CONTACT:
Ernest Mackey,
Ballinclea house,
Donard,
Donard, Co. Wicklow
Ireland

Tel/Fax: 00-353-45-404973

mackey@iol.ie

Ernest Mackey farms 137 ha. at Donard in the foothills of the Wicklow mountains. There are 40 ha. of woodland on the farm and it has been farming organically since 1997. He is certified by Demeter Standards which is a Biodynamic as well as organic certifying body.
Ernest is farming to biodynamic standards and holds the DEMETER symbol. Before he went Biodynamic he carried 85 cows and 500 hoggets. Ernest has 80 adjusted hectares of farmland and 120 livestock units were carried in 2004, giving a stocking rate of 1.5 lu/ha

There is a 66 cow suckler herd on the farm producing weanlings for sale to other organic farmers. Replacements are kept from within the herd for calving at two years. Calving begins in January and is mostly indoors; Ernest has tried later calving in order to have more cows calved outdoors and thus reduce disease risk but found that his weanling were too light at sale time in the autumn. Before he began farming organically he used a Charolais bull on continental cross cows; when he began organic conversion he bought a Shorthorn and an Aberdeen Angus bull but he was disappointed with the conformation of the Shorthorns and the small carcass size of the Angus crosses. In the last few years he has been using an Aubrac bull on all his cows and has established a pedigree herd of Aubracs. He finds these cattle to be hardy, easy-calving, suited to a mainly forage diet Individual animals are treated for hoose as necessary but treatment for stomach worms is not generally needed. Blackleg vaccination is used on pedigree stock and permission from Demeter is required for this.

A mid-season lambing flock of mainly Texel/Belclare cross ewes are kept with Texel and Belclare rams used. These breeds have been found to suit the system well.
Even though there is a purpose-built sheep shed on the farm the flock is now lambed outdoors as the incidence of disease is found to be much lower. Ewes are dosed once per annum for fluke which is allowed under the organic standards. Parasite problems are controlled by maintaining a low stocking rate for sheep on the farm at 1.5 ewes/ha at present. Most lambs are sold to a processor but some are sold direct to consumers.

The table below shows gross margin figures for Ernest Mackey’s farm compared to national average figures.

Single Suckling – calves to weanlings
Ernest Mackey 2004 €825/ha
All NFS Farms 2003 €612/ha
Top 25% NFS farms 2003 €866/ha

Sheep – mid-season lamb
Ernest Mackey 2004 €867/ha
All NFS Farms 2003 €709/ha
Top 25% NFS farms 2003 €1094/ha

Please take note,
interested costumers can get
Lamb and Beef from the farm directly
please get in contact with Ernest.