We are farming on the bank of the river Bann in north Co Wexford. The Bann is a tributary of the River Slaney.  Since we took over running the farm here, looking after our river has been our top priority.  Straight away we ensured that livestock had no access to the river.  We also increased the buffer zone between the field and the river.  Slurry storage and dirty water run off were of massive concern for us. So very early on we realised that we needed to come up with a plan.  We invested heavily in 2018.  We built a new milking parlour, and new winter housing for the cows.  This incorporated a large slatted tank, and a separate dirty water tank for the milking parlour.  This gave us significantly more slurry storage than we required.  We also renovated the existing facilities to calf and dry cow winter housing, with a large slatted tank there too.  Everywhere that we use for animals during the winter months are completely covered, so this minimises our dirty water.  That simply means that rain that falls does not end up on the ground where the animals are standing, as if it did, it would then have to be classed as slurry.

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We put in a rainwater harvesting system on the cow housing, this water is then used for the like of washing out the milking parlour.

We are developing a system at the minute on the youngstock shed, this will harvest any rainwater from there, into a rainwater garden.  Thus both creating a new ecosystem and slowing the flow of the rainwater, to the river.

We have some other water projects in the pipeline too (excuse the pun), so watch this space.

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We have always been very conscious too of the impact of chemical fertilisers on water quality.  We have always tailored their use, to only where they are needed, how much will get taken up, and only spread when the conditions are right.  We would optimise use of our organic fertilisers first.

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Given our interest in water quality, when we were approached in late 2023 by Tirlan to see if we would be interested in being part of their project “Farming for water: The River Slaney Project” we were happy to participate. This project is designed to be a partnership between Tirlan and the farmer.  The farmer knows the parcel of land, and the farming system, whereas Tirlan have the knowledge of recent legislation etc, but even more so they have access to all the tools to work out where water is most likely to be flowing, even under the ground.  They worked with us to see what we could modify to further protect our local waterbody. Together we decided what actions we might take, and applied for the water EIPs that were relevant. Another thing that we actually found very interesting is that they did all the calculations to give us a clear picture of how sustainably we were farming.  One such example was our Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) which was found to be very high.  This was great for us to hear, as it proved that the steps that we were taking ourselves were having the desired effect.

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For us protecting our river is about a lot more that retaining the derogation.  Yes, losing the derogation would have a significant impact on us, as farming is our only farm income.  Much more important to us is that it is quite simply the right thing to do. We want to live in a healthy environment, we and our children and their children need a healthy planet.  Our children spend hours in the river every summer, it’s a special place for us, doing all we can to protect it is second nature to us.  Rivers are a resource used by many in the community for fishing, kayaking, paddling etc.  They are also important habitats.  We have all sorts of ecosystems on our river, and many different animals calling it home, otters, kingfishers, dippers, bats, dragonflies, stoneflies, fish and many more.