In Ballywilliamroe, County Carlow, Gilbert Smyth oversees an exceptional, fourth-generation tillage farming enterprise that’s closing in on its 100th anniversary. We caught up with Gilbert to discuss the long-standing tillage / sucker operation as well as the complementary contracting services provided and his active role with the Carlow branch of the IFA.
For some farmers, tillage is simply a way of life. Switching to dairy – or perhaps even a different lifestyle altogether! – are simply not options. Gilbert Smyth is one such man. Tillage is what he does, what he’s always done and what he will always do. Not quite a vocation, but not far off it either… The Carlow man also oversees a modest suckler herd to keep things ticking over.
He comes from a long line of tillage farmers delivering high-quality crop yields from the family farm at Ballywilliamroe, Bagenalstown, Carlow; his son, Wayne, is set to follow in his footsteps. Synonymous with barley, wheat, potatoes and soft fruits (and, historically, sugar beet), Carlow is of course a rich agricultural county in which tillage, sheep and dairy farming are all found.
Some of the best-quality tillage land in Ireland is located here and working that land becomes a way of life. Dairy may offer the highest yields but, for job satisfaction, there’s nothing to rival first-class crop production, as far as Gilbert Smyth is concerned. “I never had a liking for dairy and my son is the same,” he told Irish Tractor & Agri. “There’s more money to be made in dairy obviously and we could switch over if we wanted to, but neither of us are interested in doing that because we are not that way inclined.”
His commitment, enthusiasm and resolve are infectious to the point where it is impossible not to be impressed. This is a man who invests his heart and soul into farming. That’s why the fertile family farm has been a success for nigh on one hundred years, why the Smyths are also renowned for providing unrivalled contracting services to neighbouring farmers.
“The farm has been in our family since March, 1919,” Gilbert confirms. “My grandfather, James, started it off and then my father, Leslie, built it up and we’ve built it up even more since. There’s now myself, my wife Marion and our son, Wayne, who represents the fourth generation.”
A total of 500 acres is farmed, 378 of which is owned, the remainder rented. 310 acres is dedicated to tillage, the rest is grass for the suckler herd – “We have 90 at the minute and hope to get up to 110 within a couple of years. We started that when the quotas finished. We were fattening prior to then but the goal now is to have 100+ to sell every year.”
To supplement his farm income, the late Leslie Smyth initiated a small contracting business in the 1940s and that is still active today. “Spraying, sowing and hedgecutting are our three biggest activities outside our own farm gate,” says Gilbert. “We have all the machinery here for our own use and we do a bit of everything – ploughing, sowing, tilling, spraying, spreading fertilizer, harvesting, silage, hay, etc. We try to keep within a ten-twelve-mile radius and most of it would be within four-five miles. We have a very loyal customer base and the vast majority of them come back and do business with us every year.”
Gilbert and Wayne run four tractors – three New Hollands (7210, 6175 and 6070) and a Renault Ares 620. They also operate a Bateman self-propelled sprayer, JCB 413 industrial loader (purchased in June), Lemken disc drill combination, Heva roller, Vicon fertilizer spreader, JF silage harvester, mounted and trailed mowers, a Kverneland plough and a Claas 320 combine (“although we do very little corn for other farmers”).
“We have the full range of equipment here to do all our own work. Wayne started out on his own doing hedge-cutting and then joined us. We all work together now. To keep overheads down, we do most of the maintenance work on the machinery ourselves, but for the more complex stuff, we’d bring it to Frank Jenkinson Ltd, where we also buy most of our equipment.”
Regarding the make-up of the comprehensive tillage enterprise, Gilbert explains: “This year we have winter oil seed rape back in rotation, with 12.8 hectares. We also have 26.8 hectares of winter barley, 9.6 hectares of winter oats, 10.4 hectares of spring beans, 8 hectares of spring oats and 60 hectares of spring barley. We have the equipment and know-how to do it all but we gave up maize and steer away from sugar beet and fodder beet.”
The Smyths use their own grain to feed their cattle. Over 90% of bulls are slaughtered at under 16 months, with a carcass weight of 390-400 kilos. The remainder of the crop is sold, either under contract or to local merchants.
In an ideal world, Gilbert would like to expand but he “can’t compete with land for dairy farms unless the return from cereal improves.”
Instead, he’s currently growing the contracting side of the business, having developed an excellent system for seeding reseeding and spraying. “We’re spraying about 4,000 acres per year,” he reveals. “That has developed a lot since we bought the Bateman sprayer, which can spray tall crops without any damage. We can do 12, 18, 20 or 24 metres with that.”
As well as Gilbert and Wayne, Gwm Smyth Agri has one other full-time employee (“He’s been with us almost 40 years now and is part of the furniture around here”) as well as many part-time workers during silage season.
Gilbert admits that tillage is very much a labour of love, with some crops being sold for less than the cost of production: “These are lean times for tillage. We have diversified to improve efficiency and the workload and to try to vary it, but you’d always be hoping that things will turn around. When you add everything into it – the machinery and other fixed costs – there are a lot of crops not returning a profit. The last few years have been the trickiest I’ve had but the sucklers have helped us with the cash flow, even though there is obviously a cost associated with them as well.”
Gilbert has been a member of Bagenalstown Tillage Group since the late 1990s and is currently secretary. “It has really developed since the 2000s and we meet up to twelve times a year and go to a lot of different shows, etc. We try to keep a social element to it, which is particularly important for farmers who run one-man units.”
Keen to do as much as he can to assist or facilitate his fellow farmers in any way possible, he has also served on the Carlow executive of the IFA for over a decade, was Carlow rep on the National Grain Committee and is currently the Carlow rep on the Farm Business & Taxation Committee – another area he has always had a tremendous interest in.
But – like those who came before him and in all likelihood those who will follow in his footsteps – it’s tillage that’s Gilbert Smyth’s first love.
Gwm Smyth Agri,
Ballywilliamroe,
Bagenalstown
County Carlow.
Tel: 0872607972 / 087 7841946
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 7, October/November 2017
