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Uncle Jasper’s Art Gallery — Page 8 Thursday, July 16, 2009

SECTION B

Food farming goes back to basics

BY SIOBHÁN HOLLIMAN SENDING a vegetarian to a farm doesn’t always have a successful ending. We tend to ooh and aah at the animals before being told they’re nearly ready for slaughtering, which quashes all smiling efforts in an instant. But I suppose I’m a vegetarian, as a good colleague of mine would say, with a difference. I don’t eat meat but I’ve no problem cooking it for others and when I do I prefer to know that the oink oinks and baa baas had the best life they could up to their doomsday. The Friendly Farmer epitomises what rural small-scale farming and enterprise can really be. Ronan Byrne began his adventure three years ago on his family’s farm in Knockbrack, Athenry.

MARIA Holden with Ronan Byrne, the friendly farmer.

He realised he was never to going to have his own mammoth dairy farm, similar to the type he managed in Poland a few years ago, but he was determined to make farming a successful way of life and business for him. A graduate of Mountbellew Agricultural College and the GMIT, Ronan jokes that he tried “the real world for a while” and worked in marketing but quickly decided that putting all his effort into promoting someone else’s products wasn’t for him. The challenge he set was to make a sustainable living from an average sized West of Ireland farm. This may be considered an impossible task by the majority of the region’s small farmers who constantly whinge they can’t make ends meet, but Ronan’s self-belief is an overwhelming force. Apparently the average carnivore will chew and chomp their way through 550 chickens in their lifetime - that’s a lot of wishbones to consider upon - but most of us have little idea where they flew the coop from or how they ended up between our gnashers. The chicken coop was unusually quiet at the end of last week when I visited. The pleasing sight of chickens scratching around a field, their heads bobbing in and out of the grass wasn’t to be found. The silence had meaning and I learned that just days before the chuck chucks had a date with their maker and were now neatly nestling in the freezer ready for the shopping basket. But the key is not to focus on the chickens’ end, it’s how they live their short life is important. Being an amateur agriculturally speaking I of course was somewhat bewildered as to where all the eggs from the 500 chickens went. “They don’t lay eggs,” affirmed Ronan, who brings the chickens to Athenry at just a day old. It seems some chickens are more suited to egg laying than the table and chickens destined for the roasting tray aren’t roaming the fields long enough to be able to produce even a baker’s dozen. “All our chickens are pasture fed and are out in the fresh grass from dawn to dusk. We have Hubbar-cross chickens which is a slow maturing old fashioned breed, coloured red and white,” explains Ronan. He adds that fresh grass is very important for ensuring lipsmacking chicken as the birds pick the minerals from it which makes their meat tastier. I can’t confirm this personally but the carcass looked pretty bare on Sunday

afternoon and my diners didn’t proffer any complaints. Ronan’s chickens also differ greatly from most supermarket offerings in that they are substantially larger and have had a longer life. “Most supermarket chickens are slaughtered after seven weeks whereas our chickens get to live nearly twice as long,” explains The Friendly Farmer. Ronan looked at hundreds of alternative methods and projects related to farming before realising that the simple ideas can work out best. “I thought why not produce good wholesome local food for the local population. “I’ve reverted to the old way of thinking that if you treat animals well and choose the best methods of farming to suit the local conditions then the result is a far superior product.” Visitors to Ronan’s farm and farm shop will be met with the wonderful snorting from the fantastic Saddleback pigs. These enormous pink and black animals roam around their pen enjoying the shade from the abundant leafy cover above. While Ronan does sell small piglets to individuals who choose to rear themselves for fattening and killing, his most popular markets are sausages and the pork products from a half a pig. Taking home half a pig for your freezer may initially seem a little daunting but it was quite a common practice for farming families in North Galway who annually slaughtered lambs and cattle for the freezer. It’s a trend that is making a comeback and more people are putting their chest and large larder freezers to better use than stockpiling pizzas and leftovers that never see another day. “The meat is cut to the customer’s requirements and can include a selection of sausages, rashers, pork and bacon,” says Ronan, who points out that the Saddleback pigs are an old breed that are slow maturing and suited to outdoor rearing, giving a better flavour of

meat. Just a few steps from Ronan’s back door is a flock of 140 geese. These are enjoying roaming the farmland and will be fattened up six weeks before Christmas. The 350 turkey chicks will arrive next week. Again Ronan has chosen traditional breeds and the unusual Norfolk Bronze turkey which is reared out in the open farm until Christmas week proved exceptionally popular last year, with queues at the gate on Christmas Eve. Ronan is developing his farm and his business like his livestock - slow and steadily. His dream is to have a proper farm shop with additional Friendly Farmer produce such as vegetables, hen and duck eggs along with an increased supply of poultry, pork, beef, ducks, geese and turkeys. “People can come here every Saturday and stock up, whether they order half a pig or just go for a few chickens and some sausages. It’s all been produced locally and in a traditional way,” adds Ronan. He also stocks beef boxes which contain a selection of cuts which come from his herd of Belted Galloways, another area of his

FEEDING time: The Saddleback breed pigs certainly love their food as well as the shady trees above. farm he is keen to develop. The front of Ronan’s house isn’t filled with flower beds and shrub borders, there’s a fine mix of beetroot, onions, carrots and potatoes which are only sufficient for family use at the moment but again Ronan hopes to be able to grow more fruit and vegetables for his future farm shop. Ronan says his customers are very happy. “They see they are getting local produce of a high quality and it offers good value for money. Freezing is making a comeback and offers great convienience. People are buying their food from source and can see where the animals have been raised.” There can’t be any better traceability than that. Meet the Friendly Farmer To get further information on the Friendly Farmer’s range of produce contact Ronan Byrne on 087-6203765. You can also follow what’s going on in the farm by reading his blogspot at ww.thefriendlyfarmer .blogspot.com.