Outwintering beef cattle on cover crops and growing crop mixes

In the final episode of Season 4 of the Organic Matters Podcast, we meet organic farmers Aoife Gibney and Eamon Campbell on their beef and tillage farm in Co. Meath. The couple are recent converts to organics, becoming full-symbol organic this year.

Aiofe and Eamon calve in both the Autumn and the Spring and artificially inseminate their heifers, with a mixture of Sailor, Limousine, Charolais and the odd bit of Angus, making up the herd. They talk about converting their housing to meet the organic spacing requirements, with a combination of slatted and straw-bedded areas.

They also speak about some of the reasons they made the move and their experience going organic in recent years, which they have found very stimulating and a new challenge. This has included growing red clover and whole-crop silage for their cattle, as well as outwintering cattle on kale. Typically, cattle have been sold into the local marts, with Aoife and Eamon weighing up different options for the future.