Anyone who knows me, knows they are not high on my list of interests.Travelling with a number of grain producers and an agronomist made me realise just how far behind we are as livestock producers. The uptake of technology is huge in crops, dairy, pigs and poultry.

Yet, for whatever reason, we seem slow to move forward in livestock production.

Moving west from Russia onto Eastern and Central Europe this week, we visited farms owned by Spearhead International in Poland and the Czech Republic. This company farms in five countries. Land in former communist countries was largely in the form of collective farms and smaller plots for individuals. These smaller plots were 10 hectares in size and because of this, Spearhead have over 11,000 leases and employ three people to just to deal with them.

The highlight of the week in Central Europe was the time put aside for us by Michael Horsch of Horsch Farm Machinery. Spread over an evening meal and a morning at the Horsch factory, he gave us a full seven hours of his time. A man you do not meet every day, he offered a fascinating range of opinions on world agriculture and his views on where it was going. Michael started out by building a seeder because he could find none to suit his needs. He hasn't stopped since and has remained loyal to his local area. It reminded me very much of the Dairymaster story, in that if you have an idea and the drive to follow it through anything is possible.

On the home front, the first of our young bulls are to go this week. I have managed to read some reports from home of the current beef situation and few seem positive, but there is nothing new in that. Is a bit of team work the solution? We produce a product that consumers do not need. They might want it at times but its not a necessity.

This means one of the key elements in the Irish beef industry is marketing and finding an outlet for almost 90% of the beef we produce. As farmers we need to spend a bit more time in the supermarket and see prices and find out what cuts move fastest and why.