A Farmer Writes: generational renewal a continuous issue

I took advantage of the dry days and put the first few heifers that calved and their calves out to grass.

They’re alongside the house and they have a range of shelter options and unless we get a severe southerly wind there’ll be no fear of them.

There’s no point taking up shed space when it might all be needed when calving cranks up a few notches over the next three weeks.

As is almost a tradition here, the first heifer that calved is from a line descended from the first suckler cow that calved here way back in 1989.

It marked the 36th year of calving sucklers and hopefully won’t be the last either. When Dad began the herd back then the number of cows in the Irish suckler herd stood at around 500,000, almost a quarter of a million short of where they are now.

The turning point for the Irish suckler herd was to follow a few years later with the introduction of the MacSharry reforms and headage payments. By 1992 they numbered around 750,000, the same as now, and by 1995 broke the one million head mark before peaking in 2005 at 1.22m cows.

It stabilised around that number running into 2013 and from there it has tumbled to where it now stands at 745,110.

I think there are two main drivers for the decrease and economics is what they have in common. Farmers with large blocks of ground cashed in the sucklers and converted to dairy as milk quota was lifted in 2015.

These farmers had been locked out of milk production for the best part of 30 years so that was inevitable.

Generational renewal was the second reason in my view or more to the point, lack of successors or interest in taking over. That has been a constant and it’s not over yet.

Declining numbers

From 2013 to 2024 there was a decline of 64,000 cows in Connacht and unlike in Munster or Leinster, these weren’t all replaced by dairy cows

The total number of cows, dairy and suckler, in the province was almost 38,000 head fewer than a decade before.

I must get the map out and crunch the figures up along the west coast but I envisage a further reduction and the succession issue along with the changing landscape of rural Ireland will be the suckler herd’s next challenge.

I just wonder, how many generations of part-time farmers are left? Those with a strong interest will remain come hell or high water but those who are still calving cows to keep the older generation happy could come under pressure.

Rural depopulation means what my generation would have taken for granted will need a bit more commitment.

For example, if your family is heavily involved in GAA, smaller populations for local clubs mean amalgamations are necessary and the training may not always be in the pitch just over the road.

The distances to travel a few times a week for training and matches will get longer, the time commitment will increase and if there’s no older generation to step in and keep an eye on things how many more herds will fall off the radar?

Any voluntary organisation has a big time commitment and if that is coupled with a full-time job off the farm, a young family and calving or lambing then something has to give.

I’m just not sure if the farm structures we have will sustain the numbers the sector has become accustomed to.