In 1852 advertisements for a schoolteacher specified that the candidate should have a working knowledge of agriculture in order to instruct the boys about the farm, an integral part of the workhouse. It was perhaps one of the most important parts of the workhouse complex building in that it provided work for men and boys, but it also made them self-sufficient.
In 1862 a government inquiry noted that the workhouse was well managed and had in total five acres six roods and 6 perches of land (Irish measure). The farm ended the year with £25 stock in hand and had sold wheat, potatoes, hay, onions, carrots and turnips at the market after what they had consumed in the house, while purchases for the farm included spades, shovels, seeds and pigs. On other occasions rye seed and bean meal for the pigs was purchased. An 1853 account for the farm noted the staggering number of potatoes which were harvested on the farm, some 3717 stone in weight.
In terms of animals, the agriculturalist preferred to rear pigs and there is no record of having cows in stock at the workhouse farm. The workhouse farm was subject to an annual rent of £11 to the Salters Company whose interest was sold in the mid-1880s.
