[Ag-eq] Ireland

[Jewel]

Great post Tracy!  but there is one observation that I would make and that is, to whit, that New 
Zealand had cornered the wool market so the Irish, no longer,  exported wool.
I would ask:  "What market?"  I wonder how New Zealand woolgrowers continue to exist with the 
abysmal prices they are getting these days.
I sent in 15 full ewe fleeces along with 10 from lambs and the pittance I got for them was only half 
of what they were worth a year ago.
Recently, I asked a sheep farmer if he had sold any wool lately?  and he replied that he haven't, 
exactly,  * sold any, but he had given a lot away!

        Jewel
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Tracy Carcione via Ag-eq" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 3:56 AM
To: "'Agricultural and Equestrean Division List'" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
Subject: [Ag-eq] Ireland

My husband and I just returned from a tour of Ireland.  It was fantastic!
Wonderful people, delicious food, and amazing music that has inspired me to
practice more!

I thought I'd remark on the agricultural aspects.

There are mussel farms in Ireland, just like we were talking about in New
Zealand and our own west coast.

The potatoes we ate were really tasty-not at all mealy, with a sweet or
nutty taste.  And the mashed were especially good.  I bet they put cream in
them or something.

We passed lots of small farms with cows in the front yard.  That would sure
save on mowing.  It seems like most of their cattle are grass-fed, which my
doctor tells me makes the dairy products much more nutritious.  They sure
tasted good.  They also have beef cattle.

The farms were all broken up into something like 2-acre fields, separated by
hedgerows or stone walls.  I thought that would be pretty
blind-farmer-friendly, easier to deal with than a big many-acre open swath.
And the hedgerows were beautiful.  There were trees everywhere, too.

We saw plenty of sheep, too.  They were painted to show who owned them, and
also possibly to show they'd been treated for this or that.  The flocks in
Connemara were grazing on common land, so the paint let each farmer separate
out his bunch when he needed to.

Ireland doesn't import wool, but our driver said that New Zealand has
cornered the wool market, so it's not worthwhile anymore to grow wool for
export.

There are also a lot of sheep raised for meat.



We saw many horses in a couple counties, including some draft horses and
some donkeys.  We also spotted an alpaca farm.

Goat cheese was on several menus, though we didn't see any goats near the
roads.

We saw in the paper an article about a government scheme to train people on
assistance to work on dairy farms, since there's a dairy labor shortage.
Job opportunity!



I became very fond of brown bread, which is a whole-wheat quick bread, I
guess.  Got to find a good recipe for it.

And, of course, there's lots of great beer!  And some fine whisky.

Tracy



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