Seamus Brosnan, Ardagh, Co Limerick
“We really have no fears for the chicken industry because our carbon footprint is so low.
“We’re nearly as low as the fishing industry and they only catch the fish, they don’t have to grow them. We have a frightfully low carbon footprint and we are frightfully efficient.
“Chicken price is good at the minute, we can’t complain. I think every chicken farmer, at the moment, down south anyway, is happy with the status quo.
Seamus and Donnacha Brosnan.
“However, supermarkets have forced the prices down. We have to produce chicken to Bord Bia standards and I think the price structure of food needs to be sorted.”
Pat Leahy, Abbeyfeale,
Co Limerick
“The outlook for the industry is positive, definitely. The only downfall at the minute is the cost of everything – the price of electricity, gas and meal are very high.
“In terms of prices, it’s average at the moment.
“There’s room for the price of flesh to go up all right but we’re not getting it.
“If we could get down the cost of electricity it’d mean a lot but it is, in fairness, starting to come down.
“We’re paying €600/t for meal. It’s very dear and it has gone up since the war in Ukraine.
“The cost of transporting it is a big thing too.”
Pat Leahy and Gerard Sexton.
Gerard Sexton, Templeglantine, Co Limerick
“I’m dairying at the minute but I’m diversifying into chickens and building a 40,000-bird broiler house.
“I decided to get into it because the weather doesn’t affect the poultry and it’s the quickest pay pack that you could spend in the line of a farm. It’s only about three hours work a day compared to dairying.
“I never worked on a poultry farm but I worked in chicken sales. I was a sales man with Kerry Group selling fresh chickens for 11 years.
“I’m diversifying because I don’t have great confidence in milk. I think the Chinese are getting into it and we are getting wetter summers.”
Billy Gray, Milltown, Co Kildare
“Marketing of chickens is not done right. They put gin in a big fancy glass, put a bay leaf in it and made it look sexy. Now every young person is drinking it.
Billy Gray.
“I’m producing free-range chickens and I sell into a lot of restaurants and prices are OK at the moment. From our end of things, I’m selling a product at a price that has a margin, there’s no middle-man and that’s the difference.”
Seamus Brosnan, Ardagh, Co Limerick
“We really have no fears for the chicken industry because our carbon footprint is so low.
“We’re nearly as low as the fishing industry and they only catch the fish, they don’t have to grow them. We have a frightfully low carbon footprint and we are frightfully efficient.
“Chicken price is good at the minute, we can’t complain. I think every chicken farmer, at the moment, down south anyway, is happy with the status quo.
Seamus and Donnacha Brosnan.
“However, supermarkets have forced the prices down. We have to produce chicken to Bord Bia standards and I think the price structure of food needs to be sorted.”
Pat Leahy, Abbeyfeale,
Co Limerick
“The outlook for the industry is positive, definitely. The only downfall at the minute is the cost of everything – the price of electricity, gas and meal are very high.
“In terms of prices, it’s average at the moment.
“There’s room for the price of flesh to go up all right but we’re not getting it.
“If we could get down the cost of electricity it’d mean a lot but it is, in fairness, starting to come down.
“We’re paying €600/t for meal. It’s very dear and it has gone up since the war in Ukraine.
“The cost of transporting it is a big thing too.”
Pat Leahy and Gerard Sexton.
Gerard Sexton, Templeglantine, Co Limerick
“I’m dairying at the minute but I’m diversifying into chickens and building a 40,000-bird broiler house.
“I decided to get into it because the weather doesn’t affect the poultry and it’s the quickest pay pack that you could spend in the line of a farm. It’s only about three hours work a day compared to dairying.
“I never worked on a poultry farm but I worked in chicken sales. I was a sales man with Kerry Group selling fresh chickens for 11 years.
“I’m diversifying because I don’t have great confidence in milk. I think the Chinese are getting into it and we are getting wetter summers.”
Billy Gray, Milltown, Co Kildare
“Marketing of chickens is not done right. They put gin in a big fancy glass, put a bay leaf in it and made it look sexy. Now every young person is drinking it.
Billy Gray.
“I’m producing free-range chickens and I sell into a lot of restaurants and prices are OK at the moment. From our end of things, I’m selling a product at a price that has a margin, there’s no middle-man and that’s the difference.”
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