3,000 acre farm Donegal

Kerry2016 · 14-04-2017 11:39PM #1

Do any of ye remember when a couple of brothers (I think their surname was Graham) bought 3,000 acres of a farm in Donegal back in the 1980's, it got repossessed then in the 90's I think… I felt awfully sorry for them when I read about it, I was always curious as to what happened them afterwards, some turn around going from owning the biggest farm in the country to owning no farm at all

Anyone know if they ever went farming again?

My curiosity got the better of me and I thought someone might know

parishsavings · 15-04-2017 01:28AM

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/why-the-grahams-are-angry-about-the-deal-nib-gave-ellis-26130795.html

Sam Kade · 15-04-2017 09:04AM

I remember it well, they sold the home farm and bought that farm and had trouble with repayments. If was sickening the way the had the eviction on the news.

Kerry2016 · 15-04-2017 09:28AM

2,000 or so acres of that same farm is up for sale at the moment, they're looking for €17,000,000 for it, some sickener to its former owners

leoch · 15-04-2017 09:42AM

Apparently a few locals very large feed lot men and an annerobic digestor man and Larry goodman were looking at that place goodman flew in by helicopter to look at it

Kerry2016 · 15-04-2017 10:15AM

What do ye think it's worth? €8,500/acre seems fairly steep considering that you'd be depending on a massive pump and draining system to keep the water out, the farm is below sea level, you'd think since its so large and there isn't a whole pile of buildings on the farm that it could surely sell for a lot less than the €17mn they're looking for it

leoch · 15-04-2017 10:20AM

U must be from that area u no it well .....I know wat ur saying 5000 or 6000 might be all it makes with the pumping and all that it's good ground all the same

patsy_mccabe · 15-04-2017 10:24AM

Were they the people that bought an expensive tractor that could handle the wet ground? That's what I remember from the case.

mayota · 15-04-2017 10:42AM

parishsavings wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/why-the-grahams-are-angry-about-the-deal-nib-gave-ellis-26130795.html

Tough on the family. And that Mod Snip...
...Language please done serious damage to a lot more farm families.

Kerry2016 · 15-04-2017 11:20AM

I presume they're not able to sell the farm in lots now because of whatever way the drainage system is placed around the farm?

If someone had all those millions to spend I doubt it's 1,700 acres of land that they'd want to buy, most certainly not land that's below sea level or in Donegal either for that matter

I read a week ago that county Donegal's land price is one of the lowest averages across Ireland

tractorporn · 15-04-2017 11:22AM

Kerry2016 wrote:

What do ye think it's worth? â‚¬8,500/acre seems fairly steep considering that you'd be depending on a massive pump and draining system to keep the water out, the farm is below sea level, you'd think since its so large and there isn't a whole pile of buildings on the farm that it could surely sell for a lot less than the â‚¬17mn they're looking for it

That ground is some of the best land in Ireland. It currently has the largest organic dairy farm on the island along with 1000 acres of organic veg. It's well worth that price. Locals have said that the Goodman helicopter flew over it twice last summer surveying it.

Kerry2016 · 15-04-2017 01:10PM

tractorporn wrote: »

That ground is some of the best land in Ireland. It currently has the largest organic dairy farm on the island along with 1000 acres of organic veg. It's well worth that price. Locals have said that the Goodman helicopter flew over it twice last summer surveying it.

Yeah but that fella with the organic farm has it leased out for another few years which is an obvious drawback, if your buying a farm you want the freehold of it

Tbh I can't wrap my head around buying a farm for that money below sea level, I just wouldn't like the idea of it at all but yes I had heard it's some of the best land in the country

pedigree 6 · 15-04-2017 01:43PM

Marine deposit land if you can keep it dry makes the best farmland in the world.
It would be young land for a start so full of minerals and calcium.
The other end of the spectrum, granite till ground would be the worst and oldest and depleted of minerals and calcium.

How do you know if your ground is granite till?
If you can pick up small granite stones off the ground after ploughing, your ground is granite till.
There is a whole area where I live that goes along the Blackstairs to Ballywilliam and down to Old Ross that is Granite till and cows are prone to grass tetany here.

Then you have an area from Arklow down to Blackwater that is marine deposit land and if you can keep it dry enough can be the best grazing ground in the country and stock thrive very well. The Macamores they call this land.

cute geoge · 15-04-2017 02:01PM

Would inchy land not prone to flooding along side a river be similar to marine deposit land .
You would be surprised how good and dry some land is bounding a river and marshy land next to that

kerry cow · 15-04-2017 02:13PM

The running cost of pumping out the water must be huge cost on the donegal farm and also on the old leestrand farm in wexford .
Mind you at 4500 per acre it's good value to set up a 1000 cows and followers and cropping all in one block .
There's always someone to buy .
But mind you at a huge sum , so only affordable to some .
Also if you buy right priced you can sell someday at the right price
4500 per acre is good

pedigree 6 · 15-04-2017 02:37PM

cute geoge wrote: »

Would inchy land not prone to flooding along side a river be similar to marine deposit land .
You would be surprised how good and dry some land is bounding a river and marshy land next to that

It depends where that river comes from as to what soil or sediment has built up beside the river.
So could be big differences between river banks or flood plains in different areas.
You could even be all stones on one side of the river and sand sediment on the other.
But yes you can good land too on flood plains.

patsy_mccabe · 15-04-2017 02:50PM

It's not just the pumping costs but also the cost of maintaining the trenches. We have low lying corcas type land which was once part of the Shannon flood estuary. Water table is very high so land tends to be cold. This means later grass in spring but grows like mad in very hot weather.

kerry cow · 15-04-2017 05:05PM

I can never figure why people who have fragmented holdings don't sell up and buy a decent farm .
Fair play to the guy from West cork who sold a few farms and moved to south kilkenny / wexford

Limestone Cowboy · 15-04-2017 10:34PM

kerry cow wrote: »

I can never figure why people who have fragmented holdings don't sell up and buy a decent farm .
Fair play to the guy from West cork who sold a few farms and moved to south kilkenny / wexford

More to life than farming maybe? Not everyone might like to leave their home place and move away from friends and family. I wouldn't anyway.

Grueller · 15-04-2017 11:02PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Marine deposit land if you can keep it dry makes the best farmland in the world.
It would be young land for a start so full of minerals and calcium.
The other end of the spectrum, granite till ground would be the worst and oldest and depleted of minerals and calcium.

How do you know if your ground is granite till?
If you can pick up small granite stones off the ground after ploughing, your ground is granite till.
There is a whole area where I live that goes along the Blackstairs to Ballywilliam and down to Old Ross that is Granite till and cows are prone to grass tetany here.

Then you have an area from Arklow down to Blackwater that is marine deposit land and if you can keep it dry enough can be the best grazing ground in the country and stock thrive very well. The Macamores they call this land.

I have some of that macamores land. Everything you say is correct, but keeping it dry is a big if. In 2012 I got no value from it due to the wet summer. Hard to keep rushes out of it too. Can be bought at up to €5k per acre less than other land in the Gorey district. Takes a little bit of minding but will grow plenty grass.

IH784man · 15-04-2017 11:18PM

leoch wrote: »

Apparently a few locals very large feed lot men and an annerobic digestor man and Larry goodman were looking at that place goodman flew in by helicopter to look at it

I think I know the digestor man your on about,KMC?

jimmycrackcorm · 16-04-2017 01:11AM

Kerry2016 wrote:

Do any of ye remember when a couple of brothers (I think their surname was Graham) bought 3,000 acres of a farm in Donegal back in the 1980's, it got repossessed then in the 90's I thinkâ€¦ I felt awfully sorry for them when I read about it, I was always curious as to what happened them afterwards, some turn around going from owning the biggest farm in the country to owning no farm at all

I remember it well. I didn't feel one bit sorry for them because they gambled on it. Totally reckless behaviour, then expecting that they were entitled to continue even if the banks weren't going to keep backing it.

satstheway · 16-04-2017 09:08AM

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I remember it well. I didn't feel one bit sorry for them because they gambled on it. Totally reckless behaviour, then expecting that they were entitled to continue even if the banks weren't going to keep backing it.

Mod note: No accusations of wrongdoing unless you can back it up with a link.

Buford T. Justice.

Thats what we heard anyway

kerry cow · 16-04-2017 09:28AM

We're they big farmers when in monaghan before they moved .
Some size of a operation @2500 acres

seanmaol · 16-04-2017 09:56AM

They sold a farm in Monaghan for 1,000,000 and bought the one in Donegal for 4,000,000 back in 1989.
the farm has a milk quota of 300,000 gallons I think, I thought Donegal Creamery bought that farm 20 years ago!?

freedominacup · 16-04-2017 11:02AM

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I remember it well. I didn't feel one bit sorry for them because they gambled on it. Totally reckless behaviour, then expecting that they were entitled to continue even if the banks weren't going to keep backing it.

I know. Shower of left footed cnuts with their big ideas. Thinking they had a right to try to expand their business. They weren't reckless. They got hosed along with everyone else who owed money at the time by a semi educated bunch of knuckleheads in the dept of finance who decided to hang small businesses out to dry in order to "protect" the punt by ratcheting interest rates up to 25%. Most of us survived it. Those poor fcukers didn't. I'd have nothing but sympathy and respect for them. They took a chance but they got turned over by circumstances far outside their control.

kerry cow · 16-04-2017 11:19AM

They were brave to take it on .There farm at a millon pound must have been some operation at that time .been prosetant it must have been an estate .
What's with it now

leoch · 16-04-2017 11:25AM

Again, don't make accusations unless you can back them up

Nekarsulm · 16-04-2017 11:30AM

freedominacup wrote: »

I know. Shower of left footed cnuts with their big ideas. Thinking they had a right to try to expand their business. They weren't reckless. They got hosed along with everyone else who owed money at the time by a semi educated bunch of knuckleheads in the dept of finance who decided to hang small businesses out to dry in order to "protect" the punt by ratcheting interest rates up to 25%. Most of us survived it. Those poor fcukers didn't. I'd have nothing but sympathy and respect for them. They took a chance but they got turned over by circumstances far outside their control.

It was a hoor of a time, with interest rates.
I remember paying 19% on a variable interest loan. All your capital repayments were swallowed up by interest, and despite making all payments, loan amount didn't go down by a penny for a period od 18 months or so.

If rates returned to that level now, the recent recession would look like a sunday school picnic in comparison.

IH784man · 16-04-2017 11:30AM

leoch wrote: »

Yea that's him ih484

Isn't he building a couple more around the country,it's a wonder where the money's coming from.

ganmo · 16-04-2017 11:33AM

kerry cow wrote: »

They were brave to take it on .There farm at a millon pound must have been some operation at that time .been prosetant it must have been an estate .
What's with it now

not necessarily, plenty of ordinary protestant farmers

3,000 acre farm Donegal

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