Now that all my finished cattle have been sold it’s possible to take a final look at how things have gone this year.
In the summer I was quite worried about how this year’s cattle would die, as they looked larger and plainer than previous years; I was also concerned about the effects of dry weather on the grass supply. In the end, after trying very hard to manage my weed stash and not having a little luck, everything seemed to work out fine. That was until the current floods came, forcing me to change my plans and house livestock early.
As for the conformation scores of this year’s cattle, nothing has really changed, with a third getting O’s and the rest P’s. The fat levels went down slightly but were still close enough to a 3= on average, which I’m very happy with.
However, there were also some disappointments. For example, the most expensive lot of business I bought last fall turned out to be the worst-performing cattle I had. After costing €60 more than the average price of my rest of the cattle, they made €100 less per head. It looks like I still have a lot to learn about the cattle business.
Of course, the biggest change this year was the increase in factory prices. Unfortunately, for most cattle farmers, this increase was quickly offset by sharp increases in input costs.
Speaking to fellow farmers recently, it seems that there are many cattle farmers out there who are choosing to ignore much of what our policymakers have been saying. They keep costs under control by minimizing or perhaps even eliminating the use of expensive fertilizers and imported feed – a decision that has certainly paid off this year.
Since all my finished cattle have been sold, I have of course been busy buying replacements. However, a very unusual trend seems to have developed in brick-and-mortar retail this autumn.
For as long as I can remember, any increase in beef prices has always been reflected, if not amplified, in the price of stock cattle. This appears to have changed, however, and despite this year’s significant increase in beef cattle prices, camp cattle suitable for next summer’s weeding appear to be struggling to match last fall’s prices.
Of course, you won’t complain too much about this when buying replacement parts, but it raises some very serious questions as to why this major market shift is occurring.
Is the current increase in input costs combined with the historically low incomes in the beef sector finally forcing beef farmers to rethink their housing systems?
It seems that many cattle breeders have already made alternative arrangements for their farms and are no longer seen ringside in our markets. Research into farm income shows that for decades Irish governments and our many farming organizations have ignored cattle farming in Ireland.
Year after year they shamelessly presided over a situation where incomes in the beef sector have been so severely reduced that beef farming in Ireland is now little more than a part-time occupation for farmers willing to get involved.
Populist statements by politicians about the importance of saving rural Ireland ring very hollow as the removal of these cattle ranches from our rural landscape continues unabated.
I just don’t know what the future holds for cattle breeding. However, given Ireland’s enviable record of producing high quality grass-fed beef, the rapidly growing trend of fattening cattle on large intensive fattening farms appears to be a highly undesirable and damaging development.
Unfortunately, there seems to be little appetite for adopting “visionary” proactive measures to avoid avoidable situations like these. Village Pump-inspired crisis management processes are, it seems, still the order of the day.
John Heney farms in Kilfeackle, Co. Tipperary
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/beef/beef-advice/john-heney-are-beef-farmers-at-last-being-forced-to-rethink-their-farming-systems-42118163.html John Heney: Are cattle breeders finally being forced to rethink their housing systems?
