whelan2 wrote: » One of our Angus bulls had a pig tail post wrapped in his ring this morning
If everyone was average we'd all be walking on less than two legs.
Averages mean nothing, not everyone concentrated on maximising subsidie
My subsidies peaked at €900/ ha, my tillage subsidy was less than half that. €350/ha comes to mind
I'd love to see it costing 3% of average incomes and I'm a consumer.
Clear test thankfully. I can relax again for the time being although we got a letter from DAFM saying another neighbour in the area has gone down. I was talking to yet another neighbour and he reckons that we all might be facing more regular testing cause three farms in the locality have had positive tests.
If it cost 3% then farmers would start making their own again. It’s not that hard to make small amounts at home if you’re gonna save that much money and you have the raw material
The old area aid was 150/acre which is 375/ha which is the max it could be unless he stacked entitlements or kept cattle
Lot of us around here in North West Cork thought we'd enough to do a fair bit of next winter.
Nope
THAT'S what I thought, it was their ability to sow vast acreages that accrued the big payments. not their high entitlemments.
And they work hard for every bit of it
Yep same up north here, February was very false start to spring too, with cattle out and expecting them to stay out, didn't fully work out. Thank god the next 2 days should be super weather wise, and lift the spirits momentarily.
"Horns belong to the cow; they are an essential part of the animal. Studies show that they are important not only for communication within the herd, but also for physical heat balance, digestion, and metabolism".
I presume debudding is OK
Quote from the article - "Transport of animals will be a key component of the review. But an end to disbudding and dehorning cattle may also be proposed,"
Polled genetics will get a serious lift if that goes through.
Wait till they find out what eventually happens to a farm animal.
*little cuts. Snip. Snip. To an eventual conclusion.
It won't go through. Health and safety trumps everything.
Some of these proposals coming out of Europe are getting ridiculous. Imagine loading factory fit bulls/bullocks onto a lorry/trailer and them digging the daylights outta each other with their horns - wait, I have the solution - I've seen cattle with large horns transported in a way that they couldn't harm one another, all you need is a few rope halters and a team of lads to ride shotgun.
Maybe they should pay a bit of attention to kosher shechita and halal while they're at it.
That Stephen Cadogan has gone full Brexit style anti EU with that headline and article, he's just been a mouthpiece for Copa Cogeca since he retired as editor but this is a new low.
This was from a submission from a Biodynamic Federation apparently, one of 59,281 consultation contributions. It would first have to adopted by the Commission as a proposal, which is extremely unlikely, and then go through the political process where it wouldn't last as long as a snowball in hell.
It might be one for one of our rural TDs to campaign on though.
They just leak stuff like this so that when regulations get stricter we'll be glad they didn't go full hog.
It reminds me.
A neighbour got into bad health a few years back, he had a dozen lm heifers with horns, very quiet but one boss that used to lead the herd.
One day bossy lm broke one horn in the middle of summer, vet said skull her. So we did just her and let them out, smallest one immediately spent the rest of the day walking after her and pucking her in the arse.
That ain't going to happen in the EU as religious freedom/tradition overrides animal welfare.
Of course it isn't going to happen, but I see it as a dangerous game being facilitated through the agri-media here, attempting to create anti-EU sentiment in farmers, its like something you'd see in GB news.
It's a well known requirement of biodynamics anyway which is a particularly niche/left field discipline.
TBH I've always been on the fence about our EEC membership. As I've previously posted we sold our fishermen and the Nation short when we joined the EEC due to the billions of Euro's worth of fish that have been caught by Spanish, Portuguese, British and French trawlers. I have availed of EU farming supports over the years but it annoys me that the value of that fishery catch/contribution isn't recognised. I remember as a child hearing my older siblings talking about our impending membership of the EEC in particular the then member states wanting Ireland to be planted in forestry to provide timber for their use. IMO the EU bureaucratic tail is getting a bit too waggy for my liking.
I'd be inclined to agree with you although did we begin to see the cracks starting to appear with regard to the nature restoration debate last week? The level of bullsh*t from Europe has gone to extremist levels.
I'm on the fence about it since the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 came out, ie more and stricter designations. The over-reach is appalling at this stage. The Nature Restoration Law makes it even worse.
Anybody know of any "no till" methods of sowing wild flower seeds? Preferably native, one half of the lawn isnt hectic so i was thinking of giving it up for the bees this summer. Its mossy light and bare in parts we have a pack of seeds here but it requires cultivating i was hoping for ones that just need broadcasting (yes the lazy way i know)
#vanlife
While I understand the concerns you raise re the fishery sell off, it's not directly relevent to the false narratives in the media which I find disturbing.
But on the fishery vs ag issue, I would say there was at least an order of magnitude if difference in the number of citizens involved in those industries, and we weren't in as strong a position to develop out fishing industry.
The forestry obviously never took hold here in a serious way apart from a few pockets of poor hill land, and we're certainly not a major EU player in timber production.
The EEC brought unprecedented prosperity to rural Ireland,if anything it is a shame and a lost opportunity that we haven't embraced and integrated more. Our linguistic colonial legacy has been a double edged sword and we're very much over influenced by the other major english speaking nations ... imho!
A significant number of tillage farmers stacked entitlements as it reduced there liability to lease land. They often stacked onto a third or less that they either owned or had long-term rental agreement on.
Large dealers and finishers did similar. I recall one case of an older farmer who was slaughtering 800 cows, aged bulls and bullocks for the slaughter premium only on average during the reference years
He was farming several hundred acres all rented except for about 80 acres he owned. He dropped the rented land and had entitlements of about 2k/HA on his own land.
The EPP party of Copa Cogeca fame is currently stopping proposals to protect small artisanal fishermen from here and other EU countries by getting them a fare share of EU fish quotas from the foreign factory ships currently raping Irish waters. They also oppose protecting these waters from destructive bottom trawling with heavy nets miles long by these same factory ships. The majority of farmers should be very wary getting into to bed with that crowd....
PS: Lets not forget Brexit and how that has worked out for British Farmers and Fishermen
#Tell me you’ve never grown a cereal crop dealing with grass weeds without telling me you’ve never grown a cereal crop dealing with grass weeds.
Yes, and in our area you barely get the weather to cut the corn , you'd never get the straw if you didn't have the crop sprayed with glyphosphate before harvesting,
The sad fact is that every sector is lobbying now and the noisy child gets fed first, if you're not stating your case you'll get nothing and it's the way the powers that be have made us.
After last years milk prices, dairy farmers telling tillage farmers they're getting too much money shouldn't be taken seriously
Sadly I see this in the day job too. Nobody wants to tell the whinger to shut up and get on with it. The hard worker is getting no recognition
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