Next up in our Ask the Farmer Q&A series is Mayo sheep farmer Colm Gavin.
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Colm Gavin is an 8th generation farmer, farming in the Bundorragha catchment in Mayo. He farms 90-100 Mayo blackface ewes. The sheep are out on the mountain year-round, grazing the multi-species natural vegetation and maintaining the land. Colm operates an extremely low impact farming system and very few external inputs are required on the farm.
Colm is involved in the Pearl Mussel Project EIP. This project rewards participant farmers for the ecological quality of their land, which in turn contributes to the pristine water quality needed by the Freshwater Pearl Mussel. As part of his work in this project, Colm continues to remove invasive rhododendron from the mountain, as well as installing silt traps to capture excess sand/silt runoff from the land before it enters the river. He has also put in livestock bridges at various points along the riverfront to further protect the water quality. “Being part of the Pearl Mussel Project EIP puts value on land that we wouldn’t have considered highly valuable in the past. These areas have actually turned out to be the most important areas on the farm in terms of biodiversity.”
Passionate about the beautiful landscape and nature that makes up his farm, Colm sees himself as a caretaker of the land and hopes the pass it on to the next generation in better condition than which he found it; “as a hill farmer – all you’re doing is maintaining the land.”
More information on the Q&As here.
