MOUNTAIN SHEEP FARMING
G
len Keen has been farmed by Catherine O’Grady Powers’ family since the 1600s but, like many other teenagers, when she was finishing school she couldn’t wait to leave the rural environment she’d grown up in. She moved first to London, found a good job with Ryanair, and met her husband Jim. They had moved together to the US when she was asked to come home and take over the family farm. “Farming would have always been this big part of my life, so it was an easy enough decision for me,” she says. “I’d always loved home and I always had it somewhere in the back of my head to return home. But we soon found out that sheep farming wasn’t sustainable to create a livelihood in the West of Ireland.” Glen Keen is located outside Louisburgh, Co Mayo. It’s the 26th largest farm in the country and predominantly a mountain sheep farm. Catherine and Jim realised that the farm needed a lot of investment and upgrading when they returned and, as a result, they poured money into it. “It was our project and we wanted to improve everything,” Catherine explains. “You take on a project and you’re enthusiastic and you’re always focused on the end goal. You have a dream – it’s a wonderful dream and we thought it was a great place to raise our family. But the dream came to an abrupt end when we realised there really was no return.” The wool market has all but collapsed since the 1980s and demand for the blackface mountain sheep has also declined; Catherine says they were selling lamb at just €30 and then one year it went down to as low as €15. She realised she would have to look at other ways to make the farm sustainable. She recalled tourists stopping for a look when her dad was out cutting in the bog, or her uncle stacking
30 EAR TO THE GROUND
THE LANDSCAPE OF TRADITIONAL MOUNTAIN SHEEP FARMING IN IRELAND HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY. TOM NEE AND CATHERINE O’GRADY POWERS TELL EAR TO THE GROUND ABOUT THE DIFFICULTY OF EARNING A LIVING FROM THIS SECTOR AND HOW THEY HAVE DIVERSIFIED TO MAKE THEIR FARMS VIABLE.
Catherine O’Grady Powers on Glen Keen Farm.
Doolough Valley, Co Mayo
“GLEN KEEN IS LOCATED OUTSIDE LOUISBURGH, CO MAYO. IT’S THE 26TH LARGEST FARM IN THE COUNTRY AND PREDOMINANTLY A MOUNTAIN SHEEP FARM.”
the turf on the road, taking photos with an expression of excitement undoubtedly at having stumbled on a section of the ‘real’ Ireland. Tourism, she thought, might be an avenue for success and the pair began researching the possibilities. Two factors provided the necessary confidence – approval for funding by South West Mayo Development Company for a visitor centre, and the proposed launch of the Wild Atlantic Way and the prospect of a major increase in traffic to the area. The farm is situated in a beautiful location on the Mayo-Connemara border. It’s nestled between the Sheeffry and Mweelrea mountain ranges and the Carrowniskey river runs through it. It’s an area of conservation – which is both a challenge and an opportunity for the development of agri-tourism. “It’s a great selling point on one hand but it does create a lot of obstacles – we had to do an environmental impact study and an archaeological site survey,” says Catherine. “We had to extend our budget sizeably and to-date we have an investment here of €1.2 million.” The visitor centre opened in 2014 and has capacity for 250 guests alongside a traditional tearoom and craft shop. Catherine says they’ve seen very positive results since then, attracting tour buses and winning a contract with CIE. She adds that they haven’t invented or fabricated anything and the aim is to give tourists a real mountain sheep farm experience. She’s packaged the activities she remembers from her childhood – sheep shearing, turf cutting, mountain hikes, traditional Irish music sessions and sheepdog demonstrations – and sells different experiences to the tour operators. In 2015 and 2016 Glen Keen was given CIE’s award of excellence for Best Tour Feature. Though Catherine knows they will never recoup the investment they’ve made, the goal is to make the farm sustainable. She also admits that balancing
