On a positive note it was great to hear Glanbia announce its results this morning with an increase in profits of 10%. I am sure all my dairy farming friends will be delighted to see their hard work being rewarded.

I put in a few hard days recently at the marts trying to buy store heifers. It’s amazing to see the positivity that abounds the cattle sales at the minute considering the actual beef price for the finished animal. I find it hard to rationalise how you can pay a near-finished beef price for store animals, but we are working away at our own budget and buying good R grade types.

It’s great to do a few trips south and west at this time of the year so you can see how the rest of the farming community is progressing through the early spring. I travelled south yesterday with a neighbour and while we chatted we kept an eye on the fields, as well as the roads! An alert ear was also kept to the radio for the latest news from the carnival that is this general election campaign; yet again, very little mention for agriculture. We both did agree that it seems to have turned into a big urban/rural divide.

The M50 has to be traversed for us to get to the M7/M9. It was chock-a-block with vehicles and the hum of urban business, but once you got past Naas the road was pretty much empty for periods.

Hive of commerce

When we reached our destination it soon became apparent to us how important the rural economy/community is to the country. While the mart ring was a hive of commerce yesterday, and I can assure our Taoiseach that the recovery is in overdrive around the sales ring, it was outside where you could see “the green shoots of a recovery” as he says himself, how vital the rural economy is.

There were traders there of all descriptions selling their wares. Hay and straw in small squares, medium squares and round bales. A man selling bags of rolled barley was doing a brisk trade, there was a queue at a van to buy hedging, lads were getting new boots and trying on grand padded shirts. Dry cow minerals seemed to be doing a great trade, but that should be no surprise as we were in the heart of suckler country.

I counted 10 different people/businesses earning a buck on the back of mart day, and that’s not including all the mart staff, canteen staff and a busy barber shop on the premises. And don’t forget the hauliers moving stock to and from the mart. My neighbour also commented on the drive home, in glorious sunshine, that really and truly, Ireland is a beautiful country. We were spoilt for choice with the beautiful scenery through Clare, Limerick and Tipperary,

We stopped at the Barack Obama plaza on the way home to “fuel the tank” with the finest of Irish beef in the new Sean O’Brien burger from Supermac’s. Who did we meet only Henry Healy, Obama’s eighth cousin who manages the plaza, and the Supermac’s supremo himself Pat McDonagh. We had a great chat with them about the way we were buying beef at both ends. The burger certainly does fuel your tank – it kept us going for the rest of the trip home.

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