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New hedge on a dairy farm


Planting new hedges ties in very well with what is expected of dairy farmers in relation to environmental and profitable sustainable farming. Profitable dairying can work very well, hand in hand in fact with hedges.Catherine Keena, Teagasc Specialist and Tom Murphy, Dairy advisor

Dairy farmer Henry Walsh farms with his wife Patricia and son Enda in Oranmore, County Galway. They farm to do the best they can in terms of profit per hectare and they avail of the Nitrates Derogation. Henry and his family are typical of a lot of the dairy farmers in Co Galway where not alone are they interested in being commercially viable and profitable but they are also conscious about the environment around them, how their farm looks and their link with nature and their surroundings.

Stone wall boundaries

This is a farm with magnificent stone wall boundaries and this is the first time in Henry’s career in farming that he has actually chosen to plant a hedge. It’s an area in which he has a keen interest over the last number of years. They are planting the new hedge for the benefit of the environment, to improve biodiversity on the farm and to improve the overall habitats in the locality. The site for the new hedge is on one of their out farms, which is predominantly used for silage, for a little bit of zero grazing and for occasional grazing with young stock on the shoulders of the season.

They are planting this hedge in the centre of a ten hectare field, rather than against a stone wall so that it still allows them to maintain their boundaries properly. By planting in the centre of the field it allows them to maintain both sides of the hedge in the future. They are happy with that as they want to maximise the benefit in terms of biodiversity but also be realistic and practical about maintenance.

A natural dividing line

They are planting this hedge in the centre of a ten hectare field, rather than against a stone wall so that it still allows them to maintain their boundaries properly. By planting in the centre of the field it allows them to maintain both sides of the hedge in the future. They are happy with that as they want to maximise the benefit in terms of biodiversity but also be realistic and practical about maintenance.

The reason they choose the site for the new hedge is that it is a natural dividing line between a wet and a dry part of the field, with one side constantly cut more than the other. So it will separate the wet and the dry.

They intend putting a double strand fence just to keep the animals from nipping the hedge. And at the same time animals can graze underneath occasionally to clean it in far as the hedge. But the priority is to protect the hedge. They are hoping over a short period of time maybe after five years that they can remove the wire fence and maintain the hedge as a stock proof boundary itself.

Hedges can bring quite a number of different advantages and benefits to dairy farmers when they’re strategically located to benefit the operations of the farm.  In this case they are dividing a field. They also provide shelter on farms.  

Planting new hedges ties in very well with what is expected of dairy farmers in relation to environmental and profitable sustainable farming. Profitable dairying can work very well, hand in hand in fact with hedges.

Henry and Patricia Walsh on the left Henry and Enda Walsh on the right

All Hedgerow week information is available here