Pristine 106 acres of prime tillage land

The fine dry summer means crops are being dried and stored and, yet, the sun is still shining.

The odd blackberry bush is still putting out flowers and the stubble fields are yellow under a strong sun. What a year.

And especially so for tillage farmers, who’ve had a few good years, at a time when dairy farmers are in the ascendant.

That tension between the two methods of farming will continue with the announcement of a prime tillage farm for sale this week in the renowned, Bride Valley area of mid-Cork.

On the market with Christy Buckley, this farm at Scart, Aherla, offers a substantial 106 acres of pristine farmland, which is set with beet and maize, and has also been cut for corn, with the remainder of the land under grass.

Masses of road frontage and a yard set in the middle of the farm mean it’s an ideal set-up for a dairy farmer, too, says Christy Buckley and, given the quality of land and buildings, it could be a fine, stand-alone dairy farm, he says.

A residential holding, it’s north west of Aherla village, off the Brinny road, and while the main residence hasn’t been occupied for 10 years, it could be restored, he says. The property has been jointly farmed.

That won’t put the buyer off, however, and while Christy Buckley was reluctant to name a price, a figure of €14,000 per acre was mentioned — and that’s probably a conservative bottom line — and a concrete indication of the quality of this farmland.

Surrounded by swathes of green fields, it is probably likely that the milk men/ women will be to the fore in any bidding, but, then again, with land of this quality a buyer could come from anywhere. Unlike the main house, the yard comes with fine, modern buildings, which include a large grain store of 115’ by 64’, and modern cattle shed of 130’ by 25’, and a slatted unit with easy feed of 35’ by 25’, as well as a five-column hay shed with enclosed lean-tos and other stone outbuildings.

A short hop to the main Cork/Macroom road and close to Crookstown, Bandon and Kinsale, too, this property is located in a highly intensive, but very beautiful part of the county, and the number of old castles, monastic sites, grand period houses and the odd, even grander modern residence, suggest the richness and value of the soil here.

The sale is by private treaty.