There aren’t many names involved in the world of racing as well known as Coolmore, which can trace its involvement with the world of National Hunt events back to the 1850s. Nowadays, it is considered one of the biggest and best breeding operations anywhere in the world.
That has meant that Coolmore Stud has sent out winners in races up and down the land, including Classics, as well as countless other events in all forms of horse racing. The farm is a well-oiled operation that puts the likes of sustainability high on its agenda of importance alongside the breeding of horses.
A Brief History of Coolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud is now owned by John Magnier, whose family has been in the stallion business in Ireland since the 1850s. The headquarters of the operation is in Fethard, County Tipperary, and was created in the 1970s by Pools magnate Robert Sangster and the racecourse trainer Vincent O’Brien. Their idea was to create a world-class stallion operation, which came to fruition when Be My Guest, one of Northern Dancer’s sons, was the first Champion Sire there. Among his first three-year-old crop were Classic winners in the form of Assert and On The House.
Countless Champion Sires have followed in Be My Guest’s footsteps, with names such as Caerleon, Danehill, Danehill Dancer and Galileo all emerging from the farm. One of the most famous names to stand there was Sadler’s Wells, who recorded 14 Sires Championships, one of whom was the aforementioned Galileo, who notched up 12 Sires Championships himself. Between 1990 and 2020, the Champion Sire of Great Britain and Northern Ireland stood at Coolmore, which lent the place its moniker of being the ‘Home of Champions’, with winner after winner emerging from there.
The training establishment at Ballydoyle has long been a key part of the Coolmore Stud organisation, from where Dr Vincent O’Brien sent out several high-class offerings during a 40-year period. The resident trainer then became Aidan O’Brien, no relation, who enjoyed such an incredible level of success that he was thought to have rewritten the record books. Names like St Mark’s Basilica, City of Troy and Auguste Rodin trained at Ballydoyle before joining the roster of Coolmore Stud, whilst Group 1 winning sires like Wootton Bassett and No Nay Never were also put to stud there.
The Farm
The Republic of Ireland-based Coolmore Stud hasn’t just become one of the world’s best thoroughbred breeding operations purely by chance. Instead, those responsible for the site work to ensure that it can offer sustainable farming practices throughout the enterprise. That then ensures that the environmental impact of the work carried out there is kept to a minimum, all whilst also giving local flora and fauna a chance to flourish on-site. Those that are tasked with looking after the land for future generations focus heavily on the likes of fresh air, fertile soil and clean water.
The desire of those associated with Coolmore Stud is to see a vibrant biodiversity exist at the farm, as well as putting a healthy and sustainable ecosystem in place. One of the ways in which that is achieved is by producing the highest quality hay for all of the horses that are based on Coolmore Farm. As a result, the best hay grass varieties are selected in order to grow the optimum crops. In a perfect world, the crops are harvested in early June, thanks to the fact that the nutritional value of the hay matches the needs of the horses that are being stabled there.
In more recent times, Coolmore made an operational decision to change from making small square bales into large square bales, which presented them with various challenges to overcome. Those working on the farm use handheld moisture meters in order to aid in the decision of when to carry out the harvesting, plus thermometers to ensure that there is stability when the hay is in storage. There are also moisture reading sensors in addition to weighing equipment to allow for the correct weight and dimension of bales. The company continues to develop and improve its technology.
Specialised Silage
Coolmore mix graze cattle with the horses, which results in the cattle being given a grass-based ration of silage when they are housed over the winter. The farm looks to mow the grass at the right stage of the season so as to ensure that the silage contains nutrient levels which are at their optimum. It has to be put into silage at the right moment to make sure that the moisture content is right, whilst oxygen is removed using rollers. The pit is also covered in a speedy fashion, which creates the right kind of environment for rapid fermentation, which keeps the nutrients in the grass.
The entire point of making high-quality silage is that it takes away the need for supplementary feeding to take place with concentrates. The farm is set up in order to ensure that the right decisions are made, irrespective of the weather in a country where changeable weather is the norm. The idea is to harvest each crop with a minimum amount of soil damage, whilst non-cereal crops like oilseed can offer a rotation to stop disease, pests and weeds. The cereals can then be grown with nice, clean straw that can be used to feed the horses and other animals present.
Precision Farming
A big part of the success at Coolmore Stud comes in the form of the precision offered over to the farming. This allows for the constant improvement of the crop performance, as well as the quality of the environment. Technologies and principles are applied so as to manage both spatial and temporal variability, which is more typically associated with numerous aspects of agricultural production. The farm learnt early on that multiple passes of machines on both ploughed and ploughless fields would lead to soil degradation, amongst other issues.
This included the likes of the organic matter undergoing quick mineralisation, as well as seeing the biological life in the soil being destroyed. At the same time, strong compaction would interfere with the equilibrium of the air-water, in turn cutting off oxygen that would otherwise be easily accessible, as would the nutrients from the roots of any cultivated plants. Instead, Coolmore looked to install a top-of-the-range machine that was designed to ensure that fertilisation, sowing and tillage could all be carried out in one pass over the stubble field directly.
The Importance of Composting
It is fair to say that not everyone who watches a horse race, whether in person or on the television, will think much about the importance of composting to the development of the horses. For Coolmore Stud, however, that is the sort of thing that ensures that the very best horses are produced. Compost is used as a key fertiliser on the land, as well as being a way of making use of the large volumes of manure that are produced every year. The stables get mucked out daily, whilst the straw gets recycled as bedding for the cattle housed indoors over the winter.
The farmyard manure that is produced is the perfect raw material for creating compost, which can be stored before being spread the following autumn with a stable form of nitrogen as well as other nutrients. This increases the diversity and the population of the microbial communities in the soil, as well as the soil humus content. Natural high phosphorus and potash also move to enrich the land and reduce the farm’s reliance on any chemical-based fertiliser. Cattle get let out to pasture in the spring, whilst a system ensures the use of stable manure during the summer.
Run-off material from the creation of compost is stored and then spread on a willow plantation in the nearby area. This, in turn, offers a cleansing effect on the water. The willows themselves get felled and harvested, with the wood cut into pellets to be used in the wood chip boilers, used to heat homes and buildings around the estate. This means that the farm is less dependent on fossil fuels, putting the farm in a position whereby it is carbon neutral, if not even carbon negative. Best-farm practices are engaged throughout Coolmore, which all makes it a more sustainable place for the breeding of horses.
Can You Tour Coolmore?
You might well be wondering whether or not it is possible to tour Coolmore Stud. The good news for the more interested amongst you is that you very much can, with tours taking place on Tuesdays and Fridays. The first thing that you will get to enjoy is The Fethard Horse Country Experience, immersing you in all aspects of the Horse Country thanks to a state-of-the-art interactive museum. From there, you will then enter Coolmore itself, learning about the history of the farm as well as the racing legacy that is associated with such an incredible place.
Of course, it is the stallions that take pride of place at Coolmore Stud, so obviously you will get the chance to go up close and personal with the champion stallions. You will be given a behind-the-scenes look at the care and training that goes into producing a champion, as well as the breeding techniques that are used. There are different levels of tour that you can do, each of which will have its own aspects that you might want to ensure that you get to enjoy. They can include food on-site, for example, as well as a look at the Trophy Room or the Digital Legacy Experience.
