We scanned the ewes, started them on beet, took them off beet again, and moved them on to grass since my last dispatch to Farmer Writes back in December. It’s been a busy month!

First, the scanning. Give or take a percentage point either way, the ewes scanned at 1.8, with two out of 42 showing as empty. These two will be culled with any others who find themselves with no lambs to rear for whatever reason after March.

Now, messing with fodder beet. Grass was getting very scarce coming up to Christmas, with several fields already closed. Hence, we got the beet delivered and after a rough estimate of weight they started to receive what I thought was an average of 0.5kg per head per day.

Weeks passed and suddenly the pit of beet was getting small.

I weighed several samples properly then and got a surprise. I was giving them far too much.

Finding grass

Thankfully there was another option at hand. The lease on the land we had previously rented out finished on 1 January, and with the mild winter (so far) there was plenty grass on that ground.

So, I simply moved the sheep up there and they have not looked back. We will house them in a week’s time and have “saved” enough beet to get us through.

Vegans are not the enemy

I could not let the infamous EAT-Lancet report on reducing meat consumption pass with some comment – apologies in advance!

The apparent panic and condemnation of the report by farming leaders –and some farmers themselves on various social media platforms – does not reflect well on the farming community. At worst, it suggests we want people to eat more meat no matter the impact on human health.

At best, it is simply a case of being misguided. Long-term, such questionable recommendations may reduce meat consumption, but like vegans and keyboard warriors, it is not EAT-Lancet that has driven farmers to the brink over the past 12 months.

We would be much better off devoting our energies to two issues causing more pressure on margins that are much closer to home:

  • Retailers –facilitated by the processors – who continue to use food as a loss-leader and devalue food in general.
  • The volume of commodities we are producing, especially beef at the moment, in a drive to meet the fairy-tale targets of FoodWise2025.

    • When those elephants in the room have been addressed, only then should we worry about the little mouse in the corner squeaking about going vegan.

    Like weighing the beet, we need to properly assess the situation first. Then we can react correctly.

    Kieran Sullivan and his brother farm part-time in Co. Waterford. You can follow him on Twitter: @kieran_sullivan

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