On Tuesday evening, the first of four Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm Beef Challenge autumn walks took place on the farm of John McSweeney in Lissarda in Co Cork.

The walk, which was attended by a large crowd of almost 130 people, focused on fodder, finance and herd health on the 27ha suckler and dairy calf-to-beef farm.

John’s farm has experienced an extremely difficult year with drought badly affecting the farm's system.

Grass is starting to grow and silage crops are coming in well so I’m hopeful things can be alright for the winter

Plans to purchase-in meadows and fodder were badly hindered by the onset of severe drought which caused a ‘frenzy’ on the fodder market in the area in particular with stiff competition from large dairy farms.

Thankfully, according to John, "things are looking completely different than they were three weeks ago. Grass is starting to grow and silage crops are coming in well so I’m hopeful things can be alright for the winter".

On what was a dry but cold evening, a sense of positivity could certainly be felt in the area as nearby roads and fields buzzed with the sounds of silage machinery in operation.

In fact, within just four miles of road on the way to John’s farm, five different silage operations could be seen working.

Impact

The drought, however, did undoubtedly impact on John’s system. Speaking at the first stand on the evening, John’s Teagasc B&T advisor Anthony Dineen admitted that purchasing over 200 dairy calves during the last two years put serious pressure on the system. When the drought hit then, John said that these were the first animals to go.

“Thirty one dairy calves reared this spring and just under 30 of last year’s Angus calves were sold live. Thankfully ,a market opened up for them and I sent them off. It lightened the load on the farm something serious.”

Asked what he might do different in future, John admitted that he would have to re-evaluate the type of stock he buys in.

“Going forward I will have to buy better-quality stock I think. This year really opened my eyes. If [the dairy calves] were any other colour (apart from black and white) I would have got away with them just fine.”

You couldn’t even give them away in a lucky bag this year. In hindsight, I’d get rid of the Friesians and I will buy more Angus and Hereford in future.”

On latter stands, fodder, finance and herd health were discussed in great detail. John Fitzgerald from Bank of Ireland spoke about a new loan package being offered by the bank to help with large repayments accumulated through extra costs incurred in 2018.

Local vet John Daly also discussed the latest IBR eradication pilot programme and the many health threats facing farmers this winter.

The next BETTER Farm autumn walk will take place on Thursday 6 September at 2pm on Tom Bolgers farm located at Clooneygoose, Borris, Co Carlow. Eircode: R95 KV80.

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