The Strike is over. What happens now?

Unlike you guys I am not a even a part time farmer but grew up going to places like Sallins , Dublin Port and sales yards from Ballinalsoe to Ardee. I still think In hundred weights !! Admittedly therefore, I haven’t a clue on some issues but I’ve genuinely done as much research as I can over last few months to see how we got to this point and what I am going to say is that the traditional suckler farmer / dairy farmer / grain farmer / pig farmer / veg farmer etc are actually all in the same flotilla of boats only at different levels of sinking. Wrangler is right in that some innovative thinking is now needed but it needs to be across all of agriculture and not just one sector.
Farmers need to see the big picture and deal with it as the current issues cannot be solved without a fundamental shift in policy, thinking, action and delivery . Personally I just don’t think the ifa have enough unity and strength to deliver according to their own motto without reorganizing themselves behind a completely reworked Irish agri policy .
Ifa and other organizations need to sit down and ask —-
Whose agenda is all of Irish agri being run to ? Ans - european and worldwide policy for cheap food to feed growing world .
How is that best achieved ? - Ans - by controlling every aspect of agricultural production from the top down in the most efficient and sustainable way possible .
Will that policy work for Irish farmers ? Ans - no way. We are too small and can’t compete . Even as it is we are importing 5/6 million tons of feedstuffs and running it thru our own livestock production . Why? To allow our agri companies compete on a bigger stage whilst mixing in the one true advantage we have - green grass , green everything else , and true love of farming and animal husbandry.
What is the answer ? Change of direction - less produce and more quality and niche products because sooner or later our large agri companies are going to outgrow Ireland and instead of importing feedstuffs they will produce where the feedstuffs are. To them , share price and profit mean everything — farmers need to remember that .
Bord bia has pandered to the retailers and processors wishes to such an extent that around 50% of what the Irish food board promotes is not even Irish . (In any sense). Farmers and their representative organizations have unwittingly allowed this to happen and that’s the truth of it. Farmers in general need to take a greater interest in what is going on and I don’t mean this board.
Bass / base / wrangler etc please have a look at below attached link . This is the main group behind driving agri policy In Europe and correlates to what Irish farmers are told to do by Teagasc and bord bia via govt incentives etc . Note there is not one farmer organisation on it but bord bia , retailers, and our meat and dairy companies are. Again, there is a lot of good policies here but nowhere is the viability or wellbeing of the farmer on the ground mentioned.
Teagasc unfortunately must do what they are asked as they are partly subsidized but they have a huge talent pool and database and for what it’s worth I personally think they should sever links to govt and operate independently for and on behalf of farmers only . Let bord bia represent the Irish food companies as they are good at it but don’t allow them abuse Irish farmers via quality marks etc and let those they represent pay them.
Finally , Our farm organizations need to be at the heart of policy making for and on behalf of Irish farmers and not be led by world food thought leaders as in foodwise etc. Below links I think will show you that they are not.


https://saiplatform.org/

Cavanjack wrote: »

I thought dairy expansion had slowed down. That sounds a bit much ok. You’ll find There’ll still be lads to buy the friesian bulls because they always bought them.

They must have free grain or no brain.

Fedlot wrote: »

Unlike you guys I am not a even a part time farmer but grew up going to places like Sallins , Dublin Port and sales yards from Ballinalsoe to Ardee. I still think In hundred weights !! Admittedly therefore, I haven’t a clue on some issues but I’ve genuinely done as much research as I can over last few months to see how we got to this point and what I am going to say is that the traditional suckler farmer / dairy farmer / grain farmer / pig farmer / veg farmer etc are actually all in the same flotilla of boats only at different levels of sinking. Wrangler is right in that some innovative thinking is now needed but it needs to be across all of agriculture and not just one sector.
Farmers need to see the big picture and deal with it as the current issues cannot be solved without a fundamental shift in policy, thinking, action and delivery . Personally I just don’t think the ifa have enough unity and strength to deliver according to their own motto without reorganizing themselves behind a completely reworked Irish agri policy .
Ifa and other organizations need to sit down and ask —-
Whose agenda is all of Irish agri being run to ? Ans - european and worldwide policy for cheap food to feed growing world .
How is that best achieved ? - Ans - by controlling every aspect of agricultural production from the top down in the most efficient and sustainable way possible .
Will that policy work for Irish farmers ? Ans - no way. We are too small and can’t compete . Even as it is we are importing 5/6 million tons of feedstuffs and running it thru our own livestock production . Why? To allow our agri companies compete on a bigger stage whilst mixing in the one true advantage we have - green grass , green everything else , and true love of farming and animal husbandry.
What is the answer ? Change of direction - less produce and more quality and niche products because sooner or later our large agri companies are going to outgrow Ireland and instead of importing feedstuffs they will produce where the feedstuffs are. To them , share price and profit mean everything — farmers need to remember that .
Bord bia has pandered to the retailers and processors wishes to such an extent that around 50% of what the Irish food board promotes is not even Irish . (In any sense). Farmers and their representative organizations have unwittingly allowed this to happen and that’s the truth of it. Farmers in general need to take a greater interest in what is going on and I don’t mean this board.
Bass / base / wrangler etc please have a look at below attached link . This is the main group behind driving agri policy In Europe and correlates to what Irish farmers are told to do by Teagasc and bord bia via govt incentives etc . Note there is not one farmer organisation on it but bord bia , retailers, and our meat and dairy companies are. Again, there is a lot of good policies here but nowhere is the viability or wellbeing of the farmer on the ground mentioned.
Teagasc unfortunately must do what they are asked as they are partly subsidized but they have a huge talent pool and database and for what it’s worth I personally think they should sever links to govt and operate independently for and on behalf of farmers only . Let bord bia represent the Irish food companies as they are good at it but don’t allow them abuse Irish farmers via quality marks etc and let those they represent pay them.
Finally , Our farm organizations need to be at the heart of policy making for and on behalf of Irish farmers and not be led by world food thought leaders as in foodwise etc. Below links I think will show you that they are not.


https://saiplatform.org/

I'd agree with a lot there and have been saying some of it myself.
Ireland/irish farmers won't influence the market, they have to take that into account when planning their enterprises.
If we want a food label (which we need) who better than bord bia to know what the market requires, there's no one being bullied but some farmer are averse to being told what to do, ...... in the main QA requirements are not onerous and costs nothing more than Cross Compliance which is a legal requirement now.
The only people that value ''Grass fed'' are the farmers themselves, it's not as important as price to consumers. One of our organisations are doing their best to discredit the ''grass fed'' label at the moment.
If there was farmer representation in SAI, it'd have to be EU level, ie COPA etc, anything less would only embarass themselves

Base price wrote: »

I was at the meeting and I'm sure Pat Dillon (Teagasc) said 400K additional calves but as you said previously it must be from the quota's were abolished.

I'm sure I saw it somewhere written down but I was discussing it lately with guy that was of the same opinion too........ but maybe as you say it's since the end of quotas

wrangler wrote: »

I'm sure I saw it somewhere written down but I was discussing it lately with guy that was of the same opinion too........ but maybe as you say it's since the end of quotas

I think he (Pat Dillon) meant that there will be c.400k dairy bull calves born next year.

Base price wrote: »

I think he (Pat Dillon) meant that there will be c.400k dairy bull calves born next year.

Maybe, a lot of beef straws used last year tho

Muckit wrote: »

So how or why then are the factories able to play puck?

There's too much beef out there on the international markets. The simple basics of supply and demand.

Panch18 wrote: »

Because prices have been depressed all across Europe this year - albeit they have start to pick up a bit now - but still low

Financial Times saying there is a worldwide shortage of meat and prices will climb into next year and beyond.

“We haven’t seen a meat supply shortfall like the one African swine fever has produced going back 30, 40, 50 years in the data,” said Justin Sherrard, global strategist covering animal protein at Rabobank. “We’re truly in extraordinary times.”


https://www.ft.com/content/b99e7164-fa50-11e9-a354-36acbbb0d9b6

Muckit wrote: »

Making the decision was the hardest part. Tis like a weight lifted.

Will you lease out the sheds or just leave them empty?

K.G. wrote: »

I wonder have the dairy lads borrowed tactics from trump with the news flow the past few posts.if you were following this thread the past month you d swear there was going to be calves left.out on the road but last few posts we seen a few numbers thrown on things and even a few world news stories which gives the impression that this could be like 74 when calves that couldnt be given away made fortunes for people in 76.has this thread been a conspiracy by beef lads to get calves for nothing next spring. The plot thickens

Teagasc poster boy coming out with some gems of views on twitter, basically he cant be rearing his xbred calves as he"ll lose money on them and their isn't a market for them, goes on then to say the sucker herd needs fo half in numbers to facilitate dairy Male Calves who are now suddenly profitable to rear for the beef man to buy of him ( €3.30kg deadweight to rear a dairy beef calf apparenty versus over €4.0kg suckler calf according to the holy gospel of teagasc) and picks a fight with a few suckler farmers who pull him up on it, alot of dairy farmers are starting to display public sector levels of entitlement it's hard to fathom

According to Farmers journal there isfarmer fury over cattle backlog. I note that it doesn't place blame on anyone. Factories are getting enough to fill their orders why should they worry?.Now that we know who's boss we need to be very careful before foolish decisions are made again

Bass Reeves wrote: »

There was three foolish decisions. The first one by finishers and hauliers that tried to break the first strike. The second one and it will not happen the next time and we are heading for a next time. It will not be in the next 3-4 months but spring summer next year. The second mistake was to withdraw protests before negotiations were completed. The third one was not to tell the Government, the CA and all the rest to F@@K off and look for a minimum base becase taht is the way we will have to go the next time.

The processors are breaking the agreement. They have imposed weight related cuts and they have imposed age related cuts.

The FJ and IFA are only worried about there select clientel. They pick and chose who they speak to and for. However this problem will solve itself just like the hill lambs did years ago. Store men in the sheep trade walked away and the cattle store man is walking away as well.

, so that's IFJ, IFA, and the great John Heney has got it all wrong.....you should be posting in the conspiracy forum.
Beef price rising now in other countries and everyone's afraid to challenge the factories because of the mess ye made .

Anto_Meath wrote: »

The strike appears to have given full control to the factories at the minute. Farmers are desperate to get cattle killed as they are gone /going over age and lands has become saturated, there is no sign of a lift a present. At the minute most factories are putting farmers out for a month before they will take there cattle especially if they are over 30 months which many have now gone with the backlog. Farmers are showing cattle in mart to move them on and the factory agents are picking them up here at least €100 less than they are worth. Plus they are been killed the next day. So the factories are getting all the cattle they want. If you ring a factory about cows or bulls they will tell you ring back in January, a haulier was telling me they have been told only bring in the number of cattle booked in from any farmer, if there is even 1 extra on the load then the whole load will be turned away at the gate. At the minute factories are riding all farmers for the fun of it and they know farmers cant do anything at the minute. The strike was badly timed, badly organised and badly managed. But the momentum that it built up need to nurtured so that in the future when the time is right farmers can be organised to strike when the time is right to get a minimum base price and an increase in the movements (the 20 cent bonus on spec cattle is really kicking cattle with 3 moves or more). If lessons can be learned and used correctly then in time it could be yet prove to be successful.

The only thing that really matters is price, and striking will NEVER change that

wrangler wrote: »

Beef price rising now in other countries and everyone's afraid to challenge the factories because of the mess ye made .

How do you mean challenge? Careful now, it sounds like you are rallying the troops for another protest!