Siobhán Walsh: Curtain falls on a difficult
year for the tillage sector
This year was an extremely difficult year for tillage farmers. Another wet autumn led to a decline in winter crop area and yields, while spring planting did not really start until 20 April.
Spring barley yields have to be the high of the year. While some farmers did not get great crops, I think most crops yielded a lot better than was expected after a late planting date.
The fact that the majority of spring barley destined for malting passed was another major bonus. The income boost from yield and malting helped to ease the blow on what was a terrible year for most growing winter crops.
Many crops had large areas missing and yielded well below average.
The straw saga had to be the low of the year. Farmers were chopping straw under the scheme when Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced that he would move to suspend the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), which is an important income stream for tillage farmers.
Nine days of confusion followed for tillage farmers which eventually resulted in the SIM being reinstated and a scheme being introduced by the minister to encourage farmers to bale.
The Baling Assistance Payment offered growers in the SIM €175/ha to pull out of the measure and bale their straw.
Income is obviously another low and one that the sector needs help with from Government if it is to reach its target of increasing tillage area to 400,000ha.
Aidan Brennan: A profitable year for dairy farmers after tough start
A confluence of events meant that 2024 was one of the more difficult years for dairy farming. This is despite (or should it be in spite of) the fact that it will transpire to be one of the most profitable years for dairying.
This is because it didn’t feel like a good year for most of the year. At one stage in spring it looked like milk production would be back by 8% or more for the year. It will end up being about 2% back on last year.
Lower production was as a result of bad weather. Cow numbers were similar to other years but production was well back in spring because very little grazing took place and feed was scarce and of poor quality. The summer was cold and harsh and tough on man and beast. It is interesting to note that the reduction in milk supplies was felt hardest in the south and east, whereas the bad weather had less of an impact in the north and west, where poorer weather and less grazing is normal.
The average milk price in March was 40.5c/l excluding VAT, but it would rise by close to 10c/l by November.
That lift in price was driven by sharp increases in butter and, to a lesser extent, cheese and milk powder. Combined with a good October and November, cows milked well and farmers got well paid for their milk so they ended the year happy enough.
Adam Woods: A good year for beef farmers
Weather wise, it was a tale of two halves in 2024 with the second half being a lot better than the first half on beef farms across the country.
A difficult spring on some farms led to delayed turnout and increased costs.
During the summer, farmers felt grass never really got going due to higher-than-average rainfall and cold temperatures.
The second half of the year was a marked difference with lower-than-average rainfall meaning animals continued to graze well into November on many farms around the country.
The temperature of the cattle trade also started to heat up in the second half of 2024 with export demand driving the price of weanlings from August 2024 onwards.
This continued right up until the end of the year with insatiable demand from countries like Morocco for Irish weanlings.
Top-quality weanlings in the 300-400kg weight bracket have consistently hit €4/kg.
Bluetongue remains a huge threat to this trade and hopefully Ireland will manage to stay free of bluetongue in 2025.
The beef trade saw price rises with average R3 bullock prices rising from €5.31/kg in January 2024 to €5.77/kg in December 2024.
The 2024 cattle kill will be up 75,000 head, excluding calves, in 2024 with about half of this increase coming from an increased cow kill.
The signing of the Mercosur trade deal is a real worry for Irish beef farmers and all eyes will be on Europe in 2025 to see if the deal is ratified.
Darren Carty: Farmers see record sheep prices
as throughput plummets
This year will go down in the history books as a record year for sheep prices. The latest Bord Bia analysis shows prices averaging €7.75/kg, an increase of €1.15/kg on 2023 levels.
There will be many that will rightly point out that when inflation is taken into account, lamb prices were stronger decades ago. The same can be said for all agricultural output.
The increase in price in 2024 has been driven by a combination of tighter supplies and rising sheepmeat prices across Europe.
Throughput over the last eight to 10 weeks is running almost 200,000 head lower with year to date throughput likely to end the year 360,000 head lower than in 2023. The sharp drop in throughput is stemming from a lower carryover of hoggets (83,365 up to week 50), over 210,000 fewer lambs slaughtered and 62,000 fewer ewes and rams in the kill. This is a result of a significant decline in the breeding ewe flock and considerably higher lamb mortality in spring 2024.
The knock-on consequences are a 22% drop in Irish sheepmeat export for the first nine months of the year. According to Bord Bia, reduced availability of sheepmeat for export led processors to concentrate on the European market with exports to international markets down 30% in volume terms.
France continues to be the largest export market for Irish sheepmeat and, as of September, export volumes were back 17%.
The unit price per kg of sheepmeat exported is running approximately 18% higher compared to 2023.
Siobhán Walsh: Curtain falls on a difficult
year for the tillage sector
This year was an extremely difficult year for tillage farmers. Another wet autumn led to a decline in winter crop area and yields, while spring planting did not really start until 20 April.
Spring barley yields have to be the high of the year. While some farmers did not get great crops, I think most crops yielded a lot better than was expected after a late planting date.
The fact that the majority of spring barley destined for malting passed was another major bonus. The income boost from yield and malting helped to ease the blow on what was a terrible year for most growing winter crops.
Many crops had large areas missing and yielded well below average.
The straw saga had to be the low of the year. Farmers were chopping straw under the scheme when Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced that he would move to suspend the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), which is an important income stream for tillage farmers.
Nine days of confusion followed for tillage farmers which eventually resulted in the SIM being reinstated and a scheme being introduced by the minister to encourage farmers to bale.
The Baling Assistance Payment offered growers in the SIM €175/ha to pull out of the measure and bale their straw.
Income is obviously another low and one that the sector needs help with from Government if it is to reach its target of increasing tillage area to 400,000ha.
Aidan Brennan: A profitable year for dairy farmers after tough start
A confluence of events meant that 2024 was one of the more difficult years for dairy farming. This is despite (or should it be in spite of) the fact that it will transpire to be one of the most profitable years for dairying.
This is because it didn’t feel like a good year for most of the year. At one stage in spring it looked like milk production would be back by 8% or more for the year. It will end up being about 2% back on last year.
Lower production was as a result of bad weather. Cow numbers were similar to other years but production was well back in spring because very little grazing took place and feed was scarce and of poor quality. The summer was cold and harsh and tough on man and beast. It is interesting to note that the reduction in milk supplies was felt hardest in the south and east, whereas the bad weather had less of an impact in the north and west, where poorer weather and less grazing is normal.
The average milk price in March was 40.5c/l excluding VAT, but it would rise by close to 10c/l by November.
That lift in price was driven by sharp increases in butter and, to a lesser extent, cheese and milk powder. Combined with a good October and November, cows milked well and farmers got well paid for their milk so they ended the year happy enough.
Adam Woods: A good year for beef farmers
Weather wise, it was a tale of two halves in 2024 with the second half being a lot better than the first half on beef farms across the country.
A difficult spring on some farms led to delayed turnout and increased costs.
During the summer, farmers felt grass never really got going due to higher-than-average rainfall and cold temperatures.
The second half of the year was a marked difference with lower-than-average rainfall meaning animals continued to graze well into November on many farms around the country.
The temperature of the cattle trade also started to heat up in the second half of 2024 with export demand driving the price of weanlings from August 2024 onwards.
This continued right up until the end of the year with insatiable demand from countries like Morocco for Irish weanlings.
Top-quality weanlings in the 300-400kg weight bracket have consistently hit €4/kg.
Bluetongue remains a huge threat to this trade and hopefully Ireland will manage to stay free of bluetongue in 2025.
The beef trade saw price rises with average R3 bullock prices rising from €5.31/kg in January 2024 to €5.77/kg in December 2024.
The 2024 cattle kill will be up 75,000 head, excluding calves, in 2024 with about half of this increase coming from an increased cow kill.
The signing of the Mercosur trade deal is a real worry for Irish beef farmers and all eyes will be on Europe in 2025 to see if the deal is ratified.
Darren Carty: Farmers see record sheep prices
as throughput plummets
This year will go down in the history books as a record year for sheep prices. The latest Bord Bia analysis shows prices averaging €7.75/kg, an increase of €1.15/kg on 2023 levels.
There will be many that will rightly point out that when inflation is taken into account, lamb prices were stronger decades ago. The same can be said for all agricultural output.
The increase in price in 2024 has been driven by a combination of tighter supplies and rising sheepmeat prices across Europe.
Throughput over the last eight to 10 weeks is running almost 200,000 head lower with year to date throughput likely to end the year 360,000 head lower than in 2023. The sharp drop in throughput is stemming from a lower carryover of hoggets (83,365 up to week 50), over 210,000 fewer lambs slaughtered and 62,000 fewer ewes and rams in the kill. This is a result of a significant decline in the breeding ewe flock and considerably higher lamb mortality in spring 2024.
The knock-on consequences are a 22% drop in Irish sheepmeat export for the first nine months of the year. According to Bord Bia, reduced availability of sheepmeat for export led processors to concentrate on the European market with exports to international markets down 30% in volume terms.
France continues to be the largest export market for Irish sheepmeat and, as of September, export volumes were back 17%.
The unit price per kg of sheepmeat exported is running approximately 18% higher compared to 2023.
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