The publication this week of Teagasc’s Situation and Outlook for Irish Agriculture points to the latest account of where farm incomes will settle in 2026.

The dizzy heights of 2025 output prices have been long forgotten and a combination of higher feed, fertiliser and energy costs, coupled with reduced output prices, will squeeze farm incomes in 2026.

Uncertainty also appears to be a common theme around how the rest of 2026 will play out, with issues in the Strait of Hormuz a big determinant.

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Price volatility is something farmers always had to deal with, but the last 12 months are a clear lesson on not getting carried away in a good year.

This week Darren Carty reports from the Teagasc/Dawn Meats/Shinagh Estates dairy calf to beef demonstration farm open day held at Ballyvadin, Fethard, Co Tipperary.

A large crowd demonstrates the appetite for information into dairy beef systems, with their popularity continuing to grow on farms – especially in the south.

The demonstration farm was established in 2022 to showcase best practice, application of technologies like grass measuring, breeding and health management for profitable, sustainable and labour efficient dairy calf to beef enterprises.

Simple

As with all well-run farms, everything is kept as simple as possible. The farm returned €251,290 for 3,400 hours worked in 2025 or €74 per hour worked. In 2025, there were 191 bullocks and 153 heifers (all born in 2024) finished on the farm.

Carcase weights have also improved considerably since the beginning of the project, with bullocks coming in at 316kg at 21 months in 2025 (10kg heavier and one month younger than 2024).

Heifers came in with an average carcase weight of 270kg at 20 months of age (16kg heavier than the previous year). Heifer carcase weights remain a challenge for the system, with some falling outside of factory specifications.

Much of this improvement in carcase weights is being driven by a big focus on Commercial Beef Values (CBV) when purchasing calves and using the right genetics to deliver high CBV calves.

A strict health protocol and focus on grazing management is also contributing to high animal performance during the lifetime of the animal.

The 2025 financial performance highlights the importance of a good beef price to underpin any finishing system. The projected figures for 2026 look sobering.

There is a projected 66% drop in net margin per hectare in 2026 and a projected 60% drop in margin per head to €209/head net margin, back from €511/head in 2025.

That type of volatility is very hard to deal with on a normal farm and isn’t conducive to any level of long-term planning in a business.

It was a busy week for farm open days and for a few hours on Tuesday this week at the Irish Grassland Association (IGA) dairy summer tour, the current drought conditions were forgotten about and attendees got to enjoy two really well run farms.

The IGA dairy summer tour is one of the must-attend summer events for dairy farmers. The two farms visited have a unique story in that they were once one farm which was split in 2009 when the family decided that splitting everything down the middle was the best way to move forward for the next generation.

The two visits were an example of keeping things simple, focusing on the important things like stocking rate, grass utilisation and cow fertility.

Michael O’Gorman spoke about a six-week calving rate of 93% and high grass production being central to his success. The system is delivering, with an average net profit /ha of €2,921 between 2021 and 2025.

One of the most refreshing aspects of the day was that both farmers weren’t slaves to the farm, pointing to lifestyle and family time as being very important drivers for them.

Daire Cregg has a full report on farmersjournal.ie on the event and we’ll also have an in depth read in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.