1601
In 1601 a man called Fynes Moryson was passing through Offaly and kept a good record of what it was like. He said that Firceall was the most wooded area he saw on his journey from Armagh to Kinsale. This had a drawback for the people living there, it was infested with wolves. But the soil around it was fertile enough for growing wheat and other grain. Since there were so many wolves they could not have sheep or else they could be killed. The soil gave great pasture for the cattle to feed on. The Irish grew barley, wheat, oats and rye and when they were not in war they exported corn. They saved little hay and what they did use they gave it to the horses.
The cattle were kept in bawns near the house because they could be stolen by thieves or eaten by wolves. The sheep in Ireland were sheared twice a year and great quantities of wool were exported. The country produces lots of linen cloth.He also saw lots of deer in this area.

Harvest time in Killoughey 1904

1801 Charles Coote did a survey of King's County in 1801. He reported that the peasants' cottages were poor, they were not weather proof and they were low and smoky. The peasants rented their cottages and they kept a pig, a calf and some poultry and an acre of land. The barony of Ballyboy had a wild and uncultivated appearance. The soil was exhausted because of overuse and people didn't use fertilizer. Ploughs were simple and some were wooden. The plough scraped the land rather than tilled the soil. Horses were used to pull the ploughs but sometimes cattle were used. The land the peasants rented was for three lives. People worked from 6am. to 6pm. in summer and during daylight in winter. The crops that were grown were turnip, wheat, rye, barley and flax for linen.

2001
Many of the crops grown today are the same as two hundred years ago - wheat, barley and potatoes would be examples. Oats is seldom grown now because farmers don't have work horses to feed.
But there are different types of crops grown also. Some of the crops like beet, turnips and silage are used as fodder when the farmer has the cattle in sheds for the winter. Sugar beet is a very popular crop here and it is sent to the factory to make sugar.
People are using tractors on farms and because of machinery, work is done quicker and fewer people are needed to work on farms. Woods and ditches were cleared for farmland. Some types of farming in this area are dairy, tillage and mixed farming. Dairy farming is for milk and dairy products. Tillage farming is growing crops. Mixed farming is a mixture of dairy and tillage farming. Sheep are reared and cattle are fattened.