Proposed New suckler Scheme

Again with the "dairy industry " stuff .Is it a religious thing or what that people seem to have an objection to "dairy" beef ?

Beef is beef no matter where it comes from .

And your thing about the division in Irish farming ;that's a real "everybody's out of step with my Johnny " type statement .Its the suckler cow man having a tantrum that's gonna cause that .

To a dairy farmer the calf is not the be all and end all of it .The milk production is what its about .Would a calf worth a bit extra be worthwhile to him if it meant milk production was lessened ?

Yes ,I agree subs are subs no matter what they are dressed up as market support ,investment on farm ,environmental schemes etc etc .What we are then arguing about is the means to collect that sub .So if it was decided tomorrow morning that jersey cross calves would get all the subsidy payment would people be happy to keep them ?

Betcha people would be out complaining about getting rid of their lovely cows with generations of breeding behind them and having to look at shivery little coloured rags in the field .

That's the point I am making paddy regarding the calves. The dairy men want the best outcome for themselves, dont we all,and expecting them to start producing better beef calves for the beef man is a unlikely occurrence if it impact there bottom line regarding milk outputs. So the talk from bass of the diary calf improving in recent times is a false narrative.

On the subs side of it I said i agree, disagree or even mention additional suckler subsidies. I was addressing the fact all sectors of farming are subsidised to a certain degree including dairy calf to beef.

If the Jersey calf was subsidised there would be men to farm them too!!

apologies, just to clarify that the household bills I was referring to were house insurance, electricity, broadband, Car (2) and jeep insurance, car and jeep tax, jeep DOE and circa 5k on holidays. There'd be other bits and bobs but that would be main parts. all in circa 10-15k. 60 acre farm, average 10 hours a week over the year. Being honest, I do enjoy the sucklers. have a decent set up so work is at a minimal and farm is all in one block which eliminates a lot of work that others might have with a fragmented farm. but I do invest a bit into the farm each year on facilities or anything I think will make life easier for me.

Including SFP. If I wasn’t farming I wouldn’t be getting a SFP. My neighbour owns a shoe shop and he doesn’t get it.

😂😂😂 cows are most definitely paying for themselves. And I’ll keep them until such time as they’re not. 😉😉

One point that people miss is that the Government does not have to provide a Suckler scheme. This could happen in the future as there is a lot of pressure coming from the climate change lobby groups now all over the world. And with all these new data centers being built they are going to have to reduce the carbon footprint somehow, and sur who's the easy soft target for them only the suckling farmer.Farmers already get a sfp which is decoupled from production. If the Government want to reduce the Suckler cow numbers in Ireland all they have to do is get rid of this scheme, and as an added bonus half of the farmers would end up planting the land if the throw a few quid extra in for them.

The mad thing about it would be the poor oul suckler farmer would then be money in, the biggest losers would be Larry, the marts and Co-ops.

Also the farmers journal as nobody would be buying that rag anymore!!

It’d not go to trees, the better will be leased to Dairy farmers or you’d see more dairy heifer rearing

Why would anyone want to bring that kind of misery into their lives!! And now that we have the processors where we want them we need no more ewes in the country thanks Bass!

we have a fodder crisis every 4?years in this country now on average. We are importing record levels of feed and fertilizer. There is no fear of anything but the most marginal of land not being utilised if there wasn’t another headage payment on suckler cows.

The exodus is the better land areas with intensive bigger herds from what I can see. The part time extensive guys seem happy enough here? And land in these better land areas is being ate without salt such is the demand from the milk and tillage boys.

I often ‘tune’ into Elphin mart on a Monday evening - what I cannot understand is the price of in-calf sucklers heifers there - you rearly see one going for less than €2000.

€2000 to €2500 seems to be a standard price.

just thinking now - I would be better selling in calf heifers instead of running sucklers 😁

I see the Rag is trying to create panic again about Suckler farmers. Basically they are highlighting that full time intensive larger suckler's farmers will see there BPS payment fall. No mention that extensive, smaller part-time lads will see there's rise and similar with extensive sheep farmers. Once again they are taking the example of the 1-2 per parish as opposed to the majority.

It an article by some Tool of a journalist so we should not be tool surprised. Selective analysis of a situation. The Rag must have some research done that only intensive Suckler farmers buy the rag

God bass if it wasn't for yourself and Jameson running down suckler cows and supporters this thread would have died long ago

I had sheep from when I was 12 years old. Absolutely loved them and constant battle with the father to see could keep more ewes.

got out in 2008 and if I got 100 ewes for nothing now, I firstly shoot the lad that gave them to me (in case he brought more) and similar faith to the ewes then.

Are those miniature cows pictured or what? 😁

I am indeed an man who was reared with firstly tied up, multiple suckled cows followed by straw bedded single suck cows and yes I would rather have my tonsils pulled than ever return to them.

I have no adversity to anyone doing whatever they blooming well like on their land. And extensive suckling for environmental grazing in certain areas have a part to play perhaps.

But direct headage payments have been proven not to stay where they belong. With the farmer.

The mii have made several submissions in tandem to the ifa looking for exactly the same thing. And that for me says it all.

https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_agriculture_food_and_the_marine/submissions/2019/2019-06-25_submission-meat-industry-ireland-mii_en.pdf