Good week for…

  • Demand for antibiotic-free weanlings, which are now being sold in a growing number of marts.

  • Larry Goodman and the Queally and Browne clans, whose deals to expand their ABP and Dawn Meats empires have been cleared by authorities.

  • Getting to grips with what might be in store for farmers in Budget 2018.

  • Feed merchants, as they reveal that feed sales have rocketed by up to 30% in the last two months.

  • Farmers helping farmers, as 1,000 bales of silage were donated to Donegal’s flood-stricken farmers through the Active Agri Association.

  • The Walsh family in Tipperary, who won the NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Award 2017.

    • Bad week for…

  • All farmers, as it was revealed that the Department of Agriculture handed back €106m of farmer money to the Exchequer last year.

  • Farmers with full slurry tanks and a diminishing opportunity to spread as the deadline approaches.

  • Brazilian meat, as a European Commission audit finds Brazil cannot guarantee standards on meat exports.

  • Harvest 2017, which continues to drag on. Around 20% of straw is still on the ground, according to Teagasc.

  • The suckler herd, as the latest CSO figures reveal that suckler cow numbers fell by 23,000hd between 2016 and 2017.

  • Meath farmer Michael Kennedy, whose cow was strangled by nighttime intruders.