Recently, I found myself reading an ESRI report from 1975 called Crisis in the cattle industry. The parallels with the current predicament in the cattle sector are such that if you made a few slight changes to it, you could save a new report being devised in 2020. The national herd was at a similar level to now, but the current drop in beef prices isn’t as dramatic as 45 years ago. In October 1973 the average price of calves at Bandon Mart was £42/head. Twelve months later it was £7/head.

Among the options suggested as possible solutions to alleviate the crisis, I found ones that could still work today.

The export or slaughter of young calves, live store exports, intensive beef systems and the introduction of a deficiency payments scheme for store cattle.

The latter was examined and rejected as unworkable. Why? Because it would be impossible to devise a system of support to the primary producer. Technology and traceability has made that a bit more possible now.

My own bulls averaged 6c/kg less than in 2014, so that tells its own story. A positive was the increase in carcase weight, which helped balance things a little, but it was our worst year ever, with fat scores at an average of 2=. We had a bit of time to spare before the last load of bulls were loaded a few weeks ago and my dad commented that looking west, how few cattle holdings there were in the parish. There’s been a bit of consolidation since the turn of the century.

The sea creates a definite boundary, so when you face the ocean changes like that they are magnified in coastal areas. It happens further inland too and social effects are visible more than economical ones.

GAA

I’d often have Radio Kerry on in the car. It’s good to know what the neighbours are at and the county’s obsession with sport makes for interesting listening.

The evolution of rural population trends are evident when they mention the underage GAA fixtures. It’s a wonder the presenters don’t become tongue-tied. In the U16 football league division six, a north Kerry derby, Asdee/Ballylongford/Clonmacon/Ballydonoghue took on Knocknagoshel/Duagh/Brosna.

A lazy journalist looking to hit a word count fast would love to cover a game like that, while I imagine it would be a commentators nightmare. Curiosity got the better of me, so I checked the Kerry GAA website and discovered this division had six teams. Nothing untoward in that, but they represented 14 different adult clubs and their parishes.

Over the next decade that will feed into adult level and spill out to the rural communities. It will be a slower version of what occurred in New Zealand in the 1980s when the government removed subsidies from farming. Smaller farms became less viable and populations drifted from rural areas.

The local club out here in Ardfield, St James, has no underage football team between U14 and adult level.

Drift away

Farming as we know it won’t stay the same. It never does. Expectation in terms of income and lifestyle will see an eventual drift away, particularly within drystock, and there’ll be less people involved in primary agriculture. That’s something that the industry as a whole will struggle to come to terms with.

Technology and mechanisation can only do so much, farming will always require an element of physical work and there’s less young people willing to do manual labour. The man in the overalls will be king yet.

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