Geoff & Celia Brighten

Rathkeale, Co. Limerick

I’m Geoffrey Brighten, my wife Celia and I have a farm in Rathkeale, Co. Limerick

We’ve been farming here for nineteen years, and we run a calf to beef system. At the start of the season, we buy around 40 calves from four or five different local farmers, all within a 20-minute radius of our land.

We are striving to eradicate fertiliser use on our farm by grazing our Hereford calves and cattle on long grass, moving them regularly to achieve this. I think this method also helps to prevent calves from getting summer scour and enables the grass to self-nourish, with trampled uneaten forage returning to the ground. I move the fence line twice a day, so they are always moving, grazing a little and trampling what they don’t eat, which helps add nutrition into the soil for the next grass, creating a natural, sustainable cycle that eliminates the need for fertiliser. I only use fertiliser for silage fields. I try to keep our cattle on more grass and as little nuts as possible, as I believe this is really beneficial for their health.

We choose Herefords because they are an early maturing breed, they are easy fleshed and do very well off my grass-based system without much inputs.

As part of our farm’s diversification we are involved with Social Farming Ireland, this means that individuals come and work on our farm as part of their therapy or recovery. They work with animal feeding, and general farm work or animal husbandry. We also have a poly tunnel and a small vegetable plot, growing many plants, like cucumbers and tomatoes, and on a rainy day the social farmers work there. It’s lovely to see people getting interested in just getting their hands dirty and learning.

We believe that we’re looking after the land for the next generation of farmers. Our sustainable grass system helps to eliminate soil erosion, so hopefully the land will be even more fertile when someone else gets their hands on it.