DEAR EDITOR,

I got my five-year trend report from ICBF this morning. For the past five years now, I have been constantly above the top 10% of suckler farmers. You go into business (and farming is a business) to make money, but in recent years this is not happening. The farm keeps 60+ cows annually. The business started in the late 1990s. I have followed the Department’s advice, joined Bord Bia, REPS and BDGP in its day, SCEP and ACRES. Trees were planted, hedgerows were set and I acquired a few Dexters. But the profits are decreasing year-on-year. I personally think the dairy-cross cows have decreased in size dramatically over the years, thus they are too small when I am calving them at 24/26 months and far too small when I cross them with a Charolais bull the following years. There are too many regulations, too many forms to be filled, too many dates to adhere to, but most of all, too many nice jobs are feeding off the person in the wellingtons. It is time to say no – enough is enough. Thus, I am now applying an exit strategy, but I will keep the Dexters to fill the freezer. Excellent steak. Maybe I would have been better off not to have followed the advice.