West

County Mayo, on the west coast, has a wet and windy climate. There are a lot of mountains there, and the soil, particularly in the north of the county, is boggy and peaty. Can you remember what grows in peaty soil?

If you listen to the weather forecast, you will see that very often they will say that rain is spreading from the west. This is because our winds are most often westerly and south westerly winds and they are full of moisture. The mountains in Mayo can cause the rain to fall there more often then in places where there are no mountains. This is why the rain often falls in the west first.

Most of the cultivated land in Mayo is best suited to pasture.

Dairy and suckler cattle are raised on the more low-lying pastures of north and east Mayo. Sheep are grazed in the mountainous areas and on lowland farms.

County Mayo has a constant supply of fuel from peat. Bord na Mona harvested peat for the ESB station at Bellacorick until very recently. With the rising cost of oil, peat could provide an alternative for domestic fuel. Peat, just like oil, is a non-renewable fossil fuel which means that once it is used up it does not replace itself. This means that other sources of energy need to be developed. There might be an opportunity to have wave energy and wind generated energy.