Calling for stock or blocking is the bane of many sellers in marts around the country. Any mart you walk into has signs up alerting buyers to the rules around bidding for stock and warning that no calling or blocking will be tolerated.
However, much of this falls on deaf ears and the long finger or hand comes in to “call” the animal on the scales or shout out “she’s mine”, which generally stops other people bidding.
In a funny twist of fate, COVID-19 has put an end to it in the marts that have been operating online sales. With no one allowed in the mart, there’s no more physical calling.
After viewing in Manorhamilton on Monday, buyers congregated around jeeps and trailers – but not for long, as local guards rolled up to disperse the crowds. Everybody retreated to their jeep and lorry cabs, social distancing was being practiced and no calling took place. Gardaí to the rescue again.
The Dealer can see another WhatsApp group being formed as an alternative to the long finger and shouting “she’s mine”.
Farmers waiting for €80m loan details
There was great relief last week when Minister Humphreys and Minister Creed announced that an extra €200m was going into the Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS) for agribusinesses and farmers.
The Dealer has since learned that 40% (€80m) has been ring-fenced for farmers.
Unfortunately, what is less clear is when the money will be available, with the Department of Agriculture giving a slightly woolly, “further details will be announced in due course” answer when probed by The Dealer.
The Dealer understands that the extra funding might have only been announced last week but last time the Department gave that response, it led to an almost two-year delay to the entire loan scheme.
Farmers, in particular, had already exhausted their portion of the existing fund and will be watching the clock closely for more details.
Spuds and pet lambs booming
In the absence of garden centres, I hear the demand from the nation’s newfound vegetable garden enthusiasts for potato seed has spilled over on to commercial seed suppliers. Seed suppliers are now having to downsize their product offerings to 1kg to 2kg bags to fulfil the home garden market.
I also hear that there is a strong demand for pet lambs across the country. There could be worse things to be landed with during this time than a pet lamb or two. Hens are still in demand as I wrote a few weeks ago, with startup backyard poultry operations coming into play across the country. It’s great to see.
Potato seed is in strong demand. \ Barry Cronin
Farmer slays PETA-shaped Goliath
The Dealer is delighted to report that the animal activist organisation PETA UK, has removed a video of dairy farmer Peter Hynes’ young daughter from their Twitter account.
A few weeks ago, The Dealer reported the family’s distress and outrage that a video of their young daughter on their farm had been taken and used without their permission to promote a clearly anti-farming message. It was a landmark victory, especially as more of us take to the Twitter-sphere to share our realities of farm life.
Slurry spreading in COVID-19 era
I heard many a tale in the last week of people heading to their holiday homes “down the country” to isolate for COVID-19. In one story, I’m told that four cars arrived to a couple of holiday homes next to a farmer’s fields in the northern half of the country. Well with the break in the weather, finally, which allowed farmers to spread slurry, let’s just say I wasn’t surprised to hear that a generous amount of slurry was left close to the holiday homes. Stay at home folks.
While the sound of the doors of Ireland’s 7,000 pubs closing might ring like a death knell in the minds of some people, it could be happier news for the cows of the nation.
A major (anonymous) brewer told the Irish Times that the “millions of pints” of beers in barrels about to go off would be evaporated and turned into animal feed and fertiliser, rather than wasted and poured away. Waste not, want not I suppose.
Department mapping costs could have been avoided
Department of Agriculture costs for mapping hedges and ditches under the Land Parcel Identification Scheme (LPIS) could have been avoided altogether, I’ve read in an EU report. “Ireland mapped its landscape features efficiently by starting with the farms known to have an EFA obligation, but the activity was not necessary in order to secure environmental benefits, since the features were already protected by cross compliance,” the Evaluation of the Impact of the CAP on Habitats, Landscapes and Biodiversity said.
I see that those particular mapping costs could have been avoided altogether if we had relied on the protection already available through cross-compliance.
Calling for stock or blocking is the bane of many sellers in marts around the country. Any mart you walk into has signs up alerting buyers to the rules around bidding for stock and warning that no calling or blocking will be tolerated.
However, much of this falls on deaf ears and the long finger or hand comes in to “call” the animal on the scales or shout out “she’s mine”, which generally stops other people bidding.
In a funny twist of fate, COVID-19 has put an end to it in the marts that have been operating online sales. With no one allowed in the mart, there’s no more physical calling.
After viewing in Manorhamilton on Monday, buyers congregated around jeeps and trailers – but not for long, as local guards rolled up to disperse the crowds. Everybody retreated to their jeep and lorry cabs, social distancing was being practiced and no calling took place. Gardaí to the rescue again.
The Dealer can see another WhatsApp group being formed as an alternative to the long finger and shouting “she’s mine”.
Farmers waiting for €80m loan details
There was great relief last week when Minister Humphreys and Minister Creed announced that an extra €200m was going into the Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS) for agribusinesses and farmers.
The Dealer has since learned that 40% (€80m) has been ring-fenced for farmers.
Unfortunately, what is less clear is when the money will be available, with the Department of Agriculture giving a slightly woolly, “further details will be announced in due course” answer when probed by The Dealer.
The Dealer understands that the extra funding might have only been announced last week but last time the Department gave that response, it led to an almost two-year delay to the entire loan scheme.
Farmers, in particular, had already exhausted their portion of the existing fund and will be watching the clock closely for more details.
Spuds and pet lambs booming
In the absence of garden centres, I hear the demand from the nation’s newfound vegetable garden enthusiasts for potato seed has spilled over on to commercial seed suppliers. Seed suppliers are now having to downsize their product offerings to 1kg to 2kg bags to fulfil the home garden market.
I also hear that there is a strong demand for pet lambs across the country. There could be worse things to be landed with during this time than a pet lamb or two. Hens are still in demand as I wrote a few weeks ago, with startup backyard poultry operations coming into play across the country. It’s great to see.
Potato seed is in strong demand. \ Barry Cronin
Farmer slays PETA-shaped Goliath
The Dealer is delighted to report that the animal activist organisation PETA UK, has removed a video of dairy farmer Peter Hynes’ young daughter from their Twitter account.
A few weeks ago, The Dealer reported the family’s distress and outrage that a video of their young daughter on their farm had been taken and used without their permission to promote a clearly anti-farming message. It was a landmark victory, especially as more of us take to the Twitter-sphere to share our realities of farm life.
Slurry spreading in COVID-19 era
I heard many a tale in the last week of people heading to their holiday homes “down the country” to isolate for COVID-19. In one story, I’m told that four cars arrived to a couple of holiday homes next to a farmer’s fields in the northern half of the country. Well with the break in the weather, finally, which allowed farmers to spread slurry, let’s just say I wasn’t surprised to hear that a generous amount of slurry was left close to the holiday homes. Stay at home folks.
While the sound of the doors of Ireland’s 7,000 pubs closing might ring like a death knell in the minds of some people, it could be happier news for the cows of the nation.
A major (anonymous) brewer told the Irish Times that the “millions of pints” of beers in barrels about to go off would be evaporated and turned into animal feed and fertiliser, rather than wasted and poured away. Waste not, want not I suppose.
Department mapping costs could have been avoided
Department of Agriculture costs for mapping hedges and ditches under the Land Parcel Identification Scheme (LPIS) could have been avoided altogether, I’ve read in an EU report. “Ireland mapped its landscape features efficiently by starting with the farms known to have an EFA obligation, but the activity was not necessary in order to secure environmental benefits, since the features were already protected by cross compliance,” the Evaluation of the Impact of the CAP on Habitats, Landscapes and Biodiversity said.
I see that those particular mapping costs could have been avoided altogether if we had relied on the protection already available through cross-compliance.
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