Welcome to Walshestown Farm
About
Walshestown Farm is located just off the Curragh Plains in County Kildare, Ireland, and has been farmed by the Cox Family since the 1950's. Today the farm is managed in a sustainable & regenerative manner by 3 generations of the Cox family.
The farm consists of over 150 acres of permanent grassland pasture grazed by Hereford & Angus cattle and a flock of Sufffolk x Texel sheep. The farm is managed to produce the highest quality beef and lamb in an environmentally sustainable manner, to minimise emissions and promote the sequestration of carbon into the soil. Details on how we farm sustainability are outlined under the Sustainability section below.
The Curragh Plains represent a very unique type of grassland in Ireland, consisting of over 5,000 acres of commonage grasslands most of which have been undisturbed for hundreds of years. Some local farmers are allowed to graze sheep and other areas are used by racehorse trainers located around the Curragh for training thoroughbred racehorses on the flat plains.
While our farm has commonage rights all our animals are reared on our farm only.
Sustainability
Our Philosophy
Planet Positive Farming – Balancing Lower Emissions & Carbon Capture
At Walshestown Farm we produce quality grass-fed beef and lamb, while ensuring the lowest possible net impact on the environment.
Producing beef and lamb with a low net impact to the environment is a careful balancing act; where we offset the emissions made on the farm by capturing carbon in the land.
The farming system we operate aims to reduce emissions from the animals & the farm, while at the same time managing our soil & vegetation to maximise the amount of carbon being captured by the land & hedgerows.
Using available scientific research from Ireland and around the world, we've looked at our farm & our animals to come up with a system to keep emissions as low as possible, and over the last few years we’ve altered our farming system to make sure it is a low emission system.
We’ve considered; the type, breed and genetics of our animals, what we feed, the type of grass we grow, the type of housing, medicines & vaccines we use, how we capture & reuse waste, the amount & type of fertiliser we use, if we buy in feed where it comes from, all transportation, even where we get the animals processed.
To balance the emissions from the animals we manage our soil, grassland, hedges and trees to capture and sequester carbon into the soil & vegetation.
Everything we eat has a carbon footprint - but if you choose to eat Curragh Beef & Lamb from Walshestown Farm you are getting meat with a low carbon footprint, that is balanced by on-farm carbon capture.
How we Reduce On Farm Emissions
Grassland Pastures
Highly digestible lush pastures of mixed swards containing clovers, timothy, chicory and plantain are planted as part of our regenerative reseeding programme using minimum till, fertilised with farmyard manure & slurry. All help to reduce emissions and capture carbon in the soil.
Capturing Carbon Emissions on Farm
Farming to be a Net Carbon Sink
The way we farm is all about achieving a balance; a balance between on farm emissions and the carbon captured by the farm in the grasslands, soil, trees and hedgerows.
Everything we eat has a carbon footprint; however our Curragh Beef and Lamb is farmed in a way to ensure that the emissions generated on the farm are captured by the farm. That way our Curragh Beef & Lamb has a low impact on the environment, while continuing to work to certify our Curragh Beef and Lamb as carbon neutral.
To make our farm as large a carbon sink as possible we farm using Regenerative Grassland Management practices & Plant & Nurture new & existing hedgerows & trees.
Regenerative Grassland Management
Regenerative Grassland Management works with the grasslands, soils and ruminant animals (cattle & sheep) to take carbon from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. As grasses grow to be grazing by the ruminants, the plant transfers carbon into the soil via the plants roots to be stored in the soil structure using soil microorganisms. We farm to helps the soil & soil microbes sink as much carbon into the ground as possible. How do we help to make this happen, read on.....
Plant & Nurture New & Existing Hedgerows & Trees.
We all know how valuable trees are as carbon sinks.
Like grasses, trees and hedgerows all capture carbon through photosynthesis locking carbon into the timber growth & roots of the plant.
We work to make sure that the trees and hedgerows on the farm continue to grow. In recent years we have planted new hedgerows on the farm of native species to increase the area on the farm given over to trees and hedges and therefore the amount of carbon sink available on our far. Look out on social media for pictures of our new hedges and trees being planted later this year.
