Colum’s Q&A will take place on Tuesday 18th March at 8pm
Colum Ginnelly is an upland, conventional sheep farmer in Mulranny, Co. Mayo. He keeps 250-280 ewes on multiple commonages and even has some land on islands in Clew Bay. He keeps a lowland and hill sheep cross to produce a better-quality lamb, to make his business viable. A keen community man, Colum was instrumental in recruiting over 150 farmers in the area to participate in the Wild Atlantic Nature pilot scheme. He says it ‘was the best thing that ever came here, as we know now what’s going on under our feet, the farmers around here look at their land completely differently now that it’s under a scoring system’.
His land stretches from the top of the Nephin Beg mountains down to the sea, giving him a deep appreciation for the habitats he manages ‘you see it all, from sea life to the heather on the hills.’ He was one of the pilot farmers that destocked in the 90s, and after their efforts, the Red Grouse returned to the area, again able to feed on the rehabilitated Bell and Ling Heather. He welcomes any scheme that helps farmers in the area farm for nature saying that farmers ‘are the custodians of the land, we look after it’. Demonstrating this, he has signed up for ACRES and an NPWS plan to fence off some overgrazed land on the mountain to record how it can recover.
