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Succession on farms was flagged as a major concern among vets at the Cattle Association of Veterinary Ireland (CAVI) conference last week.
Stress and workload were highlighted as deterrents for new entrants when family members retired.
“I’m losing two to three dairy clients a year,” vet Donal Murphy said.
“An awful lot of what we spoke about today is aspirational but if we don’t have farmers to farm then it is pie in the sky stuff.”
A lack of successor was also highlighted as a huge issue by UCD professor Finbarr Mulligan and Munster Bovine’s Doreen Corridan.
“What we’re going to see is herd size going up and farmer numbers going down,” Corridan said.
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