[J DEERE]

Received a bill in the post from Teagasc this morning - 485 euros for the year in order to participate in the BTAP Discussion group. They want payment received before they send away the relevant information to the Dept in order for us to get paid. I'm questioning the value of this group - 485 is a lot of money to throw out next month. Knowing the system of old, it will be surprising if everyone actually gets their 1000 on time or at all. I wouldn't be a massive fan of Teagasc as an advisory service either

I have attended 3 meetings so far and to be honest I've been questioning whether or not I'll continue going to the meetings. I haven't really found them to be of much benefit and they're being organised at really bad times of the day. When at the meeting, the facilitator seems to be doing all the talking and the farmers are very reluctant to get involved or participate. Being truthful, I find this forum 10 times better for information and throwing around ideas. I believe that they were flawed from the beginning anyway. A lot of good cattle men were left out in the cold because they don't finish animals or have sucklers. Some of the best farmers I know buy in calves each year and sell as stores

Im just wondering if anyone on here has attended any meetings and how ye are finding them? Are you getting value from it do you think?

[1chippy]

we got the bill last week. even though we werent accepted. went to two meetings and thought they were so so. like yourself found lads didnt want to get involved. most of what was discussed had been gone over on this forum already and i think our facilitator was a bit peeved with my questions and the fact most of the answers had been broken down here already. i actually told him he should join boards.
I have to call the department tomorrow to see if by any chance they will accept us back in. i reckon it cant do any harm anyway.

[J DEERE]

Our meetings last about 2 hours and its basically recycling everything you'd read on the Farmers Journal or see here. You'd want to make sure that you're eligible for the 1000 euro payment before you pay that bill. Teagasc might have you down for the discussion group package that they had running before the BTAP was introduced. Will you stick with it if you're deemed ineligible for the payment?

[whelan1]

i am in the dairy discussion group, and tbh i have learnt alot, you should not be joining the group with the atitude of getting the €1000, you should join with an atitiude of learning new things from visiting other peoples farms etc, also last year after modulation i think it was under €900 we got instead of the €1000....edited to say if you are going to the group with the atitude that you know everything already well then its not for you.... i still learn alot of new things both from here and the group, its a discussion group no use the whole thing being one sided, in our group , we all talk and "discuss" things believe it or not

[Farmer Pudsey]

I am in a discussion group and yes the teagasc guy dose a lot of talking however he is trying to draw us out. One lad however, he is a bigger farmer than the rest and he never says nothing and is slow to give figures. Now I do not want to know what he earns or what he pays for stuff but the mix of a ration that he gets made up??

[leg wax]

one as well ,and as whelan said you join to learn and get simple tips from other farms,our first meeting the adviser told us that we were been paid to do the talking not him,he was there to direct us and if you were not going to join in theres the gate now.i look forward to it as a social thing as i am home all on my own all day.

[reilig]

That's crazy money from them

Teagasc only charged my Mrs €300 for her group. It also included doing some work on maps for SFP.
Is there any other service on the bill?

I agree with Whelan. The information from the group is invaluable, and we didn't join with the intention that profits were going to be up by the value of the payment. Hopefully profits will be up by some of the measures that we have adopted. Our main herd has been in the suckler discussion group for years and the tips and ideas that we have gained have been invaluable.

[redzerologhlen]

I have gone to 3 meetings so far and to be honest I am a bit disappointed. The farm walk is just standing around in the farmers yard for 2 hours, No looking at stock, grassland management, handling facilities etc. A lot of the group seems to be reluctant to get involved, the last meeting our facilitator spent 1 and a half hours talking about the different measures and then brought up the topic of the ideal suckler cow for 10 minutes, that is a load of sh*te in my opinion, we all know the measures that we have to do already. No topic that we have discussed seems to have gone into any great detail. To be honest there is a lot more discussion taking place on here, maybe is because anyone who takes the time to make a post actually has a genuine interest in the topic and that few posters would know each other in person. There is very few speakers in our group and its easy to tell that a lot of them are only doing it for what ever few euro is going to be out of it.

[whelan1]

Originally Posted by redzerologhlen

I have gone to 3 meetings so far and to be honest I am a bit disappointed. The farm walk is just standing around in the farmers yard for 2 hours, No looking at stock, grassland management, handling facilities etc. A lot of the group seems to be reluctant to get involved, the last meeting our facilitator spent 1 and a half hours talking about the different measures and then brought up the topic of the ideal suckler cow for 10 minutes, that is a load of sh*te in my opinion, we all know the measures that we have to do already. No topic that we have discussed seems to have gone into any great detail. To be honest there is a lot more discussion taking place on here, maybe is because anyone who takes the time to make a post actually has a genuine interest in the topic and that few posters would know each other in person. There is very few speakers in our group and its easy to tell that a lot of them are only doing it for what ever few euro is going to be out of it.

but if everyone stays quiet you will get nowhere, we wrote a list of what we wnated out of the group at the beginning, along with a few ground rules - like time keeping and smart aresedness- we review this every year.... also when we go to someones farm we give a few reccommendations on how to improve thing ... if you are letting the advisor talk for an hour and a half this is not a discussion group, ye make the group, speak out... we also write a list of what we want to discuss at the meeting- any current relevant topics, like ****e weather and measures to deal with it etc, i look forward to going to them, but its what you make of it yourself

[redzerologhlen]

Originally Posted by whelan1

but if everyone stays quiet you will get nowhere, we wrote a list of what we wnated out of the group at the beginning, along with a few ground rules - like time keeping and smart aresedness- we review this every year.... also when we go to someones farm we give a few reccommendations on how to improve thing ... if you are letting the advisor talk for an hour and a half this is not a discussion group, ye make the group, speak out... we also write a list of what we want to discuss at the meeting- any current relevant topics, like ****e weather and measures to deal with it etc, i look forward to going to them, but its what you make of it yourself

I have actually commented on most topics I know anything about and I am not afraid to get into a bit of a debate on a topic but there is another 14 or 15 people in the group (cant remember how many) and the most of them very rarely say anything. The advisor started talking and just didnt stop, nobody was ever really encouraged to talk too much. If there is very little discussing going on its just a waste of time. I know a good few lads that are there that have zero interest apart from collecting the money and they would be some of the worst farmers I know, they should be booted out of it in my opinion because they are bringing feck all to it.

[moy83]

Originally Posted by redzerologhlen

I have actually commented on most topics I know anything about and I am not afraid to get into a bit of a debate on a topic but there is another 14 or 15 people in the group (cant remember how many) and the most of them very rarely say anything. The advisor started talking and just didnt stop, nobody was ever really encouraged to talk too much. If there is very little discussing going on its just a waste of time. I know a good few lads that are there that have zero interest apart from collecting the money and they would be some of the worst farmers I know, they should be booted out of it in my opinion because they are bringing feck all to it.

There would be some craic if you stood up and came out with that at the next meeting redzer

[whelan1]

Originally Posted by redzerologhlen

I have actually commented on most topics I know anything about and I am not afraid to get into a bit of a debate on a topic but there is another 14 or 15 people in the group (cant remember how many) and the most of them very rarely say anything. The advisor started talking and just didnt stop, nobody was ever really encouraged to talk too much. If there is very little discussing going on its just a waste of time. I know a good few lads that are there that have zero interest apart from collecting the money and they would be some of the worst farmers I know, they should be booted out of it in my opinion because they are bringing feck all to it.

we had similar in the first year, then the profit monitor became compulsory 6 of the lads where never seen again, sorts the men from the boys

[Dont be daft]

Have to say I've picked up a few handy ideas and tips from this site.

Went on a few farm visits when I was doing the Green Cert. and found them good. But I'd put that down to the fact that the lads were all young, lots of questions and theories flying around.

By the sounds of it, the group needs a good coordinator to get the lads in line and the ball rolling. But dairy will always be different to beef.
Beef men (especially finishers) are in competition with each other regularly. Its not in their interest to have other finishers doing well.
That sounds completely miserable but thats business. That fact alone would keep a lot of lads quiet.

[redzerologhlen]

Originally Posted by moy83

There would be some craic if you stood up and came out with that at the next meeting redzer

Could be a good talking point

Originally Posted by whelan1

we had similar in the first year, then the profit monitor became compulsory 6 of the lads where never seen again, sorts the men from the boys

I would have known the most of them before the meetings and there is a few who I know for sure have no interest other than to collect the few hundred that's out of it because they are so set in their ways. There are some very good farmers in it too but like I said most seem to be a bit reluctant to give opinions, its always the same 2 or 3 that talk.

[tanko]

Im with a group organised by a private consultant who is charging 250 euros for the year. 485 is a rip off, but not surprising as teagasc spend 60 per cent of their budget on pensions for retired "workers". I find the group very good, trying to get lads to stop talking after two hours is the planners biggest problem.