Best Land in Ireland

neutralvu · 17-04-2014 8:47pm #1

Talking to a horticulture grad and he reckons the best land in irelands a toss up between around New Ross co.Wexford and the louth monaghan border. any opinions?

Figerty · 17-04-2014 9:08pm

neutralvu wrote: »

Talking to a horticulture grad and he reckons the best land in irelands a toss up between around New Ross co.Wexford and the louth monaghan border. any opinions?

I have some of the best land in Ireland at retaining water! Define best land...

simx · 17-04-2014 9:12pm

there would be some great land in tipp and kk, not in the part of kk i live though

yellow50HX · 17-04-2014 9:25pm

the best land in ireland was the land the british went for 1st, its still the areas that have the tillage land here, and where the best weather tends to be.

louth, meath, north dublin, kildare (aka the pale)

the sunny south east, wexford, south kk, carlow, south tipp

east cork and the bride, and blackwater valleys in cork and waterford (but then i would say that

)

Username John · 17-04-2014 9:56pm

simx wrote: »

there would be some great land in tipp and kk, not in the part of kk i live though

Didn't I see a pic of you cutting bales yesterday?

Farrell · 17-04-2014 10:04pm

Username John wrote: »

Didn't I see a pic of you cutting bales yesterday?

An old man in westmeath told me his father told him as a child to draw a line on the map of Ireland from Louth/down border to cork/Kerry border, everything above is generally poor, with few good pockets & everything below is good except a few bad pockets

jimmy G M · 17-04-2014 10:47pm

Farrell wrote: »

An old man in westmeath told me his father told him as a child to draw a line on the map of Ireland from Louth/down border to cork/Kerry border, everything above is generally poor, with few good pockets & everything below is good except a few bad pockets

Thats worse than cromwell

Muckit · 17-04-2014 11:45pm

Username John wrote: »

Didn't I see a pic of you cutting bales yesterday?

Cutting and gathering up rushes he was

Conmaicne Mara · 17-04-2014 11:48pm

Muckit wrote: »

Cutting and gathering up rushes he was

Another €3 for DD.

micraX · 17-04-2014 11:52pm

North county Dublin, basically from the m50 to Louth. East coast, people not learn that in geography?

ABlur · 18-04-2014 9:38am

After 2 dry weeks West Clare land is hard to beat!

Farmer Pudsey · 18-04-2014 10:26am

There is very little bad land mostly it is the f@@ker on top of it is the issue.
Not sure if you can define the best. Lots of land has advantages over other land. Biggest issue is land management and maybe scale in this country. I am often of the opinion in lots of places the best lad to farm did not get the farm. It is an issue with the eldest inheriting.

They say with children the eldest is the most responsible however may be less open to change and authoritarian is this evident in a lot of farmers. The second the most rebellinous after that it depends on family size. Often as you go down the line younger siblings may be shrewder but lack responsibility and the youngest tend to be spoilt and is the baby of the family.

joejobrien · 18-04-2014 10:29am

Moorepark has to be up there with the top 05%, if the top:D

GrandSoftDay · 18-04-2014 10:45am

ABlur wrote: »

After 2 dry weeks West Clare land is hard to beat!

I think your vision is blurry

rushvalley · 18-04-2014 11:47am

ABlur wrote: »

After 2 dry weeks West Clare land is hard to beat!

From kilmaley/ inagh/ lissycasey back to is bog

apart from the land right on the coast

sheepmad · 18-04-2014 11:58am

Farrell wrote: »

An old man in westmeath told me his father told him as a child to draw a line on the map of Ireland from Louth/down border to cork/Kerry border, everything above is generally poor, with few good pockets & everything below is good except a few bad pockets

Could be true, but there is some great land in east Galway where it is classified as "disadvantaged" .
It is the farmers that work it to its potential that makes land productive and good.
Fertile soil, not managed goes to scrub very quickly. Wet land well drained and managed can be very productive.

GrandSoftDay · 18-04-2014 12:07pm

rushvalley wrote: »

From kilmaley/ inagh/ lissycasey back to is bog apart from the land right on the coast

It won't suffer from drought anyway, always amazed me the amount of lads milking back that side though!

bogman_bass · 18-04-2014 2:07pm

If you made a triangle from navan to drogheda to Dublin you have some mighty fine land there

stanflt · 18-04-2014 2:22pm

bogman_bass wrote: »

If you made a triangle from navan to drogheda to Dublin you have some mighty fine land there

You'd have some good farmers too and some bad ones
Really annoys me when I fields in this area unutilised to its potential

redtelephone · 18-04-2014 2:38pm

Soil Map of Ireland 1980 http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/johnstown/Soil%20maps/General%20Soils%20map/Book.pdf. Looks like Waterford is the winner in tillage categories. There's a lot of information in the report.
Example p.139:
TABLE 15: Extent of suitable tillage land by county*
County % Acres Hectares
Waterford 92 418,701 169,446
Meath 88 504,565 204,195
Wexford 83 479,706 194,134
Louth 83 167,005 67,586
Kilkenny 80 406,299 164,427
Westmeath 79 341,412 138,168
Carlow 78 173,015 70,018
**Dublin 69 157,108 63,580
Kildare 68 285,251 115,440
Offaly 65 318,244 128,972
Cork 63 1,162,129 470,307
Tipperary 63 659,996 267,097
Longford 59 152,100 61,554
Monaghan 56 174,465 70,605
Wicklow 53 263,469 106,624
Limerick 48 316,245 127,983
Laois 48 202,250 81,850
Galway 46 671,088 271,586
Sligo 46 202,762 82,057
Roscommon 42 254,338 102,929
Clare 30 234,094 94,737
Mayo 27 362,027 146,510
Cavan 23 106,612 43,145
Donegal 21 247,095 99,998
Kerry 20 226,769 91,772
Leitrim 3 11,091 4,489
*Includes marginally suitable tillage land category.
**Approximately 20% of Dublin is urban land.

onyerbikepat · 18-04-2014 3:10pm

That's a book worth reading some time.;)

sheepmad · 18-04-2014 4:17pm

redtelephone

Is this the sort of data DAFM/EU will be basing the new disadvantaged areas on?

Western Pomise · 18-04-2014 5:59pm

Figerty wrote: »

I have some of the best land in Ireland at retaining water! Define best land...

That's a lie....I have that land I tell you:)

munkus · 18-04-2014 9:36pm

redtelephone wrote: »

Soil Map of Ireland 1980 http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/johnstown/Soil%20maps/General%20Soils%20map/Book.pdf.

Great read, thanks for that!

grazeaway · 18-04-2014 11:47pm

A lot of land has changed use a lot of over the years.

Due to changes in where the produce can be supplied and sold effects the land usage. Much of the land that was used here in east cork that was in tillage for the veg factories is no longer in veg and much of it is now in grass.

Similar story in Galway and Mayo where land was in tillage due to the presence of the beet plant in tuam.

neutralvu · 20-04-2014 11:02am

So to sum it up i am correct. East waterford/new ross area and louth to north dublin area are the best areas in ireland for top land.

DMAXMAN · 20-04-2014 11:18pm

I reckon there is a stretch of land from Castledermot through Athy onto Stradbally that would rate with any. Great land,big fields and always great looking crops. lot of great farmers too

MayoSalmon · 20-04-2014 11:49pm

Poor Letrim

Figerty · 21-04-2014 8:35am

neutralvu wrote: »

So to sum it up i am correct. East waterford/new ross area and louth to north dublin area are the best areas in ireland for top land.

Yes, but when you state the blindly obvious you will usually be correct.

jay gatsby · 22-04-2014 12:05pm

DMAXMAN wrote: »

I reckon there is a stretch of land from Castledermot through Athy onto Stradbally that would rate with any. Great land,big fields and always great looking crops. lot of great farmers too

This discussion was had here before and someone mentioned Kilkea. I'd agree too, serious tillage land and a lot of men in a big way in that neck of the woods so it must have something going for it.

KatyMac · 22-04-2014 2:04pm

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

There is very little bad land mostly it is the f@@ker on top of it is the issue.
Not sure if you can define the best. Lots of land has advantages over other land. Biggest issue is land management and maybe scale in this country. I am often of the opinion in lots of places the best lad to farm did not get the farm. It is an issue with the eldest inheriting.

They say with children the eldest is the most responsible however may be less open to change and authoritarian is this evident in a lot of farmers. The second the most rebellinous after that it depends on family size. Often as you go down the line younger siblings may be shrewder but lack responsibility and the youngest tend to be spoilt and is the baby of the family.

Not much hope for me so! I'm the baby of the family and a female to boot! Brothers not a bit interested in farming, I've been farming since I was big enough not to get stuck in the muck.
It will be the youngest girl of mine that will be given the land in the future

MFdaveIreland · 22-04-2014 8:51pm

Hi folks, someone made a comment about where British went first, I always thought the same, if you look where large estates are to this day you will fond some of the finest land,

Imo, Carrick on suir area was good to my memory as well as west cork, county down strangford Lough veg and tillage country, but with most coastal areas quite dry and sandy in places,

Louth supposed to be great land, but I always heard Meath being the best land in Ireland, serious field sizes and soil types

Genghis Cant · 22-04-2014 10:28pm

MFdaveIreland wrote: »

I always heard Meath being the best land in Ireland, serious field sizes and soil types

There's all sorts of land in Meath, from the best to the worst.
East of Navan is mainly very good.
A lot of bog around Ballivor, and Athboy.
Some poorish land over near Ashbourne, and more bog around Carlanstown.
Some great land around the lower Boyne valley around Slane Duleek areas.

tomwaterford · 22-04-2014 11:04pm

Genghis Cant wrote: »

There's all sorts of land in Meath, from the best to the worst.
East of Navan is mainly very good.
A lot of bog around Ballivor, and Athboy.
Some poorish land over near Ashbourne, and more bog around Carlanstown.
Some great land around the lower Boyne valley around Slane Duleek areas.

I think you find this situation in every county/area....even most farms have huge variations from one end to the other
I did read a long post somewhere before of the land was surveyed before Ireland entered Europe and most fertile areas mapped out

Conmaicne Mara · 22-04-2014 11:22pm

Genghis Cant wrote: »

There's all sorts of land in Meath, from the best to the worst.
East of Navan is mainly very good.
A lot of bog around Ballivor, and Athboy.
Some poorish land over near Ashbourne, and more bog around Carlanstown.
Some great land around the lower Boyne valley around Slane Duleek areas.

Was up there shooting one time, saw land I'd have rolled up, threw in the boot and brought home, and also saw pure bog bog.

Saw evidence of pretty poor farming in places too, a few places seemed intent on rabbit and thistle farming. Thistles to the extent we didn't go in them fields. They weren't piddly little fields like down my way either.

Genghis Cant · 22-04-2014 11:28pm

tomwaterford wrote: »

I think you find this situation in every county/area....even most farms have huge variations from one end to the other

Certainly in my own county (Offaly) there is huge variation. From top of the range to the blackest of bog.
Like you say, it's common enough, but there is great vanes of land in some areas.

MayoSalmon · 22-04-2014 11:31pm

Northern Ireland has the best land on this isle

Dickie10 · 23-04-2014 1:22am

northern Ireland seems to be very well farmed if not the best quality. I think we all know why, the elephant in the room, I live between athboy and ballivor. my aul lad was well guilty of thistle farming and others still pass no remarks , most fields are on average 20 acres within a 5 mile radius of me. I thnk the problem is or was more so that sheep and suckler farmers could make a decent profit from feck all land management due to understocking etc and a lot worked off farm so they were happy out and land got wild, a shame really.basically guys were keeping near the same amount of stock as men in mayo,longford, rosscommoon but on 100 acres plus of great land

MFdaveIreland · 23-04-2014 9:03am

I definitely wouldnt say ni land is the best , has to be Kilkenny area possibily Dublin too, very few real dry spots up north, nice land up round limavady Derry, mostly reclaimed from the Foyle,

darragh_haven · 23-04-2014 9:15am

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Northern Ireland has the best land on this isle

I do most of my work with farmers in northern Ireland and I wouldn't have any area in Northern Ireland in the top 3 areas on ths island.

neutralvu · 23-04-2014 1:13pm

darragh_haven wrote: »

I do most of my work with farmers in northern Ireland and I wouldn't have any area in Northern Ireland in the top 3 areas on ths island.

What are ur top 3? Very good discussoon going now on this thread, esp with the elephant in the room!

23-04-2014 2:16pm

My grandfather used to say that thistles only grow in good land!

Farmer Pudsey · 23-04-2014 2:36pm

6600 wrote: »

My grandfather used to say that thistles only grow in good land!

Yes the bigger the thistle that will grow the better the land.

Heard a story of a Cork farmers son named John that was being matched to the only daughter of a Limerick farmer. John after visiting the girl told the father that there was only thistle's on the land. His father enquired as to how big they were.

John replied that you could ''tie a horse to the thistle's'', whereupon he was told to marry the girl.

23-04-2014 2:41pm

Ha I used to hear stories like that. There's lots of thistles in Waterford!

Cattlepen · 23-04-2014 2:50pm

I think the best land in the country has all been built on.Livestock were kept in cities up until and including the first half of the last century.The manure they produced was spread on the land within a horses draw of the cities for hunddreds of years and so the soil benefitted from this conditioning

23-04-2014 3:20pm

Agreed, the land around Stillorgan and UCD must have been savage stuff. In fact all the suburbs must have been.

Cattlepen · 23-04-2014 3:27pm

Was reared on a farm in Clondalkin.The land was suitable for anything from dairying to vegetables.Very early land too.Live on kildare meath border now and the land is three to four weeks later.

bogman_bass · 23-04-2014 3:35pm

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Was up there shooting one time, saw land I'd have rolled up, threw in the boot and brought home, and also saw pure bog bog.

Saw evidence of pretty poor farming in places too, a few places seemed intent on rabbit and thistle farming. Thistles to the extent we didn't go in them fields. They weren't piddly little fields like down my way either.

If I knew you were on my land I'd have asked you in for tea Con!

Farrell · 23-04-2014 6:42pm

6600 wrote: »

Ha I used to hear stories like that. There's lots of thistles in Waterford!

Heard of a guy going to buy a farm in Meath, got to the gate & saw a large oak tree. Didn't go any further, bought it. When asked, oak trees only grow on good land, as they need good ground to hold them.

darragh_haven · 23-04-2014 7:13pm

neutralvu wrote: »

What are ur top 3? Very good discussoon going now on this thread, esp with the elephant in the room!

Louth meath border area. Large area of kilkenny. East cork. But this all depends on a persons parameters used for identifying "best land"

marc_faber · 23-04-2014 7:45pm

Cattlepen wrote: »

Was reared on a farm in Clondalkin.The land was suitable for anything from dairying to vegetables.Very early land too.Live on kildare meath border now and the land is three to four weeks later.

south east dublin has poor land , dublin - wicklow mountains area so i dont know if around UCD would be that fantastic

south west dublin around rathcoole etc is pure gold but the best of all is around north dublin , naul , swords etc , possibly the best land in all of ireland , most of it is developed now of course

county louth is very small but bar around hackballs cross , the land is almost universally good , percentage wise , its better than meath and considerably drier , meath land is very fertile but much of it is quite heavy , its great for potatoes but it wouldnt be my choice for milking cows

that would be around durrow in laois or much of kilkenny , a large chunk of cork as well where the land is free draining , some counties have a reputation for land which itself sustains high prices , meath was where the anglo gentry often lived so with all those estates , grew the reputation for unrivalled land , its largely untrue without in anyway deriding the royal county

Best Land in Ireland

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