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Farmer Stories

Louise Skelly - Improving soil health through bokashi, microbes and red clover

Northern Ireland
Case Study
soil health
sheep
mob grazing
Maximum Sustainable Output

Shanaghan Hill is an 80-acre livestock farm in Katesbridge, nestled among the undulating hills and valleys of County Down. The farm's landscape is varied, ranging from high, hilly, stony ground at one end to the sandy soils along the banks of the River Bann, which flows through the property. Louise Skelly, with the help of her son-in-law Timothy and daughter Esther, leads efforts to make the farm more nature-friendly.

Shanaghan Hill started out as a 20-acre farm owned by Louise’s husband’s family, whose agricultural roots in that part of the county go back generations. The farm was significantly expanded around two decades ago when they acquired an additional 60 acres of land. Louise also comes from a farming background, with her family working in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. She joined the work at Shanaghan Hill after taking early retirement from a high-profile career in the NHS which spanned almost 40 years.

Everything is a cycle where people, the environment, and animals are all connected. The microbiomes of the soil, healthy animals, and healthy humans are all connected. Farmers have a huge role to play in this and I think this is where true sustainability sits.

Louise Skelly

Previously, Shanaghan Hill was quite intensively farmed, but Louise and Timothy’s journey towards a more nature-friendly approach began with a workshop by regenerative agriculture and soil health expert Niels Corfield. “That was a game changer for us,” Louise says. With his background in microbiology, Timothy became quickly interested in soil analysis, and together, he and Louise began to understand the importance of nurturing soil to make farms sustainable and viable.

Louise also contributed to the NFFN's Striking the Balance report, which worked with farms in Northern Ireland to determine their Maximum Sustainable Output (MSO), the point where additional inputs to the land cost more than the resulting gains. The project's goal was to identify where farms are most profitable while still operating within the natural limits of the land. “It was a very challenging process, but it made me realise there’s a sweet spot in every farm, and as a team, we have to work to find it,” she says.

Livestock numbers were reduced, and the farm now has around 500 sheep. Louise says animal numbers will gradually be increased again by retaining the best-performing ewes. Although this approach has led to a temporary drop in yield of around 30%, it has also allowed Louise to achieve an impressive 60% reduction in fertiliser use. Machinery use is also being scaled back to minimise the impact on the soil and reduce fuel costs.

Microbes are being added to the farm’s slurry to increase the organic material in the soil when it is spread, while regular soil testing is conducted to monitor its health. The farm uses the bokashi system to create compost, recycling food waste through fermentation by mixing it with a bokashi bran inoculated with microorganisms. Clover seeds are also added to the slurry tanks, helping to re-establish the plant across about 20 acres of grazing grassland. Louise is also keen to improve the diversity of the farm’s grassland by introducing a wider variety of root lengths to ensure the grass remains resilient during dry, hot summers.

The real lightbulb moment for me was the realisation that you can overproduce, and then after that, every input actually costs you money. We know the farm's limits now and can find an equilibrium. If you look around you, you can instinctively see that some farms have things in balance in a way that intensively farmed farms do not.

Louise Skelly

Extreme weather events and the increasing likelihood of climate change are major concerns for Louise, who is already witnessing their effects. “We were flooded in 2023 in places we’ve never seen flooding before,” she says. “I’ve been here 40 years, and I’ve never seen flooding like that. In some areas, the water rose over the farm gates, reaching heights of four or five feet. We also experienced months of very dry weather. I don’t know which is worse; both bring their challenges. The weather is more extreme now, and we have to farm in a way that can cope with that.”

In addition to increasing diversity in root lengths and improving soil structure, Louise is considering planting more trees along the riverbank that flows through her farm. They want to improve the soil's penetration rate to ensure that water sinks into the ground rather than remains on the surface. Overall, Louise believes that the ground’s response to the 2023 flooding suggests their efforts to enhance soil health are moving in the right direction.

Louise has also introduced mob grazing for the sheep, dividing them into two large groups and moving them daily during the peak grazing period, with electric fencing used to designate their grazing areas. (You can read more about her mob grazing practices here). Additionally, the farm is striving to finish more of its lambs on grass as part of its ongoing effort to cut costs and stay viable. All these efforts are paying off for biodiversity, with red kites - recently reintroduced to Northern Ireland - settling on the farm, alongside yellowhammers, an iconic farmland bird whose numbers have declined sharply in recent decades.

However, Louise acknowledges that Shanaghan Hill is heavily reliant on diversification. Her daughter runs a veterinary business from the farm, which also hosts a company distributing equine supplements and feeds. These additional enterprises bring a steady stream of visitors. Looking ahead, Louise hopes to establish a farm shop and explore direct meat box sales to customers.

Despite all the progress made, Louise feels she is still at the beginning of her journey into nature-friendly farming. She sees the transition to more nature-friendly practices at Shanaghan Hill as a 10-year project, which began when she left the health service in 2019. “When I discovered regenerative agriculture, the whole philosophy just aligned with what I instinctively wanted to do," she says. "This is about being a steward of the land. I want to leave it in better condition, in harmony with nature."