This week found me next door to my mother’s home place, walking one of the finest farms in Limerick.
As a child, I can remember the neighbours’ admiration of this farm. As a callow youth, I was part of a silage contracting outfit that cut silage here.
I played a humble part in proceedings on my trusty red and yellow David Brown 880, a machine that was a struggle to start, a devil to go and a terror to stop.
At that time, the farm, located at Breska, Clarina, about 12km west of Limerick City, was a prime dairy farm and has remained so since.
The 148ac holding is on the private treaty market in a sale handled by Tom Crosse of GVM and guided at €2m. Entitlements are included in the transaction and come to an annual value of approximately €20,000 p/a.
Situated in the heart of Limerick’s dairy country, the residential farm is made up of top quality, elevated and rolling grazing land, laid out in a series of neat and fertile paddocks and serviced by a central passageway that’s fenced by a mix of mains fence, stone walls and natural hedge rows.
Aside from about three acres of low-lying land that is a haven of biodiversity, the holding is farmed to the boundaries.
There is limited frontage to a country road to the front of the farm and access to a cul de sac road to the rear of the land in the townsland of Faha.
A long avenue leads to the farmstead that includes a range of farm buildings, with cubicle accommodation for about 140 animals. At the core of the dairy operation is a 14-unit milking parlour with a Gascoigne machine, automatic feeders and a 10,500 litre bulk tank.
The animal accommodation includes a five-column hay barn with double lean-tos containing 84 internal cubicles with automatic scrapers, a series of outdoor cubicles to the rear, a six-bay slatted cubicle shed, machinery sheds, calving pens, calf houses, a four-column barn, a silage slab, a six-bay slatted shed and a 250,000gal slurry tower and three stables.
The two-storey traditional, hip-roofed farmhouse comes with a self-contained annex. The accommodation over both sections includes four bedrooms, one of which is on the downstairs floor with an ensuite, two sitting rooms, kitchens, a bathroom and a large utility.
According to the owner, the holding has been in the same family for three generations.
“My grandfather bought the house and 60ac in the early part of the last century and added to it over the years,” he said. “My father took over from him and I have been milking cows here for 40 years. I feel it’s time to move on and do something else.”
The place was in full swing during our visit, getting ready for the spring calving season. According to the owner, the dairy herd is 110 strong and at full strength, the place can carry 140 cows. However, the sale does not include the stock.
Tom Crosse describes the sale as an ideal opportunity to acquire a self-contained, ‘ready to go’ dairy unit a 15-minute drive south of Limerick City.
“It is in a well-populated locality made up of sizeable agricultural holdings and very good quality ‘one off’ housing,” he said. “The villages of Patrickswell, Kildimo and Adare are easily accessible and the motorway is just a 10-minute drive away.
“It is arguably the finest dairy farm to have come to the market in recent times. Given its proximity to the city, there is keen interest from the farming and non-farming sectors.”
