Listen to this” called out Tim from the office. He was assessing the grass growth for the year. The best field had grown a whopping 17t of grass dry matter/hectare. The worst had grown 10. The average was coming in at 14.5t. It was certainly a great result for our grass-based milk producing dairy farm. Our focus has been on improved efficiency and sustainability. This is something we take very seriously.

THE KITCHEN TABLE

Tim seated himself at the kitchen table. I was packing my bag for work and thought I’d be out the door quickly. A solemn Tim began again: “Kate, listen to this.”

He began to read from the editorial of The Irish Examiner 15/11/2017 in which the editor said that “much of the province (of Munster) is dedicated to industrial-scale milk production”. He likened travelling through Munster’s fertile regions to that of Hitler’s army spending days crossing an almost empty environment.

He called dairy farming a “polluting monoculture”. To be honest, we were shocked that someone in such a position should be so far removed from the reality of farming and its place in the economy. He seemed to have issue with the fact that the EU plans to spend nearly €100bn on rural development up to 2020 and questioned farmers’ environmental responsibility. Huge money has been spent on pollution control on farms over the last 20 years. Surely it is to Ireland’s benefit to attract as much of this money as possible.

MY PERSPECTIVE

Dairy farming is an industry that beats at the heart of Munster. It is providing increasing employment across the province and is world renowned. Teagasc Moorepark is one of the top research stations for dairy production in the world.

Dairygold Co-op provides huge employment across the region along with all the other agri-based businesses, such as the world-famous Dairymaster in Kerry, Kerry Group, Glanbia, Arrabawn Co-op, the West Cork Co-ops, North Cork Co-op, Tipperary Co-op, Centenary Co-op and so on.

I have been farming all my life. I milked the cows on Wednesday. The morning was misty but it had the feel of being a beautiful day. The cows had already come home and were happily finishing off some silage. A third of the cows have been dried off in preparation for the arrival of their new baby calves in the springtime. No matter if you milk 40 or 200 cows, a third missing makes the job much easier. We are also milking once a day to allow the cows to ease into the dry period. The milk test results remain excellent.

The production of quality milk is hugely important. 14% of all the babies in the world are fed on milk powder made from Irish milk. I love the idea of our green little country feeding into this market.

Farming has become a very technical business and a worthwhile career for any young person. Over 50% of all the dairy cows in the country graze grass in Munster.

I often drive through Munster and I enjoy picking out the dairy herds along the way. If it’s early in the morning, cows can be seen walking their path in single file home.

Tim started farming with his father Denis over 40 years ago and it is interesting to note that dairy cow numbers in the country were the same back then, at around 1.42 million. This farm had 40 cows. Over the years we developed the dairy enterprise to 80 cows. We were seriously restrained during the milk quota era. Many dairy farmers went out of business due to lack of viability.

There is great credit due to dairy farmers that kept going even though the business couldn’t expand. A business that isn’t growing is stagnating. Yet, young families were growing, needing nurturing and education. We had only one option and that was to improve efficiency.

When quotas were abolished in 2015, it was a breath of fresh air for dairy farming. Young people started to look at it as a viable career option again. For the first time in 31 years, dairy farmers could build their businesses. The average herd size in Ireland is forecast to reach 100 cows by 2020. Some farms are much bigger. We milked 150 cows this year.

It is our son Colm’s fourth year at home farming with us. Had quotas not been abolished, I am certain that dairy farming would not have been attractive to Colm. Young people need to be challenged and have the opportunity to grow and develop their businesses. It is a source of great pride to us.

Last year I travelled to Mitchelstown for the official opening of Kerrygold Park, Ornua’s new €38m butter making and packing plant in the heart of the Golden Vale. I remember the morning vividly. The sun was shining and Teagasc Moorepark’s purebred Jersey and crossbred heifers were grazing nearby, providing the perfect backdrop for the celebration of the world-renowned Kerrygold brand. On the day Jim Woulfe, CEO of Dairygold ,explained that the Dairygold plant is “connected to the Kerrygold facility and pumps one million litres of cream each week to the plant”, creating obvious efficiencies. He called it a symbiotic relationship.

Dairygold has increased its processing capacity by 55%, both in Mallow and Mitchelstown. The farmer-owned co-operative forecasts that milk supply from the catchment area will be approaching 1.5bn litres by 2020. This is good news for dairy farmers. We now number in the region of 18,000 dairy farmers across the country.

As I write, Tim is back in the office penning the editor of the Irish Examiner a letter. It is our duty to stand up for our industry.