Recently a group of French farmers visited Ireland with a view to considering how Irish dairy farmers and producers handle seasonal spring-produced milk.
The group was from the region called Brittany in the west of France where rainfall, soil type and sunshine hours allow grass growth. It is one of the most intensive regions for agriculture in France, with both dairy and pig farming very strong.
The visit of French dairy farmers was organised by CEDAPA, which is an organisation aimed at developing farming. They came to Ireland to review spring milk production and to consider spring milk production.
They had a number of key questions which they wanted to answer over the course of a three-day stay in Ireland.
The main areas of interest were:
Compact Spring calving – how does it work? How can work be organised and simplified? The economics of spring calving and why it works.How do Irish dairy farmers prepare for heavy spring workload? How is pasture managed and what breeds of cattle are used?The group visited a number of farms and the Moorepark Research station to hear what was happening in Ireland. I met them for one night early in their trip around Ireland to discuss the issues of concern to them. Some of their questions explained a lot about what was happening in terms of French milk production.
French milk
France is the second-largest milk producer in the EU behind Germany. The country produces over four times the amount of milk we do in Ireland, processing over 23bn litres annually compared to our 5.3bn litres.
French farmers have traditionally been very slow to get bigger compared to some other European countries.
Global experts expect French cow numbers to drop 5% and French dairy farmer numbers to drop over 40% between 2010 and 2020. However, French national milk production is expected to hold steady or maybe increase very slightly by higher milk production per cow.
Only 10% of French dairy farms have over 100 cows, compared to over 40% in the Netherlands, while almost 90% of Danish dairy farms have over 100 cows.
The French dairy herd is expected to contract from 3.62m dairy cows to 3.44m cows by 2020 in contrast to Dutch and Danish cow numbers, which are both predicted to grow over the same period.
The French statistics paint a very depressing picture – highest exit rate of dairy farmers in EU, dairy cow numbers contracting, slow lift in scale at farm level and just about stable national production.
So I asked the French group why is the dairy mood sober and depressing in France, with large numbers of dairy farmers exiting milk each year?
The answers I got ranged from environmental restrictions that limit production, high cost of land purchase, to a general lack of interest from young people as the older generation talk down dairy farming and the long hours associated with milking.
They explained that for every four dairy farmers leaving, there is only one dairy farmer coming in and income for the work involved is a large part of the problem in France.
“The cost of milk production has increased significantly over the last number of years and when the margin declines over time, the next generation do not want to continue if it means a lot of work,” one of them said.
One of the issues that the group kept asking about was the environmental restrictions in France. Our derogation to the Nitrate Directive allows Irish farmers to spread up to 250kg of bag nitrogen per hectare.
The limit in France is 170kg/ha in terms of organic nitrogen (stocking rate of less than two cows/ha) and in most parts 140kg of bag nitrogen. French ground water nitrate levels are high and restrictions are strictly enforced at farm level.
The French group could not believe the interest shown by young Irish people in dairy farming and the enthusiasm for farming in general with the high numbers of students going to agricultural colleges. They said the complete opposite is the story in France, with young people turning their backs on dairy farming.
French milk production is produced on a flat line similar to most other European countries, unlike Ireland’s seasonal production, and the French farmers could not believe it was possible to process all this spring milk profitably.
Bord Bia, Animal Health Ireland, Teagasc, the Irish Farmers Journal and Veterinary Ireland have joined together to host three very important information meetings focusing on animal health at a critical time in the farming calendar.
Joe O’Flaherty, CEO of AHI, said: “Animal Health Ireland is delighted to be partnering with our colleagues in Teagasc, Veterinary Ireland and the Irish Farmers Journal to enhance and improve animal health on Irish farms.
“We are very conscious of the financial challenges facing farmers in both sectors and the objective of these events is to provide farmers with information to improve profitability through better animal health.”
The beef health nights will cover topics such as parasite control, nutrition and pneumonia in cattle. The one-day Dairy Herd Health Conference will include presentations on mastitis control, rearing healthy heifers, lameness, parasite control, biosecurity and genetics.
Details of a series of beef health nights and a dairy herd health conference were announced this week.
The beef health nights will take place on 21 October in the McWilliams Park Hotel, Claremorris and on 22 October in the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore at 7.00pm.
The dairy herd health conference, which is a one-day conference, will be held in Corrin Mart, Fermoy, Cork on 23 October.
Recently a group of French farmers visited Ireland with a view to considering how Irish dairy farmers and producers handle seasonal spring-produced milk.
The group was from the region called Brittany in the west of France where rainfall, soil type and sunshine hours allow grass growth. It is one of the most intensive regions for agriculture in France, with both dairy and pig farming very strong.
The visit of French dairy farmers was organised by CEDAPA, which is an organisation aimed at developing farming. They came to Ireland to review spring milk production and to consider spring milk production.
They had a number of key questions which they wanted to answer over the course of a three-day stay in Ireland.
The main areas of interest were:
Compact Spring calving – how does it work? How can work be organised and simplified? The economics of spring calving and why it works.How do Irish dairy farmers prepare for heavy spring workload? How is pasture managed and what breeds of cattle are used?The group visited a number of farms and the Moorepark Research station to hear what was happening in Ireland. I met them for one night early in their trip around Ireland to discuss the issues of concern to them. Some of their questions explained a lot about what was happening in terms of French milk production.
French milk
France is the second-largest milk producer in the EU behind Germany. The country produces over four times the amount of milk we do in Ireland, processing over 23bn litres annually compared to our 5.3bn litres.
French farmers have traditionally been very slow to get bigger compared to some other European countries.
Global experts expect French cow numbers to drop 5% and French dairy farmer numbers to drop over 40% between 2010 and 2020. However, French national milk production is expected to hold steady or maybe increase very slightly by higher milk production per cow.
Only 10% of French dairy farms have over 100 cows, compared to over 40% in the Netherlands, while almost 90% of Danish dairy farms have over 100 cows.
The French dairy herd is expected to contract from 3.62m dairy cows to 3.44m cows by 2020 in contrast to Dutch and Danish cow numbers, which are both predicted to grow over the same period.
The French statistics paint a very depressing picture – highest exit rate of dairy farmers in EU, dairy cow numbers contracting, slow lift in scale at farm level and just about stable national production.
So I asked the French group why is the dairy mood sober and depressing in France, with large numbers of dairy farmers exiting milk each year?
The answers I got ranged from environmental restrictions that limit production, high cost of land purchase, to a general lack of interest from young people as the older generation talk down dairy farming and the long hours associated with milking.
They explained that for every four dairy farmers leaving, there is only one dairy farmer coming in and income for the work involved is a large part of the problem in France.
“The cost of milk production has increased significantly over the last number of years and when the margin declines over time, the next generation do not want to continue if it means a lot of work,” one of them said.
One of the issues that the group kept asking about was the environmental restrictions in France. Our derogation to the Nitrate Directive allows Irish farmers to spread up to 250kg of bag nitrogen per hectare.
The limit in France is 170kg/ha in terms of organic nitrogen (stocking rate of less than two cows/ha) and in most parts 140kg of bag nitrogen. French ground water nitrate levels are high and restrictions are strictly enforced at farm level.
The French group could not believe the interest shown by young Irish people in dairy farming and the enthusiasm for farming in general with the high numbers of students going to agricultural colleges. They said the complete opposite is the story in France, with young people turning their backs on dairy farming.
French milk production is produced on a flat line similar to most other European countries, unlike Ireland’s seasonal production, and the French farmers could not believe it was possible to process all this spring milk profitably.
Bord Bia, Animal Health Ireland, Teagasc, the Irish Farmers Journal and Veterinary Ireland have joined together to host three very important information meetings focusing on animal health at a critical time in the farming calendar.
Joe O’Flaherty, CEO of AHI, said: “Animal Health Ireland is delighted to be partnering with our colleagues in Teagasc, Veterinary Ireland and the Irish Farmers Journal to enhance and improve animal health on Irish farms.
“We are very conscious of the financial challenges facing farmers in both sectors and the objective of these events is to provide farmers with information to improve profitability through better animal health.”
The beef health nights will cover topics such as parasite control, nutrition and pneumonia in cattle. The one-day Dairy Herd Health Conference will include presentations on mastitis control, rearing healthy heifers, lameness, parasite control, biosecurity and genetics.
Details of a series of beef health nights and a dairy herd health conference were announced this week.
The beef health nights will take place on 21 October in the McWilliams Park Hotel, Claremorris and on 22 October in the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore at 7.00pm.
The dairy herd health conference, which is a one-day conference, will be held in Corrin Mart, Fermoy, Cork on 23 October.
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