Goat Farming on the shores of Lough Carra

How a search for a cure inspired a new direction in farming

The McNally Goat Farm is situated outside Claremorris, Co Mayo on the shores of Lough Carra, very close to the famous Ballintubber Abbey. The family includes Seamus and Kathleen and their four young children, Sean, Conor, Ellen and Brendan as well as Seamus’s mother, Mamie.

The Mayo climate and landscape is especially well suited to goat farming. The farm has been in the McNally family for three generations; originally a traditional mixed farm with cows, pigs, sheep and vegetables, the McNallys began goat farming almost a decade ago.

“Our eldest son, Sean, suffered with eczema and was borderline asthmatic,” says Kathleen McNally, who did some research and discovered that goats milk was considered especially beneficial for relieving the symptoms of asthma and eczema. “We had difficulty finding goats milk when Sean was young, so we decided to buy some goats ourselves. That’s when our first goat, Lily, arrived on the farm. We had friends who also wanted goats milk and then a local cheese maker came looking, so we began to buy more goats. With so much goats milk, we decided to contact Glenisk and they have been taking our fresh goats milk ever since.”

The 70 acre farm now has more than 200 goats, with each goat producing more than two litres of milk each day. A typical day on the farm is busy; it begins and finishes with milking and there is a myriad of other jobs in between with animal welfare at the top of the list of priorities. As Kathleen ruefully puts it, ‘it leaves no time for the pub!’ Kathleen works with the HSE so Seamus is the only member of the family farming full time. The children, however, are very involved and each have tasks to complete including feeding, rounding up goats and help with hoof care. As of now, all the children are very interested in taking over the farm one day but given all their other interests, the McNallys are philosophical that this might change. As well as school, the childrens’ farm duties are balanced with lots of outside interests which include soccer, gaelic, hip hop dancing, swimming, golfing and horseriding.

The goats kid all year round but mostly in Spring and Autumn. They are placid, friendly animals and even playful, enjoying the company of the McNally children and following them about the farm. As with all farming, goats farming brings its own set of challenges, which include very high costs of production, long hours and lots of paperwork required by the Department of Agriculture.

When asked about the benefits of goats milk, the McNallys have very firm beliefs: “As well as tasting wonderfully fresh, goats milk cured our son of asthma and eczema. What more could we ask for?”