IRELAND-EARLY SPRING WITH GOOD GRASS.
Spring has arrived early and these bright, sunny days surely give us all a boost as we get on with our work. As I write this diary I look out of the window and see all the cows lying contentedly in the warmth of the sun having already filled their bellies with the lush spring grass. They are outside all day now and come indoors only by night.
The early spring has also facilitated other cattle being allowed outdoors. A bunch of weanling heifers are grazing happily in one paddock while a batch of autumn-born calves stretch lazily in a paddock beside the house. Normally such cattle would stay indoors until the middle of April at least, but, despite the hard winter months, we currently have both sufficient grass supply and lovely weather. Of course, if the weather should turn nasty they will all come back indoors again -- we certainly won’t risk damaging the grazing area at this early stage in the season.
All calves and weanlings were injected with Blackleg vaccine before being allowed outdoors as a precautionary measure. As you know we live in a high-risk area where this is concerned and sometimes even the most diligent attention to precaution does not prevent occurrence of this disease.
Ploughing for the spring barley crop continues on the out farm. The recent drying has resulted in the land being in ideal condition for this job and thankfully I have secured sufficient seed for my needs. While I am continuing with the tillage enterprise, and have even expanded this slightly, because there are now no cattle on the farm, there was the quandary of the grazing area and what to do with it, but the lads have relieved me of any such worries. They need extra grazing for their replacement heifers and calves, so they will use the grazing areas to full advantage. I have to say I am very happy about this arrangement and I can start talking to the animals again. Indeed, to this effect, they have been over spreading fertiliser and will move their animals in a couple of weeks.
All the cattle sheds are currently being disinfected as per official requirement. I was planning on getting in a contractor to do this job but then decided to do it ourselves, given that we have a lot of extra free time on hand with no cattle to feed. Indeed, I could get used to this too. It is, however, a time consuming and tiring job so we just do it in small doses. At the rate we are going it will take another week or 10 days.
You know it is just as well that we are enjoying lovely spring weather at the moment because otherwise most farmers would be going around with heavy hearts. I am dismayed at the amount of disillusionment among farmers on the ground and really worried that many will simply stop. Farmers are devastated with all the price drops and cannot see a way forward. The human story here is being ignored in the interests of profiteering and there is no accountability. And those of us who are older no longer have even a decent pension to carry us through because it has been swallowed up into a great black hole.
How can we be expected to carry on a business that carries inflated input costs and earns an income equivalent to that of 26 years ago? The proposal or plan is to reduce the price of milk to 18c/l -- 36c for two litres -- while I purchased two litres in the shop at a cost of €2.14. There is much talk about Fair Trade in Third World countries. There is no such thing even in our own country in the so-called First World.
I am left reeling with the cost of spare parts for the plough, filters for the tractors and spare parts for the fertiliser spreader. The cost of hydraulic oil for the machines is frightening. The cost of seed and fertiliser appears to have no ceiling and bears no relation to the price for final product. There is no balance.
There is much concern about the amount of calves and young cattle being exported at the moment but who can blame any farmer for going down this route. Certainly keeping them to finish for sale to the factories is a non runner. There is no income to be made in that way and very possibly a considerable loss. On the other hand, it is beyond me to understand the prices in the marts these times. Again, there is no income to be made here. Paying astronomical prices for cattle to bring home to finish for the factories is one sure route to bankruptcy.
There are now not enough dairy herd replacement heifers in the country to replace existing cows and there are not enough sucklers to produce for the future. It looks like it will take a catastrophe when we will not produce enough food to feed the nation to open the eyes of those in power. We will see then if the factories can maintain their profit margins.
As far as I can see, we are all now expected to pay the price of bad investments by those in power across the board. However, there is no leadership from the top and there most certainly is no accountability.
- Oliver McDonnell