Farmer Writes: when dog food costs more than beef something is wrong

It’s been quite a while since I put pen to paper, simply because we have been too busy.

Dad had to get a hip replacement in September and I’ve been doing a bit of cattle work off-farm the last two years, so summer and autumn passed by quickly and they were tricky seasons for different reasons.

I also broke my nose a few weeks ago. A heifer kicked a gate and it kicked me.

A quick trip to Navan A&E sorted me out – I must say they were super

Luckily, I was holding the gate and was very close to the heifer so I didn’t get totally creamed.

I was always told it’s far better to keep in tight to stock when loading them because if a gate does swing, it does not have time to build up force if you are close.

A quick trip to Navan A&E sorted me out – I must say they were super.

We did not have the massive grass growth that the rest of the country seemed to have in the autumn and we have had a lot of rain every week since August – more rain than 2012.

We had more stock on land this year too as a result of more lambs born on the farm and we purchased store lambs from Iveragh Mart in Kerry as we do most years.

More cattle were purchased in the spring as every time I went to Ennis or Carrigallen I seemed to be able to get plenty of heifers. I always say if I can buy plenty, it’s not a great day for vendors.

I was very conscious of Brexit on the seemingly never-ending horizon which made me more cautious than normal on spending and we had budgeted an autumn sales price of 375c/kg.

Anti-meat agenda

Now for various reasons, consumer demand, eating habits, more choice in the supermarkets, the anti-meat agenda and not forgetting the protests, we are 25c/kg behind the budgeted price.

On 11 November 2018, heifers were 385c/kg. Luckily, the heifers are wiping their faces and considering how bad the price is, we are very lucky.

In the main, heifers have killed out very well this year. Lambs, on the other hand, killed out very poorly in August.

Older sheep farmers always say lambs do not die well in August. We left them alone for a month and kill-out improved greatly. They are averaging about 20.5kg dead with no meal.

Conditions in the last month have deteriorated badly on the land. We took the rams away from the mature ewes this week. They had five weeks with them.

We went against all the textbook advice after we pulled the rams and split ewes into smaller groups and put them to several fields instead of all in one field.

Land is just too wet here for big groups currently and they are wasting grass. It might not be the right thing to do but we are playing the cards we are dealt.

Someone is always looking to blame someone

I wish all five of the IFA election candidates the best of luck because in the current social-political sphere, things seem to be very militant and tribal.

Someone is always looking to blame someone. They have a thankless hard job on their hands to try to break the powers of the mass media anti-farming agenda and the supermarkets’ agenda of selling prime produce at below cost while overcharging for mass-produced overprocessed crap.

When a kilo of dog food costs more than a kilo of beef or lamb – never mind way more than the price of a litre of milk – you know something is badly wrong

When some will put paying their Spotify or Netflix subscription ahead of buying a striploin steak we, as farmers, will continue to feel angst.

When a kilo of dog food costs more than a kilo of beef or lamb – never mind way more than the price of a litre of milk – you know something is badly wrong.

I am growing tired of the constant division been driven by certain people and sectors in society.