Burren Agriculture Farming Traditions

Though the Burren is internationally renowned for the 'uniqueness' and 'diversity' of its natural and cultural heritage, farming in the Burren could equally lay claim to these attributes. Farming activity in the Burren has been moulded by the very individual limitations and strengths of the unique landscape, as is reflected in the evolution of practices such as winterage, herding and goat husbandry, and physical features such as rainwater troughs, shelter walls, goat crós and cahers, herdsmen's houses, and isolated cattle-loading pens.

Traditionally in the Burren, for most farmers, agriculture was a multidisciplinary activity characterised by high labour inputs. The assorted strands that characterised the mixed farm operation - dairying, beef, sheep, pigs, fowl and tillage - were usually complementary and frequently interdependent.

One striking aspect of the traditional management of the Burren is the intimate level at which even the expansive uplands were managed, with scarcely any area untouched by the hand of man, as a closer inspection of the subtle rearrangements of rocks, the rippling forms of lazy beds or the coppicing of woodland will reveal.

The relatively benign impact which agriculture traditionally had upon the surrounding environment is a reflection of the limited technology formerly available, and the cost of its deployment, as opposed to any ideological imperative. Potential threats such as those posed by scrub incursion or pests were kept closely in check, ensuring the maintenance of a state of 'contained dynamism' between agriculture and environment.

Traditionally, agricultural markets were more local and less discerning than they are today, particularly in terms of livestock quality, breed, and age. Agricultural policy scarcely impacted upon the local farm economy, in stark contrast to its current pre-eminence. Hence farmers were more inclined, and able, to manage their land and stock in accordance with its natural potential and their own judgement and experience, rather than as a response to forces external to the region.

Many traditional management practices have become unsustainable in a modern context, being too labour-intensive and producing commodities of a nature and scale that fail to exploit sufficiently the contemporary political and market environment.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that, while formerly agriculture was survival-orientated, in today's thriving Irish economy the imperative has become to prosper. As the line between the urban and rural dweller has become blurred, agriculture has become more concerned with balance sheets than animal husbandry.

Farming has become increasingly individualistic in recent years: the sense of community, of 'common good', even of 'place', embodied and engendered by traditions like meitheals and cooring, has been superseded by an increasingly individualistic and mechanised approach, often involving the use of outside contractors. Even the claim by Arensberg and Kimball (1968) that farmers work 'within the influence of a long established tradition of ancestral experience' which binds them strongly to the land, is rapidly losing relevance within the Burren farming community today.

There remains much to learn about the various aspects of traditional management in the Burren. Securing information on this rich and revealing heritage at a farm and community level is an urgent and essential requirement, as a cultural asset of enormous inherent wealth and practical significance is being ignored and steadily eroded. To quote the eloquent words of Burren-born poet John O'Donoghue (Clare Champion 11-2-00):

'There is a world in the land, a farming world of the most sophisticated complexity and the most astute and rich memory that in the next ten years will have vanished completely '