from generation to generation. We knew nothing else," Michael explained.
"I was raised with it along with my brother and sister, neither of whom are involved now in the farm. My brother is a carpenter by trade, and my sister has two young children and has recently completed a paramedic course, so they are both busy. My father died when I was about 18 and I was doing all the work with my mother then, but the intention was always that I would take over the farm when I was old enough," he added.
Hannah, the youngest of a large family, is originally from Dublin but moved to Enniskerry some 20 years ago. Michael and Hannah got married five years ago and now have baby Eleanor who is 13 months old.
"We met at a local 'do', but we would have known one another for a long time, because I was in the scouts with her brothers," Michael said. "We had a charity horse ride across our land, it was across a lot of the land in Powerscourt, and it finished up going through our place and back into Larry Dunne, the vet's place, in Ballyorney, where we just got chatting and it went from there!
"We would have between 300 and 400 breeding ewes and their lambs but this was the worst spring I ever remember. I know I am only a 'chap' but a lot of older 'chaps' around told me it was the worst they ever remember. The biggest problem was that it was mentally stressful and very stressful on the pocket. Things really were stretched to the last. There was nothing left in it. We're only a small operation really, but we spent €5,000 to €6,000 on bought-in feed that we would normally not spend. There are farmers out there with cattle, I don't know how they are in business and, to be honest, I think that by the end of the year a lot of them won't be in business," Michael said.
"The true effect of the harsh winter we had won't be felt until later in the year when all the debts are called in. We lost a lot of sheep this year. I haven't done the final tally yet but I know that normal losses would be 7-10 per cent in any year. If it's 7 per cent you are doing well, and if it's 10 per cent you're still okay, but we would have lost this year, I imagine, around 20 per cent – a lot of people would have lost more. We also lost a good few ewes, the mothers. In normal years, I wouldn't lose any adult sheep save maybe one or two in lambing but I'd say I lost 10 or 15 this year."
You can buy Waterfall Farm Lleyn Wicklow lamb for the table through the website. "Normally people ring me up", said Hannah. "There is a form to fill out because people like the lamb presented in different cuts. The price follows the market price but we sell you a full lamb packed, butchered, and labelled, ready for the freezer, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying from the butchers or supermarket. We do significantly better than selling to the factory, and the purchaser also does significantly better."
Whilst Michael is engrossed in the farm work during weekdays, Hannah is involved in the 'horsey' industry nearby with her mother. Having gone to school in Newpark in Blackrock, she then went to college in Enniskillen to train in the equine industry. "I took a degree in Equine Science and I rode as an amateur jockey for a while. I breed horses and I break horses. I sound like I'm superwoman. I'm just torn in all directions. We are not breeding at the moment because of the recession. The climate for selling horses isn't good, but I'd still have a number of young stock there that I'd be producing and bringing on, so I do that Monday to Friday. They get the weekend off and I'm in the shop Saturday and Sunday, and back to the horses on Monday.
"We started the shop in November, 2011, stocking local artisan produce. Almost everything in the shop is Irish. We were selling the lamb from the gate and it was Michael's idea to expand lamb sales by opening the farm shop and setting up the website. There are so many good food producers in Wicklow and also around Ireland. I find people really like the idea that I know the person, that there is only me between them and the producer. I would talk to Pat Lalor of Kilbeggan Porridge Oats about the harvest and so on, and people love the idea that they come to the shop and talk to me, but I also know the guy who produces the oats. People love getting fresh eggs and in summer we have fresh raspberries," Hannah explained.
'This was the worst spring I can remember. But a lot of the older 'chaps' told me it was the worst they ever knew...'
Michael and Hannah say there are more people around this year, they ask for directions, and buy something and maybe come back to them. "I am growing some herbs and selling them and people love it. We would like to get a tearoom up and running, which hopefully we will do later this year or next. I would also like to grow vegetables next year and let people come and pick them for themselves."
As we sat outside at a garden table, we saw a number of people who came through the gates, including a scout leader looking for directions, a man looking for water for his car radiator, a young couple from Paris who loved the animals (and bought lunch to take away). As we left, a happy Japanese hiker (studying at Trinity College) was tucking into tranches of Irish cheese and Thibault Peigne's Tartine Organic sourdough bread which is made in Swords.
www.waterfallfarm.ie