green house gases

merryberry

I c the IFJ is carrying an article the EU's ambition to cut the irish beef herd considerably to address green house gas emissions. Obviously this will b resisted by the farm lobby groups . The farm lobby groups will claim it goes against the global food challenge with global populations increasing put we're not exporting the majority of our beef to countries that face food security issues. Is irish agriculture doing enough to address climate change or is herd size reductions the best solution .

Connemara Farmer

Do dairy cows fart differently to suckler cows?

darragh_haven

The dairy industry is seen as the goose that lays the golden egg atm..... so the powers that be decide we have to cut emissions in beef to compensate

ganmo

We'll have to start farming kangaroos!
(Don't fart)

Base price

darragh_haven wrote: »

The dairy industry is seen as the goose that lays the golden egg atm..... so the powers that be decide we have to cut emissions in beef to compensate

+1
Grass fed cows produce "clean image" milk, particularly for manufacturing into baby formula and that is the buzz at the moment.

Also any reduction in herd size will only effect one sector which is considered the poor relation of farming by many. I wonder how vociferous the farm organisations will be when the pressure is applied.

freedominacup

Base price wrote: »

+1
Grass fed cows produce "clean image" milk, particularly for manufacturing into baby formula and that is the buzz at the moment.

Also any reduction in herd size will only effect one sector which is considered the poor relation of farming by many. I wonder how vociferous the farm organisations will be when the pressure is applied.

Rightly or wrongly the article actually states this. Literally beef is the poor relation and the output of greenhouse gases ratio to economic output is significantly lower therefore that is where they are aiming to make reductions.

Dawggone

FFS the farming unions need a major kick in the (w)hole!
Same old shyte, different decade...
Other farming sectors being sacrificed at the alter of dairy...

Dawggone

freedominacup wrote: »

Rightly or wrongly the article actually states this. Literally beef is the poor relation and the output of greenhouse gases ratio to economic output is significantly lower therefore that is where they are aiming to make reductions.

Fair enough...big business obviously dictating to government...then compensate the beef sector using the same figures when milk profits were massive...index linked...AND get the dairy sector to pay.
Simples.

Miname

I can see a tax coming in on sucklers. Maybe they can keep the beef data and genomics program money. And Larry can collect the rest.

greysides

[mod]Just a quick note not to use text-speak please, for ease of reading.[/mod]

freedominacup

Dawggone wrote: »

Fair enough...big business obviously dictating to government...then compensate the beef sector using the same figures when milk profits were massive...index linked...AND get the dairy sector to pay.
Simples.

Don't shoot the messenger dawg. Not national government either. Seems to be commission driven. Also seems to be following precedent set in other industries.

Dawggone

freedominacup wrote: »

Don't shoot the messenger dawg. Not national government either. Seems to be commission driven. Also seems to be following precedent set in other industries.

Sorry Free I wasn't having a pop at you.
Could you post up a link to the piece?
Seems awfully unfair to pick on a cow because of colour. Bloody racism!
I hate when politics gets involved in agriculture...food is politics and politics is food.
I'm foreseeing another wave of shyte slinging in Paris. Or is this policy just for Ireland alone?

Dawggone

greysides wrote: »

[mod]Just a quick note not to use text-speak please, for ease of reading.[/mod]

Ok.

merryberry

If we cut our beef herd, we cut emissions and output. Good for our green image, bad for the sectors ambition under fh2020. But say we cut numbers, could it b possible for beef farmers to come back up to the same level of output via improved management and being more efficient. In that case would beef farmers be any worse off in output terms and this approch would reduce our emissions from the beef sector. Suckler farming is largely inefficient in comparison to dairy. Cutting the beef herd could make sense but lets assume the cut in the beef herd would b gradual over a number of years to allow for better uptake of management practices.

The alternative would be expensive technologies, nitrogen inhibitors for example, but the farmer being a price taker who cannot pass on these costs to the consumer, will ultimately end up paying for cost of the technology.

CallofGuti

merryberry wrote: »

I c the IFJ is carrying an article the EU's ambition to cut the irish beef herd considerably to address green house gas emissions. Obviously this will b resisted by the farm lobby groups . The farm lobby groups will claim it goes against the global food challenge with global populations increasing put we're not exporting the majority of our beef to countries that face food security issues. Is Irish agriculture doing enough to address climate change or is herd size reductions the best solution .

Saw the same and heard a journal lad on the radio yesterday and it was a very good story but that's where it beings and ends. I know environmental issues will continue to become more of a thing but cutting the Irish beef herd by a third?! That will never happen. These reports paint the worse case scenarios to get people excited. We're good at making beef and milk at relatively low emission and at a low carbon footprint. If this actually happens, I'll eat my belt.

ganmo

compare the co2 cost of producing beef here vs US(or anywhere that routinely uses feedlots) we're well ahead of them

merryberry

CallofGuti wrote: »

Saw the same and heard a journal lad on the radio yesterday and it was a very good story but that's where it beings and ends. I know environmental issues will continue to become more of a thing but cutting the Irish beef herd by a third?! That will never happen. These reports paint the worse cconvincerios to get people excited. We're good at making beef and milk at relatively low emission and at a low carbon footprint. If this actually happens, I'll eat my belt.

Cant disagree with any that. On carbon footprints yes milk is low and lowest in eu for that that matter. Beef is also low but not the lowest in the eu and therefore could b improved. Its a numbers game so regardless of how low we reduce carbon footprints, national herd size will aways compound the issue. So far the legislators are only interested in absolute emissions and not carbon footprints which is unfortunate. I can understand the ifa when they say straddling irish beef production will shift production elsewhere where it is produced at a higher environmental cost.

Reggie.

Dawggone wrote: »

Sorry Free I wasn't having a pop at you.
Could you post up a link to the piece?
Seems awfully unfair to pick on a cow because of colour. Bloody racism!
I hate when politics gets involved in agriculture...food is politics and politics is food.
I'm foreseeing another wave of shyte slinging in Paris. Or is this policy just for Ireland alone?

This 35% seems to be just ireland anyways

merryberry

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Do dairy cows fart differently to suckler cows?

If u are to believe the science then im afraid the answer is yes. Beef emits more than dairy