Round the Kitchen Table: where three counties meet

The village of Mountcollins is located in Co Limerick but is barely half a mile from the borders of both Cork and Kerry. The nearest town is Abbeyfeale which is about seven miles away. In the past dairy farming was the main farm enterprise but that’s all changed as retired school principal and farmer, Larry Begley explains.

“In the early 1970’s when Mountcollins Co-op amalgamated with Golden Vale there were 189 registered milk suppliers in the co-op. Its two nearby sub co-ops, Rockchapel and Gliunlahan, had the best part of 200 suppliers between them. Today there’s something like 20 milk suppliers left in the three areas. I know of two farmers getting out this year and some of the others are getting on in years,” says Larry.

Most farmers who got out of dairying went into either sucklers or drystock while others took up CE schemes or went working either full or part-time.

Weather woes

Ann Cahill and her husband Pat live on the High Road out of Mountcollins. They supplied milk to Feale’s Bridge Co-op until a few years ago when Pat retired for health reasons. “When I came here over 30 years ago farmers were full-time and in dairying. But that’s gone,” says Ann.

“The weather is a big influence on what happens here. Heavy ground and wet summers where you can get nothing done, knocks the morale out of farmers. We had a few very wet years together and the land dis-improved no end. Last summer was a great boost and we need more like it.”

Ann and Pat have two adult children. Daughter Bridget works in healthcare while son Stephen is a mechanical engineer and he immigrated to Australia last October. “It was a wrench to see him go but it won’t be for farming that he will come home,” says Ann.

Along with farming Ann works as a home help and says there’s a long waiting list of people looking for hours. “Sadly our client base is getting younger what with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Seamus Lenihan from Caherlevoy is in dairying and suckler farming and has been a supplier to Kerry for years. He’s also on the Rural Social scheme.

“Growing up we were mainly dairying with pigs fattened for Clover Meats and turkeys for the Christmas market helping with cash flow. When I started farming nearly all my friends were going farming fulltime as well. It’s way different now. Farming won’t be fulltime. I have a son who has his Green Cert but it will be up to him if he wants to go farming,” says Seamus.

Mixing construction and dairying

William Brosnahan farms in the townland of Knockane. Coming in the middle of seven brothers it didn’t seem likely that he’d get the chance to farm. “I did my Green Cert and started silage contracting. Then I went into construction. Those were the boom years where you’d go to the pub and be offered five or six jobs.”

When the boom ended William hit for Australia and while he was there his dad sold the dairy herd.

“I recommend doing that. Getting out of cows gives you a bit of perspective. It forces you to make your own decisions. “

When William returned to Ireland in 2007 he got into suckling and stuck at it for four years. “The sums didn’t add up and I couldn’t see any future in it. So I changed tack to become a new entrant in dairying. It’s full on for six months of the year but there’s plenty of scope for construction work during the less busy times.”

Now in his mid-40’s William says next to no one in his age bracket is farming and even fewer in the 30 to 40 age group.

Land use

When it comes to land use, the consensus around the table was that marginal land would be planted and that contract rearing and long-term leasing would become more popular.

“We work to a seven month winter, even longer some years,” says Larry Begley.

Larry is a retired school principal and he buys in store cattle to finish and sell to Rathkeale and Charleville. He’s highly critical of feed lots saying they are being used by processors to depress the market.

“The next generation of farmers will have to concentrate on the environment and bio-diversity. The new CAP could be a help to areas like this.”

Money doesn’t go far

One of the few fulltime farmers in the area, John Lane of Knockulcare is in dairying suppling Kerry. He finishes both his heifer and bull calves for the factory. With three teenagers he and his wife are never off the road.

Their son Cormac 14, has just come 4th in the world for solo Irish dancing that included a jig, reel and hornpipe.

Daughter Muirne is an expert on the fiddle and plays Gaelic football for Limerick under 16’s although she’s taking a break until exams are over while Sean is in Leaving Cert year and is also a footballer.

John did his Leaving and came home to farm after his mother was badly knocked out with arthritis. “I’m milking cows for 25 years and the biggest change to hit me are the costs associated with farming. Back when I started you could get €300 for a good continental bull calf. It was a real help for cash flow and if you sold a few calves that would buy the fertiliser for the year. Not anymore, they’d hardly pay for the electricity now.”

Where to get the groceries

The demise of village shops is hitting this part of the country hard. There’s no grocery in Mountcollins, Tournafulla, Ardagh, Monagea, Ashford or Strand. “Sure you can buy milk and butter in the co-op but that’s about it. People are having to travel much further for their groceries”.

“It’s hitting development as well,” says Larry. “Limerick County Council had proposed to build 10 new houses in Mountcollins but that’s been cancelled because we have no shop in the village and no public transport. Young couples are now looking for houses away from here.”

Progress on broadband

Interestingly broadband didn’t emerge as a major issue as people could see satellite and fibre to the home being worked on. Another change in the area is the number of cottages and old houses being bought by retired couples from Britain. “There’s five in a row on my road. It’s a pity they don’t involve themselves a bit more in the community,” says Seamus.

So what does the future look like?

Looking down the line John expects to be in dairying in ten years’ time. “I’ve 60 cows and that’s what suits me and the land we have.” William reckons the tide to part time farming and working full or part time will continue. “People won’t depend on farming, but they won’t sell the land either. That will be kept out of respect for past generations.” Seamus agrees saying that farming will go hand in hand with a job.

As it turns out there are some large scale employers within a few miles of Mountcollins. Kostel makes parts for cars and the group reckon it employs up to 1,500 people between Abbeyfeale and Mallow. Munster Joinery is also nearby and you could be talking about another 1,200 plus people working there.

Ann can’t see much of a future for farming. “Our neighbours are getting on in years and there’s no next generation coming up behind them. In ten years’ time there will be next to no one farming fulltime, I think they will be working together in a shared farm system or places will be leased out long-term”.

“Fewer people farming, more land planted. Only the best bits will be farmed but I hope I’m wrong,” says Seamus. William believes technology will have a greater role in farming. “The bigger dairy farmers will contract services from other farmers. Beef units will be idle and heavy land will be planted. Climate will have a big bearing on things. And if we want young people to farm they will have to be incentivised.”

For John it’s the weather that’s the big factor. “Two, three bad years together would finish it for most farmers around here. Costs are not reflected in the prices we get.”

Larry agrees that technology will be important in the future. He says that most farmers in the parish have a small single farm payment and we need to get away from the historic basis for farm supports. “There’s talk about developing a use for rushes but I suppose that would be too much to hope for,” he says wistfully.