On the panel were Paul Nolan from Dawn Meats, farmers Robin Talbot, Chrissy Comerford and Sam Chesney, Phelim O’Neil from the Irish Farmers Journal and editor Justin McCarthy, who chaired the session.

Justin McCarthy: Paul (Nolan), let’s talk technology in the meat processing sector. We’re sitting here still having our animals graded with technology from 2002 and it was as outdated then as it is now. Farmers are constantly questioning the accuracy of the system. Is it time to move on?

Paul: To answer your question Justin, yes. The technology being used has been around a while and it took a long time to get it there in the first place. I think what we have achieved in the grading is consistency. I would never say that we should not review the technology that is there. What we should do is review what the market is looking for and tailor it too that.

Move to milk

JMcC: Chrissy and Robin, I hear you both there talking about crunching numbers and running a business, have you considered dairying?

Robin: I won’t say I didn’t think about it, but I didn’t think about it for too long. I’m interested in a quality of life. My kids are young, I’m going on a holiday next week and I want to enjoy that while I can with them and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t need the money. I’ll hold my hand up: we’re making a comfortable living, we don’t want for anything and I don’t see why I’d put that pressure on myself. I have one full-time labour unit. The neighbours around me are milking a lot of cows and labour is a huge issue. The day is not long enough.

We’re making a comfortable living, we don’t want for anything and I don’t see why I’d put that pressure on myself

Christy: I’m similar to Robin in that I’ve three young girls. I’m 45 now. If it had been 20 years ago I definitely would have, but I couldn’t at the time. I wouldn’t change now.

Grass measuring

JMcC: How many are actually out measuring grass and how many are taking grass seriously?

Robin: I’m measuring grass every week. I know exactly where I am. I’m actually at a deficit at the minute. We’re stocked to the limit. We’re actually buying silage because it’s so dry this year. We’re producing 1600kg of liveweight per hectare. We started a very basic system with polyposts and wire, and just gradually improved it (permanent paddocks) every year.

Christy: I don’t measure on a regular basis, but I do measure grass. Our simple rule of thumb is that we eat three weeks of growth in three days. We’re self-sufficient in grass. Year-on-year we produce 80 tonnes of carcase meat. The fewer cows we can produce that meat from, the better.

Sean Mullooly contributed to the writing of this article.

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