County/Area with least amount of tillage land

Dickie10

was driving through a large tract of co . cavan the other dayand was amazed at the lack of tillage or ploughed tilled land, some of this land looks quite dry and good although a bit hlly but that wouldn't make a difference when you see places like gloucster or Worcestershire in England, just wondering why there wasn't much tillage going on, up the road in meath tillage land starts appearing straight away almost at the border, so land cant be too different, a strange anomaly I thought.

Wgere would they tillage area of this county be? surely there has to be a region to supply grain for meal and feedstuffs to the mills

micraX

Sure they wouldn't know how to plough in Cavan! Haha seriously though I don't know, might be wetter up that way and traditionally not a tillage area, I'm sure there is good ground in some parts though.

reilig

There doesn't have to be an area that supplies to the Mills - most of the grain comes off the boat for the Mills around here and is drawn with lorries and 25 ton trailers.

Leitrim is the county with the least number of tillage farmers - a number of years ago there was only 1. Since then there have been a couple of attempts at wholecrop but there are centainly less than 5 tillage farmers in Leitrim. It's simple really - Drumlin land is not suitable for tillage! the drumlin belt runs from Cavan across leitrim.

kevthegaff

There must be feck all in the west??

Reggie.

reilig wrote: »

There doesn't have to be an area that supplies to the Mills - most of the grain comes off the boat for the Mills around here and is drawn with lorries and 25 ton trailers.

Leitrim is the county with the least number of tillage farmers - a number of years ago there was only 1. Since then there have been a couple of attempts at wholecrop but there are centainly less than 5 tillage farmers in Leitrim. It's simple really - Drumlin land is not suitable for tillage! the drumlin belt runs from Cavan across leitrim.

full of stones hey

Conmaicne Mara

kevthegaff wrote: »

There must be feck all in the west??

We have dairy farmers up the mountains, the tillage lads have yet to get in on the act Best kept secret.

GrandSoftDay

kevthegaff wrote: »

There must be feck all in the west??

A bit in Galway and North Clare but nothing to write home about .

mf240

I don't know anybody with a combine I do however know several with there own turf hopper.

bbam

Dickie10 wrote: »

was driving through a large tract of co . cavan the other dayand was amazed at the lack of tillage or ploughed tilled land, some of this land looks quite dry and good although a bit hlly but that wouldn't make a difference when you see places like gloucster or Worcestershire in England, just wondering why there wasn't much tillage going on, up the road in meath tillage land starts appearing straight away almost at the border, so land cant be too different, a strange anomaly I thought.

Wgere would they tillage area of this county be? surely there has to be a region to supply grain for meal and feedstuffs to the mills

We have about 4 inches of topsoil with mostly blue marl or bog under.
What would that grow tillage wise

As a guy I worked for used to say " you can only piss with the prick your given"

Conmaicne Mara

bbam wrote: »

We have about 4 inches of topsoil with mostly blue marl or bog under.
What would that grow tillage wise

As a guy I worked for used to say " you can only piss with the prick your given"

Would min till work

cristeoir

Used to hear the parents talking about on old fella near us who sowed oats , now his land wasn't great and the oats only grew about 6 inches high , anyway yer man was out with the scythe trying to cut it and all the way through he kept shouting at it " the curse a jaysis on ya that ever grew":D

grazeaway

Used to spend time up west with work a few years ago and one of the lads there asked me to give him a few tips ploughing. Long story short things didn't go well and it took him a week to plough 10acres.

Genghis Cant

grazeaway wrote: »

Long story short things didn't go well and it took him a week to plough 10acres.

Good goin for a horse!

newholland mad

kevthegaff wrote: »

There must be feck all in the west??

Was a sugar factory in tuam so must of been a bit at some stage, it was the first one to close though. In its last few years suicra eireann hauled beet from our farm in carlow to tuam to keep up supplies so the locals must have seen the light and quit tillage at that stage, perhaps they were right:(

Dickie10

4 inchs top soil? would it grow good grass? we live near the bog of allens northerly tip, but within a 1km there is barley,oats,wheat all grown, so does boggy land not harm cereals? or does land change quickly between bogs and normal clay ground, if any of you read ger pottertton in FJ ,im up the road from him and hes always on about the heavy ground around there for tillage.

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...

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Argh damn interweb eating my replies!

Used to wonder at the big fields, tillage and amount of dairy going down south in the lorry with the father when I was little. No tillage round home that I know of anyway.

Nekarsulm

Small bit of tillage up near mountnugent, you are at the Meath border there however. Last time there was much tillage was World War 2. When compulsory tillage was enforced. You can still see traces of this on some hills. . When the sun hits them in a certin way, you can still see the "two ridge lands"
After the war, the day of the horse was over, so any bit of oats that had been grown, was no longer needed ..

munkus

kevthegaff wrote: »

There must be feck all in the west??

Feck ye!!!!!!

Some of the best tillage land is in Galway. I'd say 50% of Galway land is superb stuff. From Athenry to Ballinasloe you wouldn't find a stone.

Rant over :-)

Mad4simmental

South Dublin, most of Kildare, North Kilkenny, and East Laois is full of tillage. Guinness done a very good documentary a few years ago about its factory and the connection with tillage farmers in these areas. It's very good I'll put up the name of it later when I think of it!!

kevthegaff

munkus wrote: »

Feck ye!!!!!!

Some of the best tillage land is in Galway. I'd say 50% of Galway land is superb stuff. From Athenry to Ballinasloe you wouldn't find a stone.

Rant over :-)

Sorry munkus, just always saw lads drawing bales to claire, galway, sligo and mayo and just assumed it!

reilig

Plenty of great tillage land in Galway. Lots of fields being ploughed as we speak. As for soil depth, at home we have some land with only 1 to 1.5 inches of topsoil and then you are into daub or marl. It means that land gets wet very quickly. Poached land takes longer to recover. it grows good grass allright, but it can be a little later than other parts of the country. The only positive thing is that we never suffer from drought. The drier the summer the better.

Some of our best land is bog. Up to 6ft of black mud in places before you reach the marl. It's free draining. It can be travelled upon with the tractor during the wettest time in winter and it grows early grass. We used to grow a lot of fruit and veg for markets when I was younger -potatos, carrots, turnips, strawberries, cabbage plants etc. All on the dry bogland. Again, drought was never an issue! Grandfather used to grown oats in the dry bogland too. Crops were plenty big!

towzer2010

Dickie10 wrote: »

so land cant be too different, a strange anomaly I thought.

Wgere would they tillage area of this county be? surely there has to be a region to supply grain for meal and feedstuffs to the mills

Land quality isn't the only reason. Rainfall is a big consideration as well. The lighter the colour the more tillage I'd say

Conflats

Mad4simmental wrote: »

South Dublin, most of Kildare, North Kilkenny, and East Laois is full of tillage. Guinness done a very good documentary a few years ago about its factory and the connection with tillage farmers in these areas. It's very good I'll put up the name of it later when I think of it!!

Megafactories Guinness national geographic channel from about 2/3 years ago interesting watch it was on youtube

Insp. Harry Callahan

towzer2010 wrote: »

Land quality isn't the only reason. Rainfall is a big consideration as well. The lighter the colour the more tillage I'd say

Plenty of good tillage land here in east Donegal, virtually nothing in the west. Not easy being a grain/ potatoe farmer here though, high rainfall is an issue, harvest is almost always a smash and grab affair!

Mad4simmental

Conflats wrote: »

Megafactories Guinness national geographic channel from about 2/3 years ago interesting watch it was on youtube

Thanks that's the one,

Miname

On the cavan monaghan border here and there used to be a lot of tillage, but nowadays i usually have to travel 10 miles or so. the fields would just be a tad awkwarder than some of the ground in louth meath. I work a fair share of the time in louth and field size would be a major advantage, regularly there would be 50 plus acre fields that would be classified as small, round me its 2 acres thats a small field. maybe im wrong but monaghan, cavan is just full of small roads splitting farms that wouldnt be near as common in other counties, makes it alright if your moving stock but a disaster when alls put together.

Dickie10

So if I were to rank them il try, with help from you guys that know whats going down on the ground, literally; this is by % of land use NOT area. god u would know im a student! #timewaster
1-Wexford
2-Kildare
3-Cork
4-Louth
5-Meath
6-Dublin
7-Carlow
8-Tipp
9-Kilkenny
10-Laois
11-Offaly
12-Waterford
13-Westmeath
14-Down
15Antrim
16-Limerick
17-Galway
18-Donegal
19-Wicklow
20-Armagh
21-Tyrone
22-Dery
23-Rosscommon
24-Longford
25-Kerry
26-Clare
27-Fermanagh
28-Moneghan
29-Cavan
30-Mayo
31-Sligo
32-Leitrim
well what do we think??
21-
22-

GrandSoftDay

Dickie10 wrote: »

So if I were to rank them il try, with help from you guys that know whats going down on the ground, literally; this is by % of land use NOT area. god u would know im a student! #timewaster
1-Wexford
2-Kildare
3-Cork
4-Louth
5-Meath
6-Dublin
7-Carlow
8-Tipp
9-Kilkenny
10-Laois
11-Offaly
12-Waterford
13-Westmeath
14-Down
15Antrim
16-Limerick
17-Galway
18-Donegal
19-Wicklow
20-Armagh
21-Tyrone
22-Dery
23-Rosscommon
24-Longford
25-Kerry
26-Clare
27-Fermanagh
28-Moneghan
29-Cavan
30-Mayo
31-Sligo
32-Leitrim
well what do we think??
21-
22-

I'd doubt cork is 3rd, a lot of not so good land in west cork!!

george_w_brush

Mad4simmental wrote: »

South Dublin, most of Kildare, North Kilkenny, and East Laois is full of tillage. Guinness done a very good documentary a few years ago about its factory and the connection with tillage farmers in these areas. It's very good I'll put up the name of it later when I think of it!!

I think you might mean north Dublin which btw has IMO the best land in all of Ireland , most of the land in south Dublin is actually quite average , you know , the south Dublin Wicklow border etc is mostly hilly , what land is left in south west Dublin beside the Kildare border is most likely good but the prime tillage land in county Dublin is most certainly in places like swords , naul , balbriggan , garristown , which are all in north Dublin

george_w_brush

Insp. Harry Callahan wrote: »

Plenty of good tillage land here in east Donegal, virtually nothing in the west. Not easy being a grain/ potatoe farmer here though, high rainfall is an issue, harvest is almost always a smash and grab affair!

east Donegal is known for its terrific land

ive relatives in meath myself and they claim that while the county does have large tracts of great land , that its reputation of having the best land in Ireland is completely overdone , any number of other counties have just as good of land , meath was the county down the centuries where a large percentage of the landed gentry and large anglo irish estates were situated and out of this grew the reputation for unrivalled land which endures to this day