The Virginia Show in Virginia, Co. Cavan, is set to return on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, with entries now open for the almost 500 classes to be contested on the day.

The official launch of the show took place at the Lakeside Manor Hotel in Virginia, Co. Cavan, on Thursday, June 27, and the special guest on the evening was the deputy president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Alice Doyle.

The show draws huge numbers of spectators from both farming and non-farming backgrounds, and some of the highlights in the livestock section will include the 39th annual Diageo Baileys Champion Dairy Cow Competition which takes place in conjunction with Tirlán.

This event has a total prize fund of €13,000.

The Carnaross Mart All-Ireland Male and Female Weanling Championship will also take place on the day with a total prize fund of €5,000.

Other major competitions in the livestock section include:

• The Liffey Meats €2,000 Champion Beef Bullock;
• The Tirlán Virginia Friesian in-calf-Heifer;
• The Lakeland Dairy Champion of the Show;
• Francie Brady Charolais Champion of the Show;
• A.W. Ennis Interbreed Champion of the Show;
• Lisgrey House Restaurant Commercial Champion of the show
• Young Handlers in Dairy, Beef and Sheep.

According to the organisers, there are dairy and beef classes “for all types of cattle”.

“These include the usual Holstein Friesians dairy classes and non-Friesian dairy breeds. There are also commercial classes, continental, and pedigree classes for breeds including Herefords, Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Limousin, Simmental, and Belgian Blue.”

Other classes at Virginia Show

As well as livestock, the Final of the All Ireland Art Competition takes place at the show and this is sponsored by Fleetwood Paints.

SuperValu Virginia is also sponsoring the ICA Guild Skills of the Year again and the theme this year is based on ‘the Seasons of the Year’.

The ‘Quality Onion All Ireland Championship Final’ takes place at the show again this year also.

Qualifiers will take place in:

• Irish Draught Filly Foal Championship;
• The Connemara Three-Year-Old Filly All Ireland Championship;
• All Ireland Donkey Mare and Foal Championship
• North-Eastern Limousin Club Calf Qualifier;
• The Gain Dog Food All Ireland Championship;
• The All-Ireland Gun Dog Championship;
• The All-Ireland Irish Native Breed Dog Championship;
• The All-Ireland Soft Feather: Heavy Breeding Pair Chicken Championship;
• The All-Ireland True and Rare True Bantam Breeding Pair Chicken Championship.

In the equine section as well as the qualifiers, there are show classes for brood mare, light and coloured horses, ridden hunter and cob, heavy horses, palomino horses and ponies, welsh and Connemara as well as the miniature horses and donkeys.

The ever expanding classes for sheep will see strong competition in the pedigree Suffolk, Texel, Charalois, and Vendeen as well as recent additions of Native Galway, Blue Texel and Dassenkop breeds that will compete for the Paddy Keoghan Cup for Pedigrees.

In the crossbred section, there will be strong classes with the overall winner receiving the Hugh Faulkner Cup. There are also classes for Goats.

There are many classes for:

• Farm and Garden Produce;
• Home Industries, Arts and Crafts;
• Fruit and Flowers;
• Home industries;
• Craftwork;
• Hand writing;
• Short stories, poetry and paintings;
• Photography, confined sections to Active Age Groups and more than 20 Children’s classes which are some of the best supported classes at the show.

As well as the many classes, there are a number of other attractions including a fashion show which “is always a huge crowd puller” according to the organisers.

Irish celebrity chef and author, Chef Adrian Martin, originally from Cavan, will demonstrate his culinary skills at the cookery demonstration at this year’s Show.

A staple at Virginia Show, crowds gather at the marquee near the school building for entertainment by a host of musicians.

As well as this, nearby artisan food markets and trade stands allow visitors to interact, ask questions, and discuss with those involved in all sorts of food production.

The ever-popular dog show has grown from strength to strength with great competition for these highly sought-after red rosettes.

The birds of prey exhibition is back with a new feature this year with a display and interactive hub.

The show organisers expressed its thanks to all its sponsors and appealled to all show visitors to shop local.

In total, almost 500 classes showcasing the finest of agriculture and lifestyle will be on display at Virginia Show on Wednesday, August 21, not forgetting the over 200 trade stands to meet all tastes.

More details are available on the show social media and website.

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A new Teagasc organic farming research project, Growing Resilient Organic Farming Systems (GROFarmS), is being undertaken to demonstrate to farmers efficient organic systems of production.

The project is in conjunction with University College Dublin (UCD) and it aims to address the current “research gaps” in organic farming.

The research will develop evidence on best practice technologies to support “profitable and sustainable organic” beef and lamb finishing systems, according to Teagasc.

A certified organic holding at Kildavin/Johnstown Castle in Co. Wexford will develop clear guidelines for “efficient and profitable” organic-beef finishing systems.

The conversion of the Kildavin farm to organic certification standards will be overseen by Johnstown Castle enterprise leader Dr. David Wall.

The beef finishing research will be led by Teagasc, Grange, Co. Meath and beef enterprise leader, Dr. Paul Crosson.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon met the GROFarmS team to hear the progress with the project and the plans to spread the information through organic specialists.  

Teagasc researcher and GROFarmS project leader, Kevin Kilcline said:

“The area of organic farming has more than trebled since 2020. There is a pressing need for scientific research on organic farming practices to support evidence-based best practice adoption.

“This project will provide new information on economic and environmental aspects of organic conversion and best practice adoption.”  

Organic sheep farming research

Research on sustainable organic lamb production will be conducted at the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre in Athenry, Co. Galway led by sheep enterprise leader Dr. Philip Creighton.

They will be researching finishing options and management systems for organic hill and lowland lambs and will be conducting the research in collaboration with UCD.

According to Teagasc, this work will take into account effects on animal performance, environmental impact and economic returns.  

The Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme in Athenry will develop the Teagasc National Farm Survey to include a representative sample of organic farms.

The commercial organic farms will provide “in-depth socioeconomic and environmental sustainability data” to compare the performance of organic and conventional farms.

This research will be led by Teagasc rural development specialist, Dr. Mary Ryan and an organic farm recorder, Niall Stinger.

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The Australian House of Representatives has passed legislation aimed at banning live sheep exports by sea from May 1, 2028.

The move, as part of the Export Control Amendment (ending live sheep exports by sea) Bill 2024, now advances to the senate for further debate and a vote.

The bill passed in the lower house, by a margin of 89 to 54.

The federal government has highlighted the economic context and welfare considerations driving the ban.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia, Murray Watt pointed out that while the live sheep export industry contributes $77 million to the national economy, sheep meat exports are valued at $4.5 billion annually, with domestic demand for sheep products reaching $3.5 billion.

Live sheep exports

The transition from live exports is also supported by a $107 million package intended to help farmers and the supply chain in Western Australia, according to the government.

Minister Watt stated: “The transition plan strikes a balance between improving sheep welfare and providing time for a sustainable pathway for sheep farmers, the supply chain participants and communities in Western Australia, and for our trading partners to adjust.”

However, the bill still faced significant scrutiny.

Nationals leader, David Littleproud previously criticised the plan as being “senseless”, arguing that it would merely shift the market to other countries with lower animal welfare standards.

CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council, Mark Harvey-Sutton said the passage of the sheep ban bill through the House of Representatives was an act of “political bastardry”.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King said she acknowledged the industry’s concerns but insisted that the ban was necessary to end uncertainty for sheep producers and related businesses.

The bill still has to be passed in the senate and the decision may significantly influence the future trajectory of Australia’s sheep industry depending on the result.

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The Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC) and Teagasc have jointly filmed two short videos to provide “tips and techniques” for sheep shearing, so farmers can present wool to merchants “in the best possible condition”.

The videos, which the IGWC calls “comprehensive” are intended to support sheep farmers and shearers during shearing time to retain the quality and value of wool.

The videos also come with a digital PDF with the same information.

One video is on preparing for shearing, the provides insights in the shearing process, including guidance on optimal shearing conditions to ensure the sheep’s welfare and wool quality.

This video also explains some shearing techniques, with instructions on shearing preparations that minimise stress on the sheep and prevent damage to the wool.

The other video provides tips on harvesting wool, including how to roll and store wool immediately after shearing to preserve its integrity and value.

Part of this video includes advice on how to maintain the cleanliness and avoid contamination of wool.

The IGWC said that the videos are part of an ongoing commitment to supporting the sheep farming community on the island of Ireland “by providing practical resources that help farmers increase the value of their wool”.

“Proper shearing and handling not only retains the quality of the wool but also enhance its market value, benefitting both farmers and the wider wool industry,” the council said.

Alison Gault, interim chairperson of the IGWC, said: “Our Wool Quality and Presentation Working Group have prepared these video and digital supports for sheep farmers and shearers to support them during shearing season to retain the quality and value of the wool.”

The videos feature sheep farmers David Heraty and Jayne Harkness-Bones, who Gault said are experienced sheep farmers and wool handlers.

“Presenting wool in the best possible condition at the farmgate helps to ensure a better return for everyone all along the value chain. Value can be lost at shearing time due to a lack of preparation.

“Additional resources are then required by the wool merchants to bring wool up to standard, which reduces the price for the farmers and the potential development for the wool. This is an opportunity for sheep farmers to apply some simple steps before, during and after shearing to maximise their wool at harvesting time,” Gault added.

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Sheep slaughterings decreased by 15.7% in May 2024 when compared with the same month in 2023, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This represents a decrease of approximately 211,000 heads during the period, according to the CSO livestock slaughtering figures published today (Wednesday, June 26).

Between January to May, the slaughterings decreased by 7.9% for sheep, or almost 100,000 heads, to almost 1.2 million heads compared to the same period in 2023.

For cattle slaughterings during the first five months of the year, the figures show an increase of 3.4%, estimated to be over 789,000 heads.

However, cattle slaughterings dropped by 1.9% or almost 3,000 heads, to around 151,000 heads in May 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Slaughterings

Pig slaughterings are estimated to be approximately 1.4 million heads for January to May 2024, up by over 6,000 heads or 0.4% on the same period in 2023.

The number of pigs slaughtered in May 2024 decreased by nearly 3,000 heads or 1% to approximately 286,000 heads when compared with May 2023.

Statistician in the agriculture accounts and production section, Mairead Griffin said: “Cattle slaughterings dropped by 1.9% to almost 151,000 heads in May 2024 when compared with May 2023.

“During the same period, the number of sheep slaughtered decreased by 15.7% to approximately 211,000 heads, while pig slaughterings fell by 1% to nearly 286,000 heads.”

Sheep

Meanwhile, sheep kill figures have reached peak heights to-date in 2024 as the Eid al-Adha festival has drawn to a close.

The most recent sheep kill figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have shown that 63,325 sheep were slaughtered during week 24 (ending June 16).

The weekly throughput is at the highest it has been since week 11 of this year, when there were 61,374 sheep slaughtered, 56,210 of which were hoggets.

Spring lamb throughput remains down on this time last year by over 32,000 head and 75,013 fewer hoggets have been slaughtered to-date this year.

Taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 1,147,586 sheep have been processed so far in 2024.

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Judges from the UK and Ireland will take on the challenge of tapping out the winners from the best of British livestock, at this year’s Borderway Agri Expo in Carlisle on Friday, November 1, 2024, including William Smith from Co. Meath.

One of the UK’s premier livestock events, which is watched live online by thousands of people all over the world, Borderway Agri Expo attracts stiff competition for top honours from breeders and farmers who bring along their award-winning cattle and sheep.

Since the event’s inception in 2008, organisers Harrison & Hetherington have invited high calibre judges every year to make the almost impossible distinctions between excellent and outstanding.

Now in its 18th year, four internationally respected judges representing Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland have accepted the invitation to judge at the expo.

Meath judge

William Smith will be travelling from Co. Meath to judge the cattle classes at Borderway; the Baby Beef Classes and Young Handlers will be judged by Scotland’s Craig Robertson.

Representing England is Cumbrian-based Steven Wilson, who will lead the sheep judging with the Mule classes being judged by Welsh sheep farmer and breeder Brian Davies.

Harrison & Hetherington’s Agri Expo organiser, Laura Millar, explained the weight of responsibility the judges are taking on their shoulders at Agri Expo:

“This event has become one of the most important showcases for the best of British cattle and sheep in the annual calendar, and our classes take place under the scrutiny of expert breeders and farmers not only here at Borderway, but online across Europe and the USA, and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

“It takes an exceptional judge to command the respect of an audience like that on such a big stage, and our four judges have the integrity, knowledge, and the authority to make decisions that everyone will accept.

“They have the highest of standards themselves, and that’s what they will be looking for in our show rings.”

A full-time farmer and breeder, William Smith founded the famous pedigree Millbrook Limousin herd that produced the mother of Wilodge Posh Spice, who set a world record sale price in 2021.

His judging credentials include the French National and Royal Welsh Limousin Shows among many others, but he has accepted the invitation to judge at Borderway as a “special” honour.

“I am very humbled to be asked to judge at Agri Expo. The quality of the stock is second to none and you get the very best cattle at Agri Expo of both show beef and presentation,” Smith said.

Borderway Agri Expo is considered by many as being one of the largest autumn livestock events in the UK agri industry, showcasing the best quality beef cattle and sheep, and the latest developments in farming practice, breeding, genetics, machinery, equipment, technology, environmental issues, livestock marketing and export opportunities.

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A recent study by Teagasc has highlighted the agricultural threat posed by crane fly larvae (leatherjackets), more commonly known as ‘daddy long-legs’ when fully grown.

These larvae damage grazing pastures and crops by feeding on roots and stems, causing significant economic losses.

Teagasc’s Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme has published findings on sustainable pest control methods.

The research conducted by Dr. Aisling Moffat, under the guidance of Dr. Louise McNamara, focused on grassland farms in Scotland, but found the findings are applicable to Irish agriculture due to similar climatic conditions and land use practices.

The research, covering data from 1980-2020 with a focus on 2009-2018, also revealed that leatherjacket populations are significantly influenced by farm management practices and weather conditions.

In Northern Ireland alone, leatherjacket damage is estimated at £1.5 million annually, factoring in insecticide and fertiliser costs.

This figure, however, might be outdated as chlorpyrifos, a primary insecticide used against leatherjackets, was banned in 2019 due to environmental and genotoxic concerns, according to the research.

Daddy long-legs

Intensive practices such as pesticide use and sheep grazing tend to reduce leatherjacket numbers, whereas less intensive management results in higher populations.

Larger fields and the presence of sheep grazing also contribute to lower larval populations, as sheep grazing disrupts larval habitats, the researchers have said.

Weather conditions play a crucial role, with temperature and precipitation affecting leatherjacket stages differently.

Warmer temperatures generally reduce populations at the adult and second instar stages but increase third instar larva during warmer winters. Rainfall too influences larval numbers.

Further research adopted by Teagasc will explore sustainable techniques such as diverse crop rotations and organic farming to control leatherjacket population, while promoting farm biodiversity.

Implementing these strategies could lead to a more balanced and environmentally friendly approach to pest management, ensuring the protection of crops and livelihoods, according to Teagasc.

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Large numbers of farmers applied for the ‘reseeding grant’ which offered a financial incentive of up to €300/ha, or approximately €122/ac to reseed land with two different sward types.

The 2024 Multi-species Sward and Red Clover Silage Measures opened for applications on Tuesday, March 5 this year through the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) online application system.

The deadline for farmers or their advisors to submit applications for these schemes in 2024 fell on Wednesday (May 15).

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has recently provided Agriland with information on the number of applicants to the Red Clover Silage Measure (RCSM) and Multi-Species Swards Measure (MSSM) and the area of ground entered under each initiative.

The total applicants and area/measure are set out below:

DAFM specified that amendments were allowed up to May 31 and that these figures were subject to change.

According to the DAFM information, over 15,000ha or 37,200ac of land were entered in the two measures combined. 5,341ha were entered for the MSSM and 9,727ha were applied for under the RCSM.

The RCSM proved to be the more popular option amongst farmers with 1,392 applicants under this initiative versus 1,062Ha under the MSSM.

To be eligible under these measures the swards must be sown between July 16, 2023 and July 15, 2024 and established by September 30, 2024.

According to the DAFM, the RCSM and MSSM aim “to incentivise farmers to explore less nitrogen intensive forms of production”.

Launching the measures earlier this year, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said:

“Following on from the success of the two previous years’ programmes, I welcome the reopening of these two measures which will expand on the areas already established.

“As part of the ongoing commitment by this Government to support and improve the sustainability of farming, the 2024 budget will be €2.5 million for the measures.

“A payment rate of up to €300/ha has been retained and will allow for the continuing support in establishing these swards that assist farmers reduce their chemical fertilise usage.”

The minister added that the establishment of red clover silage and multi-species swards “creates opportunities for farmers to improve the environmental and sustainability of their farming systems”.

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This year (2024) to date has been described as “the toughest year on record” for growing grass at a recent farm walk which took place in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.

Speaking at the Irish Grassland Association (IGA) beef event the farm of Martin Shaughnessy, Teagasc advisor Kevin Madden explained the challenges farmers have faced this year.

He said: “As regards grass grown, it’s probably been the toughest year I’d say on record for growing grass.”

He added that the weather conditions experienced this year have made achieving high levels of grass growth more challenging:

“We had one of the wettest springs we ever had and top that off with a cold May and a cold June so far.”

Despite the challenging conditions faced in the region, the Teagasc advisor praised the host farmers’ efforts in sustaining high levels of animal performance predominantly off grass, saying: “He’s still producing top-quality stock”.

The IGA Beef Event focused on the host farmers’ impressive animal performance both in his beef and sheep enterprises and how these levels of animal performance are being achieved with a core focus on the efficient utilisation of grass grown on the farm.

According to the latest grass growth update from Teagasc, cold weather has dropped growth rates back on Irish farms to 58kg/ha/day and 50kg/Ha/day respectively on Irish dairy and drystock farms.

The fall in growth rates has been partially attributed to a cooler northerly airflow, which has slowed down the regrowth of grass on paddocks that have been cut or grazed.

This cooler airflow which has been experienced this month is expected to continue to dominate until next week and Met Eireann has forecast “above average rainfall”, which will be more welcome in some parts of the country than others.

The Teagasc advice to farmers whose grass covers drop below 150 Kg DM/LU and pre-grazing yields start to drop under 1,200kg DM/Ha is to hold rotation length at 21 days, increase the grazing area or introduce extra supplement.

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A further extension to the date by which lime must be spread under the National Liming Programme has been announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue today (Wednesday, June 12).

Lime purchased under the scheme can now be spread until Thursday, October 31. This means the deadline has been pushed out by a further four months (the previous liming deadline was June 28) due to poor soil trafficability.

The decision comes after Minister McConalogue previously ruled out any further extension to the deadline, which initially had been on October 31, 2023, but was extended until March 31, 2024, and again until June 28 due to wet weather.

Announcing the decision today, however, the minister said that while he had hoped the previous extension would allow ground conditions improve to allow the spreading of lime, soil trafficability has not improved sufficiently in some parts of the country.

“Information from quarries estimates that a little over 30% of pre-paid lime has been spread to date, with this figure being lower in certain parts of the country.

“With the previous deadline fast approaching, I am extending the spreading date until the end of October to give all farmers the opportunity to apply lime as per the conditions of the scheme,” Minister McConalogue said.

However, there will be no further extension beyond the deadline on October 31 as balancing payments are required to be processed and made in 2024, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The National Liming Programme was introduced by the minister in spring 2023 to incentivise the use of lime as a natural soil conditioner, which corrects soil acidity, makes nutrients more available for plant uptake and improves overall soil health.

Over 14,500 claims were submitted under the programme with advance payments issued to farmers in December 2023. Payments were conditional on the purchase of lime no later than November 7, 2023.

Subsequently, participants were required to spread the purchased lime before the liming deadline at the end of June. However, this date has now been extended until Thursday, October 31, 2024.

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The Teagasc Environment, Soils and Land Use Research Centre at Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford will host an open day focused on sustainability next month.

The event entitled, ‘Farming for a Better Future 2024’, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, July 16, was officially launched this week.

The open day will demonstrate technologies and practices for efficient, environmentally sustainable, profitable and more resilient farming systems, and the supports available to implement them.

Johnstown Castle

Teagasc has said that the event aims to build understanding of the environmental challenges faced by the sector and to provide support to farmers.

Attendees will be updated on the latest practices and technologies identified by research, and tested at field and farm system scales.

The event will discuss practical management of dairy systems, the calf-to-beef herd and the new organic beef finishing trial at the Teagasc Johnstown Castle Research Centre.

Teagasc has also encouraged tillage farmers to attend as there will be a focus on soil health, crop nutrition and cover crop establishment and management.

There will be a range of exhibits for farmers to view at the open day covering various topics, including:

• Management of red and white clover and multispecies swards;
• Fertiliser and manure technologies;
• Better farming for water: 8 actions for change;
• Biodiversity;
• Dairy and dairy-beef systems;
• Teagasc advisory and education;
• Health and safety for sustainable farming.

Launching the open day, Teagasc director Prof. Frank O’Mara said that farmers are being increasingly asked to change and adapt their farming practices to reduce impacts on the natural environment.

“The science underpinning some of these requested changes arises from the research undertaken by Teagasc in the Environment, Soils and Land Use Research Centre, Johnstown Castle, and in its other research centres.

“This open day will bring together all of this available knowledge, with simple practical advice and messages for farmers to consider,” he said.

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A late application period for sheep farmers to still apply to the new National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) will close in the coming days.

There is a 25-calendar day period after the May 21 closing date for the acceptance of late applications and any necessary supporting documentation.

However, deductions to payments at a rate of 1% per working day in respect of the NSWS will apply to late applications which are received during this period.

This late applications period closes on Saturday, June 15, 2024.

Selecting your scheme actions:

All applicants must select one action from the list of category A actions and one action from the list of category B actions.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that the payment will be per eligible breeding ewe, and payment for full scheme compliance will be €8/ewe (€4/ewe/action completed).

Applicants are asked to choose their actions carefully, as once their application has been submitted, it will not be possible to change their actions over the lifetime of the scheme.

The DAFM has confirmed that 17,167 farmers applied for the NSWS, covering almost two million ewes.

Sheep Welfare Scheme participation

The NSWS measures are additional to those in the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) and must be applied for separately.

To qualify for participation in the scheme:

• You must have an ovine active DAFM herd number;
• You must be farming a holding in respect of which a valid 2024 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application is submitted to the department, within the required application period;
• You must have breeding ewes recorded on the national sheep census in 2023;
• There are four actions in the scheme and applicants must complete in full two actions, one from each category. Completion of both actions are mandatory for payment.

Applicants who have not submitted a 2023 sheep census return by the February 14, 2024 deadline will not be eligible to apply for the scheme.

The scheme will run from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, however actions selected must be completed by October 15, 2024.

Payments in the new scheme are expected in November, but reductions in payment will apply where not all actions are completed.

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The rural development chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), John Curran has called for an extension to the deadline under the National Liming Programme until the end of December.

The current liming deadline is Friday, June 28. The final spreading date was initially on October 31, 2023, but has been extended multiple times already due to wet weather.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, however, recently said he does “not envisage” any further extension to the final lime spreading date on June 28.

Liming deadline

The IFA has heard from lime supplies in the west particularly that only 20-30% of pre-paid lime has been delivered and spread to date, which is “concerning”, according to Curran.

While previous extensions to the deadline “helped”, he said the persistent wet weather for much of the period since, coupled with heavy grass covers, has “significantly diminished” opportunities to spread lime.

“Many farmers, particularly those with red clover swards, will be looking to get multiple silage crops this year to rebuild fodder reserves given the long and extended housing period last year.

“There is a danger that some may apply lime onto silage ground between harvests to comply. This would have significant consequences on silage quality and must be avoided,” Curran said.

The IFA rural development chair said farmers need additional time to make “full use” of the benefits of the scheme, which will allow them to “better plan” for the weeks and months ahead.

A further extension would also “prove resource efficient” from a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) perspective, “saving having to claw back monies at a later date”, Curran added.

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Armagh Show 2024 boasted, possibly, its largest cattle entry of all time. Judging of the various classes went on well into the afternoon.

The interbreed beef championship was awarded to Kilkeel Limousin breeder, Trevor Shields with a tremendous 22-month-old heifer, Glenmarshal Theduchess.

She looked an absolute picture in the ring.

John Kingham, from Tateetra Farms in Co. Louth, judged the beef interbreed class. He described his champion as an elite heifer.

“She just stood out that little bit on the day,” he said.

“For me she had everything that a elite beef breeding heifer should have – tremendous presence, scope and an all-round quality that only top animals possess.

“I was very impressed with the overall quality of the cattle taking part in the classes that were herd throughout the day.”

Tateetra Farm is home to the largest herd of sucklers  in Ireland.

John Kingham continued: “We will be calving in excess of 500 cows this year.”

The winning beef interbreed connections were the inaugural recipients of the Charlotte Crowe Perpetual Cup, named after a former patron of Armagh Show, who passed away in December 2023.

Sheep classes at Armagh Show

Meanwhile, the summer of 2024 just keeps on improving for Co. Down Suffolk sheep breeder, Mark Priestly.

He started off this year’s showing season with an emphatic Balmoral interbreed championship victory, showing a truly elite shearling ewe.

And then, just for good measure, he secured the interbreed sheep championship at last weekend’s Armagh Show with another shearling ewe.

The commitment of the Downpatrick man to breed Suffolk sheep of the highest quality is immense. This was his third Armagh interbreed sheep victory on the spin.

Alison Crabbe, from Raphoe in Co. Donegal, judged the final sheep class of the day at Armagh Show 2024. She farms a mix of Beltex and Badger sheep in tandem with Hereford cattle.

The judge described her champion as a tremendous example of the Suffolk breed. “She has tremendous length and balance. It’s almost as if she had an extra rib. The shearling has tremendous breeding potential for the future,” she said.

The winning ewe will be put to the ram in September, in preparation for lambing next January.

Dairy champions

The dairy interbreed championship at Armagh Show 2024 was won by George and Jason Booth, from Stewartstown in Co. Tyrone, with their impressive Holstein third calver, Brookroad Satrin 185.

The reserve went to the Fleming family, from Seaforde in Co. Down with their Jersey third calver, Potterswalls Impression Lady 6.

The Holstein judge – Andrea Rafferty, from Co. Monaghan – described her champion as a tremendous dairy cow.

“She is very silky, very dairy and has tremendous feet and legs,” she said.

“Her mammary system is excellent. The cow also has tremendous balance. Both the winning cow and the reserve could win a lot of classes around the country.”

Sathrin is currently giving 55L of milk per day.

“She calved for the third time back in February,” Jason Booth explained.

“She was second in the four-year-old class at this year’s Balmoral Show. Hopefully she is back in calf to the Candain bull, Logic PP.

“We used a sexed straw, so hopefully we can look forward to the arrival of a heifer calf in a few months’ time.” 

The Jersey interbreed reserve is also performing extremely well at the present time.

According to Lindsay Fleming, she is giving 33L of milk at the present at 5.6% butterfat and 3.89% protein.

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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has today (Wednesday, June 5) announced the commencement of the 15% balancing payments to all eligible farmers under year 1 of the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS).

These balancing payments, worth €2.17 million, bring the total amount paid to over 17,020 farmers under the scheme for 2023 to €21.33 million.

The department issued the initial 85% advance payment to eligible farmers in November 2023.

However, last month it was revealed that there were over 1,400 farmers in the scheme who had yet to receive an advance payment.

Sheep Improvement Scheme

The Sheep Improvement Scheme is funded under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027, and provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector.

The scheme, which replaced the Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS), is co-funded by the DAFM and the EU and the payment rate is €12/ewe.

The department said that the payments under the scheme provide “a significant financial boost to the individual farmers, the sheep sector in general and the wider rural economy”.

A further 286 new entrants joined the SIS earlier this year bringing total participation in the scheme now to 18,940.

When the SIS is combined with this year’s rollout of the National Sheep Welfare Scheme, a total of €20/ewe is available to sheep farmers in 2024.

Any farmers with outstanding queries on the SIS are being urged to respond to the department’s sheep section immediately to facilitate payment.

DAFM will continue to issue payments on an ongoing basis as outstanding queries are resolved.

Farmers have also been reminded to take care and time in carrying out the actions they have selected under both schemes in 2024 and to accurately record them within the Action Record sheets provided by DAFM.

Meanwhile, the National Sheep Welfare Scheme will remain open for late applications, with a penalty being applied, up to June 15, 2024.

Just over 17,000 farmers have already applied to join the scheme which has a budget of €15 million.

Participants are required to complete two actions to receive the full payment of €8/ewe.

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A Co. Wicklow couple, who run a small business based at Ballinclea Farm, are working with farmers to preserve the breeding lines of sheep farmed for Irish wool production.

Ériu, founded by Dubliner Zoë Daly and sheep farmer Lionel Mackey, is working with over 80 farmers across the country to source wool which is then spun at Donegal Yarns and hand knitted in Dublin – a true “farm to yarn” network.

Currently farming just under 100 Bluefaced Leicester and Romney sheep, Ballinclea Farm plans to grow its flock size this year, buying rams and ewes from breeders to preserve these breeding lines, Daly said.

The couple are excited about the potential of Irish wool from a breeding perspective, working with the Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders’ Association and a group called the Emerald Romneys.

Speaking to Agriland, Daly said only certain farmers are “committed” to wool quality because they are “fed up with the pathetic price that wool has gone down to” and that there is “no incentive” to breed for wool quality.

Grandmother’s wool blanket

Daly told Agriland that she first fell in love with wool when she had her first baby nine years ago and her grandmother gifted her a hand-knitted baby blanket made of wool.

At that time, Daly didn’t know much about the “amazing benefits” of wool as a fibre that is temperature regulating, non-allergenic, fire resistant, wholly compostable, and carbon friendly.

Turning her new “obsession” into a business idea, Daly, who previously worked in documentary making, wanted to document the story of souring wool directly from the farmer and producing a blanket.

Determined to find the “most beautiful” Irish wool, Daly was amazed that she could not buy wool anywhere, despite the number of sheep in Ireland, which didn’t make sense to her.

During her research, Daly kept bumping into the same story claiming that Irish wool is “worthless” and of “very low quality”, and that it’s “only fit to be exported as carpet material”. A narrative which she found not to be true.

After meeting farmers and hand spinners who told her that there is beautiful wool in Ireland, she collected fleeces from farmers in the back of her car and sent them to the UK to process them as there were no mills available in Ireland.

“I needed to find out for myself if this narrative was true, that Irish wool was terrible. When I got it back in my hands and knit it up, I knew that this narrative wasn’t true, that Irish wool is of high value.

“Once I knew that, I thought I have to do something about this,” she said. The wool enthusiast then curated the blend she wanted the use, choosing Bluefaced Leicester and Romney sheep.

Along her journey meeting with farmers, Daly met Lionel Mackey, a sheep farmer and businessman from Wicklow – an encounter bound to lead to the establishment of Ériu.

Wicklow

Together with Mackey, her now soon-to-be husband, Daly founded Ériu which is based on a “farm to yarn” network, working directly with Bluefaced Leicester and Romney sheep farmers nationwide.

Shortly after meeting Mackey, Daly learned that there was already a woolen mill on his farm which was about to be sold outside of Ireland, while at the same time there was a warehouse sitting empty on the farm.

Recognising its potential, the couple bought the mill and is currently working to receive funding to set it up. However, Daly believes in working with other mills as “collaboration is the key to get the wool industry back up on its feet”.

Irish wool has its “own character” and is different from the “mass imported” Marino wool which most of the world’s wool market and the Irish knitwear market relies on, Daly said.

Ériu is the first Irish brand to use 100% Irish wool and pays its suppliers 10 times the industry price to incentivise them to maintain the wool and shear it correctly, according to the co-founder.

The Co. Wicklow business is a member of the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC), which brings together wool stakeholders across the island of Ireland to realise the potential of Irish wool as a natural, sustainable and versatile material.

A lot of the wool imported globally is “not fully sustainable”, “not always ethical”, and “untraceable”, while at Ériu, everything is done in Ireland at a low carbon footprint. This comes at a higher price, she said.

The couple meets many people who want to use Irish wool, but the cost is too high. But there are also many people who consider using Irish wool within certain collections or products, the co-founder said.

“We need to keep creating markets, and then we can keep incentivising the farmer, and then the farmers can increase the quality of the wool and grow the networks,” Daly said.

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There is strong demand for wool shedding sheep across the UK and Ireland, with the continuing growth in Easycare numbers a case in point.

This, in turn, is a response to the poor wool prices that have been available to farmers for the past number of years.

Given this backdrop, scientists from the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh are currently investigating the genetic basis upon which certain breeds of sheep voluntarily shed their wool.

Wool shedding, however, is not a simple switch-on / switch-off process. Individual sheep can demonstrate a range of abilities, where shedding is concerned.

Some are able to shed all their wool: others none at all. In between these two extremes, sheep will demonstrate the complete range of shedding capabilities.

The members of the Roslin team have come up with a scoring system, which takes full account of this reality.

The scale starts at the figure ‘zero’, reflecting animals that do not shed at all, up to the figure ‘nine’ for animals that will lose all of their fleeces. Scores are determined courtesy of a visual assessment process.  

Wool shedding normally begins at the end of April and continues through the rest of the spring and early summer months.

The Easycare breed has been developed with a strong focus on the ability of the sheep to shed their wool.

The Roslin Institute’s Dr. Emily Clark was a recent visitor to the Easycare flock of Campbell Tweed, who farms at Cairncastle, in Co. Antrim.

While there, she took nasal swabs from 160 young rams, all born in 2023. A shedding score was recorded for each animal as the swab was taken.

These yearling rams had been retained as potential flock sires and the sampling was carried out at the next stage of selection when they were physically assessed.

As part of the critical evaluation process carried out by former Co. Antrim Easycare flock owner, Campbell Tweed, any animal that was not deemed suitable for breeding at that stage, was culled.

All lambs within the Tweed flock are electronically tagged at birth. This makes their individual identification at any stage a straightforward process, using an electronic reader.  

Dr. Clark said: “My visit to Northern Ireland follows-on from work carried out by my Roslin colleague, Denis Headon, 10 years ago.

“We have already carried out a lot of work to identify the specific part of the Easycare genome that is responsible for wool shedding.

“It’s now a case of fine tuning this, in order to identify the exact genetic sequencing that drives the wool shedding process. The nasal swab sample taken from Campbell’s rams will help significantly in this process.”

Tweed, said: “The end game, from a commercial point of view, is to develop a test that will identify the wool shedding ability of individual sheep at a very early age.

“In our own case, we physically score the wool shedding ability, alongside with the physical performance of all the breeding sheep that we make available for sale.”

The current sheep shedding research at the Roslin Institute has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC) under the aegis of UK Reserach and Innovation.

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Early indications are showing the potential for the arrival of more settled weather later this week, according to the latest national weather forecast from Met Éireann.

The settled weather is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, May 30) and remain in place for the course of the June bank holiday weekend.

Farmers across the country will welcome the potential arrival of more settled conditions and if the dry weather prevails, contractors across the country are expected to be extremely busy harvesting bale and pit silage the length and breadth of the country.

According to Met Éireann, today (Wednesday, May 29) will see some clear spells, however, there will be scattered showers across the country and these will be heaviest and most frequent in northern areas.

Lowest temperatures today are expected to range from of 7°C to 10°C in a moderate north-westerly breeze.

The national forecaster has also said there will be a few rain showers around on Thursday morning, but these will clear leaving dry weather with some sunny spells later in the day.

Highest temperatures on Thursday are expected to range from 12°C to 17°C in a moderate to fresh north-westerly breeze.

Thursday nights’ weather is forecast to be dry, with long clear spells and lowest temperatures of 5°C to 9°C in a light north-westerly wind.

Friday’s weather is forecast to be dry and sunny, with light northerly winds and highest temperatures of 14°C to 19°C with conditions forecast to be coolest near north-facing coasts.

Friday night is expected to be dry with long clear spells and light northerly winds. A few pockets of mist and fog may form overnight and lowest temperatures are expected to range from 5°C to 9°C.

Saturday, June 1 is forecast to be dry with sunny spells in most areas, although conditions are expected to be cloudy at times near northern coasts. Highest temperatures of 15°C to 20°C with light northernly winds are expected.

Sunday, June 2, is looking cloudier but largely dry, with highest temperatures of 17°C to 22°C generally but cooler towards northern coasts.

The post Weather window for silage-cutting expected this week appeared first on Agriland.ie.

Competitors from across the globe will descend on Co. Galway this weekend for the All-Ireland and All Nationals Sheep Shearing and Woolhandling Championships.

The organisers of “Kepak Shearfest” at Mountbellew Mart have billed the two-day event, starting on Saturday (June 1), as “the Olympics of sheep shearing”.

There will be 13 different titles on offer for the competitors from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Australia and New Zealand.

The categories in the championships include, novice; woolhandling; junior; intermediate; blade; senior; Ireland versus Northern Ireland; and best family shearing and woolhandling.

Crowds attending the event will be able to see masterful shearers swiftly maneuvering through fleece, along with meticulous woolhandlers deftly sorting and preparing wool.

Sheep shearing

Outside of the competitions, attendees can enjoy music, raffles, cookery demonstrations, pedigree and rare breeds shows, crafts, and shopping.

The programme also includes entertainment for children, fashion and beauty shows, food trucks, sheepdog trials, and the Irish wool experience.

The fun is set to continue into the evening with two nights of live music concerts at “Martbeat”.

Performers on the lineup include Mike Denver, George Murphy and the Rising Sons, Michael English, and Cliona Hagan.

Brian McHale, the event organiser from Mountbellew Mart said that the event will offer a chance to showcase the region.

“The event will promote the west of Ireland and Irish wool to a worldwide audience,” he said.

Event partners include The Irish Sheep Shearers Association, Mountbellew Agricultural College, and Mountbellew Vintage Club.

David Mannion from Kepak Athleague said that the processor is very proud to support the event.

The company has been operating from its Athleague site for over 37 years, employing over 300 people.

“We are delighted to be involved in an event that the entire local community has rallied behind, and we hope you and your families have a great day,” he said.

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The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has announced the appointment of Hugh Farrell to the position of ICSA general secretary.

Farrell will replace the former general secretary Eddie Punch who stepped down from the role earlier this year to run as an Independent Ireland candidate for Ireland South in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

The new appointment to the role is a native of Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan and has been a senior official within ICSA for many years, most recently serving as chair of the Animal Health and Welfare Committee.

Upon his appointment, Farrell said:

“I am honoured to be appointed as the general secretary of ICSA. I look forward to working with our dedicated team and representing the hardworking livestock farmers who are the backbone of our agricultural sector.

“Throughout my time in ICSA, I have had the privilege of working closely with our members, gaining invaluable insights into the various sector challenges and opportunities.

“This experience has given me a comprehensive understanding of our members’ diverse needs, and I am committed to effectively representing their interests at both national and EU levels.”

Continuing, Farrell said: “One of my primary goals as general secretary is to grow the association and strengthen the voice of drystock farmers.

“Never has it been more important for this sector to stand united in the face of the many challenges ahead.

“ICSA is the one true voice of Irish cattle and sheep farmers and I want to ensure that every cattle and sheep farmer in Ireland feels supported and heard.”

ICSA president Sean McNamara welcomed the appointment, stating: “We are thrilled to have Hugh Farrell step into the role of general secretary.

“His proven commitment to advocating for the rights and welfare of farmers and rural communities makes him an invaluable asset to our organisation.”

In March of this year, the former ICSA general secretary Eddie Punch confirmed he was set to leave the association in order to run in the upcoming European Elections.

Punch stepped down from his role with ICSA after serving for 25 years and is also a member of Council at the Irish Management Institute and is on the board of directors of Sixmilebridge Co-operative Mart.

The post Hugh Farrell appointed as the new ICSA general secretary appeared first on Agriland.ie.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that 17,167 farmers applied for the National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) covering almost two million ewes.

The new scheme officially closed for applications at midnight on Tuesday (May 21).

The department said that there is a 25-calendar day period for the acceptance of late applications and any necessary supporting documentation.

However, deductions to payments at a rate of 1% per working day will apply to late applications which are received during this period.

This late applications period closes on June 15, 2024.

Sheep Welfare Scheme

The National Sheep Welfare Scheme complements the multi-annual Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS).

The scheme, which has a budget of €15 million in 2024, is funded under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan.

It is aimed at assisting farmers to produce better quality animals and implement practical animal welfare measures on their farms.

Participants in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme are required to complete two actions to receive the full payment of up to €8/ewe.

There are four actions in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme and applicants must complete, in full, two actions, one from each category, as follows:

• Category A:
  • Shearing, or;
  • Body Condition Scoring Ewes and appropriate follow-on management;
• Category B:
  • Clostridial vaccination of ewes, or;
  • Plunge Dipping to control external parasites.

The scheme will run from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, and actions selected must be completed by the October 15, 2024.

The department reminded farmers that the two actions chosen when applying to join the scheme must be adhered to by the applicant.

INHFA

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) previously said it had secured changes to two measures under the NSWS.

The farm organisation said that these changes relate to the plunge dipping measure and clostridial vaccine measure.

When the scheme was announced, the INHFA said that the date for completion of the dipping measures would prove difficult for hill sheep farmers.

The INHFA said that, after engagement with DAFM, farmers will be allowed avail of a later completion date for both those actions of November 25, 2024, but they must notify the department before September 15 that they wish to use the later date.

Where farmers do avail of the later completion date, their payment under the scheme will be delayed until the end of December or possibly early January 2025.

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The 2024 Irish Grassland Association (IGA) beef event will take place outside Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, on the farm of Martin and Caroline Shaughnessy on Tuesday, June 11.

The farm system involves a 16 cow suckler-to-weaning enterprise and a flock of 150 ewes.

It has been described by the IGA as “a typical suckler and sheep operation in the west of Ireland”.

The farm, located to the east of Ballinrobe town, Co. Mayo (Eircode F12PR23), consists of just under 28Ha of both owned and rented, good quality ground.

Originally starting off with a Simmental-type cow, Martin now runs a herd of 16 three-quarter bred Limousin dams mated to Belgian Blue sires each year.

Maiden heifers are crossed back to Limousin genetics, while sexed semen was also introduced in 2023.

Martin also works part-time in local Aurivo marts and has moved away from using a stock bull and now uses 100% artificial insemination (AI), with the aim of breeding males for the export market and females for the domestic trade.

The sheep enterprise consists of Suffolk and Texel-cross ewes that are split lambing at the start of February and then again around St. Patrick’s day each year.

The ewes are sychronised at breeding to leave the management during lambing easier. Lambs are sold through the South-Mayo Lamb Producer Group.

The suckler system is quite simple involving a herd of top-quality E and U-grade cows capable of calving a top-quality calf and the ability to feed that calf with an abundance of milk.

Cow fertility is of utmost importance on the farm also and a calving interval of 363 days was achieved in 2023/2024.

Calving starts on January 1, annually with all cows generally calved by the end of March.

Grass

Top-quality grass is introduced at the end of March when the pairings are turned out for the year. While this might be considered late, early spring grass is prioritised for the early lambing ewes.

The cattle rotationally graze a 10-12ac block on the home farm which is laid out in paddocks under a leader-follower system.

The calves graze ahead of the cows allowing them to utilise quality, leafy grass before the cows.

This also allows Martin to introduce meal prior to weaning. In 2023, the average 200-day weights of the weanlings stood at 315kg for the males, while the females weighed 271kg at that stage.

An early application of protected urea is applied where possible.

As Martin needs to prioritise grass early on in the year, first-cut silage is aimed for early June, with Martin closing paddocks which go too strong for grazing throughout the grazing season – providing a top-quality winter feed source.

Second-cut silage generally takes place in July. The farm grew 10.6t DM/ha in 2023 – well above the national average quantity grown on Irish drystock farms. Slurry is also spread in spring at a rate of 3,000gals/ac.

IGA event

Most of the machinery work is contracted out – allowing the Mayo-based farmer to focus on other important tasks around the farm.

With his relatively small herd of cows, Martin definitely operates at the higher-end of the market for both males and females.

In 2023, his average price for both males and female weanlings stood a €1,700/head – an impressive price for weanlings weighing between 300-400kg.

Martin is also involved in the Teagasc Agricultural Catchments Programme – with the farm located in the Cregduff catchment.

The IGA has said this is a national event which is free to attend and all farmers from across Ireland are very welcome to come along. The event will deliver key learnings for suckler farmers and sheep farmers.

The IGA beef event is sponsored by FBD Insurance and there will be some light food and refreshments available from 6:00p.m. The event will get underway at 6:30p.m sharp and finish at 8:30p.m.

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The opportunity to develop a vibrant goat and sheep’s milk sector in Ireland is immense, according to a vet and researcher, Cormac White.

The Belfast native, who is now a practising veterinarian in Somerset, has carried out research on the potential of small ruminant dairy production.

Making this happen has required White to travel throughout Europe and South America.

Speaking at Balmoral Show last week, White said: “Goat and sheep’s milk is much more nutritious, relative to what is the case with dairy cows.

“Demand for products made with milk from small ruminants is growing in countries around the world. The myriad cheese products made from either goat or sheep’s milk represent a case in point.

“Southern Europe has been the traditional heart land of sheep and goat production. However, climate change is now acting to make ruminant-based agriculture a very marginal enterprise in this region,” he added.

“This trend is likely to gain further momentum during the period ahead. E.g., grass production can now only be guaranteed in parts of the Mediterranean region for a maximum of two months in the year.”

Goat and sheep’s milk

These changes open up tremendous opportunities for small ruminant-based dairy operations in Ireland.

“All of these businesses can be totally grass-based, adding to the value of the dairy output they produce,” he said.

The vet pointed to the case of Kiwi fruit production in New Zealand as an example of a food idea that can be quickly developed into a large-scale production-based sector.

“What started out as a very small venture on a restricted number of farms is now adding significantly to New Zealand’s farming and food economy.

“There is no reason why small ruminant dairy production can’t take off on the same basis here in Ireland,” he added.

Cheeses made from goat’s milk include feta and halloumi. The list of options produced from sheep’s milk include roquefort, manchego, pecorino romano and ricotta.

Courtesy of his presentation, White made the point that many consumers regularly eat these products without actually knowing the source of the milk used to make them.

All of the goat breeds kept on Irish farms are suited to milk production.

Where sheep are concerned, East Friesian is the most productive milking breed. Ewes can produce up to 400L of milk across a 250-day lactation.

The post The future of dairy is goat and sheep’s milk – vet appeared first on Agriland.ie.

Ballinrobe Mart in Co. Mayo seen the overall cattle trade remain strong this week, despite recent moves by processors to reduce beef price.

According to mart manager Teresa Gibsey, there was “a high demand for heifers, with prices reaching €1,870/head or €3.72/kg”.

Heifer prices ranged from €460-1,870/head or €2.00-3.72/kg. The average price paid for Angus-cross heifers on the day was €2.71/kg.

Meanwhile, the average price paid for Charolais-cross heifers was €3.02/kg, while Limousin-cross heifers made an average price of €2.91/kg.

Heifers weighing over the 500kg mark sold for an average price of €2.88/kg and heifers in the 400kg-500kg weight bracket sold for an average price of €2.78/kg.

The top prices from the heifer sale included:

• Limousin heifer weighing 600kg sold for €1,870 or €3.12/kg; 
• Limousin heifer weighing 595kg sold for €1,840 or €3.09/kg; 
• Charolais heifer weighing 585kgsold for €1,810 or €3.09/kg;
• Angus heifer weighing 505kgsold for €1,420 or €2.81/kg;
• Angus heifer weighing 262kg sold for €830 or €3.16/kg;
• Charolais heifer weighing 250kgsold for €930 or €3.72/kg;
• Limousin heifer weighing 175kg sold for €600 or €3.43/kg. 

Commenting on the trade seen in the bullock sale and the mart manager described the trade as being “on fire for bullocks, especially yearling bullocks”.

Bullock prices ranged from €500-2,070/head or €2.02-4.09/kg.

The average price paid for Angus bullocks was €2.71/kg while Charolais bullocks averaged €3.24/kg. Limousin bullocks averaged €3.47/kg.

The average for bullocks weighing 500kg and above was €2.59/kg and bullocks in the 400 to 500kg weight bracket made an average price of €2.80/kg. Lighter bullocks in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket averaged €3.10/kg.

Top prices on the day were:  

• Simmental bullock weighing 760kg sold for €2,070 or €2.72/kg; 
• Limousinbullock weighing 615kg sold for €1,890 or €3.07/kg;
• Charolais bullock weighing 395kg sold for €1,360 or €3.44/kg;
• Angus bullock weighing 385kg sold for €1,190 or €3.09/kg;
• Limousin bullock weighing 320kg sold for €1,310 or €4.09/kg;
• Angus bullock weighing 300kg sold for €1,040 or €3.47/kg.

Dry cows made from €400 to €2,070 with the best price going to an eight year old Charolais cow weighing 755kg selling for €2.74/kg or €2070.

Another Simmental cow weighing 740kg made €1,690 or €2.28/kg. The average sale price for cows was €2.08/kg.

A cow and calf unit made €2,220 for a five year old Limousin cow with an April-born bull calf at foot.

Ballinrobe Mart is set to host an end of the month continental bullock sale on Wednesday, May 29, and the mart manager added: “This is the last chance to buy stock for the 28-week period to have them ready for our end-of-year sale on December 11.

Sheep sale at Ballinrobe Mart

Numbers in the sheep sale on Thursday, May 16, were described as “still high for the month of May with “good quality sheep on offer”.

One of the most notable prices of the sale was €236/head paid for a batch of 65kg hoggets.

Another notable sale was a pen of spring lambs weighing 42kg, which fetched an impressive price of €4.62/kg or €194/head. 

Lambs were making from €2.22-4.62/kg with an average of €3.97/kg or €60-236 with an average of €183 holding firm to previous weeks.

Sample prices from the sheep sale:

• 54kg sold for €228/head or €4.22/kg;
• 52kg sold for €215/head or €4.13/kg;
• 46.5kg sold for €200/head or €4.30/kg;
• 43kg sold for €183/head or €4.26/kg.

Prices for ewes with lambs at foot ranged from €120-295. Cull ewes ranged from €68-212/head with an average of €144/head paid.

Sample prices for cull ewes included:

• 92kg made €212 or €2.30/kg;
• 78kg made €180 or €2.31/kg;
• 70kg made €16 or €2.34/kg.

Ballinrobe Mart hosts its sheep sale every Thursday.

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Well-known EasyCare sheep breeder, Campbell Tweed, has expressed a strong degree of confidence in the future of lamb prices.

He bases this assertion on the fact that sheep meat is widely accepted as a source of dietary protein around the world.

“It shares this level of recognition with chicken,” Tweed told Agriland.

“Supply/demand factors are also kicking in to boost sheep prices. Ewe numbers have contracted slightly in the world’s main lamb producing regions.

“Where beef is concerned, however, we are seeing an increase in the amount of meat coming from the dairy sector,” he added.

EasyCare sheep farm

Lambing got underway on Tweed’s Co. Antrim farm on May 10 this year.

He manages the sheep-only enterprise with his wife Isobel. Their farm is located close to the village of Carncastle, overlooking the Irish Sea.

“The lambing percentage across the whole flock is working out at just over 150%,” Campbell explained.

“And this is where we want to be. There are only a few late ewes left to lamb at this stage.”

The recent spell of good weather has boosted grass supplies on the farm.

“We have plenty of good grazing available for the ewes and lambs at the present time,” Campbell commented.  

“Our aim is to maximise lamb output from grazed grass and forage.”

Breed

Campbell is celebrating 25 years as an EasyCare sheep breeder. He has recently taken the opportunity of assessing the improvements in flock performance achieved during this period.

Driving this is the commitment to performance-record every lamb born on the farm.

“Output per ewe has increased by around 30% over the past 25 years,” Campbell commented.

“But of even more significance are the improvements that we have obtained in terms of labour efficiency.

“Currently, three people are lambing 3,000 ewes. Moreover, our staff members are working on a 9:00a.m to 5:00a.m basis only.

“They also record every ewe and lamb within the flock on a regular basis.”

The ewes on the Tweed farm have been specifically bred to lamb down on their own with the minimum of additional assistance.

“When we initially committed to the EasyCare ewes, one person was required to lamb 400 ewes,” he explained.

“Our commitment to performance recording has been ramped up significantly over the past number of years.”

The flock recording work undertaken includes the weighing of lambs at six weeks-of-age and at weaning.

Eye muscle scanning is also undertaken to help identify those lambs with superior performance-related traits.  

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Marks and Spencer (M&S) launched its latest phase of its ‘Farm to Foodhall’ campaign yesterday (Thursday, May 16), with a sheep farmer from Co. Mayo as one of the M&S Select Farmers.

Feeney is a sheep farmer based in Claremorris who farms with his daughter, Chloe.

In this new phase of the campaign, M&S food ambassador, Mark Moriarty, met Feeney to explore his “third-generation” sheep farm and found out how he delivers Irish lamb for the company.

Feeney said that the traditional stone walls surrounding the fields provide shelter from the weather and that the supply of grassland is what ensures that “top-quality produce”.

The Farm to Foodhall campaign is highlighting just a few of the farmers and producers across Ireland who supply Irish food to M&S customers.

Country director at M&S Ireland and Northern Ireland, Eddie Murphy said: “Our Farm to Foodhall campaign continues to champion the incredible work of our Select Farms in Ireland.

“Quality starts at the very beginning of the rearing processes, so we want to highlight the work that farmers like Kevin and his family are doing to ensure our customers get the best tasting and trusted quality lamb every time.” 

The campaign also aims to showcase how the company is expanding on its range of products sourced directly from Ireland.

Moriarty said that seeing “first-hand” the passion that goes into producing lamb gives him inspiration to cook at home, and it is even better knowing that he is supporting local producers.

Customers will see the Farm to Foodhall campaign across television advertisements, social media, out of home (OOH) advertising, emails and in-store.

M&S

Meanwhile, M&S UK aims to achieve its Net Zero by 2040 goals, funded through its Plan A Accelerator Fund. The company strives to remove 11,000t of greenhouse emissions and to cut carbon by 8.4%.

This includes a £1 million investment in a change to the diet of the pasture-grazed cows to help reduce the amount of methane produced in a cow’s stomach and released into the atmosphere. 

M&S also launched its “Pathway Farming” partnership with beef farmers to identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from beef rearing, or more efficient use of fertiliser.

The post Mayo sheep farmer to feature in M&S campaign appeared first on Agriland.ie.

Silage season is well underway in many areas and as most farmers try to get the first-cut completed, attention turns towards the quality of the silage.

Teagasc has outlined some key requirements for producing quality silage.

Grass growth stage will have a large effect on silage dry matter digestibility (DMD) so the advice is to target the cutting date at the correct growth stage for the quality of silage you are trying to produce.

Producing high quality silage

Where high quality silage suitable for milking cows and finishing cattle is targeted (74%+ DMD) leafy grass with no seed head will be required, according to Mark Treacy from Teagasc.

As the seed head begins to emerge, grass quality, and therefore potential silage quality, will decline due to the increasing levels of fibre in the grass.

A drop of 0.5 DMD can be expected for every day cutting is delayed after heading date. Where crops are lodged, quality will deteriorate at a more rapid rate, Treacy explained.

Silage with a DMD of less than 68% DMD is poor quality and should be avoided if possible.

Teagasc has outlined three key factors in the successfully preservation of grass silage:

1. Grass sugar levels;
2. Anaerobic conditions;
3. Buffering capacity.

Adequate grass sugar is required to feed the acid-producing bacteria which can be measured using a refractometer, with 3% or higher considered sufficient.

Where sugar levels are below 3%, options such as delaying cutting until later in the day, wilting, or adding molasses should be considered.

Conditions

Anaerobic conditions are vital for grass silage because lactic-acid-producing bacteria require these conditions.

Where anaerobic conditions are not achieved, undesirable bacteria may begin to grow.

The creation of anaerobic conditions can be achieved by properly rolling the silage pit both during and immediately after filling, by paying attention to detail with covering, and by checking and retightening the pit covers again a few days after cutting as the pit settles.

Buffering capacity is affected by the N levels in the grass. High N grass has a higher buffering capacity and it is therefore more difficult to reduce the pH to sufficient levels for good preservation.

Teagasc has said that the importance of N levels in the grass is often overstated and where adequate sugar levels are present, grass can be successfully preserved with in excess of 600ppm of nitrate.

Wilting of these crops will reduce the effects of the high N levels, Treacy advised.

The post Silage season underway – but what about quality? appeared first on Agriland.ie.

A new animal facility which is being developed at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Mountbellew (Mountbellew Agricultural College) will support the commercial sheep enterprise at the college.

The chair of Mountbellew Agricultural College, Tom Parlon along with representatives from Teagasc and ATU recently welcomed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue to the east Galway campus.

While there, the minister turned the first sod on the college’s planned new Sheep Housing and Handling Facility on the campus’ live farm.

New animal facility

The new facility is expected to be an integral part of the training programmes in Mountbellew, supporting the college’s commercial sheep enterprise and allowing learners to engage in a “meaningful way” with the college farm activities. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister McConalogue said: “This year Mountbellew Agricultural College celebrates 120 years in existence. When founded it was the first of its kind in Ireland.

“It is fitting that we should mark that milestone by planning for the educational needs of future generations of students.

“When completed, the sheep handling and housing facility will undoubtedly enhance the experience of those students who come here from all over the country to learn about sheep farming.

“Good practices in animal breeding, flock health and grassland management are the central to the achievement of financial gains and technical efficiency in sheep farming,” the minister added.

Minister McConalogue explained that he is committed to supporting the sheep sector to improve its competitiveness and productivity.

“The return on those investments and supports will have associated benefits for its economic and climate efficiency,” he continued.

“I am certain that, on completion, the new sheep facility will prove a valuable asset to the college and enhance its well-deserved reputation for delivering excellent training programmes.”

Dr. Edna Curley, principal of Mountbellew Agricultural College, ATU campus, commented: “For our learners and around a super team of staff, host farmers, stakeholders, neighbours, family and friends we are building our infrastructure.

“We are building upon a wonderful foundation established by the Franciscan Brothers and we hope to do them proud in our work and carry on their legacy here in Mountbellew.”

Dr. AnneMarie Butler, head of education, Teagasc, added: “[This] marks the commencement of an exciting new development for Mountbellew Agricultural College which will benefit learners, staff, the sheep enterprise, stakeholders and the wider region.

“Learners will enjoy state-of-the-art sheep facilities while developing and enhancing their practical skills and knowledge.”

Mountbellew Agricultural College

Mountbellew Agricultural College has almost 900 students studying a range of full-time and part-time courses from levels 5 to degree level 8, delivered by Teagasc, ATU and Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (ETB).

The programmes are designed to promote understanding of specific disciplines such as rural enterprise and agri-business, environmental management and recently, agricultural engineering.

The college is also situated next to Mountbellew Mart, which will be the venue for the 2024 all-Ireland and all-nations sheep shearing and wool handling championships next month.

The post New animal facility at ATU Mountbellew to support sheep enterprise appeared first on Agriland.ie.

The busy lambing season is drawing to a close on the two Kerry-based trial farms which are participating in the Irish Country Meats (ICM) sustainability project.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of using five star rams across a range of farming systems.

ABP Food Group’s Advantage Beef Programme farm liaison officer Gavin Healy explained that as of the end of April, over 400 lambs have been born as part of the trial.

Over 200 lambs are sired by five star rams, with the remainder of the groups sired by conventional rams on the farms.

As part of the project, each lamb has its individual date of birth, weight and identification number recorded.

One of the farms involved in the trial brings all of its lambs to finish. This farm started lambing on March 22.

Single lambs had an average birth weight of 5.5kg while the twins had an average weight of 4.6kg.

These lambs were bred from five star Texel rams purchased at Sheep Ireland’s multi-breed sale last August. The lambs were born with very little assistance and proved to be very hardy.

The other farm involved in the ICM sustainability trial sells the lambs as stores in August at an average weight of 30kg.

Lambing on this farm began on March 25 with the majority of the lambs being born in April. The single lambs averaged 5.1kg, with their twin counterparts averaging 4.2kg. These lambs are sired by five star Suffolk rams.

Gavin said: “Poor weather conditions made the lambing period a difficult time on both farms. In addition to this, poor grass growth has led to challenges with grass availability.”

Gavin said that despite the challenging start to the season, “lambs are thriving at an excellent rate and to ensure this continues, dung samples will be taken over the next few months to keep an eye on worm burdens.

“All lambs involved in the trial will be weighed once during the Summer and again at weaning. A once-a-month weighing routine will be put in place from weaning through the finishing period.”

Further updates from the lamb sustainability trial will be available on Agriland as the season progresses.

The post ICM Lamb Sustainability Trial update from Kerry farms appeared first on Agriland.ie.

By Chris McCullough

An ambitious young couple milking 350 sheep in Greece have future plans not only to expand the flock, but to improve their genetics by precision breeding.

Situated at the foot of Mount Olympus, close to the town of Elassona, is Avdanas farm run by Michalis Avdanas and his partner Catherina Kalliga.

Founded in 2012 by Michalis’ late father Ioannis, the farm is home to 350 milking Chios ewes, a breed originating on the Greek island of Chios noted for its good productivity.

The farm started with only 40 ewes and Michalis took over in 2016 after his father passed away. Since then he and Catherina, both veterinarians, have bred a nucleus flock with high genetic merit and high production traits.

Michalis said: “One of the attributes of the Chios breed is that it can milk for six good productive seasons.

“Our milk is sold to a processor that makes the famous feta cheese, therefore it needs to be good quality. We receive €1.57 per kilogramme for the milk.

“As long as they produce over 2.5kg of milk per day, the sheep are milked three times every 24 hours. Below this rate, we milk them twice per day until drying off.”

Sheep dairy flock

Michalis explained that they can milk about 180 animals per hour through a DeLaval highline parlour.

The parlour has 24 places and milks 12 at a time but they want to extend it to milk 24 animals at once in a 48-unit parlour.

During 2023, Avdanas farm produced a total of 76t of milk with an average production of 460L/ewe/yr.

That year the farm generated €178,000 income and expenses of €101,000. Around 81% of the income derived from milk sales; 8% from subsidies; 6% from meat sales and 5% from selling live animals.

Feed costs racked up most of the expense costs at 57%, whereas 16% was salary for the family and two full-time workers; 11% was construction and investment and the remaining percentage was miscellaneous operating expenses.

In typical Greek style, Avdanas farm is quite small extending to only 1ha. Michalis rents another 7ha for extra grazing and a further 11ha for growing forage. 

He said: “I own 1ha and rent seven more for grazing nearby. It is possible to buy more land around my farm but I have better areas to invest money on the farm’s infrastructure and technology, rather than having it locked in land.

“The sheep are fed mainly inside the barn with a TMR [total mixed ration] containing silage, grass and concentrated fodder.

“We use the pasture moreso for the mental health of the sheep and to supplement if they are missing something from the diet.

“I grow the fodder a little further away from the farm on another 11ha, of which eight is used for alfalfa and the other three for lolium.”

Breeding

Michalis has a future plan mapped out to extend the flock to 500 sheep, which he says is a realistic target to reach.

In recent years, the farm’s birth rate has been around 1.79 to 1.84, although the breed has a 2.2 average birth rate.

Michalis said: “Using selected rams I have brought our birth rate down a bit so that our ewes can have a better quality of life.

“Our replacement rate hovers around 30% because I want to reach our target of 500 sheep in a short time. The Chios breed, due to its longevity, normally has a replacement of about 15%.

“We have 10 rams of high generic merit, which we continuously renew. Any males born that do not have high genetic merit go for slaughter, the rest are sold for breeding.

“We still don’t practice AI [artificial insemination] but that is something we have on our plan for the future,” he added.

Being a vet, Michalis is well educated on the various options for breeding. Currently they use intravaginal sponges on some sheep for planned matings with the aim of avoiding inbreeding and optimising yields.

He said: “We scan the sheep later in the pregnancy and separate them into groups according to numbers of lambs and expected lambing dates.

“Lambs stay on the mothers for two days and then move to milk feeders. We run three groups of lambs including the very young ones two-days-old that we need to help feed.

“Nutrition plays a vital role in successful breeding for our flock. We require sheep that can produce high quantities of milk to enable us to make a profit.

“I personally plan the rations we use in collaboration with a nutritionist. We work with a total of four different rations based on the stage of development and reproduction where each animal goes through,” he added.

Challenges

Catherina and Michalis have three young children, two boys and a girl.

“If they want to continue in farming, I will not stop them. They are still young to know what they will decide,” Michalis remarked.

Michalis says the main challenges they face on the farm are the weather, labour shortages and the price of milk.

“In addition to that, perhaps the way in which European Union aid is distributed by the state to us should be changed,” he added.

“In other words I think it would be more beneficial if it was the production levels that are subsidised, rather than the actual numbers of livestock.”

The post Focus: Good breeding in couple’s sheep dairy flock in Greece appeared first on Agriland.ie.

An untagged sheep has recently been rescued by members of animal welfare organisation, My Lovely Horse Rescue after it was found “running around” in Co. Meath near the N4.

There were no other sheep in the area and it is not known where the animal came from or if it potentially had been “dumped”, My Lovely Horse Rescue co-founder, Martina Kenny said.

“We searched the bushes around the bank of the main road leading to the N4. When we saw him, we blocked off either side and finally caught him. He was in brambles and a stagnant stream,” the co-founder told Agriland.

The rescue team also included goat Lilly.

“We brought Lilly to see if we could catch him that way as we were told that sometimes goats are used to get them into the slaughterhouse…awful, so we tried it, he came right up to her and stayed in the area we searched,” Kenny said.

The sheep, which the organisation later named, Philip, will stay at My Lovely Horse Rescue farm as the organisation said “no one has come forward” and it does not expect this to change.

Philip has a “severe infection” in his ball sac and is currently being treated by the organisation’s vet and will then go to the veterinary hospital at University College Dublin (UCD), Kenny said.

The animal welfare organisation said that it does get calls about sheep which are “very lame” or malnourished and “full of worms”. Kenny said that a sheep a few years ago in Navan was “literally eaten away by maggots, right into his flesh”.

In did this incident the sheep was rescued by the organisation which then called the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) “straight away”, Kenny said.

In Philip’s case, the DAFM was not alerted since he was untagged, the co-founder said.

The post Watch: Goat used to help rescue sheep in Meath appeared first on Agriland.ie.

EU milk supply is expected to remain stable in 2024, while beef production is set to drop, according to a new report.

The European Commission’s spring edition of the short-term outlook for EU agricultural markets presents the latest trends and prospects for key sectors.

The report warns that the evolution of “geopolitical crises”, particularly in the Middle East, could impact on trade, prices and the overall economy which would place even more pressure on farmers.

The expectation of real economic growth in 2024 has been revised downwards due to falling household purchasing power, lower external demand and a partial withdrawal of fiscal support in 2023.

On the other hand, the commission said that inflation is expected to decline faster than previously predicted.

In terms of inputs, the report notes that energy costs dropped by 6% in the first three months of 2024 (Q1) compared to the previous quarter.

The cost of feed is down 1.5% and fertiliser prices were down 1%.

However, overall input prices remain largely above pre-Covid levels (32%) and up to 65% in the case of fertiliser.

The affordability of fertilisers has been improving as EU fertiliser production continues to recover.

Imports of nitrogen (N) fertiliser remain at historically high levels, but imports of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) decreased significantly, which could negatively impact overall soil fertility.

Dairy

The EU Commission is currently forecasting a slight increase (0.4%) in milk supply across the bloc, despite a continuing decline in the number of cows (-0.5% in 2024).

This assumption is based on “normal weather conditions”, raw milk prices remaining above historic levels (above 46 c/kg) and an increasing trend in EU milk yields.

The report noted that pasture conditions became “exceptionally difficult” in Ireland earlier this year.

The report states that EU cheese and whey production is likely to continue benefitting from higher milk solids availability and competitive prices, which could translate into a
further increase in exports.

A rise in milk powder exports is unlikely because of limited further growth potential in north Africa and the Middle East, while global competition may also increase.

Production of skim milk powder (SMP) is expected to remain stable, however domestic use could be impacted by the current surge in cocoa prices.

The report stated that butter exports could remain positive (+1.5%) based on competitive export prices.

The commission said that stabilising input and output prices could improve margins for dairy farmers in 2024, and EU dairy consumption could benefit from easing food inflation and remain stable overall.

Beef

EU beef production is expected to decrease by a further 2.3% in 2024, mainly due to “a continuing structural adjustment in the beef and dairy sector”.

EU beef production decreased in 2023 by 3.9%, which supported high prices. At the same time, the average carcass weight decreased by -0.6%.

Last year, beef production in Italy dropped by 17% (127,000t), while Ireland was back by 3.5%.

The December 2023 livestock survey, showed that the number of suckler cows in the EU declined for the fourth year in a row, by additional 160,000 head (-1.6%). Dairy cows recorded a decline of 344,000 head (-1.7%).

The number of male bovine cattle for slaughtering between 1 and 2 years, and above 2 years also decreased by -0.4% and -1.2% respectively.

However, the reported noted that “this lower beef supply could continue supporting EU beef producer prices”.

The expectation is that per capita beef consumption across the EU will drop by up to 3% this year.

Meanwhile, despite a slightly bigger sow herd, EU pigmeat production could go down slightly by -0.4% in 2024.

EU poultry production could benefit from a 1.7% growth this year, driven by positive market signals on both the supply and demand side.

The report said that the historically low EU sheep flock will reduce slaughterings by 4.9% in 2024.

Consumption is expected to suffer again this year (-3.5%) because of low availability and pressures from higher prices.

Crops

The report stated that 2024/25 EU cereal production could reach 278.5 million t (+3% year-on-year), which is 0.9% below the 5-year average.

This will be driven mainly by an expected increase in the area under maize, along with increasing yields of barley and durum wheat.

EU oilseed production in 2024/25 is expected to be at 33.2 million tonnes (+1.2% year-on-year), due to more cultivated area of soy beans, and an increase of rapeseed and sunflower yields.

The report noted that the the availability of protein crops in the EU could be historically high.

EU cereal prices continue to decline and are currently below the 5-year average, which will put additional strain on farmers’ margins.

2023/24 EU sugar production is estimated at 15.6 million tonnes, rebounding from the previous season and in line with the five-year average.

The post EU milk supply to remain stable, beef production to fall – report appeared first on Agriland.ie.

The owners of an upland farm in Co. Antrim have purchased additional land and invested significantly in diversification and automation to help secure the future of the family’s third generation of farmer.

Timmy and Karen Rea, who farm 260ac of land between Larne and Slemish Mountain, have diversified their farming business by expanding into dairy production.

They have added dairy cows to their herd and commissioned a new Lely Astronaut robotic milking system to maximise quality, increase yield and support better cow health.

The system reduces the cost of labour associated with manual milking practices and the Reas have said that the automated process greatly improves yield by milking to the herd’s full genetic potential.

“It’s allowing us to milk up to five times per day for our best cows, averaging over 35L per cow per day which we’re supplying to one of Europe’s largest cheese producers,” Timmy said.

“The ease of access means the cows decide themselves when to be milked, so it doesn’t create any strain on them, and the automation underlying the process allows us to refocus labour resources meaning the return on investment for the business is strong.”

It represents the second major investment in recent years to help secure the future of the family business for siblings Charlie, aged 11, and James, aged 9.

Beef and sheep to poultry and dairy in Antrim

A traditional beef and sheep farm, the Reas managed over 300 Scottish Blackface and crossbred ewes – with all lambs finished on farm – and a mixed herd of 120 cattle, until June 2020 when the husband and wife duo set out to futureproof the farm.

Alongside the mix of sheep and beef cattle, the Reas expanded into egg production and with the help of Ulster Bank, invested in a free-range poultry shed, adding 16,000 laying hens to the farming enterprise.

Today, the hens produce an estimated 5.5 million free-range eggs per crop.

Ulster Bank business development manager Conor McNeill said: “We’re very pleased to support Timmy and Karen to grow their poultry and dairy business. Farming enterprises like theirs are an essential component of a healthy local economy.

“These investments reflect our commitment to ensure the local agri sector has the resources and expertise it needs here and now, as well as making sure farming businesses are equipped with the tools needed to adapt and invest in new technologies that will help secure their future.”

Commenting on the future of the farm in Antrim, Timmy said brothers Charlie and James “are showing a real interest in the business”.

“The investments in our poultry and dairy operations promise good return, but they also create two distinct areas of the family business so that both Charlie and James can eventually take over the reins,” Timmy explained.

“Our farm was originally purchased by my father and grandfather as a hobby. We’ve grown it from 40ac to the 260ac we have today so it’s great to see the boys’ passion to continue and expand on that legacy.

“It’s the support of Conor and the team at Ulster Bank that has made this possible for us. They were approachable, understanding and guided us through the entire process with ease. Without their backing we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have done.”

The post Focus: From beef and sheep to dairy and hens in Antrim appeared first on Agriland.ie.

The inclusion of clover in grass reseed mixes has increased significantly over the past two years, according to Germinal Ireland technical director, Dr. Mary McEvoy.

Dr. McEvoy told Agriland: “It’s a trend that can be traced back to the dramatic increase in fertiliser prices that directly followed Russis’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It makes absolute sense for farmers to include realistic levels of clover as part of their grassland reseeding programmes.”

The Germinal representative acknowledged that many grazing paddocks have been damaged as a result of the very wet spring conditions.

“In some cases the remedial action may simply entail rolling the affected ground and then patch those badly affected areas with seed,” she said.

“However, in some cases it might be a case of pushing ahead with a complete reseeding operation,” she added.

Dr. McEvoy confirmed that grass sown out at the beginning of May can be grazed lightly by cows seven to eight weeks later.

“It takes six weeks to get the new grass plants to become well established. At that stage, it would be appropriate to spray for weeds,” she continued.

“This leaves a new sward ready for grazing before the end of June. Cows are regarded as the animals of choice to graze off new grass, provided ground conditions are suitable and the grass plants pass the pull test.

“Trials carried out in Ireland confirm that new grass swards established at the beginning of May can produce up to 10t/ac of dry matter (DM) in their first season.

“Even if a dry spell hits during the month of May, there will be sufficient moisture available from early morning dews to allow the growth of newly establish grass plants,” she added.

However, grass reseeds established in June and July can become problematic if a dry spell comes in at that time of the year, according to the Germinal representative.

Farm walk

Meanwhile, over 60 farmers and seed trade representatives attended a recent farm walk on the farm of Brian Hogan at Horse and Jockey, Co. Tipperary.

Organised by Germinal Ireland, those present heard how Brian set about establishing and managing clover and multi-species swards on his farm.

His philosophy is to produce high quality milk off grass. To make this happen, he always needs grass ahead of his cows.

Brian Hogan has had his cows out since January, but continued to take them in at night, however they have been out day and night for the past fortnight.

Until now, he has been feeding silage at milking and a 14% protein nut. He is on his third round of grazing, but still has some first-round paddocks left to graze.

Seven years ago, he set about a strategy to reduce his chemical nitrogen (N) fertiliser use with clover.

“We have made some mistakes, but you learn and you improve. Overall, it has been working for us. But, it is something that farmers need to plan for – maybe look to reseed 10% to 15% of the farm each year,” Brian Hogan explained.

“Building up fertility with phosphate, potash and lime is also very important.”

Clover and herd management

In 2023, Hogan sowed a red and white clover grazing mix for the first time. The grass varities chosen were: AberGain; AberChoice; Ballyvoy; and Ballintoy.

“Following reseeding, red clovers start fixing nitrogen straight away. White clovers won’t get going until year two,” Hogan added.

“Temperature is also very important and we cut chemical nitrogen fertiliser use almost completely from about the middle of the grazing season.”

Brian Hogan pays a lot of attention to herd health and integrates his grazing management with the condition of the cows.

He said: “With clover, it is important to pay close attention to the cows and how hungry they look.

“I don’t let them into paddocks with a lot of clover if they look hungry. We haven’t had problems with bloat. But we manage it carefully. Also, at this stage our cows are used to clover in their diet.”

Reseeding

Germinal’s Diarmuid Murphy provided a checklist for reseeding with grass-clover swards.

“Farmers need to plan their reseeding. This must start with identifying which paddocks should be reseeded and then soil test accordingly,” Murphy said.

“This will determine what the fertility is like and if there is a need to apply applying nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Lime is also critical.

“In preparing the seed bed, farmers have options; normally ploughing or min-till. Each has its own requirements.

“After burning-off the existing sward with glyphosate, it should be possible to reseed about a week after ploughing,” he explained.

However, if a min-till approach has been taken, he strongly recommends waiting for up to three weeks, until such time as the old sward has been properly removed.

Murphy strongly advised rolling. “The advice we all got from our fathers is that the seedbed should be firm enough to cycle a bike across it.

“While this might be bit of an exaggeration, rolling the ploughed field after tilling, and then after sowing seed is still advisable. The grass and clover seed should be placed barely below the surface of the soil.

“We recommend applying the chosen seed mixture at a rate of 14kg/ac.

“As mixtures are sold in 12kg bags, this works out at a recommending sowing rate of a bit over a bag to the acre, or about six bags for 5ac.”

The post Demand for clover increased while fertiliser prices rose appeared first on Agriland.ie.

A number of lambs were killed and several others were seriously injured in a dog attack in Co. Louth this week.

Louth County Council said that the incident in the Ravensdale area involving a single pet dog was “a direct result of irresponsible dog ownership”.

The county dog warden service attended the scene, while the incident has also been reported to An Garda Síochána.

Dog attack

Louth County Council recently launched a public appeal to dog owners, highlighting the responsibilities which come with owning a dog.

Along with providing a home for a dog, and being responsible for their welfare, owners are legally responsible for keeping their dog under control, especially when in public, and in areas where other animals and livestock may be present.

The Department of Rural and Community Development has also launched a major national awareness campaign, as part of a series of measures to improve dog control and welfare across the country.

The campaign entitled – ‘It’s not your dog’s fault, it’s yours’ – is aimed at increasing awareness of the harm that out-of-control dogs can do to people and to livestock.

The aim is to change behaviour and to remind owners that they must always have their dog under control.

Local authorities

Under the Control of Dogs Act 1986, local authorities have responsibility for all operational activities including enforcement matters.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued by Louth County Council dog wardens has in recent years been among the highest in the country.

Joe McGuinness, director of services at Louth County Council, welcomed the campaign on responsible dog ownership.

“This incident reported in north Louth is a stark reminder to all dog owners of the harm that out-of-control dogs can cause.

“It is important to remember that a family pet can react differently to people, and other animals, when outside the home.

“Dog owners should be mindful of their responsibilities, ensuring that their dogs are under effectual control at all times,” he said.

“Louth County Council are appealing to all dog owners to ensure their dog is licensed and micro-chipped. All registered details must be maintained and remain up to date, including the current address and owners contact numbers,” McGuinness added.

The post Lambs killed and seriously injured in Louth dog attack appeared first on Agriland.ie.

Agriland can reveal that Ballinakill Mart in Co. Laois has been purchased by James Mallon from Co. Meath.

Speaking to Agriland, today, Friday, May 3, the new owner of the mart venue confirmed the purchase and outlined his plans for the continuation of weekly livestock sales at the mart venue and to further grow and develop livestock sales at Ballinakill Mart.

There had been significant speculation over the past number of months that the mart was to be sold and that Mallon, the owner of Carnaross Mart, was interested in the purchase, which has just been confirmed today.

The new owner of the mart is confident it can develop and grow as a venue for buying and selling livestock.

He also confirmed that plans are now in place to facilitate livestock customers from Northern Ireland at the mart by facilitating export testing and clearance of livestock.

James Mallon is no stranger to the mart scene and this is the second mart purchased by the Co. Meath man who previously purchased Carnaross Mart in Co. Meath in 2017.

Since his purchase of Carnaross Mart in 2017, the Co. Meath-based mart has doubled the number of cattle sold there on an annual basis and has grown to be one of the largest livestock trading posts on the island of Ireland.

Carnaross Mart hosts cattle and sheep sales on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Ballinakill Mart will continue to operate under the trading name ‘Ballinakill Mart’ and will continue to host a sale of all types of cattle every Saturday with two sale rings in operation.

The sale kicks off at 10:30a.m with bull weanlings and bullocks in ring one and cows, weanling heifers and heifers in ring two.

The new owner has said that online bidding is available through the MartEye app and new social media pages have also been developed for the Co. Laois-based mart.

He said anyone with any further enquiries can contact Ballinakill Mart for more information.

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The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has said it has secured changes to two measures under the National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS).

These changes relate to the plunge dipping measure and clostridial vaccine measure, the farm organisation said.

When the scheme was announced, the farm organisation said that the date for completion of the dipping measures would prove difficult for farmers.

INHFA vice-president Michael McDonnell said that the October 15 deadline is “problematic for many hill flocks where sheep would still be on the hills and in many cases would not be down until November”.

That same date – by which all scheme actions have to be completed – would also be difficult to meet for farmers choosing to vaccinate ewes under the clostridial vaccination measure, according to McDonnell.

The INHFA said that, after engagement with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, farmers will be allowed avail of a later completion date for both those actions of November 25, 2024, but they must notify the department before September 15 that they wish to use the later date.

However, where farmers do avail of the later completion date, their payment under the scheme will be delayed until the end of December or possibly early January 2025.

There are four actions in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme and applicants must complete, in full, two actions, one from each category, as follows:

• Category A:
  • Shearing, or;
  • Body Condition Scoring Ewes and appropriate follow-on management;
• Category B:
  • Clostridial vaccination of ewes, or;
  • Plunge Dipping to control external parasites.

The scheme has a budget of €15 million.

McDonnell called on the department to utilise that funding in full.

“[We] are pushing the department for guarantees that the full €15 million allocated in the budget will be spent on the scheme,” he said.

“In the unlikely event that farmer uptake doesn’t match the budget then unspent funds must be paid out to existing participants as a top-up on each ewe,” McDonnel added.

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The end of the month bullock sale at Ballinrobe Mart, Co. Mayo seen numbers keeping steady with “a heated trade for bullocks”.

According to a sale report from mart manager Teresa Gibsey, prices reached €2,020/head or €4.27/kg.

Bullock prices ranged from €800-€2,020/head or €2.32-€4.27/kg. The average price for bullocks in the 500kg plus weight category was €2.97/kg and bullocks weighing from 400kg-500kg averaged €3.12/kg.

The top prices from the bullock sale included:

• 715kg Charolais bullock sold for €2,020 or €2.83/kg;
• 600kg Limousin bullock sold for €1,860 or €3.10/kg;
• 495kg Limousin bullock sold for €1,730 or €3.49/kg;
• 390kg Limousin bullock sold for €1,440 or €3.69/kg;
• 350kg Limousin bullock sold for €1,420 or €4.06/kg;
• 295kg Limousin bullock sold for €1,260 or €4.27/kg.

In the heifer sale, the trade was described as “good” with prices ranging from €490 to €2,200/head or €2.19-€3.94/kg.

The average price for heifers in the 500kg plus weight category was €2.97/kg and heifers in the 400 to 500kg weight category was €2.82/kg.

Top prices from the heifer sale included:

• 580kg Limousin heifer sold for €1,880 or €3.24/kg;
• 435kg Charolais heifer sold for €1,430 or €3.29/kg;
• 340kg Charolais heifer sold for €1,340 or €3.94/kg;
• 310kg Limousin heifer sold for €1,170 or €3.77/kg;
• 275kg Charolais heifer sold for €1,000 or €3.64/kg.

Weanling bull prices ranged from €860 to €1,350/head or €2.50 to €3.66/kg.

The average price for weanling bulls in the 200kgs to 350kg weight category was €3.23/kg and the average for bulls in the 350kg to 450kg weight category was was €2.76/kg.

Top prices in the weanling bull sale included:

• 450kg Limousin bull sold for €1,350 or €3.00/kg;
• 350kg Angus weanling bull sold for €1,120 or €3.20/kg;
• 320kg Limousin weanling bull sold for €1,170 or €3.66/kg.

The suck calf sale is continuing each week with a selection of calves coming out and prices ranging from €30 to €275/head with an average of €170. The price/kg in the calf sale ranged from €0.75 to €4.63/kg.

The prices in the calf sale included:

• 60kg Belgian Blue bull calf sold for €275 or €4.58/kg;
• 66kg Simmental heifer calf sold for €225 or €3.41/kg;
• 60kg Angus heifer calf sold for €215 or €3.58/kg;
• 41kg Limousin heifer calf sold for €190 or €4.63/kg;
• 67kg red Hereford heifer calf sold for €172 or €2.57/kg.

 Dry cows made from €740 to €2,090 with the best price going to a Charolais cow weighing 860kg selling for €2.43/kg. Another Limousin cow weighing 615kg made €1,710 or €2.78/kg.

Ballinrobe Mart is set to host a special continental heifer sale on Wednesday, May 8. A special continental weanling sale for heifers and bulls will take place on Friday evening, May 3, starting at 5:30p.m.

Thursday sheep sale at Ballinrobe

The Mayo mart venue hosted a sheep sale on Thursday, April 25, with what was described as “a great turn out of sheep for the month of April with numbers remaining high and quality sheep on offer”.

The top price in the sheep sale was €241/head for a batch of 59kg hoggets. Another notable sale was a pen of spring lambs weighing 49kg, which fetched an impressive €4.47/kg or €219/head.

Lambs were making from €1.31 to €4.47/kg with an average of €3.97/kg or €42 to €241/head with an average of €183/head.

Prices for ewes with lambs at foot ranged from €100 to €285 for hoggets with twin lambs at foot and the average was €240 for ewes with lambs.

Cull ewes ranged from €30 to €200/head with an average of €129/head paid. Cull ewes weighing 99kg made €200/head or €2.02/kg. 94kg ewes made €190/head or €2.02/kg. 73kg ewes made €166 or €2.27/kg.

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The agri-food business, ABP, is getting ready for the 2024 Balmoral Show with a new-look stand to showcase the partnerships on which the group’s 70-year long heritage has been built.

In line with its commitment to supporting communities where it operates, ABP is also sponsoring the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) and will present several prizes in the pedigree beef and sheep rings throughout the show which takes place from May 15-18.

ABP provides beef and lamb products to supermarkets and food service customers.

Last year the company replaced its traditional marquee at Balmoral Show with an agricultural shed in a prize raffle to help raise funds for Rural Support’s Life Beyond programme. £64,000 was raised to help bereaved farm families as a result.

New stand for ABP at Balmoral

This year, visitors to Balmoral Show will see a new stand which the group said will highlight the importance ABP places on product quality, farming community partnerships and sustainability in maintaining the market position for Northern Irish beef and lamb.

Managing director of ABP in Northern Ireland, George Mullan said: “Northern Irish red meat has strong credentials with customers and consumers. We want to build on that success.

“That’s why we have invested £1.5 million in a partnership with the Anderson’s Centre and Harper Adams University to take collaborative action with farmers throughout the UK and showcase the sustainability of our beef and lamb.”

The Programme for the Improvement of Sustainability in Red Meat (ABP Prism 2030) is a data-driven initiative to deliver a continuous improvement in the environmental performance of beef produced in the UK within the next decade.

358 farmers including from Northern Ireland are currently taking part. The initiative was recently recognised at the Northern Irish Food & Drink Awards (NIFDA) with a sustainable supply chain excellence accolade.

Angus Youth Challenge

ABP’s Angus Youth Challenge is also expected to attract strong interest at the Balmoral stand, which will host Angus calves.

The popular agri-skills competition gives teenagers the chance to win a mini-herd of calves to rear. It opens for entries from 14–15-year-olds in September.

ABP and Certified Irish Angus will be available at Balmoral to take advance registrations and offer advice to interested parents, teachers or pupils entering Year 11.

While many entrants do come from farm families, there is no requirement to live on a farm to take part in the competition.

The 2024 finalists currently taking part are representing Aughnacloy College, Dromore High School, the Royal School Armagh, and St. Colmcille’s High School in Crossgar.

ABP will also strengthen its relationship with Rural Support at this year’s Balmoral Show by enabling the charity to host an information event on its stand during day two.

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SSE Renewables has been named as the principal sponsor of the Irish National Sheep Dog Trials taking place this August in Co. Donegal.

The trials, organised by a voluntary committee comprised of members of the International Sheep Dog Society, are being held in Clonmany, on the Inishowen Peninsula, from August 22-24, 2024.

The annual event will see 150 sheep dogs and handlers from across the island of Ireland showcase their abilities.

The winners will go on to represent Ireland in the International Sheep Dog Trials taking place in Scotland in September.

National Sheep Dog Trials

The International Sheep Dog Society is a member organisation and registers over 6,000 Border Collie pups every year on behalf of its members.

The Irish National Sheep Dog Trials is organised by a voluntary local Donegal committee under the umbrella of the International Sheep Dog Society, which is the governing body of the four nations: Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales.

Each country holds a national trial every year comprising of the top 150 sheep dogs and their handlers in each country.

The national trials allow for the selection of the top 15 from the 150 competitors who progress to the International Sheep Dog Trials.

Chair of the Donegal committee, James P. McGee said that having the support of SSE Renewables for the Irish event is “invaluable”.

“Their sponsorship will help us deliver a community and family-focused event, with plenty on offer to see and do,” he said.

Seamus Herron, community liaison officer at SSE Renewables said that the Irish National Sheep Dog Trials are about more than just showcasing the intelligence of a remarkable animal.

“At its core, the event is about community. At SSE Renewables, we pride ourselves on supporting the communities in which we live and work.

“That’s why we’re delighted to support the Donegal committee of the International Sheep Dog Society in bringing this fantastic family event to Donegal,” he said.

SSE Renewables has a strong presence in Donegal, including wind farms at Meentycat, Culliagh and Lenalea Wind Farm.

Together, these wind farms have the capacity to generate 130MW.

The company is also progressing the 72MW Drumnahough wind farm near Letterkenny which is a 50/50 co-development with FuturEnergy Ireland.

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The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) is set to host a free to attend on-farm sheep event on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

The event will take place on the award-winning sheep and cattle farm run by mother and son team Margaret and Jack Stevenson.

The farm is located in south-east Donegal, midway between Castlefinn and Killygordon. The Eircode for the event is (F93 KF77.

In 2023, the Stevensons won the suckler to weanling category in the National Livestock Show Sustainable Farmer Awards.

The Stevensons sheep enterprise includes a mid-season flock lambing just over 500 mature ewes and 60 ewe lambs.

The mature ewes consistently scan over two lambs/ewe with the most recent scan 2.04 lambs/ewe joined.

Because of the high scan rate, up to 17% of the ewes bear triplets and after cross fostering, about 50 triplets are artificially reared on the farm.

There is a mix of sheep breeds on the farm including:

• Suffolk X Texel;
• Charolais;
• Roubex;
• Dutch Spotted.

Mature ewes and ewe lambs are all mated to lamb at the same time and breeding female replacements are kept from within the flock.

The cattle enterprise comprises a herd of 29 spring-calving suckler cows with all progeny sold as weanlings.

The suckler herd comprises a lot of first-cross dairy-beef cows with plenty of milk producing very impressive growth rates up to weaning.

Bulls are gaining 1.47 kg/day on the farm and heifers are gaining 1.35 kgs/day.

Similar to the sheep enterprise, faecal sampling is used to determine whether cattle require anthelmintic dosing, cows are condition scored and a very good vaccination programme is in place for the Suckler herd.

Thanks to the great foresight of Margaret’s late husband Nicholas, the sheep handling facilities are first-class with sheep housed in a slatted house with plastic sheep slats, a roofed handling unit with washdown facilities and permanent individual pens for ewes after lambing.

Similarly, the cattle handling facilities are very good.

Lambs are marketed through a producer group, with the vast majority achieving U3 grades. Due to very careful selection of lambs for sale, carcass weights are remarkably uniform on the farm which is set to host the IGA event.

The average carcass weight for lambs sold in 2023 was 21.25 kgs with no meal fed prior to weaning, lambs are not castrated and only ram lambs fed meals after weaning.

Faecal sampling is used to determine if lambs require anthelmintic drench, mature ewes never receive a dose for worms, but receive a Fluke dose.

The foundation for achieving such high-output of lamb is excellent management by Margaret and Jack concentrating on good animal nutrition based on excellent grassland management, they regularly make silage with a DMD of 75% from cutting in the third week of May.

Attention is paid to soil health and fertility with regular whole farm soil analysis, use of Protected Urea and slurries are land-spread using Low Emission system.

Good grassland management is a key driver of the high output achieved on the Stevenson farm with paddock grazing central to this. Mixed grazing is practiced when possible.

The IGA farm walk is an evening event with light refreshments available from 6:00pm and the event starting at 6.30p.m and finishing at 8.30 pm.

All farmers are welcome to come along to the event which promises something for all sheep farmers and indeed, suckler farmers.

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This week’s sheep trade has seen processors move to take up to 20c/kg off their price quotes for hoggets while spring lamb price offerings have increased by 10c/kg at some sites.

The move by factories to take 20c/kg of their hogget price offering with some factories not quoting for hoggets at all today (Monday, April 29) is being seen by some stakeholders in the industry as an attempt by factories to drive out larger numbers of finished hoggets and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president, Sean McNamara expects the move to reduce hogget quotes “could be short lived”.

Despite reports of €10.00/kg paid for lambs last week, official factory quotes never actually reached this level and this week is no different with hogget quotes back, but lamb and ewe quotes up.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.00/kg plus a 20c/kg quality assured (QA) bonus, bringing their offering to €9.20/kg for hoggets up to 23.5kg carcass weight, back 20c/kg from last week.

The sheep factory is quoting €9.30 plus a 20c/kg QA bonus, bringing its offering to €9.50/kg for spring lambs up to 21.5kg.

This is the same price as the factory was offering for spring lambs last week. The ICM price quote for cull ewes is €4.20/kg, up 20c/kg from last week.

Kildare Chilling has said it is not quoting for hoggets today.

The processor is quoting €9.60 plus a 10c/kg QA bonus, bringing its offering to €9.70/kg for spring lambs up to 21kg, up 10c/kg from last week.

The processor’s price quote for cull ewes is €4.00/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes, with a carcass weight ranging from 35-43kg.

Price quotes from other outlets are ranging from €9.20-9.30/kg for hoggets, €9.40-9.70/kg for spring lambs and €4.10-€4.30/kg for ewes.

It remains to be seen if the reduction in hogget prices will take hold on the trade or if processors will be forced to return to the higher price rates to secure supplies of factory-fit hoggets.

According to Bord Bia, the strong deadweight trade at the minute is being driven by the tighter supplies of suitable hoggets for processing and spring lambs have been slow to come forward also.

Demand for lamb on both the domestic and export markets has shown “some signs of recovery” as indicated by Kantar figures and Bord Bia’s own market insights.

However, while consideration for lamb has recorded some improvement in recent months, lamb continues to be the most exposed to shifts in consumer buying habits as the highest-priced protein.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched an action-oriented, country-focused initiative to reduce the need for antimicrobials on farms.

It comes amid the growing threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food and agriculture sector, impacting animal health, plants and the environment and causing significant economic losses to farmers across the globe.

FAO director-general QU Dongyu said: “The persistent use of antimicrobials in livestock production is concerning for human health, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability.

“We must explore innovative pathways to curb the use of antimicrobials and promote sustainable practices that safeguard public health and our planet’s well-being, while improving livestock productivity.

Policy support to reduce antimicrobials

The RENOFARM initiative aims to provide countries with policy support, technical assistance, capacity building, and knowledge sharing.

This is aimed at helping reduce the need for antimicrobials in livestock production, prioritising animal health and welfare, mitigating environmental impact, and enhancing food security and nutrition.

Working together with governments, farmers, private sector and civil society organisations and other actors, it will promote the ‘5 Gs’ at the farm level.

These are: Good Health Services; Good Production Practices; Good Alternatives; Good Connections; and Good Incentives.

FAO’s goal is to implement the initiative in more than 100 countries.

Pilot

RENOFARM is already being piloted in the poultry sector in Indonesia’s Lampung province with the support of government agencies and other local stakeholders.

Other pilots are underway in Uganda and Nigeria.

In Indonesia, a Farmers’ Field School (FFS), focusing on empowering farmers at the community level, is being set up under the project to build farmers’ capacity and awareness on AMR control.

Training materials are updated based on local experience and best practices with 20 facilitators trained and the concepts trialled with around 20 local poultry farmers.

A focus group discussion held as part of the initiative showed that broiler chicken farms in Lampung Province have experienced improvements in livestock management practices, with the transition to a semi-closed cage system.

This has had a positive impact on biosecurity practices and efforts to reduce antimicrobial use.

However, antibiotic programmes for chicks are still being carried out due to concerns about the quality of chicks and farmer discipline regarding biosecurity.

Actionable steps

At the end of September, FAO will also host the first-ever Global Conference on Animal Health Innovation, Reference Centres and Vaccines.

Its aim will be to share insights, exchange experiences and identify concrete actions to improve animal health, combat antimicrobial resistance and promote sustainable livestock transformation.

AMR is a global threat to humans, animals, plants, and the environment, according to the FAO.

Reducing the need for antimicrobials and limiting the emergence of resistant pathogens is critical to maintaining the world’s ability to treat human, animal and plant diseases, reduce food safety and security risks and protect the environment.

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A recent Rabobank report has highlighted what it described as a “complex scenario” for the global fertiliser market.

According to the research, fertiliser costs are down, but so are commodity prices, squeezing farmers’ margins.

Demand for certain fertilisers, such as phosphates, is experiencing a downturn, however the overall use of fertilisers is projected to rise in 2024, but at a reduced pace, according to Rabobank.

Operating costs for farmers, especially for fertilisers, are returning to pre-Ukraine-war levels, while at the same time commodity prices are falling.

This combination has led to a squeeze on operating margins, which are now below the average of the past two years, making farmers more cautious about investing in their farms, according to the report.

Senior analyst – farm inputs at Rabobank, Bruno Fonseca said: “Despite these headwinds, the fertiliser sector is showing resilience.

“Geopolitical factors, among other issues, could present further obstacles, yet the growth in fertiliser use is anticipated to persist.”

Agri commodity markets

According to the Rabobank report, commodity prices are falling, with a number of factors exerting pressure on them.

Record-level global stocks of corn and soybeans, bolstered by substantial crops in Argentina, Brazil, and the US, have created a buffer that has subdued market volatility.

Meanwhile, Russia’s record wheat exports have kept wheat prices in check, despite a global stock decline.

Investor outflows and concerns about a potential recession have also weighed on the market, although a tangible impact on demand has yet to be seen, according to the report.

However, rallying crude oil prices since December 2023 have lent some support to agri commodities used for biofuels.

Producers have responded to lower commodity prices by adjusting operation costs, Rabobank has said.

“In response to falling commodity prices and tightening margins, producers are making strategic adjustments,” Fonseca continued.

“By reducing crop area, they aim to realign supply with demand, even if it means operating at breakeven or negative margins.”

Fertiliser

Rabobank has indicated that certain fertilisers are vulnerable to the decline in demand. Nitrogen (N) fertiliser prices are on a downward trajectory, influenced by diminished demand and falling natural gas prices.

The phosphate market experienced a price surge early in 2024 when China shifted its focus to domestic needs, curtailing global exports.

This trend reversed with China’s resumption of exports in mid-March, though Rabobank has said it remains to be seen if this will bring stability to the market.

Despite a reduction in consumption forecasts, levels are still expected to surpass those of 2023.

Potash, on the other hand, is witnessing a robust supply due to increased exports from Belarus and Russia, leading to lower prices.

While potash demand is projected to remain strong in 2024, it is uncertain how farmers will react to the price reductions, according to the report.

Europe

Lower price volatility and limited upside are expected for European fertiliser prices until the back end, based on stable supply and slow demand.

Weather extremes, like wet conditions in north-western Europe and drought in south-eastern Europe will impact fertiliser application.

At the beginning of 2024, European N fertiliser prices recorded an increase. The urea price spike in January was driven by supply concerns related to the logistical risks and potential production disruptions caused by shipping issues in the Red Sea.

By mid-March, N product prices had already softened, according to Rabobank.

As the European low season approaches, even lower price levels are expected before picking up slightly for the autumn farming season.

Rabobank said that with stable crop area projections in Europe, weather becomes the major factor impacting fertiliser consumption in the region.

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With temperatures on the rise and better weather for the past few days, field operations and grazing have begun across the country after being delayed due to the difficult spring weather conditions encountered this year.

College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) senior dairying advisor, Alan Agnew and senior beef and sheep advisor, Rachel Megarrell have issued some guidance to farmers on actions to take as the weather improves.

Silage management

Planning for the silage season ahead must be the key focus, it is important to take stock of the amount of silage required for the winter period. 

The advisors stated that a fodder budget will allow you to calculate the demand from feeding stock through the winter and determine the quantity of silage required this summer to avoid a fodder deficit on farm prior to next winter. 

A typical example of the average daily animal silage requirement during the housing period on a fresh weight basis is as follows:

• Dairy cow: 45kg/head/day;
• Suckler cow: 32kg/head/day;
• Ewe: 5kg/head/day.

The advisors suggested avoiding aiming for large bulky cuts at the detriment of silage quality as this will have implications for concentrate feed input throughout the housing period and will slow down sward re-growth.

The ability to cut highly digestible silage allows farmers to maximise the quality of forage fed to priority groups of stock such as young stock, finishing stock and pregnant ewes, and reduces the need to feed supplementary concentrate feed. 

Replenishing forage stocks

Many farmers this spring have been grateful for silage carried over from previous seasons. However, that buffer of ‘surplus’ silage will need to be replenished this year, according to CAFRE.

Dairy farmers should take a close look at livestock numbers on the farm and offload unprofitable or surplus stock so that silage area can be maximised.

On beef and sheep farms, if you predict a silage shortfall for the incoming winter then consider the following options- scan breeding stock and sell unproductive cows; sell cattle as stores before winter; and cull older less productive ewes. 

Grazing while weather is good

Grazing areas should be walked each week, this allows you to plan the grazing rotation in advance and help in the decision making.

E.g., if grazing conditions are still poor, you may opt for a period of on/off grazing or grazing a larger area with a smaller number of stock to begin with.

On most dairy farms grass covers are good but this can lead to grazing problems later in the season unless a proper plan is put in place now.

High grass covers can lead to a smaller than necessary platform being established on the first rotation which then leads to a grazing shortfall during the second rotation and before silage aftermath is available. 

Grass quality and allocation will be much better over the course of the season if an adequate platform is established now, the advisors said.

Surplus grass should be identified and removed for silage during this first rotation, to create a grass wedge.

Target covers are 3,100kg DM/ha at grazing with a post-grazing cover of 1,600kg DM/ha. Remember that cows will benefit from a gradual transition to grazing over the course of the first week.

Ewes and lambs that have been particularly affected by the prolonged period of wet weather have now seen some respite and when grass growth and quality is sufficient, concentrate supplementation to lactating ewes can be reduced.  

Creep feeding of lambs may also be an option to take some of the pressure off certain groups such as first lambing ewes rearing twins.

Ewes and lambs can now begin to be moved into larger mobs for grazing which will allow silage areas to be closed up.

Animal health

With the changeable spring weather, it is important not to forget about the challenge of hypomagnesemia (grass tetany or staggers) which can occur on rapidly growing lush swards. 

Access to magnesium minerals will be essential and supplementation can be via free access minerals, licks or boluses. If grass tetany is suspected, then contact your vet immediately.

Within the sheep flock, two concerns with the wetter and milder weather at present are  coccidiosis in lambs greater than four-weeks-of-age and nematodirus in lambs over six-weeks-of-age.

In relation to nematodirus, the SCOPS forecast should be kept under weekly review and action taken as appropriate when risk level dictates. 

Thinking ahead

CAFRE has said that the establishment of clover into grazing swards has many benefits including fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere, improved animal performance, increased daily liveweight gains, reduction in worm burdens and increased trace element availability.

Clover swards require a high level of management and soil fertility.

However, the benefits are such that farmers can really profit from clover and establishing a small acreage initially is a sound approach, the advisors said.

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This week’s sheep trade has seen €10/kg paid for spring lambs up to 20.5kg carcass weight, according to the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) , Sean McNamara.

Speaking to Agriland, the ICSA president said that prices as high as €10.00/kg have been paid for spring lambs, with up to €9.70/kg paid for hoggets up to 24kg carcass weight.

He added that the ewe trade is seeing prices ranging from €4.00-4.20/kg paid, and expects no major upsets to the trade in short-term at least.

Looking at the official factory quotes for this week (Tuesday, April 23) and the prices are slightly more conservative.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.20/kg plus a 20c/kg quality assured (QA) bonus, bringing their offering to €9.40/kg for hoggets up to 23.5kg carcass weight.

The sheep factory is quoting €9.30 plus a 20c/kg QA bonus, bringing its offering to €9.50/kg for spring lambs up to 21.5kg. The ICM price quote for cull ewes is €4.00/kg.

Kildare Chilling is quoting is quoting €9.40/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus, bringing their offering to €9.50/kg for hoggets up to 23.5kg carcass weight.

The processor is quoting €9.50 plus a 10c/kg QA bonus, bringing its offering to €9.60/kg for spring lambs up to 21.5kg and the processors’ price quote for cull ewes is €4.00/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes, with a carcass weight ranging from 35-43kg.

Price quotes from other outlets are ranging from €9.40/kg for hoggets, €9.50/kg for spring lambs and €4.00-€4.10/kg for ewes.

Looking at the supplies of spring lambs and hoggets and the cumulative spring lamb kill to date, this year is actually over 5,600 head ahead of last year.

Weekly spring lamb kills remain low with just over 1,300 head processed in the week ending Sunday, April 14 (week 15) but supplies are expected to gradually increase over the coming weeks.

The cumulative hogget hill is just over 42,400 head below last years’ kill with 685,000 head of hoggets processed in the first 15 weeks this year. 40,300 hoggets were slaughtered in week 15 of this year.

The total sheep kill this year stands at just under 771,000 head, back 42,500 head on the same time of last year.

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Awareness among farmers and operators in the agri-food supply chain of unfair trading practices (UTPs) is “still too low”, according to a new report from the European Commission.

The commission said that its report on the implementation of the directive on UTPs – which became law in all EU member states in mid-2021 – was one of the commitments in response to farmer protests around Europe earlier this year.

The report is based on a survey targeting farmers and agri-food operators in the EU that was carried out by the commission between late February and mid-March.

The report outlines some “areas for improvement”, especially around awareness, with only 38% of respondents saying they were aware of the existence of EU rules on UTPs.

Furthermore, a majority of respondents (57%) said they did not know about their country’s national enforcement authority (which, in the case of Ireland, is An Rialálaí Agraibhia/The Agri-Food Regulator).

Notably, 30% of respondents said that fear of some sort of retaliation from buyers prevented them from reporting on UTPs that they were on the receiving end of.

As well as that, 23% of respondents said they did not report UTPs because they believed that the UTP in question was standard practice in the sector; while 17% of respondents did not report UTPs because they felt the relevant national enforcement authority would not be able to handle it.

The report also says that proper cross-border enforcement of UTPs across member states “still faces too many hurdles”, despite the existence of the UTP Enforcement Network, which the commission established to bring together representatives of the various national enforcement authorities.

On foot of this new report, the commission said it will propose new rules on cross-border enforcement against UTPs.

The directive on unfair trading practices prohibits 16 practices in the agri-food supply chain, as follows:

• 10 ‘black’ UTPs (prohibited in all circumstances):
  • Payment later than 30 days for perishable goods;
  • Payment later than 60 days for non-perishable goods;
  • Short-notice cancellation of purchase of perishable goods;
  • Unilateral contract changes by buyer;
  • Payment for unrelated services;
  • Risk of loss and deterioration transferred to supplier;
  • Refusal of a written confirmation of supply agreements by buyer;
  • Misuse of trade secrets by buyer;
  • Commercial retaliation by buyer;
  • Transferring cost of examining consumer complaints to supplier;
• Six ‘grey’ UTPs (prohibited except where clearly agreed between supplier and buyer):
  • Buyer returning unsold products to supplier;
  • Supplier paying for stocking, display, and listing;
  • Supplier paying for promotion;
  • Supplier paying for advertising;
  • Supplier paying for marketing;
  • Supplier paying for buyer’s staff or fitting out of premises.

The report found that a large majority of member states have adopted a higher level of protection, making use of the possibility to adopt or maintain national rules that go beyond the practices banned by the directive.

National enforcement authorities have been designated in all EU countries. In 2023, around 1,500 investigations were opened by these authorities, of which about 17% resulted in a finding of infringement and the issuance of a fine to the offending party.

The most frequently-detected UTPs last year were late payments for perishable goods, and late payment for non-perishable goods, with 50% and 13% of respondents respectively reporting that they have experienced these infringements.

About 41% of UTPs detected in 2023 were detected at retail level, 36% at the level of food industry, and 22% at the level of wholesale trade.

The commission said this new report will help inform the evaluation of the implementation of the UTP directive. This evaluation will take place in 2025, and will, if appropriate, be accompanied by legislative proposals.

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Producer prices for dairy products fell back by 23.7% over the 12-month period to March 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The wholesale price index for 2024 shows that for food products overall, producer prices fell by 9.1% in that 12-month period.

Apart from the decrease for dairy products, a slight decrease of 0.3% was also noted for meat and meat products in that period.

Decreases in producer prices were also recorded for vegetable and animal oils and fats (down 6%) and grain milling, starches and animal feeds (down 6.8%).

Some products saw increases in producer prices, including fish and fish products (up 7.1%), while bakery products increased very slightly by 0.3% in the 12-month reference period.

Producer prices for fruit and vegetable products were unchanged, while other food products, which weren’t categorised with any of the above, decreased by 11.5%.

The producer price index for beverages increased by 8.9%, while the index for wood and wood products fell by 10.5%.

Outside of the agri-food and forestry sectors, wholesale electricity prices were down 40.3% annually from March 2023 to March 2024, and down 70.4% over two years compared to March 2022.

The overall energy index decreased by 31.9% when compared to March 2023.

This is despite increases in prices of fuel (petrol, autodiesel, gas oil, and fuel oil) of between 2.3% and 8.9%.

Wholesale prices for construction products saw a slight decrease of 0.3% over the 12 months to March, with a wide range of decreases and increases in the relevant sub-categories; for example, prices for stone, sand, and gravel increased by 12.5% in that period, but prices for treated timber decreased by 31.6%.

In terms of capital goods, prices for such goods used in agriculture and industry increased by 4.3%, and prices of transportable capital for use in agriculture increased by 3.1% from March 2023 to March 2024.

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Approximately 19 million grass silage bales are made in Ireland on an annual basis, which is a figure that is likely to increase significantly.

As a consequence, this specific form of conserved fodder will remain a critically important winter feed source.

Driving this will be the continuing development of baling and wrapping technologies – the now almost common use of inoculant applicators on baler/wrappers illustrates this perfectly.

Grass bale weights are also increasing, with 750kg now commonly achieved on Irish farms. Significantly, this weight of bale can still be obtained after a 24-hour grass wilt.

The reality is that well-made grass bales are probably the highest quality winter forage source now available on Irish livestock farms.

Chopping, inoculant application, and the enhanced compaction capacity of modern balers combine to deliver optimal fermentation conditions while also delivering a ‘zero waste’ scenario.

Silage research

Significant investment and research into the development of bale wrapping materials has also helped to secure the enhanced quality forage that baled silages now represent.

Sales director for Berry Global’s Silotite brand in the UK, Ireland, Pacific, and Asia, Lloyd Dawson told Agriland: “Recent years have been marked by a step forward in the development of bale wrap films that deliver enhanced silage quality. This is a 100% recyclable polythene film.”

Another example of innovation driving the quality of baled silage, is the growing use of film-on-film technologies.

“Using film, instead of netting, to initially bind the bale has many advantages. In the first instance, the applied film is creating an oxygen barrier from the very outset,” Dawson continued.

“This has an immediate and beneficial impact on the fermentation processes taking places within the bale. Subsequently, a lower number of film layers [is] required to provide the totally anaerobic conditions required within the bale.

“Finally, baler net cannot be recycled; in contrast the bale wrap films manufactured by Berry Global are 100% recyclable,” he said.

According to Dawson, the introduction of Silotite to the British and Irish market helped revolutionise bale wrapping, pushing forward the market for sustainable products.

By engaging directly with the farming community and working closely with key research establishments to undertake commercial scale trials, Berry claims that its product developments are both scientifically grounded and closely aligned with the sector’s needs.

Approximately 16,000t of bale wrap is used across the island of Ireland on an annual basis.

Dawson continued: “Silotite is now sold in 75 countries around the world, however, Ireland has always been synonymous with the use of baled silage at farm level.

“Future developments regarding the size of silage bales and the range of forages ensiled within them are on the horizon.

“These breakthroughs will help to make livestock production a more sustainable option in countries around the world.”

Every tonne of polythene recycled saves 1.8t of crude oil, reduces energy usage by two thirds, entails 90% less water and cuts sulphur dioxide emissions by 33%, according to Berry.

Useful products manufactured from recycled bale wrap include agricultural slats, farm fencing, and garden furniture.

“We remain committed to providing farmers with cutting-edge solutions that enhance efficiency, promote sustainability, and contribute to their success,” Dawson added.

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The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that “urgent intervention” is needed from government to address the rising number of dog attacks on livestock.

The IFA National Sheep Committee chair Adrian Gallagher made the comments following a number of dog attacks on sheep this week.

Gallagher said that incidents had been reported in counties Roscommon, Sligo and Tipperary which had resulted in “significant losses” of animals for the farmers involved.

He said these are not isolated incidents but “part of a concerning trend that continues to devastate sheep farmers nationwide”.

Dog attacks

The IFA has repeatedly called for a centralised data base for all dogs which would correlate licensing and microchipping information.

Gallagher said that this would help to identify the owners of dogs that are suspected of being involved in attacking livestock.

The farm organisation has also asked the government to increase the number of dog wardens, but Gallagher said “this hasn’t happened”.

He said the lack of robust enforcement of existing laws continues to allow dogs to “run riot” on farms across the country.

“The government and various state agencies with responsibilities in this area have failed to put appropriate sanctions in place to deal with irresponsible dog ownership and its unacceptable.

“Farmers are losing patience with the authorities’ inactive response on the issue,” he said.

“Its time the authorities step up and recognise the gravity of the situation and take immediate and decisive action to address the issue,” Gallagher added.

The IFA National Sheep chair reminded all dog owners that they are fully liable for any damages caused to sheep by their pets.

He said dogs are not allowed in or near farmland and stressed the need for responsible conduct among dog owners to ensure the safety of farmers livestock.

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Kildare Chilling has said there “is no problem” issuing cheques to farmers after some farmers claimed they had experienced a “delay” in receiving cheques.

Kildare Chilling told Agriland that “cheques are going out as fast as they can” and that “anybody who wants a cheque can collect a cheque”.

This confirmation from the processor comes as some farmers in recent days claimed there had been a delay in receiving their cheques.

Last year, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) cleared the acquisition of Kildare Chilling Company by Dawn Meats.

The CCPC outlined that its chief reason reason for clearing the acquisition was because it would not “substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services” in the State. 

At the time of the acquisition Dawn Meats said it planned to invest a total of €10 million in the newly acquired facility, which markets its meat products under the Kildara and Heritage Town brands and operates from a single slaughterhouse.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president Sean McNamara told Agriland that a “number of farmers” have been speaking to him “in the last few days” in relation to a delay in getting their cheques from Kildare Chilling.

However, the processor refuted the claims and has emphasised that there is no issue for farmers if they want to collect their cheques.

Kildare Chilling

Kildare Chilling is leading the way for hogget prices this week, as it is offering €9.20/kg for a quality assured (QA) hogget, an increase of 30c/kg since last week.

While the processor announced it was not killing on Tuesday, it was offering €9.40/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs up to 20.5kg, a total of €9.50/kg for Monday, April 15 only.

This outlet has increased its quote by 20c/kg, and has also risen the weight it is paying to by 0.5kg.

The processor has offered €3.70/kg, plus a 10c QA bonus for ewes from 23kg to 35kg, a total of €3.80/kg and an increase of 10c/kg in a week.

For ewes between 35kg to 43kg, Kildare Chilling has offered farmers €4/kg plus a 10c QA bonus, a total of €4.10/kg for a better type ewe and a rise of 30c/kg since last week.

Ewes under 23kg and rams weighing up to 43kg are both being quoted at €2.50/kg by Kildare Chilling.

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The Fertilizer Association of Ireland has this month issued its guidance on the best strategy to employ ahead of the first cut of silage.

According to the association, silage reserves are running low due to poor weather, extending the housing/feeding period and therefore there is a real need to replenish quality silage stocks for winter 2024/2025. 

“The requirement of having a good yield of a high quality first-cut crop for cutting in mid-May is essential,” the Fertilizer Association has stated.

This cutting date will ensure subsequent cuts are not delayed therefore maximising annual yield.

The advice is not to aim for a ‘bulky’ first-cut which will ultimately not only reduce the quality of the feed available, but also the subsequent yield from a second-cut crop and also eliminate the possibility of a third cut where forage deficits are identified.

“Cutting date should not be delayed in light of poor conditions in February or March, this will only add to any forage shortages next winter,” the association said.

Grass silage has a large nutrient demand and adequate nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) is essential for maximising grass yield and producing sufficient winter feed.

Nutrients for first-cut silage

Nitrogen (N) is the key driver of grass yield. Grass swards with high levels of perennial rye grass will use N more efficiently than older swards.

The Fertilizer Association of Ireland has said that recently reseeded swards (0-3 years) will have 25% higher N demand, especially when reseeded after a tillage rotation.

A crop of grass silage (5t/ha of DM) will require 125kg N/ha (100units/ac).

Grass silage will take up on average 2.5kg/ha/day of N (2units/day), therefore apply N at least 50 days before cutting to ensure full crop N utilisation.

Adjust N rates depending on target cutting date, e.g., 40 days growth requires 80units N/ac (40 x 2units/day).

P and K are essential to maximise grass yields therefore adequate supply of these nutrients in the soil is critical.

The advice is to consult the most recent (3-5 years) soil test reports to determine the P and K requirements (in organic manure and fertiliser) for silage fields.

A crop of grass silage will remove approximately 4kg P and 25kg K/t of grass DM. Fertiliser silage crops based on targeted grass yield.

Organic manures

Cattle slurry is the most common manure applied to silage fields and can vary in nutrient content depending on its dry matter (DM) content.

Diluting cattle slurry with water is beneficial for ease of agitation and can help to improve the N availability in the slurry, however it will also dilute the P and K content of the slurry (i.e., a larger quantity of diluted slurry will be needed to supply the same levels of P and K as undiluted slurry).

The Fertilizer Association has said that the slurry hydrometer is a useful tool than can be used to assess the DM percentage of slurry helping farmers to predict the nutrient content more accurately and adjusting application rates.

In 2024 due to ungrazed silage fields, the association is advising farmers to aim to supply crop N, P, K and sulphur (S) requirements by selecting a suitable fertiliser and apply cattle slurry after the first cut.

E.g., 3,000gal/ac of good quality cattle slurry (6% DM) will replenish soil P and K reserves.

The table below shows the recommended rates of N, P and K at different soil P and K indexes (1-4) required for 5t/ha grass DM (10t fresh grass / ac).

Maximum K application

Luxury amounts of K may be taken up by grass where more than 90kg/ha K are applied.

This can reduce fertiliser K efficiency and may upset the K:Mg:Na balance in herbage, the association has said.

Where more than 90kg/ha K is advised, only 90 kg/ha should be applied in spring, and the remainder to the aftermath or in late autumn.

Timing of silage strategy

The Fertilizer Association has advised to apply crop N, P and K requirements when closing silage fields.

In wetter soil conditions, fertiliser N can be split 50:50, e.g., 50% in early April and the remainder 7 to 10 days later to reduce the risk of N losses.

Meanwhile, sulphur (S) deficiency is most lightly on light sandy / free-draining soils with low soil organic matter.

Current research shows that S deficiency is not just confined to light textured soils and S deficiencies are occurring on heavy textured soils in early spring.

Grass silage crops have a requirement of 20kg S/ha per cut. The application of S to soils where it is required will improve grass DM yields and quality as it helps to maintain an optimum N:S ratio and N to be used more efficiency, the association stated.

The advice is to apply S with main N split as N+S (e.g., CAN+S / protected urea+S).

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The European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) has concluded the EU-wide project #MeatTheStandards aimed at improving working conditions in the European meat industry.

Taking inspiration from the Occupational Safety and Control Act, which significantly improved working conditions in the German meat industry, EFFAT and others have urged the upcoming EU institutions to assume European responsibility for the matter.

The unions want the EU to improve labour standards in a sector which it said is “plagued by substandard conditions, wage undercutting, and exploitation”.

Conditions for meat sector workers

Ahead of the next EU elections, EFFAT is urging the new European Commission and the incoming European Parliament to safeguard workers from exploitation at the EU level.

They want this achieved by enacting a binding initiative that regulates sub-contracting, addresses abusive intermediaries, and strengthens workplace inspections.

According to EFFAT, the two-year #MeatTheStandards project, which brought together affiliates from across Europe, has yielded significant results enhancing cooperation, raising awareness, and advocating for better labour standards.

The federation has said that the collective efforts of participants have led to tangible outcomes, including:

• Awareness raising: The project shed light on the pervasive nature of issues within the European meat industry, emphasising the need for concerted action at the European level;
• Belgian collective bargaining agreement on social fraud: A significant milestone was the development of the Belgian collective bargaining agreement addressing social fraud in the meat sector, underscoring the importance of regulatory measures in safeguarding workers’ rights;
• Organising efforts in Poland: Successful organising initiatives were undertaken in Poland, aimed at empowering workers and improving their working conditions;
• Exchange with member organisations in Romania: Meaningful exchanges were facilitated with member organisations in Romania, fostering cross-border collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• European Works Council (EWC) work: EFFAT engaged and coordinated the establishment of a European Works Council (EWC) in LDC, advocating for the rights and interests of workers at the multinational level.

Leveraging the outcomes of the EU project, EFFAT general secretary, Kristjan Bragason highlighted the significance of these achievements in advancing the rights and wellbeing of meat industry workers across Europe: “The working conditions in the meat sector have stained the European labour market.

“Regardless of its profitability, a sector cannot truly thrive if built on exploitation and social dumping,” he added.

NGG trade union chairman, Guido Zeitler said: “It took many years of fighting the exploitative structures of the German meat industry, before outsourcing and sub-contracts were finally banned by law.

“This was a milestone, which we now want to achieve together for Europe. But we also want to make further improvements.

“Dubious former sub-contractors are still up to mischief as recruitment agencies, transporters, and accommodation providers.

“We urgently need more regulation and stricter controls here – in Germany and Europe,” Zeitler added.

EFFAT’s demand for better working conditions through sub-contracting chains is included in #CallingEU, a larger EU elections manifesto calling for a new EU mandate committed to delivering a fairer Europe for workers.

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The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has said that the deadline for the completion of actions under the National Sheep Welfare Scheme is “unworkable”.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that the payment will be per eligible breeding ewe and payment for full scheme compliance will be €8/ewe, (€4/ewe/action completed).

There are four actions in the scheme and applicants must complete two actions in full, one from each category.

The scheme will run from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, however actions selected must be completed by October 15, 2024.

Farmers must complete two actions – one from the Category A actions of shearing or body condition scoring ewes and one from the Category B actions of Clostridial vaccination of ewes or plunge dipping to control external parasite.

The department said that the deadline for applications for the scheme is May 21, 2024.

ICSA

ICSA president Sean McNamara has welcomed the opening of the scheme but was concerned about the timeframe for necessary actions to be completed.

“Setting a mid-October deadline is highly impractical for hill sheep farmers, as their livestock will still be out grazing on the mountains at that time.

“To fulfil the required actions, ewes would need to be brought down from the mountains, a task typically not undertaken until late October and into November,” he said.

“The current deadline of October 15 for the completion of actions does not align with the typical practices on hill sheep farms.

“A mid-November deadline would be more pragmatic, allowing farmers the necessary time to bring in their sheep and carry out the required actions, and we are calling on the minister to make this adjustment,” McNamara added.

“ICSA fought extremely hard to secure this additional €8 and we want as many sheep farmers as possible to benefit from it.

“Early in 2023 we were protesting outside the Dáil fighting for the very economic survival of sheep farmers up and down the country.

“We made it very clear that the €12 farmers were receiving under the Sheep Improvement Scheme was totally inadequate,” the ICSA president said.

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It’s a well-known fact that the cost of leasing land has increased significantly over the past few years, with a number of factors responsible.

In most parts of the country, dairy expansion and changes to nitrate derogation regulations have been the two main factors being attributed to the rise in land-rental costs.

This time of the year tends to be when the majority of land lease deals are struck ahead of the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application closing date of May 15.

Earlier last month (March), Teagasc drystock advisor Andy Ryder who is based in Co. Mayo, said that the main talking point with farmers who are renewing leases, is the increased cost of land leasing.

He said: “Some of these farmers have been farming the same ground for 10 to 15 years. This is at a time when costs on farms, especially dry stock farms, are high and in some cases, direct payments have fallen.”

“I don’t believe some of these farmers are fully aware of the financial change that will occur for their farm this year especially where young farmers cannot avail of the young farmer’s scheme anymore, further convergence of BISS payments and other schemes are no longer available as application dates are closed.”

“Their farming system has been built around this leased land and the loss of the land will change their farm business dramatically.

“This is a dilemma farmers are facing. They need the land to maintain their current farming enterprise, but, is this land leaving any money at the end of the day?”

The Teagasc advisor urged farmers to consider some of the following points before deciding on leasing land:

• Rental price

The Teagasc advisor explained that the price aid for land is naturally enough “by far the biggest factor”.

“Farmers pay for land on a per acre basis, but receive payments on a per hectare basis. Farmers need to get advice and put some real figures together to give a better picture of the situation.”

• Distance from farmyard

He said: “Fuel cost and wear and tear of machinery is a real cost that is often ignored. With higher fuel prices and rising machinery costs currently, these often hidden costs cannot be discounted.”

• Land quality

The Mayo-based Teagasc advisor said: “Too often land is taken to avail of support payments and the quality of the land is secondary.

“The simple task of walking the land and taking a soil sample will help you decide on the potential of the land. The main reason for taking on extra land should be to grow the farm and try to increase the profit margin.”

• Hidden costs

Fencing and stock handling facilities are costs that occur when leasing land. It is an upfront cost.

He advised farmers to discuss these costs with the land owner prior to taking the land and said “the possibility of some rent reduction if money has to be spent on fencing as the fencing will be there after the lease has expired”.

• Disease and parasites control

“Some land has a higher risk of red water and fluke for example. There is a cost when animals are lost or prevention measures have to be put in place. Is the land in a high risk TB area?”

• Direct payments

“This is where policy in recent years have changed the cost of leased land. Based on individual circumstances, different farmers can offer higher rental prices and in a lot of cases it is not based on the production potential, but the direct payments that can be drawn down.”

• Income tax

“Most farmers are part-time sole traders working off farm. Any extra money made on the leased land will be taxed similar to all other income.”

• Extra livestock and housing

“This can be a problem for some farms if no planning has occurred. Farmers may have to purchase stock for eligibility for some schemes. Some farms can end up with too much grass and others may have to sell stock for the winter as sufficient housing is not available.”

• Time

“A precious resource on most farms and is often overlooked. It needs to be taken into account when expanding the farm.”

• Scale

“By leasing extra ground it may allow the next generation to get involved in the farming business sooner.”

The Teagasc drystock advisor urged farmers to “spend a bit of time doing up some figures” and talk to their advisor before making any decisions.

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The first lambs have began to arrive on two separate farms in Co. Kerry which are participating in a sustainability project being led by Irish Country Meats (ICM) focused on the use of five star terminal rams.

The project is being led by ICM, in collaboration with ABP Food Group with support from Sheep Ireland, and according to ICM, the aim of the project is “to demonstrate the benefits of using five star rams on family farms across a range of systems”.

The two farms participating in the initiative are located in south Co. Kerry and are similar in nature.

Lowland grazing is limited and is offered during mating, directly post lambing and then mainly retained for weaned / finishing lambs.

One of the farms involved in the trial supplies store lambs to the ABP Demo Farm in the autumn where they are fattened and finished, while the other farm takes its own lambs from birth to finish.

Over the lambs’ lifetime, data will be collected to compare the progeny performance of the five star sired lambs to the progeny from lambs sired by lower star rams.

To date, the single lambs born in the trial had an average weight 5.8kg while the twin lambs had an average birth weight of 4.8kg.

On the first trial farm, a total of 70 out of the 100 trial ewes have lambed with 120 lambs on the ground to date. These ewes scanned at 1.6 lambs/ewe. The second farmer will be lambing from next week on.

The data to recorded from the trial will include:

• Ewe tag number for each ram;
• Scanning rate;
• Lamb birth weight and date (lambs tagged at birth for identification);
• Weaning weight;
• Weighed once/month from 30kg to finish (minimum);
• Liveweight before finish;
• Carcass quality;
• Health issues.

All lambs sired by the trial rams will be genotyped to monitor they are the correct bunch of lambs and to see how influential the five star rating is on the progeny performance of each individual ram.

According to ICM, it is hoped that findings from the trial will help farmers to improve the carcass quality, age at finish and overall health of their lambs.

The processor believes that improving these traits will lead to “a more economic and environmentally sustainable lamb-production system”.

Farmers can find out more about the ICM lamb sustainability project here.

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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has announced a pause to all non-essential agricultural inspections until April 22.

The minister has also said that he has spoken to banks to ask them to ensure access to short term finance and overdraft facilities where needed, to deal with the pressure arising from the current “exceptional weather conditions”.

As well as that, the minister said that he has tasked Teagasc with the “coordination of support to farmers under fodder pressure”.

“I am extremely conscious of the pressure on farmers as a result of continuing and exceptional adverse weather conditions.

“As an immediate step I have asked my department to pause farm inspections not specifically required to support payments until April 22. In considering this matter, I was conscious of the need to avoid any action that might affect payments to farmers,” the minister said.

“This step is a proportionate and necessary one in the current circumstances,” he added.

He went on to say: “I have also asked Teagasc to establish a system for coordinating advisory supports to help farmers maximise existing fodder stocks and provide a basis for those with surpluses to engage with those who are struggling.

“The National Fodder and Feed Security Committee, which I convened last week, concluded that, notwithstanding the difficulties that some farmers are experiencing, there are sufficient fodder stocks around the country at present.”

“This system will support the optimal use of available stocks, and I have asked Teagasc to report back to next week’s National Feed and Food Security Committee on the outcome,” the minister said, confirming that the committee will meet again next week.

On the finance issues, Minister McConalogue said: “I also met recently with the main banks, and my department is continuing to engage with them. I have impressed upon them the need to show forbearance with farmers where cashflow issues are emerging in response to current difficulties.

“I also asked them to ensure access to short term finance and overdraft facilities, where needed, to deal with the pressure arising from the current exceptional weather conditions,” he added.

The minister said he would continue to monitor the situation closely.

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The steady cattle trade and record prices being achieved for lambs and hoggets at Mayo-Sligo Co-op Mart (Ballina Mart) Co. Mayo, are keeping farmers’ spirits high despite the current wet weather conditions, according to mart manager, Billy Loftus.

Speaking to Agriland following the weekly general cattle and sheep sale at the mart venue on Tuesday, April 2, the mart manager said:

“We’re nearly getting €3.60-€4.00/kg lightweight for hoggets and lambs, it’s never been dearer, €200/head for a good lamb at the moment, it’s a great price.”

Commenting on the cattle trade at the mart, he said:

“The forward 600-700kg bullocks and heifers are just about holding, depending on quality, at €3.00-€3.25/kg on average. A good Charolais bullock is still fit to make €3.20/kg live weight.”

Prices from the bullock sale at Ballina on Tuesday included:

• 628kg Charolais bullock sold for €2,070;
• 650kg Limousin bullock sold for €2,010;
• 592kg Charolais bullock sold for €1,870;
• 584kg Limousin bullock sold for €2,040.

He said: “The store cattle are gone to an awful price, the west would have a lot of ‘seven month men’ buying cattle for drawing grants and they come into the trade in April to buy cattle and sell on again in October.

“Historically, April would be their month and anything from 300-500kg is their market. They want the continental cattle and there’s serious demand for them.”

“I seen 350kg bullocks fit to make €1,400. You get that for a few weeks, but we’re in the middle of the spring trade at the moment.”

Prices from the heifer sale at Ballina on Tuesday included:

• 716kg Charolais heifer sold for €2,320;
• 410kg Belgian Blue heifer sold (for breeding) for €2,260;
• 660kg Charolais heifer sold for €2,000;
• 666kg Limousin heifer sold for €1,970;
• 646kg Charolais heifer sold for €1,950;
• 594kg Limousin heifer sold for €1,880.

Commenting on the number of cattle in the sale, the mart manager said: “For January, February and March, numbers were steady on other years. We are expecting April to be a big month for cattle sales.

“In the last two months, especially for the beef and the forward cattle, the exporters are at it big time, anything they want they’re fit to buy out. We cleared 30 heavy cattle for export this morning (Wednesday) going direct to the north. It’s really adding to the ring-side competition.”

Sample weanling bull prices:

• 362kg Charolais bull sold for €1,530;
• 384kg Limousin bull sold for €1,450;
• 374kg Charolais bull sold for €1,350;
• 440kg Charolais bull sold for €1,350;
• 236kg Charolais bull sold for €1,100;
• 288kg Charolais bull sold for €1,120;
• 400kg Angus bull sold for €1,310.

He said that most of the top prices in the weanling bull sale were paid by farmers buying cattle for grass.

Commenting on the trade for lighter-type cattle and runners, he said: “Lighter cattle had eased a bit but hardened in the last two weeks. Weather had impacted them a bit but now with the longer days, they’re selling fine.”

He added that in the cull cow ring, average prices for the top, heavy cows ranged from €2.60-2.80/kg.

Sample prices from the cull cow ring:

• 890kg cow sold for €2,540;
• 840kg cow sold for €2,410.

The feeding-type continental cows going to grass were making €2.70-2.80/kg, while the Friesian cows ranged from €2.10-2.40/kg and the thinner-type cows made €2/kg tops.

Bull sale

Mayo-Sligo Co-op Mart (Ballina Mart) is set to host a special sale of pedigree breeding bulls on Tuesday, April 9.

The multi-breed pedigree bull sale is set to feature 70 bulls and will kick off at 12:00p.m, with premiums available to the purchasers of the top-priced bulls.

The bull sale at Ballina Mart will also feature a special entry of 11 Aberdeen Angus bulls from the Coolcran Angus Herd.

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The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has today (Friday, March 29) submitted a detailed report to the National Fodder and Food Security Committee, highlighting severe challenges faced by farmers due to the prolonged wet weather conditions.

The submission, following from a survey of ICOS members, outlines the urgent need for targeted support and initiatives to alleviate rapidly growing pressures on the agricultural sector.

Speaking in advance of today’s meeting, ICOS president Edward Carr said that farmers are currently grappling with mental and physical exhaustion, financial stress, fodder scarcity, unworkable ground conditions, and significant concerns regarding the health and productivity of their animals.

“The unprecedented weather conditions have led to a dire situation with reduced grazing, delayed fertiliser application, and the potential for long-term impacts on milk production, breeding and soil fertility,” Carr stated.

“Emergency supports are required until weather conditions are more conducive to cattle getting outdoors to graze.

“We need a multi-faceted approach to support the agricultural community during this challenging period.”

Priorities

ICOS has identified the following five main priority areas for immediate action:

Suspension of on-farm inspections: ICOS has called for a one-month suspension of all Bord Bia and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) on-farm inspections.

This recommendation aims to alleviate current stress and workload on farms and to ensure continued compliance with standards without additional pressure on farmers.

Rebate on feed: A government-matched rebate on feed, mirroring the support already provided by co-operatives, should be implemented, according to ICOS.

The organisation has said that this would ease the financial burden on farmers by reducing the cost of essential supplements needed to bridge the nutritional gap caused by currently inadequate grazing.

Soil fertility: ICOS has also called for a targeted approach to improving soil fertility this year given the reductions in phosphorous and potassium (P&K) in last two years.

ICOS said that it’s important to ensure no impediment to grass production and a strong direct communication campaign from all agencies is needed to get this message out otherwise replenishing fodder reserves could be a challenge. 

Joined-up approach with the tillage sector: A collaborative effort should be promoted between dairy, beef, and tillage sectors to optimise forage production, according to ICOS.

It said that DAFM should consider a subsidy to tillage farmers to grow forage crops such as maize, beet and red clover.

Given the late sowing date and reduced forage stocks, ICOS has said that we need to consider the options to support incomes on tillage farms, while rebuilding fodder stocks on livestock farms.

ICOS would also welcome a reduced requirement on the tillage sector to chop straw, while maintaining supports for tillage farmers.

Dissemination of simple and strong advice: Farmers need clear, accessible, and actionable advice to navigate the current crisis.

ICOS emphasised the importance of distributing guidance through co-ops, farm organisations, and agricultural media offering practical strategies for managing the immediate challenges.

In addition to immediate relief measures, ICOS emphasised the importance of long-term resilience planning, collaboration between government agencies and farmer organisations, education on weather-related risks, and regular monitoring of the effectiveness of support measures.

ICOS Dairy Committee chair, Niall Matthews said: “Let nobody lose sight of the critically important role of farmers and cooperatives in ensuring food security.

“Immediate government action is necessary to recognise and support the pressing needs arising from the current weather crisis.

“Farmers are resilient and will come through this challenging period and animal welfare will be prioritised but short-term emergency supports are required until weather conditions are more conducive to allowing cattle outdoors to graze, as there is plenty of grass on farms but ground conditions are very challenging at present.”

ICOS

ICOS is the umbrella organisation for the cooperative movement in Ireland – including dairy processing cooperatives and livestock marts.

These associated businesses have a combined turnover in the region of €16 billion, with 175,000 individual members, employing 12,000 people in Ireland, and a further 24,000 people overseas. 

In total, there are 1,000 co-ops in Ireland, and the largest 100 organisations employ approximately 40,000 people.

ICOS aims to promote the cooperative model as a means of enhancing the competitiveness, sustainability, and profitability of its members in the agri-food sector.

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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to provide a range of supports to support good animal health.

These animal health support measures assist farmers in optimising farm productivity, profitability, and sustainability, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

“The success of the farming year is dependent on many factors but much hinges on the health and well-being of a farmers’ livestock,” Minister McConalogue said.

“Good animal health not only enhances farm productivity and profitability, but also leads to reduced antibiotic usage, improved animal welfare, lower carbon emissions, and minimised risks of zoonotic diseases.

“From a government perspective, over and above the comprehensive range of sectoral supports, we look to support them with the knowledge, information, tools and resources necessary to optimise their management choices and safeguard their livelihoods.”

Good animal health

Central to the government’s strategy is the promotion of biosecurity measures as a cornerstone of disease prevention and control.

“Biosecurity is paramount in protecting animal health and preventing disease outbreaks,” the minister continued.

“We are committed to empowering farmers with the necessary data, knowledge and support infrastructure to make informed decisions and mitigate risks.”

In relation to the threat of exotic diseases such as avian influenza, bluetongue and African swine fever which are currently spreading across Europe, Minister McConalogue confirmed the allocation of additional funding towards addressing this risk.

This will be aimed at enhanced surveillance activities, including post-import testing, and awareness raising.

The minister also highlighted the critical need for strict biosecurity protocols to be applied at individual farm level, to ensure early detection of any exotic disease risk and to mitigate potential impacts.  

He committed to further investments under the Rural Development Programme’s Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH) programme to provide specialised veterinary advice to farmers.  

The minister said: “[The programme] will provide farmers with free on-farm veterinary consultations, focusing on biosecurity for pig and poultry farms, chronic udder health issues and dry cow consultancy in dairy herds, disease management and control advice in relation to bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), Johne’s Disease, bovine TB, tail biting in pigs and the salmonella control plan (pigs).

“We are committing funds of €3.75 million to support the BVD eradication programme this year, which includes direct support to farmers with test positive animals and also a 20% increased payment towards surveillance testing, at €2.40 per animal, supporting up to 25 animals per herd.” 

Data

The minister has also noted the participation by 10,225 farmers who undertook snapshot testing of their herds for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in the National Beef Welfare Scheme in 2023.

The outcome data from this scheme is available to those farmers to help them understand the IBR status of their herds and manage the risk of IBR on their own farms.

The overall anonymised data is available to inform industry stakeholders in the AHI coordinated technical working and implementation groups, as they consider the development of an IBR eradication programme. 

“Preliminary information shows that some 50% of participating herds and 88% of animals tested negative for IBR, which is an invaluable insight into the challenge ahead,” Minister McConalogue said.

“I understand that future research is necessary to validate the efficacy of bulk milk testing as a surveillance methodology in any future control/eradication programme and I have therefore committed €100,000 to AHI to support their research into this and ancillary surveillance test methodologies.”

The minister also indicated that he is seeking to include an animal health measure in the 2024 National Beef Welfare Scheme which will be announced later this year.

Turning to small ruminants, the minister said: “I recognise that animal health challenges exist in the small ruminant sector and that there would be benefit in the industry coming together to explore the development of an industry-led small ruminant health programme.

“I have asked my officials to initiate immediate engagement with industry stakeholders on this and I look forward to seeing progress in this area.”

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The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has said that a scheduled meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) tomorrow (Friday, March 28) must kickstart an emergency response to the ongoing difficulties facing farmers amid continuing heavy rainfall.

President of the ICSA, Sean McNamara said: “With any hope of an early spring well and truly dashed, and any fodder reserves dwindling fast, it is clear this committee needs to rapidly reassess the current situation on the ground.”

The farm organisation president has called for the committee to consider the extent of the fodder shortages and the impact of continued wet weather on farming operations.

The online meeting is set to take place on tomorrow morning at 11:00 when committee will receive an update from Teagasc across grassland tillage farms; a situation report from the committee members and a summary of the situation across the country.

“Crops are not going in the ground and cattle cannot be put out to graze due to saturated ground conditions,” McNamara continued.

“All this is causing enormous stress and is putting serious financial pressure on farm families. The situation is dire; it can no longer be ignored, and it will require a rapid emergency response.

Ensuring the resilience of farms and the well-being of farm families in the coming weeks is paramount.”

Fodder emergency

McNamara also said that the inability of drystock farmers to access credit is a major factor in the current fodder crisis.

“The reality is, we have a financial crisis as well as a fodder crisis. If farmers need to access credit in order to feed livestock, then there needs to be flexibility shown from lenders and co-ops alike.

The government needs to get real on securing greater flexibility on short-term finance for all farmers,” he added.

The ICSA has called for tomorrow’s meeting to kickstart a coordinated response to the situation on the ground.

“The time for talking around the difficulties facing farmers is over and we want to see real action in the form of initiatives that will offer immediate assistance to farmers,” McNamara stressed.

The association said that this must include guarantees around access to short-term credit for all farmers, the provision of emergency meal vouchers, the establishment of a fodder support scheme, and the curtailment of inspections.

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Sheep numbers were down by 4.9% in June 2023 according to the latest compiled data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO has today, Wednesday, March 27, 2024 released the Crops and Livestock Survey Final Results June 2023. 

Commenting on the release, statistician in the Agriculture Division of the CSO, Sophie Emerson said: “The final results for June 2023 show that the total number of sheep in the country decreased by 293,200 (-4.9%) to 5,674,400 when compared with June 2022.

“The number of other sheep fell by 288,900 (-9.9%) to 2,624,800,” she added.

This data relates to estimates of land utilisation and livestock numbers in June 2023 at state and regional level.

The estimates for sheep and pigs are based on returns from the 2023 June sample survey of agricultural holdings and the June 2023 Pig Survey conducted by the CSO.

The estimates for cattle and for crops are obtained from administrative data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). 

Farms where the agricultural area used was at least 1ha are included in the June Agricultural Sample Survey.

Farms with less than 1ha may also be included if they were engaged in intensive production, according to the CSO.

CSO figures for other livestock

The total number of cattle in the country decreased by 54,700 (-0.7%) to 7,341,500 when compared with June 2022, according to the CSO data, with the highest numbers being recorded in the south of the country.

The total number of dairy cows grew by 19,300 (+1.2%) while the total number of ‘other cows’ fell by 41,000 (-4.5%).

The total number of cattle aged two years and over rose by 56,100 (+7.6%) in the year since 2022, while the total number of cattle under two years fell by 87,200 (-2.1%).

A regional analysis of the livestock numbers shows that the largest number of cattle (1,472,600) was in the mid-west region, the largest number of sheep (1,623.900) was in the west region and the largest number of pigs (498,900) was in the midlands region.

The total pig numbers increased by 26,500 (+1.6%) to 1,661,300 and similarly, ‘other pigs’ rose by 18,100 (+1.2%) to 1,515,700. The highest numbers were seen in the southern region.

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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said that lead poisoning cases diagnosed by its veterinary laboratory service tends to peak in late Spring and into early summer.

In 2023, there were 20 herd outbreaks of lead poisoning in cattle that were investigated by DAFM’s veterinary laboratory service.

An update published on the DAFM’s animal health surveillance page on Thursday, March 21, noted that cases of lead poisoning tend to spike when animals are turned out to pasture.

While weather conditions remain challenging for grazing, most farmers will be hoping to ramp up spring grazing in the coming weeks.

The update reminded farmers that prevention is the best policy and warned that lead is “highly toxic” to animals.

Lead poisoning mainly affects cattle and sheep, but calves are particularly at risk due to their increased susceptibility and curious nature.

To reduce the risk of lead poisoning, farmers are urged to carefully check their fields and hedgerows for sources of lead such as old car batteries before turning cattle out to pasture and before silage making.

“Hedgerows bounding public roads should be checked carefully for fly-tipping of risk materials. Where identified, sources of lead should be removed and disposed of safely.”

According to DAFM: “Catastrophic losses have occurred on occasion, where discarded batteries have been accidentally incorporated into silage and this silage then fed to cattle.

“From a public health perspective, lead exposure in milking cattle or beef cattle being readied for slaughter has potential risks for the food chain.

“In order to protect the human food chain, cases of lead poisoning are investigated thoroughly, and certain restrictions may be applied.”

Losses due to lead poisoning, not only of animals but also financially, can be substantial for the farmer.

Common sources of lead on farms:

• Lead batteries, including electric fencing batteries;
• Discarded Lead flashing and lead piping;
• Bonfire ash;
• Old lead paint tins and flaking lead paint.

Toxicity can occur within 24 hours of exposure and the clinical signs range from sudden death to blindness, ataxia, head pressing and convulsions.

Lead poisoning can often be diagnosed on clinical signs and finding a source of lead to which the animals had access.

Measurement of lead concentrations in tissue or blood by the local DAFM regional veterinary laboratory, on referral by your vet, will confirm the diagnosis.

Prevention is a matter of not allowing cattle access to sources of lead.

Before cattle are turned out to grass in the spring and at regular intervals during the grazing season, farmers should search the fields for discarded batteries, lead shot, old painted items or other possible sources of lead.

This is especially important in fields bounded by a public road where fly-tipped material may be a potential risk to grazing animals.

Lead batteries should be disposed of carefully in accordance with local authority guidelines. Prior to disposal, ensure that batteries are kept where cattle cannot access them or where they or their leaked contents cannot end up in silage or in a diet feeder.

Other tips to help prevent lead poisoning include:

• Ensuring cattle do not have access to old cars or tractors or leakage from their batteries or sump oil;

• Do not use timber painted with old toxic lead paints, like an old painted door to block a gap or doorway or leave them in areas that are accessible to cattle, especially calves, which have a tendency to lick such items.
• Do not use lead pipes for plumbing, or red lead paint for preserving metalwork.

If a farmer suspects lead poisoning in an animal, they should contact their vet who will be able to advise regarding the diagnosis, and can arrange to have clinical samples tested or a post-mortem conducted on your animal at a DAFM veterinary laboratory to confirm the diagnosis.

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Two ewes had a large delivery of lambs on one sheep farm in Co. Mayo in the past week.

One ewe on the farm of Gerard Gibbons in Ballindine gave birth to quintuplets on Sunday, March 24, while another ewe had quadruplet lambs a few days earlier.

Gerard, along with his father Gerard and other family members, is lambing down about 285 ewes this season and this is the first time ever the farm has seen quintuplets being born.

Gerard told Agriland: “We had them scanned so we knew there were five and four.”

“She [the ewe who had quads] still has three on her and we had to put one on another ewe.”

He explained that of the five lambs born of another ewe, he “had to bring the smallest one into the house” to be given a little extra care, but sadly the little one did not make it and died today.

The farm has seen quadruplets born to ewes several times over the past few years, but the arrival of five lambs to one ewe this season was definitely an unusual event.

Gerard explained that they have a short breeding lead-in: “We do a short period. [The ewes] are only five weeks out with the ram.”

The Gibbons farm also has “a few cows too” and Gerard also keeps his hands full with rearing calves.

Gerard explained that lambing season is underway about two weeks on the Ballindine farm and there are about 130 ewes left to lamb down scanned with triplets, twins and singles.

While Gerard also works off farm, the addition of technology such as cameras in the yard has helped the effort to keep track of the ewes in lamb.

There is a mixture of breeds on the farm with the majority sold off as stores, and Gerard senior said one of the most popular breeds in the flock are the Bluefaced Leicester mix.

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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has requested that a meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee be held this week.

It comes amid concern in the agricultural sector about ongoing and challenging weather conditions.

The online meeting is set to take place on Friday morning at 11:00.

The committee will receive an update from Teagasc across grassland tillage farms; a situation report from the committee members and a summary of the situation across the country.

Minister McConalogue said this afternoon (Tuesday, March 26): “Grass growth over the winter period has yielded strong pasture covers on farms, however, difficult weather conditions are delaying or restricting turnout.

“The challenge is more pronounced in certain parts of the country particularly where early grazing is a key management tool.”  

Teagasc has advised that silage is available to purchase, and that some farmers had included the option of purchasing fodder in their winter feed budgeting plans.

The minister added: “It is important that the [fodder] committee establishes the most up to date facts regarding the fodder and feed situation on farms and provides advice to assist farmers through this challenging period.”

Fodder

In some parts of the country, farmers have not seen a substantial break in the rain for several months.

While livestock should be out grazing by this time, on a normal year with decent weather conditions, many farm enterprises still have livestock housed.

This has resulted in additional expense to farmers and an inability to spread slurry and concern about the quality and quantity of silage/fodder this year as a result.

The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that farmers around the country are facing a “fodder crisis”, with the situation “worsening” as wet weather persists.

Met Éireann has said that most soils are currently close to saturation, with very little improvement expected over the coming week.

In some northern and western areas some light soils are trafficable, while most poorly drained soils are waterlogged.

Weather

In terms of the weather outlook for the coming days, Met Éireann is forecasting that rain will continue over Connacht, Ulster, west Munster and north Leinster this afternoon (Tuesday, March 26).

It will turn brighter elsewhere with scattered heavy showers developing, bringing a chance of hail and isolated thunderstorms and highest temperatures of 6° to 10°C in moderate north-east to east winds.

Tomorrow, outbreaks of rain will gradually clear northwards in the morning and early afternoon. Sunny spells and showers will follow from the south for the rest of the day.

Some showers will be heavy with the chance of hail and isolated thunderstorms, and with sleet possible on hills. Cool with highest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees in moderate to fresh southeast to south winds.

Generally it will be unsettled with frequent rain and showers, and the possibility of some flooding. Blustery at times also.

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Like many other farmers at the moment, farmers Pat and Catherine Murray from Gorey, Co. Wexford are experiencing late nights and early starts as they continue through the lambing and calving season.

Pat said that with an average of five or six hours sleep a night it’s “difficult to be able to continue”, and that lack of sleep affects farmers “big time”.

Pat’s daughter, Catherine has been farming alongside him full-time for about a year now, after completing college and spending some time working in academia research.

Growing up, Catherine said that she would have worked on the farm every now and then, but is now starting to “really appreciate the amount of labour involved”.

“You never really appreciate the amount of planning and the amount of thought that has to go into every task,” Catherine said.

Catherine added that she is always looking ahead and trying to plan labour around what is happening, and said that she has to put a lot more effort into organising social events.

She said the job is “not for everyone” and that it’s difficult to understand what it actually entails unless somebody is involved in the mental and physical labour.

Lambing pressure

Pat said that in particular for lambing this year, input prices have risen “sharply”.

He said that while lamb prices are “not bad at the moment”, that those prices need to continue.

“We are seeing a huge amount of ewes being culled at the moment.

“People are reducing numbers and unless something is done shortly for the sheep industry, we are going to have a serious problem in a couple of years time,” Pat said.

“The factory end of it is completely dependent on the raw material coming from the farmer. If that doesn’t happen, we are going to see job losses in the industry,” he added.

With consistent rainfall so far this year and late last year, Pat added that farmers have been unable to turn out stock because of the difficult field conditions.

He said that targeted payments need to be increased to relieve pressure.

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The ‘record’ prices currently being paid for sheepmeat, particularly lamb, is as a result of tight supply on the continent according to sheepmeat and livestock manager with Bord Bia, Seamus McMenamin.

He was speaking to Agriland on the latest episode of the AgriFocus podcast.

“We’re look at a very tight supply situation and that’s driving these higher prices,” he said.

“Easter and Ramadan have come in very quick succession this year and around that time there is always peak demand for lamb, obviously, and peak throughput to go along with that.

“If I was to look at the European markets, there is strong demand there for sheepmeat because over the last 12 months, they killed a lot of lambs in the first half of the year, so now there [are] extremely tight supplies on the continent for sheepmeat,” McMenamin added.

Ireland and the UK are primary exporters of sheepmeat into European markets.

Premium for spring lamb

With quality assured spring lamb fetching quotes as high as €9.40/kg, the Bord Bia manager explained that there tends to be “premium” for spring lamb at this time of the year.

“The hogget trade is obviously very strong as well and there is good demand there for lambs, particularly those that meet the spec of what the factories want, bot for the domestic market and for export,” McMenamin continued.

Whether or not farmers should be rushing to sell their sheep or lamb at the moment, is not something the Bord Bia manager would be drawn on.

However, he did say that indications from factories to farmers at the moment are that supplies will continue to remain tight in the medium-term.

McMenamin indicated that his colleagues in the UK have said they are forecasting a 10% decline in the number of sheep they will have available for processing in the first half of the year.

In relation to Ireland, he explained that there is likely to be a decline in the national ewe flock in 2024, based on latest data from the sheep census.

While the hogget kill this year is on par with previous years, McMenamin said that live exports of sheep to the continent must also be considered as a factor in the potential reduction of available sheep for processing this year.

Quality of sheepmeat

While there appeared to be some concerns about carcass quality last year, the Bord Bia manager said that does not seem to be an issue this year.

He told the podcast: “The reports from the factories have actually come back to say that the lambs are generally of very good quality and meeting spec in terms of both carcass weight and the cover on the lambs.

“You know, we have seen a much milder winter as well so lambs maybe haven’t had the same production difficulties and then obviously the price of concentrates has come down a bit so farmers are willing to feed a wee bit more concentrates.”

Obviously then, the strong prices as well encourage a farmer to meet that spec and I suppose meeting the spec that the factory wants does return a better price to the farmer ultimately.”

You can listen to the interview in full with Seamus McMenamin by clicking here.

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The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has called on Teagasc to include a module on upland farming in its Green Cert training programme.

INHFA vice-president Michael McDonnell said that the organisation has been pressing Teagasc for “some time now” to have such a module introduced.

McDonnell said that “immediate action is needed” on the issue.

“The future of upland farming is vital to the survival of those rural communities and we must ensure that those farming these lands are properly educated to carry out this vital task.

“In any sector of education there are modules that best suit what type of career path you are taking and for those students operating on our uplands it is essential that, when you take on the Green Cert qualifications, you have the option to carry out the upland farming module as part of that qualification,” McDonnell added.

He said it is “vital” that farmers are equipped with knowledge and research that will “help them make informed decisions that will benefit the agricultural output while also benefiting biodiversity”.

The INHFA is calling on the following areas to be covered in a new upland farming module:

• Herd and flock management in the uplands, with a focus on breeds that work best in terms of managing carbon and habitats;
• Research on benefits of grazing for biodiversity;
• Farm livestock management, which should also include the adoption of new technologies;
• “Climate smart” agricultural and environmental benefits of good upland management;
• Food production on uplands.

“Upland farmer education is crucial for promoting sustainable agriculture, and protecting our way of life,” McDonnell said.

“As these are farmed landscapes, it is vital that farmers have the knowledge to identify the right type of animal, in the right place, to carry out the right task that benefits our sustainable farming system while also benefitting our biodiversity and ecosystem services,” the INHFA vice-president added.

Green Cert placements

Last November, Teagasc published a guidebook for participants and host farmers involved in the Green Cert farm placement programme.

The 34-page booklet, Practical Learning Period: A Guide for Agricultural Learners and Hosts, was produced following an internal review carried out by Teagasc of farm placements required to attain the Green Cert.

The review involved discussions with students, host farmers, Teagasc staff, and stakeholders.

Prior to the review, a Kerry Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) county executive meeting unanimously passed a motion calling for the Green Cert farm placements to be suspended pending an investigation.

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It is envisaged that lime usage on Irish farms will double over the coming years. Moreover, this enhanced usage level must be maintained.

The driving force in making this happen comes back to two key factors – the inherently acidic nature of Irish soils and the fact that improving soil pH values will significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission values.

At a recent webinar on soil fertility, Teagasc soil fertility specialist, Mark Plunkett said: “Last year lime usage levels dropped in Ireland dropped to around 750,000t, back from the 1Mt recorded in the previous two years.

“However, I am very optimistic that lime usage will bounce back in 2024. It should be possible to reach a 1.5m to 1.7m tonnes usage rate between now and Christmas.”

Ireland’s Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) target for 2025, where lime usage is concerned is 1.7 million tonnes.

“As we move towards 2030, this figure rises to some 2.5 million tonnes on an annual basis,” Plunkett commented.

Lime usage

Significantly, the Teagasc representative is also linking the enhanced use of lime over recent years to the general improvement in soil phosphate levels, identified during the same period. 

“Around 50% of our soils are at Index 1 or 2 for phosphate. Index 3 is the sustainable level where phosphate is concerned and the good news is that 30% of Irish soils meet this condition,” Plunkett continued.

“The remainder of our soils are at an Index 4 for phosphate.”

According to Plunkett, approximately 30% of Irish soils do not need applied potash.

“Again, Index 3 is the sustainable level where the availability of potash in soils is concerned,” he said.

The current MACC projection figure for applied chemical phosphate sits at 46,000t/yr.

“Irish farmers were meeting this target between 2028 and up to the fertiliser crisis of 2022/2023,” Plunkett commented.

“At that stage, both phosphate and potash application rates fell back by around 33%. This trend is a concern in terms of both maintaining and building soil fertility.

“We need to get back on track in terms of national phosphate and potash application rates. The target here is to improve soil fertility levels. By taking this approach, farmers will also be improving nitrogen use efficiency levels.”

Plunket added that there will be a very clear crop response secured to phosphate and potash fertiliser additions to Index 1 and 2 soils.

“For index 3 soils, a maintenance fertiliser dressing is all that’s required. Index 4 soils should not receive additional phosphate or potash.”  

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Johnstown-Castle-based, soil fertility specialist, Mark Plunkett, has been confirming the benefits of enhanced lime usage that has been recorded across Irish agriculture over recent years.

He addressed this specific issue, as part of his presentation to the recent soil health and fertility webinar, hosted recently by Teagasc.

However, there is a sting in the tail. According to Plunkett, soil fertility levels on Irish farms have started to tail-off over the last couple of years.

“This is a major concern. If we look at dairy farms, 50% of our soils need lime,” he said.

“Where drystock farmers are concerned, that figure is currently sitting at 65%. So something as basic as lime, which can deliver so many benefits, including improved nitrogen use efficiency, must be continually addressed.

“Grassland soils have an optimal pH value in the region 6.0 to 6.5. Where clover and multispecies swards are concerned, this figure rises to 6.5 to 6.8.

“And where tillage crops are concerned we are also looking at pH values in the range 6.5 to 6.8,” he added.

Tackling soil fertility

Research over many years has confirmed the use of ground limestone in raising soil pH values.

Plunkett explained: “Specifically, where grassland is concerned, farmers can release up to 70kg of nitrogen per hectare per year, simply by acting to improve spoil pH values.

“This is an annual release or turnover of nitrogen. And this feeds into reducing our chemical nitrogen target, which we have managed successfully to address over the past two years.”

Trials have also confirmed the strong correlation between enhanced soil pH values and phosphate utilisation by crops.

“Optimising soil pH values will also act to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels,” Plunkett further explained.      

“Recent work undertaken at Johnstown Castle confirms that it is possible to reduce emissions by 38% if the soil pH is at its optimal value. This figure relates to a pH value in the range of 6.5 to 6.8, in terms of nitrous oxide.

“This is absolutely massive when one considers the low cost value of ground limestone,” he said.

The specialist explained that soil pH represents the “backbone” of all soil management strategies, when it comes to maximising inherent crop nutrient availability.

“We have been using one million tonnes of lime per annum over the last decade. This figure rose to 1.3 million tonnes in 2021 and 2022,” he said.

“However, this figure has fallen back in 2023 due to the fact that ground conditions were just so difficult throughout that entire year.”

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Gardaí are investigating the theft of a number of sheep from the Gortamore area of Co. Donegal.

It is understood that the stolen sheep involved in-lamb ewes. Gardaí confirmed that the theft occurred on Saturday, March 9.

No arrests have been made yet and investigations are ongoing.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Milford Garda Station.

Theft of sheep

Meanwhile, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are also appealing for information over the theft of 13 pregnant sheep in Co. Derry.

The 13 Suffolk/Texel-cross ewes expecting lambs were taken from a field in Claudy, at the junction of Kilcreen road and Altinure Road. The ewes all had red markings on their left side.

The PSNI has confirmed that the theft occurred sometime between 10:00a.m last Wednesday (February 7) and 10:30a.m on Thursday (February 8).

Sergeant Johnston of the Sperrin neighbourhood policing team in Strabane said: “The removal of these ewes would have required planning and the use of a vehicle, for example a trailer, to transport the animals away from the area.”

Lambing

This month is a busy time for sheep farmers as lambing season progresses.

Agriland has reported on many stories so far this year involving dog attacks on sheep.

One farmer, with sheep kept in Co. Cavan had sheep killed and more missing last month, due to a dog attack.

The farmer said that the animals unharmed were “completely shook” by the attack.

Gardaí have reminded dog owners to continue to exercise care with dogs to ensure they are kept under control.

An Garda Síochána in Laois and Offaly have said: “With dog ownership comes responsibility. Secure your dog, have it microchipped and registered with your vet.”

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Government ministers across several departments will take Irish wool products with them to various countries on St. Patrick’s Day to wear and gift to foreign dignitaries.

As part of an international campaign by the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC), several ministers will gift Irish-grown woolen blankets and scarves when they undertake the government’s annual international programme of trips abroad this time of year.

The IGWC was formed in April 2023 based on recommendations of a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine report titled Review Of Market Opportunities For Irish-Grown Wool Based Products.

The IGWC said it has commissioned knitted white woollen throws and green scarves, using wool sourced from sheep farms on the island of Ireland.

These items will be presented and distributed by members of the IGWC to ministers this week ahead of their travels abroad on diplomatic missions.

The wool for these throws and scarves was spun by Donegal Yarns, Kilcar, Co. Donegal, knitted by Bonner of Ireland, Ardara, Co. Donegal, with the IGWC logo embroidery added by council member Alison Gault at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University.

Ministers who will be bringing these products with them on their trips include:

• Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue (visiting Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan);
• Minister of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett (visiting Finland, Estonia, and Latvia);
• Minister of State for new market development Martin Heydon (visiting Germany);
• Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (visiting Brazil);
• Minister of State for nature, heritage and electoral reform Malcolm Noonan (visiting Poland and Romania);
• Minister of State for public procurement, communications and circular economy Ossian Smyth (visiting South Korea);
• Minister of State for skills and further education Niall Collins (visiting the cities of Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US).

As well as that, Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesperson for climate action, communication networks and transport Timmy Dooley will take part in this initiative as he visits US capital Washington D.C.

President Michael D. Higgins will also present Irish wool products to dignitaries that are visiting Ireland, while horse racing commentators Ruby Walsh and Kevin O’Ryan will wear the scarves during coverage of the Cheltenham Racing Festival.

Catherine Phibbs, interim chairperson of the IGWC, commented: “This is significant opportunity to showcase Irish grown wool to the world.

“Representatives of our state engage in an extensive international programme to promote Ireland and Irish interests and values around the world during St. Patrick’s Day week, and now Irish grown wool is a visible part of this year’s global story,” she added.

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Both the output prices and input prices in the agriculture sector declined in the 12 months to January 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO has released its agricultural price indices for the month of January, which showed that the agricultural output price index dropped by 13.8% compared to January 2023, while the agricultural input price index was down by 15.9% in the same period.

On a monthly basis (comparing December 2023 to January 2024) the agricultural output price index rose by 2.7%, while the input index figure was unchanged.

As a result, the agricultural terms of trade increased by 2.7% in January compared to December.

For the 12 months to January, the most significant output price deceases were for cereals (down 31.6%), milk (down 30.3%), and poultry (down 5.5%).

However, over that period output price increases were noted for potatoes, which saw a substantial increase of 75.5%, and vegetables, which increased by 13.1%.

The overall output price index for animals was down 15.4% compared to January 2023. Apart from the decline for poultry, decreases were also noted for cattle (down 1.5%) and pigs (down 4.3%).

Increases in index were recorded for calves (up 21.7%) and sheep (up 8.2%).

The decrease in output price for milk accounted for almost all of the decrease for animal products collectively, with a much more marginal decrease for eggs (down 0.2%) and an increase for wool (up 1.2%).

Focusing on input prices over the 12 months to January 2024, there were significant reductions in input prices recorded for fertiliser (down 46.7%), feed (down 14.6%), and energy (down 6.8%).

For specific fertilisers, there were decreases across the board, with the exception of the ‘other fertilisers’ category.

These decreases were as follows:

• Straight fertilisers – down 52.2%;
• Compound fertilisers – down 45.3%;
• Phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) – down 31.1%;
• Nitrogen (N) plus P and K – down 45.6%;
• Other fertilisers – up 12%.

For feed, straight feeding stuffs decreased by 20.3% and compound feeding stuff decreased by 14.2%.

There were increases in input prices for plant protection products (up 7.6%), seeds (up 2.8%), and veterinary expenses (up 4.1%).

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The benchmark for world food commodity prices declined for the seventh consecutive month in February, as lower international cereal quotations more than offset rising prices for milk and meat, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally-traded food commodities, averaged 117.3 points in February, down 0.7% from January and 10.5% from the same month a year ago.

The FAO Cereal Price Index decreased by 5% in February to reach a level 22.4% below that of February 2023.

Maize export prices saw the most significant drop, amid expectations of large harvests in South America and competitive prices offered by Ukraine, while international wheat prices declined mostly due to strong exports from Russia.

International rice prices also declined, by 1.6%, in February.

International soyoil prices dropped notably, underpinned by prospects of significant soybean outputs in South America, while ample global export availabilities of sunflower and rapeseed oils pushed their prices down.

On the other hand, the FAO Meat Price Index rose by 1.8% from January, with poultry meat quotations rising the most, followed by those for beef and other bovine-sourced meat, which has been impacted by heavy rains disrupting cattle transportation in Australia.

Pig meat prices also rose slightly due to higher demand from China and a tight supply situation in western Europe. International sheepmeat prices declined due in part to record-breaking production in Australia.

The FAO Dairy Price Index increased by 1.1%, led by higher import demand from Asian buyers for butter. Prices of milk powders and cheese also rose marginally.

Cereal supply and demand

The FAO also released a new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, slightly raising its forecast for the global cereal production in 2023 to 2.84 billion tonnes when the final data for last year is known.

Global cereal utilization in 2023/2024 is now forecast at 2.83 billion tonnes, an increase of 1.1% from the previous year due mostly to increased use of maize and wheat for livestock feed.

Global cereal stocks are expected to increase, due entirely to coarse grains, with the global cereal stocks-to-use ratio expected to end the year at 31.1%, up from 30.9%.

Global trade in cereals is predicted to increase by 1.3% from 2022, buoyed by an improved outlook for maize exports by Ukraine and stronger demand from China.

The FAO said its preliminary forecast for global wheat production in 2024, pegging it at 797 million tonnes, a 1% increase form 2023.

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Mary Sheehan has been elected as chair of the Co. Kerry branch for the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA), making her the first female chair of any farm organisation in the county.

Following the announcement yesterday (Thursday, March 7) at the Co. Kerry INHFA annual general meeting (AGM), former chair, John Joe Fitzgerald said:

“It made great timing to mark the occasion for International Women’s Day.”

Sheehan is a sheep farmer from Lassabee in Castlemaine Co. Kerry, with a holding of about 30ac.

Sheehan said that while she is “mad busy” with lambing season in full swing, she is “absolutely delighted” with the news.

She said she will use the role to be a “clear voice for farmers” and work with the other organisations to “get the best deal”.

“I have big shoes to fill following on from John Joe, but I’m delighted and willing to be the voice to push through for younger generations,” she said.

INHFA

“I grew up on the side of the Slieve Mish Mountains, being a farmer’s daughter but knowing that the land wasn’t enough to sustain us, and having to secure a career for myself and my son – but always keeping my hands in sheep farming.

“Being that voice for young people now, I want to look at what is right and what is wrong out there,” Sheehan said.

“It’s about building a good working relationship with all the agricultural boards, looking at what is available to us and fighting for what we can,” she added.

Former chair, Fizgerald told Agriland that the AGM centred around Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES); Nature restoration; and issues facing sheep and suckler farmers.

“The feedback we’re getting at the moment from farmers is all good. We’re the only farm organisation in Kerry that is working on their behalf,” Fitzgerald said.

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A leading Teagasc climate advisor has welcomed the significant upturn in agricultural lime usage recorded throughout Ireland over recent years.

Dr. Seamus Kearney is based in Dungarvan, Co Waterford. He spoke at a recent soil health webinar, hosted by Teagasc.

Kearney confirmed the significant drop in Irish nitrogen (N) fertiliser usage levels recorded since 2018; falling from a figure of 400,00t in 2018 down to almost 300,000t in 2023.

This reduction is meeting Ireland’s climate change target heading towards 2030.

Assessing soil conditions

According to Kearney, farmers should assess the fertility of their farm on a field to field basis.

“Red and green bottle tops can be nailed to posts at the entrance of each field or paddock as a phosphate (P) and potash (K) designation code,” he explained.

“Farmers should be targeting Index 3 values, where both these key plant nutrients are concerned.”

The Teagasc representative stressed the role of soil pH values in determining P and K index values.

Adding 5t of lime/ha to acidic soils can lift P and K Indices from a value of one up to three.

Where the addition of nitrogen fertiliser is concerned, Kearney highlighted the benefits of applying compounds, such as 18:6:12 and 10:10:20.

“Building up soil P and K reserves will improve nitrogen use efficiency. Straight N should be applied to grassland in the form of NBPT urea,” he said.

Slurry and lime spreading

When it comes to making best use of animal slurries, Kearney confirmed the use of low emission slurry spreading (LESS) systems.

“Trials have confirmed that putting slurry out in the early spring with LESS, triples nitrogen utilisation rates relative to slurry spread with a splash plate in the middle of summer,” he said.

“Approximately 60% of the slurry put on to fields is now applied using low emission spreading systems.”

Kearney pointed out that lime and potash can be spread on land without any restrictions being imposed.

“Clover has the capacity to fix up to 120kg of N/ha from the atmosphere on an annual basis,” he commented.

“But clover requires a soil pH range of 6.2 to 6.5 to maintain optimal levels of viability. This is why the issue of soil fertility boils down to three key criteria pH, P and K status.

“Getting these values correct will allow Irish farmers to reduce chemical N application rates while still achieving the crop output levels they want to obtain.”

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The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has launched its 2024 “No Dogs Allowed” campaign as it says the government and local authorities “fail” to address the issue of dog attacks on livestock.

Launching this year’s campaign, IFA president Francie Gorman said the government and local authorities continue to “ignore the deepening” issue of dog attacks.

IFA national sheep chair, Adrian Gallagher said it is a “critical time” as lambing commences, and warned dog owners that dogs are not allowed on or near farmland, and to behave in a responsible way.

The IFA chair also reminded dog owners that they are fully liable for any damages caused to farmers and their livestock, and that dogs found on their lands can be shot.

“The lack of robust enforcement of the legal obligations on dog owners has allowed these attacks to persist and increase across the country and it is unacceptable.

“Farmers have had enough and it’s time for decisive action to protect our livestock,” Gorman said and added that the IFA first launched its ‘No Dogs Allowed’ campaign in 2021.

The IFA is demanding stronger regulations and stricter enforcement for those who disregard the safety and wellbeing of Irish livestock, the association’s president said.

‘No Dogs Allowed’ campaign

While the announcement of stronger regulations by government last year was a “step in the right direction”, Gallagher said it “does not go far enough” to protect livestock from dog attacks.

He said it is “critical” that all dogs in the country are microchipped, registered to the owner and licensed in order to establish a national database for all dogs and the persons responsible for them.

“Implementing stronger legislation and sanctions reflective of the damage and trauma these dogs cause on farms has been key to our campaign,” the IFA national sheep chair said.

“Stronger regulations and increased sanctions must be implemented to ensure that dog owners understand their responsibilities and the consequences of failing to fulfil them,” he added.

The association specified what needs to be acted on by government in this area, including:

• A single national database for all dogs, correlating licensing and microchipping and identifying the person responsible for the dog;
• But at a minimum, alignment of the existing licensing and microchipping records to one central access point;
• Full enforcement of microchipping and licensing obligations of dog owners for all dogs;
• Stronger powers of enforcement for dog wardens and Gardaí and clarity on these powers;
• Increased on-the-spot fines for failing to comply with the microchipping and licensing requirements;
• Increased sanctions and on-the-spot fines for failing to have the dog under control;
• Significant on-the-spot fines for dogs found worrying livestock;
• Legal requirement for dogs to be microchipped and licensed and identified on the NVPS (National Veterinary Prescribing System) prior to any veterinary treatment or prescribing of medicines by veterinary practitioners;
• Authority to apply the legislative obligations to dogs in border regions owned by persons not resident in the state.

The IFA recently announced that it will participate in a new dog control stakeholder group aimed at addressing dog control issues in the coming weeks.

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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued almost €90 million to farmers under beef and sheep scheme payments in 2023.

This figure is up by nearly €2 million when compared with the previous year when the total payout for the schemes €87,835,829.

However, it is down significantly from the almost €140 million which farmers received through beef and sheep schemes in 2020.

The data was released following a parliamentary question from Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe who sought information on the amounts paid to beef and sheep farmers since the formation of the government in 2020.

In response, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue noted that the figures relate to the following schemes: the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS), Sheep Welfare Scheme, Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), Beef Sector Efficiency Programme (BEEP-S) and Dairy Beef.

The data also includes payments made to farmers under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM), Beef Finisher Schemes, Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP), National Beef Welfare Scheme 2023 and National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme 2023.

Some of these schemes are no longer running and have been replaced by new measures under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which came into force from January 1, 2023.

Scheme payments

The figures show that Galway was the county with the highest amount of payments made to farmers through beef and sheep schemes in 2023 at over €9.5 million.

This was followed by Mayo (€7,721,260); Cork (€6,550,322); Clare (€6,164,931) and Donegal (€5,380,412).

Dublin was the county with the lowest amount of payments under the schemes at just under €300,000.

The data shows a mixed picture in terms of overall payments per county, with some increasing since 2022 and others decreasing.

Payments increased in counties including Galway; Clare; Cork; Donegal and Kerry, while the figure dropped in others such as Kildare; Laois and Westmeath.

The following table provides a county-by-county breakdown for the amount of payments made by DAFM to farmers in beef and sheep schemes in 2022 and 2023:

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The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is set to be part of a new national stakeholder group on dog control, established by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys.

Minister Humphreys brought the details of the membership of the stakeholder group before the Cabinet today (Tuesday, March 5).

Independent senator, Victor Boyhan, who is a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture has welcomed the appointment of former deputy garda commissioner, John Twomey, to head up a new stakeholder group.

“Dogs out of control have wreaked havoc and destruction on farm animals and farm incomes, it’s about time the issue was given national prominence,” Senator Boyhan stated.

“Farm organisations and the [Joint] Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture have been calling for action on this issue for years.”

The group is made up of representatives from key government departments and interest groups and will make recommendations on strengthening the policy and legislation around dog control.

The Dog Control Stakeholder Group will also include representatives of Dogs Trust and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).

Minister Humphreys has also asked the group to examine the issue of restricting certain breeds of dogs, in line with actions being taken by regions in the UK, including Northern Ireland.

The group will meet quarterly with the first meeting due to take place later this month.

Dog control group

Minister Humphreys has today said: “I’d like to thank former deputy garda commissioner, John Twomey for agreeing to take up the position of chairperson.

“John is a highly respected retired garda officer and I know that he will bring great experience and energy to this role.

“As a dog owner myself, and someone from a farming background, I’m very conscious of the public concern about dog control.

“We have seen horrendous attacks by dogs on people, including children, in recent months and the issue of sheep worrying in our countryside continues to be a huge problem for our farmers.”

The minister also outlined measures she has already taken such as trebling of the on-the-spot fines for the most serious dog control offences, as well as the provision of €2 million for dog warden services.

“But I do believe we need to take further action and that’s what this Stakeholder Group is going to consider,” she added.

It is a particularly worrying time of year for farmers as lambing season is underway and the fear of dog attacks on livestock remains a threat.

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In 2023, UK sheepmeat imports totalled 37,900t from New Zealand (NZ) and Australia.

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), NZ and Australia provide the UK with the majority of its sheepmeat imports.

While trade deals with Australia and NZ commenced in May 2023, imports from the latter fell last year, due to a structurally declining sheep flock and changing export destinations.

However, Australia has seen higher production levels through 2023, consequently pressuring prices and causing them to fall.

According to AHDB analyst Isabelle Shohet, this has increased their international competitiveness, coupled with the free trade agreement and a weaker-than-expected Asian demand, and has boosted imports from Australia into the UK for 2023.

Levels of imports into the UK hinge on trade with China, the Middle East, and the United States, as the main destinations for Australia and NZ.

Shohet noted that events such as Chinese New Year and Ramadan drive demand for sheepmeat, and if these events witness lower than expected demand, then the product will look for a home on the international market.

The AHDB analyst said industry reports suggest that Chinese New Year orders were “lower than expected due to weak economic prospects, dampening desire to spend during the festival period”.

The United States is also an important destination, as the AHDB has noted that with export volumes in recent months at record highs for the November to January period, consumption levels remain stable despite continuing economic pressures.

New Zealand

AHDB has said sheepmeat imports from NZ have fallen for 2023, to total just under 26,500t.

This is a fall of 6,000t (19%) from the total for 2022, as the market share of NZ imports dropped from 60% to 55% as a result.

Frozen sheep legs saw the largest drop in import volumes of any product category from 2022, with a fall of 3,050t to 14,150t for 2023.

The AHDB recorded that fresh/chilled sheep legs were the only category to see growth, of nearly 850t from 2022 to 2023, to total 13% of sheepmeat imports.

Shohet said that production in NZ has “started off the year slightly higher than 2023”, with hotter weeks in early February contributing to some drought-related destocking in both islands.

She added there are some concerns on the number of lambs available for slaughter, and therefore export.

“Industry commentary suggests that pressures on the number of lambs available to kill in recent weeks has provided some strength to prices, but farm margins remain lower than usual,” Shohet added.

Australia

Imports from Australia saw growth in volumes in 2023 compared to the previous year, totalling 11,400t for 2023, an increase of 1,800t from 2022.

Acording to the AHDB, this year-on-year increase came from increased volumes in the second half of the year, following access from the free trade agreement.

Looking into the products entering from Australia, Shohet noted the volume of frozen sheep legs is considerably smaller than that of NZ, at 1,700t, which has fallen by nearly 1,500t from 2022.

AHDB analysis has indicated Australian lamb slaughter is expected to climb slightly from its record-breaking high for 2023, especially in the first half of the year, with a higher carryover.

However, they noted production in the second half of the year looks to be lower, as the elevated slaughter numbers for last year have eaten into its production capability for 2024.

“One limitation to this remains Australia’s slaughter capacity, which is currently approaching its maximum levels,” the AHDB analyst added.

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