swordlestown little
Working for the world
Aisling Crowe meets Mariann Klay and Des Leadon at Swordlestown Little, a farm they have been managing for 20 years with environment at the core of what they do – the couple setting a blueprint for sustainable stud farm management Photography by Mariann Klay
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CCORDING TO THE SCIENTISTS climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity, an existential crisis that threatens life on earth like none previously faced in the entirety of human history. November’s COP26 in Glasgow was billed as perhaps our final opportunity to arrest the emissions fuelled destruction of the only home we have. Agriculture in its various forms stands in the harsh glare of the beams searching for those sectors on which the blame for earth’s destruction can be easily laid, but not so easily remedied. Equine agriculture, while not pursued with nearly the same intensity as beef farming or cereal growing enterprises are in some areas of the globe, does have a role to play in the rehabilitation of agriculture’s image and in leading the way to a more sustainable climate and habitable world. This is the passionately held belief of Mariann Klay and Des Leadon of Swordlestown Little Stud and it is one that
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she articulates eloquently and demonstrates beautifully on their farm, where sustainable agricultural practices and stud farming in harmony with nature have been the couple’s guiding principles since before Greta Thunberg was even born. “I really believe that this is important and that stud farming can have a positive role to play in developing and promoting sustainable agriculture practices,” states Klay.
“I think in stud farming we do have a great opportunity to do more for the environment than in other sectors of agriculture because we have less pressure; we don’t have to produce high milk proteins and high milk yields or have the grass full of nitrogen to produce those or to achieve daily weight gains.” Words are easy and don’t cost much but actions are more difficult. Klay, and her husband Leadon, are putting in the hard yards to create a stud farm that is sustainable and fits with its environment. But the problems we face are simultaneously global and local, and solutions of both natures are required. On the local level a battery storage station is proposed for nearby Dunnstown, not far from Swordlestown Little, and it is currently going through the planning appeals process.
