“There are good returns from organic produce. It’s a premium product, so you need to be getting a higher return from it because we can’t produce as much of it; however, we wouldn’t be doing it unless we enjoyed doing it.”
That was Amy Jackson’s take on the organic business she is running, alongside her husband, Ross.
The duo, based in north Tipperary, operate an organic farm, which consists of sheep, tillage and some beef cattle.
In the video (below), Amy talks about their new business and also their reasoning behind going down the route of organic farming.
Speaking to AgriLand, Amy said: “We have been organic farming since 2015. We run a flock of 140 ewes and we also grow oats and barley – which we supply to Flahavan’s and Waterford Distillery respectively – as well as keeping some cattle.
“We have recently gone down the route of selling our lamb directly to customers [Lacka Organic Lamb]. We decided to go down the route of organic after seeing how well it worked for other people – including Ross’s brother.
Ross, who is an agricultural consultant, knew all about the organic standard and I have an environmental background, so we felt between the two of us that we could make a good go of it.
“We enjoy the challenge of it [organic farming]; it keeps us on our toes. We started with a mixed bag of sheep in 2015; however, since then we have been using a Border Leicester ram to breed our own replacements, so we are starting to see that more of our ewes are now a Border Leicester-cross.
“We are in the middle of the breeding season at the moment. The majority of the ewes were tipped within the first week. The rams are raddled so we are able to keep a good eye on what is happening.”
Lambs
On the topic of drafting lambs and selling directly to customers, Amy explained: “The weights at which we draft lambs changes as the year goes on.
“The ewes we don’t plan to breed off are run with a Charollais ram and those lambs from the Charollais give us a good kill-out.
“Initially, we draft the lambs at 40-42kg and that gradually creeps up to where we are now which is 50kg.
We sent three batches [of lambs] to the factory at the start of the season when the Lacka Organic Lamb business was new. However, since then we have been able to sell all our lambs directly to customers.
“Those lambs go to a local abattoir in Banagher where they are processed. We then go down and collect the lambs [after about two weeks] and package them ourselves.
“It has taken off well [the business]. A good bit of work goes into promoting it. Although, like I said, we wouldn’t be doing it unless we enjoyed it.”
