[Tullywood Farm]

Hello There

Tullywood Farm here - What a great forum, we have a particular interest in people in Southern Ireland, we hope that smallholding will grow here despite the lack of government funds and grants for anyone who is smaller than Tesco.  But remember - you are the future and we need local producers to give us fresh safe food to eat.

We would love to hear from anyone in Ireland who is smallholding.  We are both of Irish parents/Grandparents, but both lived our childhood in Yorkshire.
Our daughter Tara was born in Sligo in 1998 and is a big part of our farm, she has entered shows and won prizes with our pigs and hens and dogs, and has great aspirations to be a vet - so if anyone has won the lotto - please donate funds to Tara's future studies!!! (As smallholders are rarely rich!!)

We are called Tullywood Farm, and are close to Kilronan Castle, in Keadue, Southern Ireland. We have been breeding animals and growing our vegetables and fruit here since 1998, Joe, has been involved in farming with his father including piggeries, stables etc since 1980.
We have a farm shop and we keep rare breed pigs including Saddleback, essex and wessex bloodlines, Gloucestershire Old Spots - and Tamworth Pigs.  We have some of our pigs on display at Dublin Zoo whom we work with on many projects and help where we can on the City Farm project which is being modernised this coming year. We also have all three breeds of pig on display at Larchill Arcadian Gardens in Kilcock.

We Breed ducks, hens and other animals. We have on display at our open farm:- Pigmy Goats, Miniature Donkeys, Emu's, Indian Runner Ducks, Goats, cats, kittens and dogs, we are open every Friday and Saturday from 10.40am until 4pm.  We have a farm shop selling our own reared pork and bacon, hand made 80% pork sausages of various flavours including Gluten Free, and fresh free range eggs, fruit and berries, jam, preserves and pickles.  We offer Tea and scones, coffee, ice cream and other food in our farm shop. We never stop working and we offer courses on Rare Breed Pig Keeping, Keeping Hens in the Garden, Making Preserves Course and Sausage Making Courses in our butchery on the farm.
Joe
Check us out at www.tullywoodfarm.com  - Bye for now - Julie, Joe and Tara

[Hilarysmum]

Hi and welcome from another pig fanatic.

[Lizmar]

Wow that sounds more like an industry than a smallholding! I am way down south in Carrick on Suir.  I find this site brilliant for helping me with everything and anything. Maybe when I go site seeing I will get up your way some day!

[Rosemary]

Hi, Julie, Joe and Tara

Can't be much spare time at Tullywood - sounds great though.

[Kerrygirl]

Hi guys and welcome from Killarney, Co Kerry!  Nice to see some more Irish folk on the forum - nothing against everyone else but for the likes of getting to meet other forum members it is the Irish congintent of the forum I am most likely to meet, unless anyone wants to come over to Ireland to meet us lot 

Ye certainly seem busy, would love to give a shout up to ye at some stage.  Start calving in about 5/6 weeks time from a new Charolais bull so not sure how much of an "easy calver" he will be but fingers crossed!  I would definitely like to try some of your delicious sounding food so will try and sort out getting it down to me soon!   

[Tullywood Farm]

Hi guys and welcome from Killarney, Co Kerry!  Nice to see some more Irish folk on the forum - Ye certainly seem busy, would love to give a shout up to ye at some stage.  Start calving in about 5/6 weeks time from a new Charolais bull so not sure how much of an "easy calver" he will be but fingers crossed!  I would definitely like to try some of your delicious sounding food so will try and sort out getting it down to me soon!   

Good Luck with the Calving
We don't get many breaks with all the animals to feed and farmers markets ect.  I love your part of Ireland, was there in 1996 before the farm and baby arrived. I would love to visit you, and bring you some sausages etc to try.  Keep in touch pm me and tell me about your farm etc.
Bye for now
Julie

[Tullywood Farm]

Hi, Julie, Joe and Tara

Can't be much spare time at Tullywood - sounds great though.

There's not much time - I love the name of this Forum, as we are "Accidental Smallholders", we sort of made plans to have land and animals, but not on the scale we are at, things just got bigger, and we made lots of compromises to our original plans, but in the end, it has turned out to be really nice.  Some things are meant to be, and we are so lucky to be living in the fresh air of the West of Ireland.

I now enjoy only having a woodburner, and look forward to bringing in the wood, its great not to have oil or gas heating, you feel better, and its much greener.  It took a while to get used to wearing more layers, and using hot water bottles, as I am sure others have experienced if they have moved from the city.

Good luck to you all - and thank you all for your welcomes

Julie, Joe and     (Tara  Who has three new kittens to play with for the summer hols.)

[CarraghsBorderCollies]

big wave from castlerea co. roscommon! i dont have any pigs but i have a few hens(2 shamos and an 1 ex bat) chicks (1 shamo and 4 jersey giant)and ducks (3khaki cambell ,1call and 2silver appleyard drakes)and 2 goslings, 1 kitten and 3 border collies 1 parson russel and 7 rabbits and a donkey!

if you ever have emu for sale let me know as himself wants a couple!
im also looking for a couple more laying hens if you have any?

and i have a silver appleyard drake for sale and a cattle trailer for sale

[Kerrygirl]

Hi Julie, You are more than welcome to come and visit us at any time (and of course the sausages are most welcome too  ).  If ye are planning a little break in Killarney I have friends who have lovely guest houses in Muckross with great rates so I can put in a little word for ye!  Also I know that the hotels are also doing great rates so I can check around for you.  All that can be organised whenever you want 

We live about 15 min drive from Killarney town centre, we are also close to Tralee, Killorglin and Castleisland so we are really lucky as its really a hop skip and a jump to other the towns around us! 

I currently work part time as a legal secretary (which to be fair I do enjoy but I love the outdoors and want to be at home instead!) and then for my sanity sake we have our suckler herd - just after weaning our calves, put them into the slatted unit on Saturday and left the cows out to pasture, they start calving in about 5 weeks time and as this is our first time weaning a full herd of calves (30) I wanted to do it the easiest way possible on us.  We had been been given so much advise on how to do it I thought it would be the most straight forward way to do it.  Even though people told us it was more stressful on the calves to do it that way and that we would be awake listening to them bellowing all night there really wasn't a word out of them!  They gave out when they were hungry on Sunday morning after we had slept in after my sister's 40th the night before but other than that there was not a peep out of them!.  We had to dose them last night, got my brother to help so it all went well.  So this evening they will be out to grass again!  Its great getting these jobs out of the way.  But the fun begins again in about 5 weeks time 

I also have 3 weaners - 2 GOS and one from a piggery.  I think the fella who we got the GOS from kind of duped us, they came very small and I thought that they were definitely too young to have been taken from their mother but to see them now they are perfect!  Unfortunately I was not there when my OH collected them and he gave him a big sob story of not being able to pay his mortgage and loans etc etc, I think it was a ploy to guilt the boys into not comming back to him if something went wrong.  A friend also bought 2 GOS off him on the same day and one died 2 days later, just dropped dead the poor fella. It was nothing wrong done on the part of my friend as he has done this a few years now and had everything perfect for them.  Of course he did not get back to the seller as he felt sorry for him. So I am now glad to know of someone else to get my weaners from next year    Just let me know when I'm to have my order in for next years as it was our friend who organised it this year.

On top of the weaners we also purchased 4 RIR hens 1 RIR cockrel and 3 pick and mix hens!  They did not come point of lay as I had wanted but again my OH being a soft touch took whatever was being offered to him!  No eggs yet, think I will have to have a little class with them and teach them what I am looking for! 

Then last but not least we have 2 lambs, they are the biggest monkeys ever!!  But you have to love them all the same.  They grew so big so fast 

We also have the usual dog - red setter, cats & 1 hamster! 

[Tullywood Farm]

Hiya Kerrygirl

You have been busy - glad the farming is going well for you!

I don't know what you can say to those hens - teaching hens to lay eggs? - please let me know how you do it!  If you suck seed    I will add it to our course. 

Usually, they begin laying at around 21 weeks, just before this, their comb, should turn from pink to the true red in colour. 

Hopefully they are near 21 weeks, it is hard to tell the age of a hen, as you cannot look at their teeth like a dog or horse

Thank you for all the info on your place down there, I will def. get down in the future.
bye for now

Julie

[Kerrygirl]

We got them 9 weeks ago and they came quite small so I doubt they are anywhere near 21 weeks old.  Patience is a virtue of mine so I don't mind waiting another while. 

Maybe this hen laying teaching methods might work and I can make millions and then retire to work on our farm forever (and of course throw in some nice holidays away too  ) 

Planning on getting posters of eggs made up and put into hen house to give the girls a goal to look to, then maybe show them what an egg actually is and if all else fails, show them pictures of the poor battery hens in their cages to scare them into doing their job (the same way as the dole queue does to me to get me productive in work!). 

[Tullywood Farm]

Hiya Kerry Girl,  Hows the hen teaching comming on?

We usually put some plastic or rubber Hen Eggs in the hen house on some hay just to show them what they are supposed to produce.

Did you manage to buy some decent eggs locally?

Keep me informed on the teaching process for them there hens - mine have gone off lay today, the big brown ones.
The bantams, pekins and guinea fowl are laying away, but the main egg producers have stopped - maybe the darkness that came with that rotten rain today caused it - they probably think its winter.

Bye for now
Julie

[carole]

Hello from me too

Carole xx

[bibs]

Hi from Bibs in Dorset. Your place sounds amazing. keep up the hard work !! x