It is vital that suckler farming is kept going and it should not be made the “fall guy” for climate targets, says the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA).

ICSA president Dermot Kelleher warned that his association will not accept any proposal from the Food Vision process that sees the suckler herd sacrificed to maintain dairy numbers.

He was speaking ahead of proposals to reduce carbon emissions on beef and sheep farmers, which are expected from the Food Vision beef and sheep group over the coming weeks.

“There has been a lot of speculation that the suckler herd will be sacrificed to maintain dairy numbers. This is an exaggeration of what is going on.

ICSA president Dermot Kelleher. \ Philip Doyle

“However, [the] ICSA is adamant that it will only support a final Food Vision agreement provided that the suckler, beef and sheep sectors get fair play and that there is a strategy to allow expansion for those who want to,” Kelleher said.

Maintaining the herd

The Cork farmer said the ICSA will insist that the importance of maintaining the suckler herd is “central” to any decisions made by the Food Vision beef and sheep group.

“The truth is that the suckler herd has already fallen in numbers, so it is simply not true to blame sucklers when it comes to the climate targets.

"In any event, we all need to stand up for our livestock farming systems, which are not the major cause of global warming that some commentators like to portray.

“The facts are that the national herd is essentially stable since 1973, during which time world population doubled,” he said.

Beef finishers

Kelleher called for proposals from the Food Vision group to support the beef finishing sector, which he said “has got nothing out of the CAP Strategic Plan”.

“In fact, the beef finishing sector has been hardest hit by convergence of Pillar I payments. The sector is also challenged by the ever-worsening beef merit in the dairy herd and this will have to be addressed.

"In our view, this will require genotyping of all calves from the dairy herd destined for beef finishing.”

Coupled payments

The ICSA president said the suckler herd itself will also need further support and that it is “regrettable that the ICSA proposals for a coupled payment for sucklers in the CAP reform were not supported by any other farm organisation”.

“However, [the] ICSA is still fighting for extra support for the suckler sector and we are actively engaging with the Department in relation to the budget allocation for sucklers,” he said.

Read more

Dairy and beef need to be looked at as one sector – MII