There was a note of sobriety among the beef farmers at the Young Farmer of the Year Farm Walk at Thomas O’Connor’s farm in Moone, Co Kildare on Tuesday night this week. It was particularly noticeable when the average age of those in attendance could be no more than 30.
The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to three young beef farmers about their thoughts on prospects for the sector.
Sucklers in Scariff, Co Clare
Anthony Burke,O'Callaghansmills,Co. Clare
“The outlook for the back end isn’t great, we’ll try and pull through it. Keep the costs low anyways. Cattle are coming earlier, July cattle are being killed now. I was talking to a man last week that had to wait three weeks to get cattle killed, which is a bit of a joke.
"It’s the cost of keeping them for an extra three weeks. I don’t think there will be many lads left in winter finishing.
“Mercosur, Brexit and the current beef prices; what impact are they going to have in beef? If the lad in the west of Ireland is producing sucklers, are [the finishers] going to keep coming back to buy weanlings? It’s hard to know and it’s going to be interesting. A couple of months will tell a lot, hopefully the outlook won’t be as bad as what they’re saying.”
Dairy calf to beef in Nenagh, Co Tipperary
“I’d like to see prices about 20 or 25 cent higher. Last year, we operated off €40 [profit per head], that’s with all our own stock.”
He said that he would not like to be in the shoes of farmers who paid €200 to €250 per head for Hereford-cross dairy calves last year.
“We had these stock ourselves from the beginning, we didn’t have that initial investment. I think our final kill for 2018 we averaged around €1,300 a piece, that was the bulls and bullocks. The heifers averaged around €1,000 so they’re gone this year. All the Friesians are killed as bulls around 17-19 months. They’re getting harder killed every year, we even got a warning off our factory man today. We’ll get away with it this year, but next year they probably won’t consider the dairy bulls.
“We’re branching out into more horses. We keep 10 or 12 thoroughbreds at home and a couple of broodmares coming through.
"We’ll stock our land lower because we have been in derogation the last few years and it’s just becoming a non-option. We’re branching out to take the pressure off – if one thing is bad, there’s two or three other things to fall back on.
“The biggest opportunity for me is efficiency. We’re down to five days in a paddock as opposed to three weeks when I came home first. So that is improving and you can see it in the animals at 13 months of age from the dairy herd that are now up on 600kg.
"My hands are in a number of pots at the moment but unfortunately they are all pots affected by Brexit. Brexit is the biggest danger at the moment.”
Suckler to beef in Moone, Co Kildare
Thomas O Connor
“It’s hard to know what to think at the moment. We will end up buying a certain amount of stock this year, there’s always the tax man there you have to avoid. I won’t alter my system too much but I’ll re-adjust.”
Thomas is currently building a calving shed on the farm; firstly to make his life easier as his parents are getting older, and secondly to avail of the TAMS grant which he gets at a higher rate for being in partnership with his parents.
“It’s a fairly calculated risk and the shed I’m building could be used for straw or grain, God-forbid I could even put cubicles in it, multi-purpose,” he said.
“Currently the only way to make money in the beef sector is by screwing somebody else. There’s a degree of farmers there that aren’t necessarily farming to make a viable business... they are stopping young farmers.
"I try to buy the good continental cattle and lads tell me there’s no point in bidding against [certain men] at the ring because he has to try buy so many cattle to stock his farm to draw down his payments, he just needs to keep a minimum stocking rate. He’ll just buy out whatever looks nice. That’s a fundamental problem.”
Thomas O'Connor hosted a farm walk at his beef farm in Kildare as part of the Macra Na Feirme young farmer of the year series of farm walks. \ Odile Evans
Read more
Closing date looms for Young Farmer of the Year
Young farmers breaking their way into the industry
There was a note of sobriety among the beef farmers at the Young Farmer of the Year Farm Walk at Thomas O’Connor’s farm in Moone, Co Kildare on Tuesday night this week. It was particularly noticeable when the average age of those in attendance could be no more than 30.
The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to three young beef farmers about their thoughts on prospects for the sector.
Sucklers in Scariff, Co Clare
Anthony Burke,O'Callaghansmills,Co. Clare
“The outlook for the back end isn’t great, we’ll try and pull through it. Keep the costs low anyways. Cattle are coming earlier, July cattle are being killed now. I was talking to a man last week that had to wait three weeks to get cattle killed, which is a bit of a joke.
"It’s the cost of keeping them for an extra three weeks. I don’t think there will be many lads left in winter finishing.
“Mercosur, Brexit and the current beef prices; what impact are they going to have in beef? If the lad in the west of Ireland is producing sucklers, are [the finishers] going to keep coming back to buy weanlings? It’s hard to know and it’s going to be interesting. A couple of months will tell a lot, hopefully the outlook won’t be as bad as what they’re saying.”
Dairy calf to beef in Nenagh, Co Tipperary
“I’d like to see prices about 20 or 25 cent higher. Last year, we operated off €40 [profit per head], that’s with all our own stock.”
He said that he would not like to be in the shoes of farmers who paid €200 to €250 per head for Hereford-cross dairy calves last year.
“We had these stock ourselves from the beginning, we didn’t have that initial investment. I think our final kill for 2018 we averaged around €1,300 a piece, that was the bulls and bullocks. The heifers averaged around €1,000 so they’re gone this year. All the Friesians are killed as bulls around 17-19 months. They’re getting harder killed every year, we even got a warning off our factory man today. We’ll get away with it this year, but next year they probably won’t consider the dairy bulls.
“We’re branching out into more horses. We keep 10 or 12 thoroughbreds at home and a couple of broodmares coming through.
"We’ll stock our land lower because we have been in derogation the last few years and it’s just becoming a non-option. We’re branching out to take the pressure off – if one thing is bad, there’s two or three other things to fall back on.
“The biggest opportunity for me is efficiency. We’re down to five days in a paddock as opposed to three weeks when I came home first. So that is improving and you can see it in the animals at 13 months of age from the dairy herd that are now up on 600kg.
"My hands are in a number of pots at the moment but unfortunately they are all pots affected by Brexit. Brexit is the biggest danger at the moment.”
Suckler to beef in Moone, Co Kildare
Thomas O Connor
“It’s hard to know what to think at the moment. We will end up buying a certain amount of stock this year, there’s always the tax man there you have to avoid. I won’t alter my system too much but I’ll re-adjust.”
Thomas is currently building a calving shed on the farm; firstly to make his life easier as his parents are getting older, and secondly to avail of the TAMS grant which he gets at a higher rate for being in partnership with his parents.
“It’s a fairly calculated risk and the shed I’m building could be used for straw or grain, God-forbid I could even put cubicles in it, multi-purpose,” he said.
“Currently the only way to make money in the beef sector is by screwing somebody else. There’s a degree of farmers there that aren’t necessarily farming to make a viable business... they are stopping young farmers.
"I try to buy the good continental cattle and lads tell me there’s no point in bidding against [certain men] at the ring because he has to try buy so many cattle to stock his farm to draw down his payments, he just needs to keep a minimum stocking rate. He’ll just buy out whatever looks nice. That’s a fundamental problem.”
Thomas O'Connor hosted a farm walk at his beef farm in Kildare as part of the Macra Na Feirme young farmer of the year series of farm walks. \ Odile Evans
Read more
Closing date looms for Young Farmer of the Year
Young farmers breaking their way into the industry
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