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We milk 240 red Holstein cows. My father decided to convert to organic in 2002: it was too expensive to invest in more land, which costs €55,000/ha because we are close to the city. The quotas were on, yet the bank said we needed more income to expand.
By converting to organic, we accessed green finance at a 1% discounted rate. We have formed a co-op with other organic farmers. It just has an office – we sell tankers of raw milk to Dutch, Belgian and sometimes French processors.
The cows would normally graze 24 hours a day this time of year, but it is now so dry that they only go out during the day – or recently during the night because of the heat.
Our yield is 6,500l/year/cow and our price was 51c/l last year. It has now dropped to 47c/l because a wave of conversions in the past two years has increased the number of organic dairy farmers by 30% to supply a market that grows by 8% each year. We’re in for a difficult year or two and then we hope the price will go back up to 50c/l.
Since I joined the farm, we have diversified into eggs and cheese processing sold through our own shop. Our old haystack building hosts a daycare service for 10 Alzheimer patients and we rent out apartments and meeting rooms. My father says I’m going back to the old-fashioned farm. But while we used to specialise in producing cheap food, I think we need to move towards more local and quality production as well. I look for good business models, not ideology.
We have two full-time employees and two casual workers. My wife helps on the farm part-time as well. Our sources of income are €900,000 from milk (1.8m litres at 50c/l), €95,000 from the sale of solar electricity, €150,000 from other businesses and €72,000 from each direct and environmental payments.
The €300/ha direct payments are useless: they just increase the cost of renting land. We rent 140ha at €1,100/ha. Environmental payments are €300/ha as well, for providing walking paths on our land we are paid €1/metre/year and meadows for birds.
I see the environment and the government as a market: I sell milk and I sell meadow birds.
I believe the challenge for the next 10 years is how we deal with our neighbours in the city and with the government, not becoming more intensively productive – that’s old-fashioned. Investing in research to inform the government and in education by bringing children to the farms and farmers to the city should be our priority.
We milk 240 red Holstein cows. My father decided to convert to organic in 2002: it was too expensive to invest in more land, which costs €55,000/ha because we are close to the city. The quotas were on, yet the bank said we needed more income to expand.
By converting to organic, we accessed green finance at a 1% discounted rate. We have formed a co-op with other organic farmers. It just has an office – we sell tankers of raw milk to Dutch, Belgian and sometimes French processors.
The cows would normally graze 24 hours a day this time of year, but it is now so dry that they only go out during the day – or recently during the night because of the heat.
Our yield is 6,500l/year/cow and our price was 51c/l last year. It has now dropped to 47c/l because a wave of conversions in the past two years has increased the number of organic dairy farmers by 30% to supply a market that grows by 8% each year. We’re in for a difficult year or two and then we hope the price will go back up to 50c/l.
Since I joined the farm, we have diversified into eggs and cheese processing sold through our own shop. Our old haystack building hosts a daycare service for 10 Alzheimer patients and we rent out apartments and meeting rooms. My father says I’m going back to the old-fashioned farm. But while we used to specialise in producing cheap food, I think we need to move towards more local and quality production as well. I look for good business models, not ideology.
We have two full-time employees and two casual workers. My wife helps on the farm part-time as well. Our sources of income are €900,000 from milk (1.8m litres at 50c/l), €95,000 from the sale of solar electricity, €150,000 from other businesses and €72,000 from each direct and environmental payments.
The €300/ha direct payments are useless: they just increase the cost of renting land. We rent 140ha at €1,100/ha. Environmental payments are €300/ha as well, for providing walking paths on our land we are paid €1/metre/year and meadows for birds.
I see the environment and the government as a market: I sell milk and I sell meadow birds.
I believe the challenge for the next 10 years is how we deal with our neighbours in the city and with the government, not becoming more intensively productive – that’s old-fashioned. Investing in research to inform the government and in education by bringing children to the farms and farmers to the city should be our priority.
Growing grass is one of Ireland’s natural competitive advantages which is now set to be a key ingredient in Ireland's emerging biomethane and bioeconomy sectors, writes Stephen Robb.
Jack Browne’s vision for his farm, and his courage and conviction in realising it, offers a terrific learning experience for a future where innovation, diversification and adaptation will be crucial.
Teagasc's Beef Quest will investigate the main factors that influence finishing age in beef animals.
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