Organic tour to Scotland
David Alexander, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE)
A group of 26 farmers from Northern Ireland with an interest in organic production spent two days, recently, visiting farms in Scotland. Organised by CAFRE, the farms visited were all in organic production and located in the Dumfries area.
Four farms were visited during the study tour. On two of the visits they were able to link up with members of the Soil Association, Scotland which added an extra dimension to the discussions. The group saw a range of enterprises - dairy cows, suckler cows and sheep. The clover swards were most impressive and alternative crops such as fodder beet and kale were a feature of the farms.
One of the dairy farms visited had a herd of Brown Swiss cows, producing 7,000 litres at 4 percent butterfat and 3.6 percent protein. The final farm on the tour had an impressive herd of pedigree Galloways and a local breed of sheep , the Castlemilk Moorit breed.
All in all, the group assessed an interesting range of enterprises under organic production and returned home with many ideas for the future of their farm businesses.
Any producers who are considering a switch to organic farming should enrol on the Organic Introductory Course to be held on 21 and 28 February 2006 at Greenmount Campus (further details from Caroline Donnelly at Greenmount Campus 028 9442 6773).
Dairy cows yielding 6,900 litres on an organic farm
