Airfield in May

 

For the past two weekends we were invited back to Airfield a unique urban farm in Dublin to plough and reseed 3 acres of old pasture in Murray's Field.

The pasture is being reseeded with a lot more clover so it will need less fertiliser, and was last ploughed by me in 1986 when I was farm manager there, when I planted beet in that field.

Being under grass for so long meant the sod was tough and the ground conditions were dry and stoney so we had our work cut out for us, not only to carry out the work but also to demonstrate to the public the ancient art of ploughing so rarely seen these days.

Traditionally one man had to be able to plough an acre a day or he was not considered worthy of hire. The same reason the field must be ploughed in straight lines- this is the most economical use of labour. The skill is that this task should be done by one man alone with two horses.

Ploughing with horses is not a matter of brute strength as the plough must be held light in the hands (which are needed to hold the reins to direct the horses), the ploughman is there to balance the plough, only applying force at the headlands to swing the plough across the grass, and to hold it down when it strikes a stone making it veer off it's line.

Keeping the furrows ( the hollows created by the sod turning over) straight is one of the hardest aspects of ploughing with horses because the second the plough jams on a stone the handles of the plough buck into the ploughmans ribs. Every stone, every hard cake of soil has a bearing on how the plough cuts through the sod- not to mention how each horse is pulling- so getting it right means controlling many elements.

I used a Ransome plough made in England about 60 to 70 years ago which had an additional bar fixed above it on one side to give the option of attaching an extra stabilising wheel when ploughing across the sides of steep hills- this was not needed in Airfield.

Airfield was always a commercial dairy and tillage farm and is unique in that it was always farmed by horse power right up until the death of the last Overend sister Naomi in 1993.

The pleasure children took in having hands on contact with heavy horses (the above group from Sacred Heart Senior National School in Killinarden at the foot of the Dublin Mountains) was evident throughout our recent visit, and very much fulfils Miss Overend's final wish that Airfield's house, gardens and farm should be kept as a working farm for the enjoyment of the residents of Dundrum and the education of the children of Dublin.

What makes this unique place work so well is in how it allows adults and children alike get close enough to ask us about the farmwork we were doing - all right in the heart of a city.
Many were surprised to hear that to plough an acre a day with horses means the ploughman has to walk 11 miles behind the plough, something no modern farmer has to do anymore when driving a tractor - which ploughs up far more ground than the single narrow strip of sod called a 'scrape' that the horse plough does.

'How does the plough do this?' asked one girl keen to understand the mechanics of what was occuring, as the green grass field slowly, strip by narrow strip, was turning to brown soil before her eyes - and while we were looking for a way to describe how any plough works by turning the long strips of sod over, she answered her own question herself-

' It turns the grass sod across the field like the pages of a book turning from cover to cover'

Proof that our efforts were not in vain.

After turning over the sod with the plough we broke it up into smaller bits of earth with harrows which is a frame of metal spikes that act like a giant rake.

 Then walking over every foot of ground using a 'seed fiddle' the grass seed was shaken across the land. This works by pushing a stick with a string tied to it (like the bow of a fiddle) which spins a metal wheel causing seed to be spread evenly across two yards of ground at a time.

 The big difference in working land with horses as opposed to using a tractor is that not only is there less compaction of the soil but the horseman having to walk the ground gets an intimate understanding of the land he is farming.

 Despite the advanced technology of farming with tractors, the tractor driver locked away in the cosy cab sees little, hears less and feels almost nothing. Though he does get more work done - it is at a cost- he is deprived from getting the feel of the land he is working.

 Photo; John Kent

So though horse work is physically much harder than tractor work it brings an understanding of the land that comes only from hands on contact.

For more about this unique place click on Airfield 

or go to the archive and open 2008 'Airfield Farm', 2009 'Heavy Horse heritage'.  

One man, one horse

Fodder crops like turnips- traditionally fed to cattle and sheep and pigs were always sowed by one man and one horse- the skill being in able to drive the horse along the furrow (the low ground between the drills) while keeping the turnip sower dead centre on top of the drill (the high ground) where the seeds are planted.

Such ingenious devices as this turnip 'barrow' or sower ensured a dribble of seeds was sown, the only disadvantage was that when grown  the plants had to be thinned out by hand. Although manpower was plentiful during the work horse era a horseman had to be able to do such work on his own to be considered competent.

 Any seed from tiny turnip seeds to large peas seeds could be sown with this barrow as there is a moveable disc which has holes of various sizes which can be moved into place to suit the size of the seed.

Inside the drum the seeds are separated by a tuft of bristles more often than not made of horse hair the horseman would take from his own horse when the origional tuft had worn out.

 Drawn by the same Clydesdale mare as seen below with the roller, this turnip barrow was made in Philip Pierce's foundry in Wexford where much of the horse drawn - and eventually tractor - machinery in Ireland was made..

Spring work

 Here we have Bonny a 17 hands high Clydesdale mare taking a break from timber work.

With all the sun in the last few days ground conditions are perfect for the germination of seed.

 This is barley sown by farmer Paddy Rooney after he used a tractor to first plough and then rotavate his land at Rahard in Athenry, County Galway.

After this we used the horse to harrow down the clods into a fine seed bed and (once he had sown the seed using the tractor again) we rolled the sown ground using a stone roller pulled by the horse. This binds the soil tight around the seeds giving the emerging plants a firm base that they can get a good grip with their roots into.

This is a great example of how a tractor and horse can compliment each other on a modern commercial farm, which is the only way a working horse is viable on today's farms. The idea of running such a farm on horse power alone being neither practical nor economical.

Ear to the Ground

Photo; www.eskercommunity.org

Esker Monastery and Retreat House just east of Athenry nestles on a wooded hill and was founded in the eighteenth century by friars living in the woods nearby. These were the few who had remained in the area after most of their order had left in 1574 when their abbey and lands at Athenry were confiscated during the suppression of the church begun by Henry VIII.

Further persecution in 1691 saw the close of a remarkable school these friars had established in those same woods, until in 1707 when they rented land between two lakes at Esker to finally establish a monastery, continuing to this day a religious tradition in the area going back to the thirteenth century.

It was to the door of this monastery that we went seeking a suitable woodland site to demonstrate horse logging for Ear to the Ground, RTE's hugely popular rural affairs and farming programme, who felt that such a skill and service would be of interest to their viewers.

As most horse logging is suited to difficult terrain many woodlands we work in do not lend themselves to bringing in anyone bar our own logging crew. We needed a woodland site that was both accessible to a camera crew and also had a variety of trees needing removal so we could show the full range of work we do.

 Esker Monastery graciously offered us the use of their woods so we could bring the little known skill of horse logging to a wider audience, following the monastery's long tradition of being an educational facility, which has seen this religious community over the centuries have schools for both the poor and better off, at different times a private school, a Sunday school and a school that taught trades and farming skills- in fact Esker Monastery was the first agricultural college in Ireland.

Their woodland proved ideal to show how a working horse can go into a small wood and remove old or windblown timber with little interference to both the woodland floor and nearby residences.

As with all jobs our first step was to walk the entire site, earmarking work to be done and undertaking a Risk Assessment so as to ensure that all work carried out could be done in a safe manner. None of the mature Ash and Beech at the woods surrounding edges needed tending, whereas there was a lot to be done among the main body of Spruce.

We identified what timber was to be drawn out by the horse with little cutting, such as long fallen trees whose decaying trunks criss cross the woodland floor making it difficult to walk through.

Most of the timber to be removed was wind blown trees, some of which had not fallen all the way to the ground but were hanging on standing trees.These had to be cut down and then cross cut into lenghts about 12 feet long.

Removing these trees opens up the canopy allowing more light down to the woodland floor, which encourages to thrive the hundreds of seedlings like the occasional Beech (above) shining out

among swathes of Ash and Holly seedlings that cover the woodland floor.

The level of natural regeneration in this wood is astounding.

Some of the windblown trees had fallen over with the rootsballs tipped out of the ground 

creating caverns big enough to fit a man and dog inside.

More again had snapped close to their base,

while others snapped high up in the canopy, and now their broken off stems were held above in a web of ivy.

With hazards and work identified we began preparing routes into the Spruce so the horse could get access, cutting out standing dead trees and bringing down overhanging boughs and trunks.

Photo; Ella McSweeney

Though most trees were cut down and then cross cut into small lengths before being attached to the horses chains, there were a couple we pulled away full length from where they hung leaning against other trees. This mimics an actual horse logging technique to lessen the effort on the horse by deliberately felling a tree so as it catches on the other standing trees, never falling all the way to the ground. With less of it's trunk in contact with the ground there is less friction when the horse starts it's pull, so reducing the effort the horse has to exert to get the load moving. A perfect example of this was caught on film on the day.

The Ear to the Ground camera crew spent the entire day with us detailing every move we made from morning till dusk. It proved a long and worthwhile day broken up with a fine feed laid out for us by the hospitality of the monastery - many thanks to Father Vincent Kavanagh and Father Michael Cusack.

Ear to the Ground presenter Ella Mc Sweeney did try her hand at logging with the horse, and how she got on can be seen in the Ear to the Ground programme which can be viewed on the internet by going into RTE's website  http://www.rte.ie/tv/eartotheground
 Go into RTE Player -Enter Ear to the Ground into Search and open 23 February 2010
(Programme 16 of Series 17)

Photo; Ella McSweeney

Trojan Heavy Horses  Crew- back row, left to right-
Paddy Rooney (Sawman), Tom Nixon (Owner), Martino Newcombe (Horseman)

Ear to the Ground Crew -front row, left to right 
Kevin Fagan, Ella McSweeney, Niamh Kennedy, Tiffany Hodder

Working Horse Course

Working the Land with Horses

A one day introductory course 
to the art of organic farming using horses

This course takes place in
Ballinreeshig Nature Farm, 
Ballygarvan, Co. Cork

If you would like to book a place please call 087 13 66 373

Course costs 70 euros including warm lunch

For further information visit  www.willandaway.ie 

New Year, new start

This winter, so the old people are saying, is the coldest one in Ireland since 1947- and it feels every bit of it in County Galway where we have just moved to

It took an axe and sledge to break through ice so we could get the horses safely across a turloch to their new pasture

Initially we came to Galway to complete some timber contracts, but the interest that forest owners in this region have shown in our logging service combined with us securing more contracts here, has prompted us to move our entire operation to Connaught.



Another advantage to run the business in this county is it's geographical location. Being in the centre of Ireland means we can better service clients countrywide- made all the easier because of Galway's new road infrastructure.

We have chosen Athenry as a new base because of the cluster of timber related trades and resources around this town, which we will detail in the coming year along with various exciting programmes that Trojan Heavy  Horses have initiated.

A hardy but bright start to the New Year.

Season's Greetings