The decline of the bovine herd is occurring across Europe and resulting in record beef prices as supply struggles to keep up with demand. The rising prices are starting to impact a little on consumers too, as supermarkets have recently started to pass beef price rises onto consumers. I have a feeling we’ll be peaking soon, as there is only so much someone will pay before they have to consider a different option. 

That has played out in the cattle trade all spring. Farmers who sold cattle in October and November with the intention to restock in spring had a rude awakening, as prices rose at astonishing rates from January onwards. The 2022- and 2023-born stock they sold at the end of 2024 were barely covering the prices of the year-old cattle they were trying to buy a few months later. Mart managers all mentioned how they saw people drop down a level or two from what they previously bought in order to stock their farms. Some are choosing to step away now with the hope of getting something later on. They are selling silage now but still need a certain stocking level in order to access their main EU farm payment.

Other farmers ended up looking at calves as an option when they never did before. They require a different skillset than older stock so, for some, it may be a harsh lesson for one spring only. Prices in the calf rings sky-rocketed too. Prices didn’t just double for some of them, it tripled and quadrupled in some cases; taking off right through late April and May when they would usually go down. An expensive calf used to be classed as anything over €300. I’ve seen opening bids of €600 on month-old calves in recent weeks. A month to six-week-old Angus or Hereford calf weighing around 70kg, basically a close to but not quite weaned calf, has been selling for between €500 and €700 and even more over the last month. The home market is one driver but the shortage of cattle in Europe is another. 

The cattle herd decline is not just confined to this corner of the world either, as the American herd is at its lowest population since the 1950s. While policy, with a focus on reducing production, is a factor in the decline in Europe, I think the challenge of generational renewal is a worldwide issue for food production.

I’m biased, in that it’s a job that I enjoy, but it has no shortage of challenges, many of which are uncontrollable. All can be going smoothly and then a disease outbreak or changeable weather can come along and ruin the best-laid plans. There’s a big time demand too and that doesn’t always suit people. 

Think back to Covid times. Garden centres were restricted early on but the seed stands in supermarkets were emptied as people gave growing their own food a try. Those same seed packets aren’t cleared out to the same extent anymore. The reality of time commitments and how hard it can be to grow food probably hit home for many. 

Regardless of the type of production system, I think we need to do more to get people involved in food production. The global systems we’ve come to rely on in recent decades are subject to more disruptions for the foreseeable future so making more people aware of what is involved is incredibly important. 

On the home farm

For the first time I can remember on this farm there was a gap between the last cow calving and the beginning of the breeding season. It’s been a target for a long time but reality often gets in the way and, while I’ve got close on a few occasions, this May it was finally achieved.

Last year, the group that accompanied the bull to Ballinascarthy contained calves that were much younger than the ones that were there already. To avoid too much bullying of the young calves they were kept separate and bred once he was finished with the main group. As a result, those half dozen cows were the last few to calf at the end of April and into the middle of May. While it was only a week or 10 days, I was glad of the mini-break and I hope to widen that a bit more for 2026.

Breeding got underway around May 20, so I expect late February and early March to be busy. Preparations for winter are well advanced with a good proportion of silage in and a share of the yards washed. The plan, once the first few weeks of breeding is passed, is to try and take it easy for a few weeks and enjoy the West Cork summer.

Four students from Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty are presently finalists in the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition. Lucy Kirby, Ciara O’Driscoll, Ellen O’Neill and Niamh O’Sullivan, with the guidance of their teacher Mary O’Riordan, give a run down to Tommy Moyles on what is involved in the competition and what they’ve been up to.

What does the Angus schools competition involve? Why did you decide to do it? 

The Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition aims to promote the Certified Irish Angus Brand while educating students about the care and attention required to produce quality beef for consumers. It is run with partners ABP and Kepak. 

Our school has a tradition of entering the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition and was the first winner of the competition. Past groups shared their experiences with us and really inspired us to enter the competition. We all have a huge interest in farming and all come from dairy farming backgrounds. We were aware of the Angus breed from our farming experience and knew that they were a traditional beef cattle breed that produces beef of the highest quality. We wanted to enter the competition to be given the opportunity to promote the Irish Angus breed to both the farmer and the consumer. We thought it would allow us to broaden our knowledge of possible careers in the agricultural industry and develop our teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills.

As well as rearing the cattle, what else have you been up to as part of the competition?

We designed a mascot to promote the Certified Irish Angus Brand. This mascot is named Éire, the Angus, and is an educational tool. It makes a strong first impression, grabs attention, and is memorable. We use it to highlight eight important traits of Certified Angus Beef products. The grass that Éire is standing on highlights that Angus cattle have a grass-based diet, a plentiful food source that reduces their environmental impact. Éire’s black hair is a key recognisable feature of the Angus breed. We also use it to highlight the fact that the meat is flavoursome and tender. 

In order to promote the Certified Irish Angus Brand to our school community we had a naming competition for the calves; we brought them to school for our Trade Fair Showcase and have also had a cook-off and a beef tasting session.

Over the course of the last twelve months, we have taken advantage of many opportunities to interact with farmers and highlight how the use of DBI for sire selection can generate better CBV calves. We created a breeding checklist for dairy farmers and buying checklists for beef farmers and we showcased these at the Skibbereen Fat Stock Show and Sale. We have attended many farm walks  and events including the Carbery Farmer Welfare Conference and Bandon Co-op Dairy Beef Integration Project.

We recently organised a gala dinner ‘A Taste of Certified Irish Angus’ in Fernhill House Hotel. This event had a dual purpose; to raise awareness of the Certified Irish Angus Brand and to raise funds for Cancer Connect, a charity that co-ordinates transport to Cork hospitals for cancer patients, and we were delighted to raise over €2000. There were over 150 people in attendance. Guest speakers on the night linking with our project aims included yourself, John Appelbe, Diarmuid Kelleher of ABP and Brendan Scully and Bandon Co-Op. 

You recently were on a trip with the other teams involved. Where did you go and what were the stand out things learned?

On March 24-28, we went on a study trip with the four other finalist groups in the competition. This study trip allowed us to explore every stage of the agri-food supply chain. It began in Dublin, where we gained valuable insights at Tesco Ireland Headquarters, gaining an understanding of retail and consumer trends; Bord Bia where we learned about food branding and global positioning; and Airfied Estate, where we saw sustainable farming in action. The following day we went to Hilton Foods where we witnessed beef processing at scale; Lismullin Cookery School where we had a steak challenge and learned how to cook the ‘perfect’ steak; and in Teagasc Grange we got a glimpse of research and genetics up close particularly in relation to the Dairy Beef sector. 

The next step of the trip was Brussels, where we presented our project in the European Parliament to MEP’s Billy Kelleher and Barry Cowen. We also met with Noel Banville of IFA which deepened our understanding of agri-politics. 

Was there anything in particular that surprised you as part of this? 

The whole study trip really broadened our understanding of the agricultural industry and opened our eyes to future careers in the agri-food industry. From our trip, our knowledge of the farm to fork process in the food industry was expanded. It further developed our knowledge and allowed us to greatly appreciate the dedication from the farmers, as well as the expert processing plants and packaging companies. 

Hilton Foods really inspired us and gave us a great awareness of all that’s involved in their company. For example, we learned that it takes 32 months for a steak to be stocked on a shelf, by the time the animal has been raised and slaughtered, and the meat has been matured and packaged. This further increased our knowledge, as we had a visit to ABP Bandon prior to the study trip, and we are hoping to go for a visit to Kepak Watergrasshill, another one of Certified Irish Anguses processing partners. 

It’s been a busy month here, as good weather meant that cattle could get back out to grass, with calving getting underway and progressing nicely. There are always a few things that will keep you on your toes though. I spotted one calf drawing hard one day, so the vet was called; hopefully the issue has been nipped in the bud. 

The oldest cow in the herd had twin bulls the weekend before last. There’s always a few sets every year and, in some ways, I’d rather not see them. They’re a bonus when they go right but create work if something goes wrong, or take a lot out of a cow and she can end up slipping in calving date in the two years after having them. 

This particular set seemed ok. One was sucking while the other took a bit longer to get up, so I gave him powdered colostrum as insurance. The fact they were bulls was a welcome boost to bull calf numbers because the ratio was firmly in favour of heifers so far. Put it this way, if I was a dairy farmer using sexed semen to get heifers, I’d be delighted with the results. It’s only a small complaint, as once they’re healthy, that’s the main thing. Calving is two thirds of the way now, so there’s still hope the numbers will balance out.

They went out to grass last week and all was going well. Then I got a reminder of how ruthless nature can be. For shelter purposes, I gave the cows a run of two fields but moved them on Sunday morning. I was finishing up the jobs when I spotted one calf left behind so ended up escorting back to the main group. He was lowing for the cow and that triggered the other cows but not his own mother who kept her head down grazing. That was unusual. He finally spotted her but the cow remained uninterested; when he made three attempts to suck, he was kicked off each time.

I’ve seen this before. This cow knew her best chances of survival were to just rear one calf, so she abandoned the other twin. His hunger meant getting him in wasn’t an issue and a bottle of milk with a teat on it meant he followed me the entire way to the shed, thereby beginning a bucket rearing enterprise.

It was a small blip in what has been one of the better month’s of March that I can remember. Cool and dry, it made working in it a pleasure. Even when the bad weather came, it was in small doses, and for the first time I can recall, heading into the last week of the month, there wasn’t a calf in the shed in March.  

March’s weather was a major plus and, with an odd exception, the cow and calf pairs went out to grass within 24 or 48 hours after calving. The strong northerly and easterly winds of the weekend before last made the working side of the yard bitterly cold last week. If there were positives, it was that it dried up the heavy rain quickly, and also cows and calves were easy to locate, as they knew where the shelter was. Some of the older cows were let out hours after calving. The sun was shining and there was plenty shelter, so out they went. 

The heifers wrapped up calving around March 24,  and for the most part, they calved within three weeks. Most managed on their own and, save for one calf lost, due to a leg being down, there was very little intervention.

They remain separate at grass from the older cows and, like last year, they will remain at home for their first summer rearing calves. 

 With heifers out of the way, there’s a clear run at the cows for now, and while they’re taking a mini-break, five days with no new calf, they’re making up for it now and through the first week of April. 

Outside of finishing cattle, the only ones left in the shed are the cows due to calf, the breeding bulls and a few smaller heifers that won’t be bred. They are in the young stock yard and will be brought down home and left graze on the cow block instead. Convenience meant they were left inside until they’re transported down home. There’s grass for now where they are but it’s easier to separate them from the main group this way rather than try and round them all up at short notice. It’s a small insurance against slow regrowth in grass if conditions remain cool. 

As we move further into spring, most farmers will have a good handle on the area they will be farming for the year ahead. Most of the new land that comes up for lease tends to appear on the market in the first quarter of the year but, in recent years, since the advent of tax incentives to encourage long term leasing, less new land has come on the leasing market. With so much ground tied into leases ranging from five to 15 and even 20 years in some cases, when new ground becomes available, it is in increased demand. Tommy Moyles speaks to auctioneers around West Cork to get the lowdown on the land market.

Where the final price ends up at tends to depend on location, land type, level of farming activity on the land’s boundaries and the type of enterprise. For example, if land comes up for lease in a very active dairy area and it is convenient for a neighbouring farmer to walk cows to, then it is likely to veer towards the upper end of the rates that are available. 

The increased prominence of the nitrate’s derogation is a major influencer on the land rental market in West Cork. Dairy farmers in particular have required more land to carry the same number of stock they had prior to when changes in stocking rates came into being. 

In the main dairy areas especially, this has resulted in land rental rates increasing. Some land owners who would have reared stores or calves, are now looking at how lucrative it is to rent out their land instead. This is more notable but not confined to farms under 40 acres. 

Dunmanway-based auctioneer, Daniel Lehane said: “If it’s good grassland that is versatile and you can get a mower into it and cut silage, it is €300/ac to €400/ac for good ground that can be mowed for silage. What we’re noticing this year is a lot more beef farmers that are active enquiring for land or taking it. Dairy farmers were always active but beef price is up and they are very active this year. It’s great to see them being rewarded.

More marginal ground suitable only for grazing or rough grazing is below that level and there is less and less demand for that, especially the rougher ground.”

Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde Property Services Clonakilty reported similar. 

“We’re seeing a lot of ground go for €300/ac to €450/ac depending on where it is and who is around it. You’d expect higher in a dairy area if there were a few interested. The higher money tends to be for the longer leases too and an odd few will go to €500/ac but tend to be when there is a good yard, modern milking facilities, slurry storage and a long-term lease.”

Raymond O’Neill of Sherry Fitzgerald O’Neill who have offices in Bantry, Clonakilty and Skibbereen reported a similar trend. 

“There’s not much new ground coming on the market and the general run we’re seeing is €300/ac to €400/ac being paid for grass ground where you can get silage off it. There’s less on ground that wouldn’t be as good and if there is a good yard there could be a bit more paid too.”

The demand for that good ground, especially non-residential blocks, is from farmers looking to use an outside farm for rearing young stock and supplying silage. It’s not solely in demand from dairy farmers either.

In the western part of the region, Raymond O’Neill said: “We’d see a share of farmers from the Beara peninsula who would be on the lookout for land too and they would travel a bit to secure silage ground or a bigger grazing block.” 

He also has a new piece of ground coming on thew market for a short lease.

“We have a new let on the market now consisting of 30ac of tillage ground in Barryroe for a one year let. It’s part in beet and the rest was growing grain. That will be a good test for the market.”

Not all leases are hitting those prices and in particular where neighbours are involved or if there is land rented with a family connection, prices tend to be that bit under market value.

Daniel Lehane said: “We’re still seeing leases under that level, in particular where there is a family connection or the relationship is good between the tenant and the land owner or where neighbours are involved. When these are being renewed, they might go up a small bit in price but where both parties are familiar with each other, they can view that as being more important than getting a bit more for the ground.”

“My advice to any tenant is to look after the place, keep it well-fenced and mind it.”

He added, “We’re often seeing it that where the relationship between tenant and landlord is good, those leases are being renewed. There’s peace of mind for both parties. A farmer leasing the land can plan ahead for their business for the term of the lease whether that is five, seven, 10 or more years. It also gives certainty to the land owner who knows they are guaranteed income for that time and also know their holding will be looked after well.”

Echoing a similar sentiment, Andy Donoghue said: “You’d also have a number of leases that would be completed off market where a neighbour who is stepping back from farming would have someone in mind that they’d like to see farming their land. Land owners are becoming much more conscious of who is renting their land and want someone to look after it.” 

Renewals have been a major part of all three auctioneers’ businesses on land rentals but Daniel Lehane also has noted an increase in leases where a farmer has formed a company.

“What we’re doing a lot of now are leases where a company is leasing the land. For example, where a farming family come together to form a limited company, even though as individuals they own the land, because they are a company, they have to have a lease drawn up for it, so we’re seeing more of that now.”

With 2024 in the rearview mirror, Tommy Moyles looks back at how the year was from a farming perspective.

When it came to weather, up until August; 2024 was one of the most challenging years I can recall. There have been washout years, droughts and blizzards in the past, but I think they were easier to manage than the cold that impacted grass growth right up until the autumn. Soil was either saturated or cold for much of that time. There was rain until the end of April, field work was held up and yard work seemed to pile up, as it was difficult to get stock out. Once that eased a bit, we had piercing easterly and northerly winds on a much more regular basis.

With no control over the weather, I know farmers would like some semblance of normality to it. Lower grass growth in summer due to the cold wasn’t something any grass farmer was used to. Silage ground had to be grazed instead of cut, as growth didn’t keep pace with how it normally should be; and that was a worry as we moved into July, with silage made in May being fed on some farms to plug the gap.

The wet spring and colder-than-usual summer increased workloads and costs on farms. Milk suppliers to Carbery were thankful that the board recognised the hardships of spring with a 5c/l payment. That was welcomed at a time when milk price was lower than it ended up being later on in the year.

Soil temperatures and grass growth picked up in the autumn and a mild settled backend to the year proved to be a pressure release valve. It enabled farmers to keep stock out longer, and silage made in later September eased concerns over fodder stocks in some yards.

Of the bigger ticket uncontrollable, weather is the one us farmers deal with on a daily basis. You can bury your head in the sand a little more when it comes to markets and policy but not with rain or sunshine. It has a major influence on farmer mood. So too do the trends of markets

The markets are at the mercy of weather, policy, with geopolitical issues are being felt more in recent years. Most notable of these was the input cost spikes due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While that saw input prices reach unprecedented levels, it was tempered by some outputs, most notably milk.

Milk price plummeted in early 2023 and farmers were still dealing with the shock of that this time last year. Fortunately, as the year pressed on, demand improved and Teagasc are forecasting the annual average Irish milk price for 2025 will be up about five per cent compared to 2024 level with production expected to increase by four per cent. After dipping well below 40c/l in 2023, they expect the average prices paid by co-ops for milk to be on the low 50c/l mark for the year.

The increase in production compared to last year will be welcomed by processors too. They have invested a lot in production capacity and after national milk supply fell by four per cent in 2023 and was down nine per cent heading into June 2024 there was a lot of concern and in some cases, there were redundancies. Fortunately, weather improved and global demand for butter drove milk prices on, resulting in most processors getting within two to three per cent of their 2023 supply levels by the end of 2024.

Demand for protein was strong in Europe and on its peripheries too and that helped drive prices, not just for dairy, but beef and sheep meat too. That demand and a reduced supply in both dry stock sectors mean we are seeing very high prices being paid in both and, for now at least, the market seems to be in the farmer’s favour.

If you want a good bellwether of where trade is, traditionally prices slump as the autumn progresses, as cattle numbers from grass increase, but in 2024 that never occurred. Factories were very eager for stock and paid well for it in the lead up to Christmas and continued to do so as the year got underway.

There are two factors at play in the reduced supply. One is of long-term concern and that is the decreasing breeding herds in both cattle and sheep: Generational renewal at farm level is part of the issue here. The second and more immediate issue is that 2024 was a year that saw the live exports of stock at the highest they’ve been at for a long time. 

As we know from experience it doesn’t take much to impact markets and disease would be among the immediate concerns, especially since Foot and Mouth disease was detected in a herd of water buffalo in Germany. Nobody wants a repeat of 2001 when it last reached these shores.

Keeping that and Bluetongue out of the country will be key to maintaining those markets. Bluetongue is an insect-borne viral disease to which all species of ruminants are susceptible. While it does not affect humans, it is present in the UK and on the continent and, in part, has helped create demand for Irish stock. If it emerges here, it will be a spanner in the works in terms of live exports and a major effort has been put in place to avoid that including restrictions on imports of livestock to Ireland.

An unexpected event, be it related to disease, politics or weather, is likely to provide the biggest dampener, but for now at least it’s nice to be able to enjoy a bit of positivity in farming circles.

As I mention dampeners, the issue of the nitrates derogation hasn’t gone away and at the end of this year we’ll know if a new four-year Nitrates Action Plan will be in place or not. Speaking at an IFA meeting in Clonakilty in late November, IFA environment committee chairman, John Murphy said that’s as much certainty in terms of tenure that we can expect from it. 

There has been a concerted effort to implement measures to improve water quality by farmers and, to surmise him, managing water quality is going to be a constant for farmers, which will be a major determinant in the future of the nitrates derogation. As long as there is constant improvements in water quality, there’s a good chance of its future.

I’ve heard that the question ‘where is the maize?’ was asked by a good few commission officials on a previous visit to West Cork in 2022. That summed up the lack of understanding of the predominantly grass-based system that is in place in Ireland. It’s a type of oversight I’d expect, as everyone is familiar with their own surroundings.

Our largely grass-based model is rarely seen in Continental European milk production so expect more visits to see how the Irish system works.

If improvements continue, I don’t see it disappearing, but I wouldn’t be making long term plans based on a stocking rate of over 220kg N/ha either. I do however think there will be a concerted effort from the European Commission to bring more politicians and officials to Ireland to make a case for retaining our milk production system

West Cork farmers gear up for calving season

Much of West Cork escaped the snow and ice that hit in early January so while most marts were delayed by about a week, almost everything else proceeded as normal.

North Cork got snowfall that was reminiscent of the beast from the east in March 2018. Power was knocked out for the best part of a week and that snow event, which saw heavier-than-expected snow right across a band of the country, from Wicklow to north Kerry, may result in a fine tuning of our weather warning system.

The whole county system isn’t really fit for purpose in some of those scenarios. That was very evident earlier this month. Driving up to the yard near Ardfield village, I could see snow on Carrigfadda and the mountain by Dunmanway but the entire length of west Cork appeared snow free.

West Cork farmers will be hoping that this is the extremely cold weather out of the way for now, with yards across the region becoming a hive of activity over the next few weeks, as calving gets underway. It’s never long coming around, but from now through to the end of March, it will be all go, as the busiest period of the year gets underway.

Teagasc and Animal Health Ireland (AHI) have been running a number of CalfCare on farm events throughout January and two of these take place in West Cork.

Even for farmers who think they know it all, they’re a useful refresher on calf rearing and the do’s and don’ts. These kinds of events are also a good opportunity to get out and meet other farmers before things get too busy.

It almost took until the final quarter of the year for the weather to come good and that was welcomed by farmers across the country. It took serious pressure off and allowed field work to be complete for tillage farmers and allowed livestock farmers graze later than usual to make up for a challenging 12 months. Those who had eaten into fodder reserves in July and early August, as grass wasn’t growing, had an opportunity to replenish their silage stocks; and cattle didn’t have to be housed as early as last year either. It’s unclear as yet if the good weather was balancing out the bad spring or if we were just being prepared for another bad spring.

Weather and soil

David Wall, soil scientist with Teagasc, confirmed what many farmers assumed when giving a presentation at The Irish Farmers Journal’s ‘Dairy Day’ in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on November 21. Presenting data with the rainfall levels at Teagasc’s Johnstown Castle site in Co Wexford, he said there were two unusual phenomena in weather that farmers had to deal with this year. For the first half of the year, until early June, the land was saturated due to higher than usual rainfall. That was in a free draining soil so imagine that scenario on some of the more challenging soils in West Cork. The second phenomenon was that within days there were soils close to a drought scenario. That period extended from the June 10 to the end of August. His figures confirmed what many farmers felt. The continuous rain followed by cold easterly and northerly winds impacted grass growth nationally. Most farmers have grown about two tonne less dry matter per hectare than the annual average.

Weather finally got some air of normality from late August and that lasted right up until around November 20, before the cold snap; and Storm Bert arrived to remind us it is winter. That lifted the overall mood in farming and was to be welcomed. It also helped that milk price began rising around a similar time, so while the nitrates derogation remains firmly to the forefront of West Cork’s dairy farmers, there’s a more positive vibe around farming compared to this time twelve months ago. Beef price has been good for much of the year too and as those are the two main prices impacting farmers in West Cork, it should be a nice boost for the overall economy of the region.

General Election

The General Election will be concluded by the time you’re reading this and the promises made during it will fade away. While I’ve never had any political affiliation, I’m an interested observer in politics but I do tend to switch out when it comes to promises because invariably farmers and all voters are told what they want to hear and the reality of putting them into action isn’t always possible. This election is interesting from a farming perspective because since the foundation of both parties, farmers have been able to play Fine Gael and Fianna Fail against each other depending on who was in government and who was in opposition. The confidence and supply arrangement from 2016 to 2020 was an unofficial coalition of the two but the last number of years have seen the two serve at cabinet together and some farmers I’ve spoken to are a little bit betwixt and between on what to do now. It’s been interesting to watch to say the least. 

TB

The spectre of TB still hangs over West Cork at present with a number of major outbreaks across the region. Nationally, the number of reactors exceeded 40,000 by the end of October. This is one of the highest years on record. At the end of September, it was higher than for the entire of 2023. In West Cork alone there’s close to 5,000 reactors and this is causing extra hardship on farms. Herd incidence nationally stood at 5.62 per cent at the end of September, a rise of almost one per cent over the year. It’s worse in these parts, in Cork south it has risen from seven per cent to 8.59 per cent in herd incidence.

In response to a question from the Irish Farmers Journal earlier this year, the Department of Agriculture said that in area of major infrastructure works such as roads, wind farms or in places where forestry clear fell took place, there was an increased risk of TB within a 1km radius due to wildlife disturbance.   

In a recent meeting in Mitchelstown earlier in October a senior department vet said that while wildlife may be how TB enters a herd, there is a greater spread within species of the disease rather than between species.

At home

At home everything with the exception of the two stock bulls and a group of older cows are housed. Those cows are grazing silage ground that is too difficult to put cows with young calves on in spring and they should be finished grazing by mid-December. Usually by the end of November, I’d be well into a weekly yard routine but as stock has been out later, I haven’t found my rhythm yet. There’s another bit of toing and froing between pens before things settle down. The last of the weaning didn’t start until the end of the month so I haven’t the decisions around who goes in what pen signed off properly yet. 

I’m trying a few small changes this winter to ease the workload a bit further, so hopefully there’ll be a bit more downtime this winter. It’s funny how you can get into a routine and even though there could be an easier way to do it, you don’t change until you’re under time pressure or you’re incapacitated for some reason. One way I counter that change is to just keep young stock in one yard for the winter. Previously, finishing cattle would have been housed at that yard and, as it’s further from home, it meant going there twice every day. This year, I kept that yard empty for as long as possible; it meant silage stocks were full there, slurry tanks were empty and the workload was confined to one yard. I have no idea why I did that for so long other than it was the annual routine and I was accustomed to it. I’ll need to stand back now and see where else I can make life a bit easier around the yard.

Publishing in December, the handbook is inspired by the regular requests received at Farming For Nature from people wanting to learn how best to manage their land, big or small, in a way that enhances habitats, increases wildlife, harnesses natural processes, protects profits, and safeguards the natural environment and rural communities for future generations.

West Cork native, Brigid Barry, who has been managing the project based in Kinvarra, Co Galway since it came into being, explains to Tommy Moyles how the book came about. 

“Every year we find exemplary farmers throughout Ireland and they become our Farming for Nature ambassadors. Over the last six year they have been sharing their tips on how they improved or worked with nature on their farms and, while the information could be found on our website, we thought there was a digital overload. We felt we could distill it down to have the information condensed and available in one place and that’s where the idea of the book came about.” 

A serious undertaking, research for the book started two years ago.

““Work began two years ago because we wanted to make sure all the tips we included were backed up by science,” explains Brigid. “Whether you’re a farmer with a lot of ryegrass who is looking to make small changes to become more climate resilient or someone who wants to devote a larger portion of their land to nature, this publication will give you some pointers on how to achieve your goal.”

“It’s not just for farmers either,” she adds.

“It’s for anyone who has a bit a land. There’s something relevant to anyone, whether they have 1,500 acres, 10 acres, or even just a small bit of land near their house. It applies to horticulturalists and homesteaders too. There’s also one chapter that deals with farm buildings and what you can do for nature in them and around the yard. As well as that there is a chapter on gardens. When we were putting it together, we decided to start with the topics that would be relevant with the biggest number of farmers so the first chapter is on soil and we move on from there. Grasslands, tillage/arable are covered and there’s chapters on wetlands, woodlands and uplands too.”

“The book clearly lays out why you should farm for nature.’ Brigid explains “Why the farmer should farm for nature and how that can benefit the profitability of the farm. After the winter we had last year, farmers have to look at this and adapt to it: By putting in different species into your grassland and fencing off around waterways and creating riparian zones or growing thick hedgerows that will soak up excess nutrients. Simple measures like these will save your farm in the long term and this book helps distil down how to implement them.  

“We’re looking at profitability too, such as what practices can help a farmer reduce their purchased inputs; through this book, we’re giving them the tips to explore this. Those tips come from farmers who have done so already. The tips tell you exactly what you should do and how you can make the existing assets like soil water and grass work for you. If people want to build up soil fertility more and more, or allow pollinator strips develop and see the benefits from it, then this book allows people to explore that.”

A contractor doing the hedge cutting on farms may be used to cutting hedges back tight and this can set things back on farms where the farmer might prefer to leave the hedge go wilder. There are even tips on how to deal with that situation included in the book.

“There is a section in the book on how to talk to my hedge cutter. That’s back on the farmer and there are times when they must remind their contractor or whoever is doing the hedge cutting, who is paying for the job, and how they want it done. It takes ten minutes.”

Farming for Nature is distributing the book themselves and, while it won’t be released until early December, early feedback has been positive. Before it headed to print in late November there were over 1,400 copies sold already. For anyone with an interest in improving nature around them, be it their farm, locality, or garden, this publication is a must buy. 

The ‘Farming for Nature Handbook’ is a 256-page book published with support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Lifes2Good. It is available on farmingfornature.ie

The week of sunshine around the ploughing has drifted into distant memory and you’d swear we have just skipped October and gone straight into November. Southeasterly wind storms tend to be the worst here and the one on the last weekend of September left every east-facing window with a spattering of greenery blown onto them, as the winds rattled the trees and hedges on the seaward side of the house. 

All groups of cattle were given the option of shelter on the Saturday evening ahead of the strong southeasterly gales that were expected and arrived during most of that Sunday. 

There are always a few weeks in the year where the farm kind of coasts along but that just never happened at any point this year, except maybe in early January when winter routine was well bedded in and calving was still a strong month away.  

The last bit of silage was made and slurry was cleared out before the weather broke again so now I’m setting myself up for the winter routine. I’m nearly in it already as some cattle were housed in August as the growth rate wasn’t there to match demand. Since then, it’s been a case of managing the end game of this year’s grazing. 

I never envisaged being comfortably into a yard routine at the end of September but that’s the year it has been. Cold temperatures kept a lid on grass growth no matter the clover content and fertiliser used. 

Cold wet winters, dry warm summers, wet mild summers – I’d like to think I’m prepared for those; but cold dry summers were not on my radar. It didn’t even feel like it was dry either. Heavy rain and mist felt constant but northern gales meant ground conditions held firm. Those winds also made things feel uncomfortable. In hindsight, it’s like we went from winter to autumn with the length of daylight being the main difference. Jackets, hoodies and hats got great mileage this year. That was something I hadn’t figured on happening before and will have to be factored into planning for future fodder supplies.

I’d rather have them kept them out but as grass growth wasn’t there that wasn’t an option. I’d have high clover content in the fields and fertiliser was used on silage ground but as ground temperatures were lower than usual across the summer the conditions for them to aid growth just wasn’t there. 

That’s been my experience of the grazing year so far. But that’s from the prism of my own farm. Within West Cork and right across the country, it’s been as challenging, but for different reasons.

Farmers in some of the heavier soils in south Munster have got on alright. They reported the same ineffectiveness of fertiliser but the harsh winds ensured ground remained firm so they had a good year. North in the province, I met a farmer from West Clare who said he never got into what he called the money fields this year. Those were the ones that he could graze in a dry year and allow him get extra fodder from the better land he had.

Into north Connacht, it’s been a washout, while a good chunk of the country from parts of north Tipperary into the south east, have had a dry cold summer with little rainfall. As a result, silage feeding has been standard practice since August at the very least. The relatively good two-week spell of weather in mid-September gave a bit of a reprieve and contractors across the country were flat out trying to get silage sorted while the last of the grain harvest was taking place. 

The TB testing lottery is on the cards for next week so the scanning of the cows won’t take place until after that. 

The shed at home will be fairly full for the week. After that, weaning will begin for whatever groups are convenient. It nearly makes more sense to keep the weanlings in and let the cows tidy up the grazing where they can. 

Numbers were reduced on the out farm ahead of testing and the cows with bull calves all arrived home along with a few younger cows or any in poor condition. 

They will be held in until after weaning and let out on selected paddocks. Given there isn’t much of a clover cover where they are, means I’ll have to direct them to the paddocks where it’s less plentiful here too. Fields with high clover content will be grazed by the stock that’s used to them.

I’d rather react now and reduce winter forage demand than hold cull stock longer into the winter.

The map of the yard and how many cattle can go in each of the different pens have been drawn out countless times. The bale count is being watched from the start and a bit of extra straw was sourced too. 

A small trick like trying to keep the weanlings on a straw bed, for as Iong as I can, should help stretch slurry storage further too, in the event the winter is tough. 

As ever there’ll be a few tweaks to the system for next year when it comes to the grazing and calving plans. Some of the changes forced on by weather this year proved useful and may not have happened except for the year being so bad. 

Any changes or investments made on the farm, centre around where I can reduce costs or the amount of labour involved, but no finer details can be decided upon until after next week. 

I hate wishing time away but after 14 months of hoping next week’s weather will be better, it seems that’s just what I’ve done. I’ve written this year off as a grazing season and I’ll just manage it out for the rest of the year. 

When it comes to stymied grass growing conditions, I think my preference is for a dry warm drought rather than continuous cold and damp. 

That’s among the chief learnings from my experiences on the farm this year. From March till the early days of September, I’ve been checking the weather forecast on the phone and almost every week: ’The following week looks dry and settled’ – but invariably it never played out that way. No sooner was the dry week on the horizon then the next glimpse at the phone would show rain or a north wind had taken its place. 

Anyone who had to find extra rainy day entertainment for children on school holidays over the summer were in a similar position, hoping for sunny days and the chance to get them outdoors.

Farming over the last 14 months has been similar; and the few warm days where the sun was on our backs saw the countryside burst into a hive of activity. The last Saturday in August was a case in point. Combine harvesters were making the most of the fine day to get grain cut and grain intakes in the area were busy spots. The combines didn’t have the roads and fields to themselves either. There was a lot of silage made in that window at the end of the month too.

 I’ve no doubt there have been tougher times faced on farms in West Cork over the decades but since the beginning of July last year, cold and rain seem to have been present more than I can remember. 

That’s been my experience on farm too. Two of the three blocks of ground are doing ok but the home ground never got going. It’s the driest ground I farm and more was asked of it this spring, as the other two were too wet to get stock out onto.

In hindsight, I think there was too much asked of it in spring and some paddocks had stock in them much more often than they usually would. That was the only thing that was done differently to other years in terms of management but as a result it never got a chance to get growing grass properly for the rest of the year. 

One way that stood out was I made much less silage on that land compared to any other year. I’ve never taken so little surplus bales off the grazing area at it. Most years, there’s eight paddocks on the grazing block and if they’re not all cut, seven of them are. 

Some years, we’ve managed to cut some of the other paddocks there for silage too but that was never going to happen this year. I only managed to get bales from two and that was along with the first cut and the rest ended up being topped instead over the last month. 

In order to give it a chance and try and build up covers for later, a decision was made to bring in some of the stock that were due for sale later in the year in mid-August instead. If heat and moisture come along together, grass will get motoring and we’ll be laughing, but if they don’t then at least I’ll be comfortable heading deeper into the autumn. 

Anyone who studied agricultural science for their leaving cert will be familiar with the grass growth curve. It climbs steadily through late April and June with a secondary block of growth in July and early August. I saw the grass growth curve for the year recently and this is the first year I can recall where it is more out of line than we’ve become accustomed to and that’s what’s making the year so difficult.

Fodder stocks are reaching a comfortable level in a good few, but not all; yards and hopefully the winter will give a chance to reset. There are many times over the last century when you could say farming in Ireland was at a crossroads. This time, it feels like it’s at a spaghetti junction. 

Some of the roads are progressing as normal, albeit with a few warning signs, others are dead ends, and some just go round in circles of varying diameters measured in years. It’s said regularly now that European food policy was responsible for the removal of trees and ditches in the 1970s and 1980s and now we’re being paid to put them back. 

There’s so many pressures on land now with housing and energy knocking a lot out of food production, so who knows if we’ll be asked to take them out again in future.

A long with Eamonn Tracey from Carlow, who was crowned supreme world ploughing champion in the conventional class, Jer Coakley was paraded through Clonakilty, along with the National Ploughing Association’s Anna May and Anna Marie McHugh, to celebrate the win. There was a huge turnout to greet them, which caught Jer off-guard. 

“I didn’t expect it at all, so it was a big surprise, and I’d like to thank all the people who turned out and those who helped along the way in the West Cork ploughing and national ploughing association.  There was a huge turnout there to welcome us back.”

“I was grateful for the help at home too because we were away for two weeks in Estonia. I was part of a 25-person group that travelled out from Ireland and we had a good bit of the two weeks to practice ahead of the event.

There were little differences in the soil, like there were no stones there, but the basics were the same.”

Married to Mary, the couple have two young children, two-and-a-half-year-old Maggie and six-month-old Jerry. Jer’s mother is also home to help, as is his brother Kieran, and together they run a dry stock and tillage farm near Clonakilty. They also run a contracting business, mainly baling silage and reseeding and a small bit of slurry, spraying and cutting grain. The show was kept going while Jer was away competing. 

Being in the contracting business, along with farming, means that Jer is all too familiar with how tricky a year it has been to get work done. 

“It was a very slow start and it’s slow to finish now,, but if we had a fine week at the start of September, we’d be fine. It was very hard to plan anything and we often had to try and do a couple of days work in one day.  You could only do the best you can and most farmers know that.

Jer won the reversible competition in his Ford tractor and a Kvernland plough, which were shipped out to Tartu, Estonia, for the event ,which took place from August 16-17.

He has been competing in ploughing at a national level since 2003 when he turned 16,  and with the exception of when the event was cancelled due to Covid 19, Jer has competed at the national ploughing championships every year since. His love of ploughing started at home.

“My father was at it, so we fell in after that. There was plenty of practice involved. It’s not something you’d do overnight

“I’m 22 years at it at this stage, so there’s a lifetime of learning gone into it and I’m still learning. Even though I’m at the top now, I can see my own mistakes every day.”

Since 2008, Jer has competed in the reversible ploughing class, winning multiple national titles since then. He also won the European championships in the same discipline on three occasions over the years, ploughing in Scotland, Switzerland and Denmark. He ploughed at the World Championships in Croatia in 2012.

Jer has a short break to enjoy his victory but  the defence of his world title begins all over again in a few weeks’ time at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois. 

“The competition here is nearly as tough as at the world championship to be honest,” he claims. “The guy who was second to me last year at the national finals won the world title the year before so we’re competing against the best here and that helps to keep the standard up.

Ireland have won the world title for the last three years in a row. The competition is so high here, you wouldn’t find it anywhere else in the world.”

I can’t recall as challenging a 12 months in farming as the past year, even looking back to the extremes in 2012 with a washout summer and accompanying fodder crisis into May 2013. Fast forward five years and it got more extreme. Beginning with hurricane Ophelia in October 2017, through the Beast from the East, the fodder crisis and the drought of summer 2018, it was another testing calendar, but even these extremes were intertwined with periods of normality. Both of those years were like modules from the university of experience that have come into play this year.

From 2012, the biggest lesson for me was not to go for bulky cuts of silage and not to wait for perfect weather to make it. The bale count went up but the dry matter digestibility (DMD) percentage plummeted and keeping condition on calved cows was tough. 

My second biggest lesson learned is to play what’s in front of you rather follow than a prescribed routine. There is no more blindly following the spring rotation grazing planner without factoring in the on-site conditions. 

If I recall correctly, that was when we stopped spreading fertiliser before the middle of March here too.  

My learnings from 2018 centred on dealing with dry spells and seeing whether feed could be grown along with grass rather than feeding silage at grass. As a result, plantain, chicory and red clover all entered the fray and paid their way when ground dried up again in 2022. That led to more of those plants being over-sown this spring but the cold conditions meant very little growing.

As tough as those years were, this year feels much more relentless. On dairy farms especially, July is when most of the annual bills are tidied up and cash can be built up for future use. That’s much harder to do this year, as more feed is being purchased and it’s harder to make silage as it’s cold.

It’s been like this since July last year when rain started, and it’s been compounded by cold weather since May. When it comes to farming fashion, I find practicality wins. Jeans are the go-to trouser choice accompanied by a t-shirt, hoodie and a jacket. Topped off with a beanie hat, it’s my main farming apparel as winter eases into spring from late February through to early April and daylight lengthens and conditions warm up.

That combination has been a regular farming fashion choice this summer, especially in the mornings. There were days in December when the jacket wasn’t needed but the same can’t be said of July. 

Most of the silage ground is away from the yard so that still means grass can be conserved without putting pressure on grazing, allowing silage stocks to be built up ahead of the winter. Regardless of that great uncontrollable, the weather, the show must go on. 

Speaking of uncontrollables, the reaction to the possibility of the Dutch joining the Belgians and French in purchasing cattle only from countries that have IBR status is going to be interesting. 

Except for the emergence of the Bluetongue virus in the Netherlands this year, this restriction could have come in sooner. 

The move by the country that has consistently purchased the largest number of Irish calves, to exclude countries that don’t have IBR free status, could force our hand in that regard.

Given the kickback to the inclusion of a small-scale IBR test in the suckler welfare scheme in 2023, it will be a hard sell. When it comes to eradication schemes, there’s a wariness among farmers and I think that was what drove the resistance to the IBR measure last year. Once bitten, twice shy, third time a fool, was probably the main feeling and it’s easy to see how that kickback came about.

The three-year BVD programme that began in 2013 (or 2012 for those who wanted to start early) rolls on. Casting a bigger shadow still is the TB eradication scheme.

In Mary E Daly’s book, ‘The First Department. A history of the Department of Agriculture’ it states that in November 1952 Cabinet approval was given to begin a pilot TB eradication scheme initially in Co Clare, but American ERP (European Recovery Program) funding wasn’t cleared until 1955. 

In autumn 1953, a separate pilot for Co Limerick was announced but a change of Government saw incoming minister James Dillon make some changes.  

Apparently following representations from the Irish Veterinary Medical Association, Limerick was removed as “the incidence of TB in the county was so high that it was feared farmers would be discouraged from participating.” Counties such as Donegal or Sligo where incidences were lower were suggested instead. As a result it was to include Clare, Sligo and the Bansha area in Co Tipperary which incorporated some of east Limerick.

A voluntary nationwide programme of TB testing began in 1954 and the rest as they say is history.

One step forward, any number of steps back, would be a good description of the farming year to date. Bad weather has been the main driver of the difficulties created at farm level as we experienced rainfall in excess of the Long-Term Average (LTA) annual rainfall for the region in 10 months.

The week of and after Storm Kathleen was a good summation of what the last nine months have felt like. Despite concern about it, the storm and the day after brought more wind than rain and did a lot of good drying out ground. That was a nice win. Waking up to pounding rain that kept going for most of that Monday was a bitter pill for many farmers. The sun made a brief appearance on Tuesday but from Wednesday through to early Saturday morning, the locality here was shrouded in fog, mist and rain. Visibility was poor and those few days were tough going. 

Thankfully by the start of the third week of April, conditions improved somewhat but the knock-on effects of the last few months will take a while to work though. 

It’s hard to believe it’s May. Save for the clocks changing it felt like November never left us. 

While there might be a bit more happening in fields and less in yards, we’re not fully out of the woods yet. It was the second half of May in 2013 and 2018 when there were fodder shortages before weather normalised. Hopefully that won’t be the case this year.

Controlled improvisation has been the order of the day on farm. Plans were made on a day by day or week by week basis depending on the farms ground conditions, fodder supply and slurry storage. As tiring as spring 2023 was in yards, 2024s variant has been even harder. 

Its impact can be seen in production levels too. To the end of March, milk yields were back anywhere from three to nine per cent on the corresponding time last year. Weather has been the big impact on that and for a number of reasons. Bad weather last spring saw a big number of farmers delay breeding slightly: This, coupled with poor conception rates as weather was unsettled in early May, meant that cows calved later. This was very evident at calf marts throughout the country. Many of them reported that numbers were running up to two weeks behind where they usually would have been. That played out right through March and into the April sales with the peak number of calf sales coming much later. Prices for calves have been running along similar lines to most years but what has been noticeable is a higher proportion of calves from beef sires selling for lower prices than most people were accustomed to. 

Despite the weather, trade in marts for older cattle has been holding very well and that has been to the relief of many livestock farmers. 

That rain has had an impact right across the sector. As difficult as it has been for livestock farmers, anyone looking to get grain crops or vegetables into the ground has had it even tougher. They got little to no chance to get in to do field work in the first 15 weeks of the year. How that plays out over the remainder of the year will be worth watching. With planting delays for veg in particular, there could be a rise in prices as yields will be back. There are similar concerns with grain and possibly even more with straw. Last year’s difficult harvest made straw a valuable commodity this past winter and with more of it needed for bedding as the spring went on it could be in short supply if the summer doesn’t play ball. Fortunately, the weather picked up towards the end of the month and fields became a hive of activity as more livestock got out and farmers and contractors were finally able to make a start at field work. There was even some silage cut. 

It’s going to be a while longer before farmers can relax a bit in 2024. 

At home, aside from those that got out in March, it wasn’t until the third week of April before any extra cows and calves got out to grass over the last month. That’s never happened before, as usually they would be going out as soon as conditions allowed, but this year was a balancing act.

A bunch of first-calvers and their calves were out for a fortnight but had to be housed before St Patrick’s day. Heading into the last week of April, they were still inside. They’ll be kept there until grass builds up a little bit more. 

The reason they came in, is that I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the shed and end up with a pneumonia or scour outbreak. The heifers stayed in and older cows were put out until I had two manageable groups on the home farm and they have been on a circuit around the paddocks at home just to keep ticking over before they go to the out-farm.

Last year it was the last days of March when we got cattle to Ballinascarthy, this year it’s almost a whole month later. As busy as the spring was, it’s amazing how it can all come to a stop so fast too. A few dry days meant that the sheds could finally be emptied and yard work wound down for a bit. It’s a refreshing change.