After going through the various calculations and permutations, we have decided not to apply for the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM).

The 5% reduction in organic nitrogen for the 2020 to 2021 reference period was the condition that sealed it.

We had fewer cows calve down this year

Since we already try to get cattle finished before their second winter, there was little scope to finish cattle younger.

We had fewer cows calve down this year due to the heat difficulties of the summer of 2018.

This means our average organic nitrogen for the reference years is lower than previous averages, so we’ll roll the dice and miss out on short-term gain for now.

Beef consumption

It’s interesting to take a look at meat consumption in Ireland over the last 30 years or so. The current average is in the region of 86kg/person.

That’s a significant improvement on the 77.5kg consumed in 2011, but it’s still a long way short of the peak of 102.3kg/ person, which was the 1999 average.

Since the turn of the century, Irish beef consumption per head has floated around 20kg/person.

It peaked during the heady days of the Celtic Tiger in 2004 at 21.3kg/head, while the lowest consumption was 13kg/head when BSE reared its head in 1996.

Cattle have always played a major role in Irish culture and society

Figures from the CSO show beef and veal consumption rising towards 20kg again, but bovine meat still only accounts for 23% of the average Irish person’s meat consumption. Poultry makes up 40%, pigmeat 34% and the balance is in the form of sheepmeat.

Cattle have always played a major role in Irish culture and society, but beef has never been a staple part of the diet and certainly not to the same extent pork or poultry have been.

We must be cognisant too that farming does change

The financial expectations of future generations and their choice of labour will be one of the factors affecting how livestock farming will evolve. That applies to both the primary producer and the consumer. As farmers we need to be aware of these challenges.

We must be cognisant too that farming does change.

Flax growing and the production of linen was common in the Clonakilty area.

At its peak in the late 18th century, the industry frequently brought in £1,000 per week to the town.

By 1837 the linen industry still had 400 looms in Clonakilty and provided employment to 1,000 people and weekly sales in the region of £300.

Fast forward to the 1950s and 1960s when there would have been a lot of grain grown in these parts.

Labour was plentiful and mixed farming was common place because of that.

EU membership, free secondary education and improved technology are three things that have transformed rural Ireland over the last 50 years.