About

Bradley's farm was established in the mid 1800's and over the next century was mainly involved with the production of corn, potatoes, grass, flax and hay. All these activities were undertaken with the help of manual labour and the use of horses. Quite a few pieces of old machinery are still around the farm to this day!
In the early 1950's a dairy herd was established and flourished until the mid 1970's. Low milk prices and the introduction of government grants led to a change over to beef production.
Under the new conditions that apply today beef production is the main activity on the farm at the moment.
The farm land includes about 60 acres of lowland raised bog which was managed under the C,M,S, Countryside Management Scheme. We had been part of this scheme for some years and have established a small orchard, which includes native Irish apple trees and plum trees. We recently introduced some bees to help with the pollination of the fruit trees. In addition we have planted new hedges and annually sow 5 acres of wild bird cover. This incorporates a mixture of barley, linseed and sunflowers. This crop is left for the animals to forage on over the winter!
We recently acquired a Hitachi 5 ton digger which has proved very useful as the heavy soil in this area needs constant maintenance. We recently started a program of refurbishment around the farmyard. Installing a new crush gate and adding stock proof gates at strategic positions around the yard. This has proven very beneficial and has dramatically improved stock handling.
As the buildings are quite old we have had to repair and replace roofs and this is an ongoing process.