Based in Clonmellon, Co. Westmeath, the Killua Castle farm has embarked on an interesting venture: Breeding, rearing and processing rare-breed beef.

Local man Anthony Gilsenan is the farm manager at Killua Castle and Agriland recently paid a visit to the farm to find out more about the unique farming system in place there.

“There is a total of 340ac of both owned and rented land. Killua Castle is currently owned by Sangines-Krause family who has gone to great lengths to restore the castle to its former glory by piecing together its history to make it as authentic as it would have been when first built,” Anthony explained.

“They also have a great love of rare-breed animals, hence how the farm’s venture came about.”

The castle definitely has some interesting history: It was the home of Lawrence of Arabia’s father and the famous Raleigh Obelisk is located on the grounds near the castle.

The obelisk was erected in 1810 by Thomas Chapman and is said to mark the position where Sir Walter Raleigh planted some of the first potatoes that he imported to Ireland.

A boardwalk through the ponds and wooded area on the castle grounds
The grounds at Killua Castle

The farm was established approximately five years ago with the purchase of a flock of sheep. Since then, the range of animals has grown significantly.

Some of the animals on the farm include:

  • Irish Moiled Cattle;
  • Dexter Cattle;
  • Jacob Sheep;
  • Old Irish Goats;
  • Wild Boar;
  • Red Deer;
  • Buff Orpington chickens;
  • Geese;
  • Alesbury ducks;
  • Kerry Bog Ponys;
  • Minature American Horses.

While the horses are kept for novelty, most of the animals are kept on the farm for their produce.

Some of the animals on the farm can be seen in the gallery below.

Jacob sheep
Buff Orpington chickens
Alesbury ducks
Irish Moiled breeding cattle
Irish Moiled beef cattle
Kerry Bog Ponys
Old Irish Goats

Outbuildings near the castle have been restored and will be used as a restaurant and farm shop, both of which aim to be open for business later this year.

Outbuildings near the castle have been restored for use as a farm shop and restaurant

As well as this, a farm-scale EU-approved meat processing facility has been built on an out-farm for butchering and processing the meat produced there.

Meat processing

The farm manager explained: “The processing plant is open 14 months now. What we we’re doing until then was renting a premises to process our meat and [we sold] the product in farmers markets and restaurants.”

Farm manager Anthony Gilsenan outside the processing plant
Hindquarter beef hanging
Forequarter beef hanging
Select cuts of beef in the dry-ageing chill. This helps improve the taste and texture of the the beef
Rails for moving the carcasses through the plant
Some of the processing equipment
The EU-approved processing plant

“The site is an EU-approved processing plant which consists of three chills, a de-boning room, a processing room and all associated plant rooms.

“One of the chills is a specific dry-age chill where select cuts of beef are left to age.

“A craft butcher prepares and packages the meat before it is sold to consumers.”

The high-level of marbling in Irish Moiled Beef adds to its unique tase

Anthony said that the decision was made to build the processing facility because the team at Killua Castle “felt it was the best way to progress the rare breeds and to be able to go from farm to fork on-site”.

All the meat that will go through the plant will be rare breed and the majority of it will be Irish Moiled beef.

“The farm already has products such as venison and lamb in retail and the beef will be going to retail soon as well,” the farm manager said.

Venison steaks. Note the leaner appearance of this meat when compared to the Irish Moiled meat

“We want to develop the rare breeds through marketing them as products.”

“The marbling and flavor in Irish Moiled beef is just unbelievable. It’s a taste you just don’t get in many other breeds,” he added.

Anthony said the farm aims to place a specific focus on the Irish Moiled cattle breed; Killua Castle is an Irish Moiled Cattle Society farm walk today (Saturday, September 3).

“Our aim is to establish one of the finest herds of Irish Moiled cattle in the country,” Anthony said.

Some of the Irish Moiled cattle

The farm currently has 40 pedigree Irish Moiled cows and hopes to build this number to 50 in time. The herd calves from March onwards and are winter housed in a dry-bedded shed while some of the cattle are also out-wintered.

As well as this, the farm has approximately 55 Irish Moiled steers which will be finished off grass and processed and packaged at the on-farm processing facility.

The farm has a herd of Red Deer which are kept in specially fenced paddocks. The venison is sold at farmers’ markets and also at select restaurants.

Deer out grazing on the farm

Wild boar are also kept at Killua and the plan, Anthony said, is to use the pork in the on-farm restaurant and to market it direct to customers too.

Wild boars at Killua

Conservation at Killua

Conservation is a central theme of the overall ethos at Killua Castle.

Conservation of the old buildings is evident from the work that restored the castle ruins to their former glory and the renovation of the walled gardens and associated outbuildings around them.

As well as this, 60ac of grassland and 20ac of native forestry is dedicated to conservation grazing. Over the past five years, 9km of hedging and 4,000 trees have been planted.

As well as this, a bee habitat with 9,000 plants and three artificial lakes have been installed for wildlife conservation.

The future plan for Killua Castle farm is to continue developing the rare-breed enterprise and further improve the conservation work that the farm already does so well.

The Killua Castle grounds are open every Saturday from 10:00a.m-4:00p.m and the castle itself is open for tours if people book on the website in advance.

IRISH MOILED CATTLE SOCIETY RARE BREEDS