‘I could go working full-time’

Suckler farmers are under growing pressure of late. Between sustainability and the environment, and then of course the actual profitability of the enterprise, the general mood in suckling is downbeat. In the background, is a strong Irish economy, underpinned by soaring employment figures. The scenario has left most suckler farmers in the west of Ireland leaning more and more on some type of off-farm income. The question is: can suckler farming be a part-time business?

Frightening

One person who recognises the difficulties that part-time suckler farming faces is Co Mayo farmer Martin Shaughnessy. He, alongside his wife Caroline, is farming 34ac plus 10ac of rented land outside Balllinrobe. It’s a traditional west-of-Ireland farm with suckler cows and sheep – the same way Martin’s father ran it.

Today, stock numbers consist of 18 spring-calving suckler cows and a flock of 120 ewes. Martin also works in the local Aurivo Marts, from two days per week during quieter times up to four and five days per week during busy periods.

“I could go working full-time, five or six days a week if I wanted,” Martin says. “There’s no doubt the employment is there. But if I did, the cows and ewes would have to go.”

He adds that it’s not just him who recognises the alternatives: “It’s absolutely frightening the amount of people who are talking about getting out of suckler cows. People are finding it harder and harder to take time off work and the day is gone where you can get someone in to look at a cow during the day. Because of that, it’s getting harder and harder to farm part-time.”

The epicentre of the problem, perhaps, comes from the fact that farming is facing into a much different landscape at the start of this decade than it was at the beginning of the last decade: “When the boom went bust, a lot of people fell back on farming. But they don’t need it now again,” he says. “Young people don’t want to be out at 4am and 5am calving cows or lambing ewes. They want a lifestyle and you can’t blame them for that.”

Despite his acknowledgement of these harsh realities, Martin is reluctant to pull the plug on his breeding stock just yet. “I’ve always said, ‘if the farm can’t pay for itself, there’s no point in having it’. And, at the minute, I am getting a return from it and so I’m happy to do it.”

Niche

Last week, we saw how Co Clare farmer Sean O’Halloran was maximise income in his 40-cow herd by breeding a weanling that the modern beef finisher seeks. It’s a similar case for Martin. He is breeding a specific type of animal for a specific, almost niche, type of market – that is bull weanlings for export and females for shows and show breeding.

“I’m 100% AI here and I’m using nearly all Belgian Blue bulls,” he says. “My cow type is pretty much a three-quarter bred, red Limousin touching a U-grade.”

His cows begin calving in January – there are 12 calved to date – and they finish at the end of March. After a summer’s grazing, the weanlings are sold in the mart in the back-end.

“I’ll sell bulls and heifers together, based on weight, starting off at about 370kg back to 320kg. I try to start selling on the first show days in September and hit that early shipping trade. I’d like to have nearly everything sold by the end of October,” he says.

With his bulls destined for shipping, Martin thinks there is a market for his heifers among breeders in show-circles.

“I’d have a lot of suckler people who breed cattle for shows buying heifers off me. They might only have less than five cows, but they want really good ones.” Martin often has heifers performing well at the Carrick Winter Fair, for example.

As long as the shipping trade stays afloat and as long as there is still a demand for that show animal, Martin sees no reason to stop at what he’s doing. But he would be lying if he said he wasn’t concerned. “The quality of cattle in the country is only going one way,” he says. “The problem will be if the quality goes down too much, the shipping trade will just dry up.”

Lifestyle: Finding the balance

Martin mentioned that the modern suckler farmer must have a lifestyle. “I do have a lifestyle. I’m not a slave to the farm and I never want to be,” Martin says. “I can go out on a Saturday evening or I can go to a football game, but that’s something I’ve always tried to work towards on the farm.”

He says facilities are key to part-time farming. “If you are calving cows, you need a good calving shed, a calving gate and, most importantly, a calving camera. If I can know there’s a cow calving I might be able to get back from work for an hour or ring the vet at least.”

Other simple things like a meal bin, having timber slats for the calves to reduce bedding and having well laid-out fencing help enormously. Even most of the machinery work is done by a contractor. “The way I’ve always looked at it is, I could spend money on tractors and machinery but there’s no benefit from that. I’ve put my money into making this farm as labour-efficient as possible and I’m glad I did.”

For many, the thoughts of calving Belgian Blues might not go hand-in-hand with a stress-free lifestyle. “There are people using Belgian Blue but they’re putting them on the wrong cow. Anything over one-half Belgian Blue in the cow and you’re going to run into trouble. A lot of the trouble on suckler farms is not feeding properly too. I’m giving average-quality silage, some rolled oats and plenty of minerals before calving. You want that bit of energy in the cow at calving and, as soon as a calf hits the ground, you’ll know if the cow got the right feeding.”