Charlie Doherty

The suckler cow is the backbone of the beef industry. There is a large number of suckler farms in the area but the age profile of the suckler farmer is getting too old. The young generation isn’t coming into the suckler end; they want it handier elsewhere. The price of the end product will bring the suckler cow back. If the suckler man gets a decent price for the beef on the hook or in the ring, that’s as good an incentive as any. A €200 payment is not going to take the suckler cow back in my opinion.

Jim McSheffrey

The majority of farmers in this area are involved in the suckler industry. Dairying would be a very small part of Inishowen’s farming fraternity. You can tell by the throughput here in the mart how important it is. It’s been a tough time here. There’s a lot of farmers around here under severe pressure for fodder. We had to bring straw up from Wexford. A lot of farmers didn’t get a second cut and lots of the barley around here was never lifted, so straw is a huge issue. I know one farmer with 60 acres and he hadn’t one bale in the shed.

Tommy Mullen

Two hundred euro is the bare minimum. I keep sucklers and sheep and I’m living on direct payments. For some people, getting out of suckling will be a reality in the coming years. Some people around here are keeping massive cows and they’re not producing the goods. The smaller cows we had here (in the ring tonight) were producing a lot better calves than what some of the big cows are producing. If a subsidy was to come in I wouldn’t like it to be complicated – definitely simpler than the BDGP. Something like the sheep (welfare) scheme.

Peter and Philip Doherty

(no relation)

Peter - The subsidy needs to come back for the suckler. There will be no cows around here in 10 years’ time otherwise. We’ve an eight-month winter round here. The cost of keeping these cows and all the silage you need is huge. We’re swinging towards sheep – they’re easier on the land.

Philip - This mart is averaging 70 or 80 dry cows every sale – a lot of good young cows too. The bad weather is a problem. Unless the price of beef changes, a subsidy is vital.

Mark Geoghegan

We can’t go on producing beef below the cost of production. It is demoralising when you look at your costs and what you’re getting in return. The weather is a massive shackle. The animals are too long inside. When we look at the pictures and information in your paper and see stock out down south, we can’t match that. If the cow goes, towns like Carndonagh will suffer hugely. My wife works as an optician and gets a lot of business from the mart on sale day. There’s the indirect effects on other people if marts like this go.