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DEAR SIR: I wish to make a few comments on the outcome of the Climate Change Advisory Council report (CCAC).
If it was to use the same terms of reference to look at transport emissions in Dublin, it would probably come up with the following scenario: all vehicles worth €50,000 or more can drive as normal.
All other vehicles should be banned completely and those people can use public transport, walk or cycle. In my view, this would be as ludicrous as the solution for emissions in the national herd proposed by the CCAC .
The idea that we would get rid of 50% of the suckler herd while retaining the dairy herd at its current level may be good for dairying, but would destroy the beef industry. Imagine replacing half a million beef-bred calves with a half a million dairy calves that are only there because of an accident of birth.
These calves are inefficient beef producers, would use double the amount of dry matter and increase emissions per kilo of beef produced. Ireland has the fifth-lowest emissions per kilo of beef produced in Europe and our objective should be to improve this.
We would need to retain all our beef cattle and reduce or exclude beef from the dairy herd to achieve this.
Minister Creed said recently that we may have to take “drastic measures”, such as cutting the beef herd. To target the beef herd is both unfair and irrational, as that is not where the problem lies. No other country is taking this approach, why should we? The emissions increase is very much in the dairy herd nationally. It is the dairy industry that must solve it. Do we need these factory farms with 400-500 dairy cows that are popping up all over the country, or would we be better to look at a model of 100-150 cows, ie the family farm?
Prof Fitzgerald’s idea to make the beef sector more extensive will make it even less competitive.
What is needed is a plan for Ireland that includes everyone involved. When these people talk about reducing the beef herd, we will get rid of beef farmers with some of these moving into dairy farming and encourage more factory farms – which will actually make the problem worse.
To allow our agriculture to develop with a very intensive sector and a very extensive sector would be foolish from both an economic and environmental point of view.
Dairying is cyclical. We need to be careful to not put all our eggs in the one basket.
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