Do it bit by bit like the majority of farmers do. Two cubicles sheds built in early and late 2000s here grant aided, calf/calving shed and milk tank was done through tams in last three years. Tank for collecting yard is the first significant investment made at home here without grant aid.
Only ever had enough stock numbers to match facilities here and tank for collecting yard was last investment needed for us to have more than sufficient slurry storage.
Exhibit A. The Irish Sugar Beet industry
What about milk tank slurry storage calf sheds
A lot that expanded out cubicles into existing loose sheds not everyone spent fortunes expanding, if you use what you have available already you can keep costs down
But if you have the animals you need the facilities thats the problem witt dairy fatming
You undertake significant investment on the back of worst case scenario, we have a good share of ground rented and wouldn’t invest heavily on facilities because that land isn’t a guarantee over the next 5 years not the mind over 15 years which would be a likely period to spread significant investment over.
I can tell you for a fact the majority of lads over 100 cows have alot of land rented.Under 100 cows id say theres alot with none or a small bit.
Not many built substantial facilities off the back of depending on rented land, what’s the issue with people making life easier and more power to them if they have excess storage now and a parlour that probably halved their milking times. The younger generation don’t want to slave and want to have a life outside of the farm being set up well will allow them to have time with their families in the future.
But as you say urself most of the younger in the partnership had off farm jobs it took money away from other farmers most of the money was wasted anyway oversized parlours robots huge sheds tanks all built on the basis of access to affordable land rent which no longer exists
Horses for courses, obviously it wouldn’t make sense in that scenario but it allowed people slogging in tired facilities for years to upgrade and make their job easier and more enjoyable. There was definitely no downside to partnerships for people who were intending to go full time farming.
That partnership craic is a real joke it was brought in for farmers to get 60 percent grant now lets be honest who was going to benefit most big or small farmers a lad in thevwest of ireland with 10 sucklers on 20 acres was hardly going to go into partnership with his son daughter.
The demographics of farmers doesn’t help either as most are in their 60s and don’t have need to get involved as they are winding down, the ifa have achieved nothing in recent years you could see for the past two years what’s coming down the line and they didn’t decide to protest until it had come to pass.
There will be very little full time milking in 20 years time unless something is done now there isn’t one farmer under 35 milking in their own right in my parish and I’d say that is a common theme throughout the country. Any young farmers that are helping out at home with the view of taking over when parents retire that are in partnerships currently are all nearly working off farm.
Yes but wheres the protesting none at any stage reason been only a minority of total farmers and even a smaller minority of the population are effected.No one cares if paddy farmer has to get rid of 10 20 or 100 cows.These boys wont win elections
Protesting should be proactive not reactive
The government dont care about your concerns they want to abide by eurropean law.There was very little protest in general so far none for banding some small protest in horse on jockey limerick and cork rest of country was silent which is why there probably down to 220kg
If that 3km milking platform stipulation was implemented surely there would be some sort of a revolt, milked 115 at peak at home this year and if that was implemented and derogation was to go on top of it you’d be down to 71 cows.
Thats 40% reduction in herd I’d be very slow to go farming full time if that was the case how can you expect any sort of generational renewal in farming if that comes to pass.
They will happily sacrifice farmers they've done it time and time again...once a committe lobby group and some obscure consultation body recommend it it's going to happen.as others have said its different in the wider European context . But all that's stopping them regulating the platform is a way around it
What way do you interpret the 3km max distance for milking platform does that mean they are proposing that only land within 3km can be counted for your stocking rate of milking cows? If you have additional land outside 3km it can’t be used for stocking rate purposes?
Stocking rate on milking platform will cone in if they can find a mechanism to police it.
This will mean slurry removal of the grazing platform.
Higher stocked farms are housed longer and don't necessarily excrete their numerical loading onto the platform.
Cows out by day/in by night might only spent 3 to 4 hkurs outside by day, with 20 hours slurry collected inside.
Calculations can be made around this as long a slurry is taken away from the platfkrm and maintain application under 500..
System will go indoors at 170 as growing a grazing platform to the requirement will prove impossible, but fedd in slurry out from fragmentations will be possible.
No threat to leaching on most grassland soils at 500kg loading (chemical/organic combined).
Totally different on the mainland where average grass cover is only at 20% of overall.
Their capacity to utilise a N loading is much lower.
There up to every trick in the book to get cow numbers down and its working who ever is comeing up with these new rules banding is a genius not one protest on banding and farmers fell for it.These measures dont cost a euro unlike the dairy retirement scheme that some heavy debted farms wudvlove
gillian o'sullivan in this weeks farming independent wrote about having french farmers on her farm recently... it was mentioned that land could be rented in France for 40euro/acre....
front page of the comic doesn't make for pretty reading regarding the new rules being proposed by the Nitrates review committee...
Surely then the most logical thing that will happen will just be a 170 across the board in Ireland in 2026 as well then too, can’t see them touching milking platform stocking rates. Saying that it won’t pay for people to rent or buy land to maintain higher stocking rates on milking platform then.
Simple answer is it doesn't matter really to the majority of confinement systems in the EU, slurry is exported off-farm to meet the 170kgs/n rule, land availability is far more accessible and you haven't sky high rents in the main, Ireland and its grass based intensively stocked platform is a total outlier, compared to what 95% of dairy farms in Europe are at
How are they getting away with it out in the continent so? We’re in the eu so it would have to be rolled out eu wide, how would their indoor systems with little ground around the milking enterprise survive? Or do you just think the powers that be are prepared to sacrifice farming altogether.
They are going to do something around the grazing platform mark my words ....if they had the no how the would have it done already
They either want to prop up their share price or prevent a buy out. Wonder will they too delist from Irish Stock Exchange.
Buying shares is no harm really. I bought them when starting and the last spinout just about paid for them.
Was talking to glanbia rep recently about looking for a contract to become a milk supplier,she said they are very egar for new suppliers and have removed the requirement for new applicants to have a minimum amount of shares.
