The soil must be man's most Treasured Possession. So He who tends the soil wisely and with care is assuredly the foremost among men. Sir George Stapleton
Ballard Organic Beef
A significant new beef enterprise is currently being established at Ballard Organic Farm. In the past, we have been involved in producing and selling in excess of 200 animals per year. These animals were purchased from other organic farmers as young cattle and were fattened and sold as finished beef animals.
However, for a number of reasons, it was decided to establish a suckler herd so that all of the beef produced on the farm would be from our herd of suckler cows. The main reason for this radical change was to significantly improve animal quality in terms of carcass confirmation, meat quality and animal efficiency. To achieve this goal, a herd of autumn calving registered Pedigree Simmental cows was established in 2010. These cows are being crossed with an Aberdeen Angus bull and the first crop of calves were born in Oct/Nov 2010. In 2/3 years, the old system of buying in stock will be phased out, leading to a completely closed herd. Each year, a small number of the highest quality cows are put in calf to a pedigree Simmental bull in order to produce registered pedigree stock either to be kept on the farm as replace stock or to be sold.
There are ambitious plans for this new project and as it develops updates will be added to this section.
Ballard Organic Cereals
PORRIDGE PRODUCTION
Traditionally, cereals have always been grown at Ballard Organic Farm, as part of a balanced and sustainable rotation. Typically, the aim was to produce cereals for the beef cattle enterprise and to sell surpluses to other organic farmers. Over time this practice has changed and while some wheat is still grown for home use, the emphasis now is on the growing of high quality oats for human consumption. Most of this crop is sold to Flahavans for porridge oats but since January 2011, I have started producing a small amount of porridge from my own oats and this is being sold as Kilbeggan Organic Porridge. Further information is available on www.kilbegganorganicfoods.com
