Beef plan

Well on 1 hand, best case scenario, we need more stock to make same profit, but on the other, the higher powers telling us to cut back. And the meantime more dairystock coming on stream..where s the solution?
 
Well on 1 hand, best case scenario, we need more stock to make same profit, but on the other, the higher powers telling us to cut back. And the meantime more dairystock coming on stream..where s the solution?

And on the other hand we seem to have a department which puts every obstacle possible in the way to live exporters.

And I don't think I'd be betting the ranch on that approach either given more vocal opponents to it.
 
Good for you. I have no problem losing money on an animal, as long as the average return across a bunch leaves a healthy margin. Continental or dairy bred, I'm not confident that this is possible at 3.50/kg.

Very true...but if ur buying for example at 2e lw per kg and factories are say e4 if you then buy at e1.50 lw and factories are. 3.50 it's the same thing and this is probably wats going to happen but if u give e2 lw and it quickly drops to 3.5e ur in serious trouble..
if beef comes down to e3 in the factory in teory cattle should fall also but the sucker cow will still cost the same money with there weanlings now back 300e or more it will break them
 
We finish a few hundred, mainly continentals every year and I do sums on each and every one of them if you must know. The fact is when you're competing ringside with someone who doesn't care about making money, QPS and QAS become irrelevant as they are swallowed up by the inflated purchase price.

I agree with you but also must point out that the same applies at the opposite end of the spectrum when lads are selling weanlings. There is a certain % of lads who don't care what price they get. They are just keeping cows to draw down premiums. They don't need to make a profit. It doesn't bother them that they bring average prices down- even though they can bring them home, they don't.

I have said it already and I don't like to should like a broken record, but the end solution to this whole beef crisis can only be a reduction in suckler numbers. It can't be coupled with an increase in dairy. They can't play the environmental card against suckler cows and ignore the environmental impact of intensive dairy cows.

Suckler farmers shouldn't be pitched against beef finishers in order for someone to make a profit. The problem is at the other end in processing and retail. Both suckler farmers and beef finishers are clasping at the shreds of straws.

While its hard to accept, we need a reduction in people farming who are only doing so in order to get premiums. I reckon that 50% of the farmers within 5 miles of me would not be farming if they weren't getting subsidies for keeping the absolute minimum amount of animals required in order to draw down the subsidies. They are paying people based on what they did 20 years ago and they only have to go through the motions in order to draw down the money.

This isn't farming! It's political farming in order to secure votes. It doesn't do anything for anyone that actually wants to farm and develop their holding.
 
The concept of suckler farming is total madness when you think about it. To keep a cow weighing weighing maybe 700kg for a whole year just to get a calf from her couldn’t make sense. The stocking rate alone of most suckler farmers means that they could never ever make the kind of money they would need to be a very profitable business

The suckler herd will be cut, and probably by the 500k cows that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the losses which will get bigger and bigger as prices fall will see to that

Not that there is much money at any beef system but sucklers is defiantly the most inefficient
 
The concept of suckler farming is total madness when you think about it. To keep a cow weighing weighing maybe 700kg for a whole year just to get a calf from her couldn’t make sense. The stocking rate alone of most suckler farmers means that they could never ever make the kind of money they would need to be a very profitable business

The suckler herd will be cut, and probably by the 500k cows that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the losses which will get bigger and bigger as prices fall will see to that

Not that there is much money at any beef system but sucklers is defiantly the most inefficient

While a lot of this statement is correct, it is tailored towards suckler farms on good land. Suckler farming has its place on marginal land which can only carry low stocking rates - that's how it was always done. Traditionally lads came to the fairs in these parts to buy young cattle for fattening. They were sent by train to meath, kildare and Dublin where very few suckler cows were kept because the was more feseable and financial rewarding to fatten cattle there.

There's a place for all types of farming in this country. The problem that I see is that if we put all our eggs into one basket such as dairy, then when that goes through a hard time, it will wipe out the rural economy completely.
 
Well if the future is dairyoffspring..at least make them breed more beef sires instead of teagasc currently asking them politely...they have to accept the irish market is flooded with poor quality. then the ones of us that survive in beef ( including processors ) will have a better qualtiy product to sell which will open more doors.
 
The net feed efficiency of dairy stock can be up to half that of the best suckler cattle. That does not lend itself to making a living/profit. Discuss
What proof have you for this ,if it costs €600 to produce this calf (annual cost to keep sucker cow )you are all ready 600 behind the price of a dropped dairy bred calf.What needs to be done is a comprehensive beef breeding plan implemented on dairy farms .If the current suckler men get a proper beef calf to rare maybe this could be the future.There are too many cattle in this country ,culling dairy calves is a complete no no so what other choices are there but a big cull of suckler cows .It is mad the way dairy farms are still expanding but the powers that be find this acceptable.Imagine it only about 20% of farming land in the country taking up with dairying and this is mostly intensive. Surely a suckler to weanling man would be as well off rearing dairy bred beef if he got the proper calf to work with .This is my viewpoint as a dairy man who sells good quality wh and angus calves
 
Friesian bull calves should be outlawed. There is no need for them with sexed semen. And the processors will find more homes for O + and upward grades. We can still have a productive beef sector with thousands of jobs for the country
 
you are all ready 600 behind the price of a dropped dairy bred calf

Mythical.

If you have the right suckler cow and use the right sire , you can have a calf coming off a cow that's worth 700 to 1000 euros. This calf can be fed in the same manner as a dairy calf, fattened and finished. The suckler bred calf can fetch 350+ euros more at slaughter.

I don't think there is as much of a difference in margin between dairy and suckler beef as people make out. I know very efficient farmers who grasped dairy beef with both hands believing that it would be more profitable than suckler beef and they are now gone back to buying suckler bred weanlings. The amount of work that goes into feeding dairy calves is understated. Once a suckler cow calves, you have very little work with her.

The real problem is that whether its dairy or suckler beef, we are all working for a loss.
 
I've been chatting to a few folks and we've sort of arrived at a conclusion. We need the hauliers on our side. Farmers feed the world and trucks distribute that food around the world. Curtail the deliveries to the retailers for a few days and create a bit of alarm amongst Joe public and show that without farmers this will be a reality. Persuading the hauliers to align with us is another issue though. If a few of the big players could somehow be persuaded to join up it would add massive weight to the protests. The mere threat of the trucks stopping moving for a few days might just get the powers that be up off their arses and taking a place at the table to hammer out a sustainable plan for all parties going forward. The food chain is rotten atm and the fat cats at the top couldn't care less about the people on the ground. A bit of a shake up of the establishment is needed.
 
I've been chatting to a few folks and we've sort of arrived at a conclusion. We need the hauliers on our side. Farmers feed the world and trucks distribute that food around the world. Curtail the deliveries to the retailers for a few days and create a bit of alarm amongst Joe public and show that without farmers this will be a reality. Persuading the hauliers to align with us is another issue though. If a few of the big players could somehow be persuaded to join up it would add massive weight to the protests. The mere threat of the trucks stopping moving for a few days might just get the powers that be up off their arses and taking a place at the table to hammer out a sustainable plan for all parties going forward. The food chain is rotten atm and the fat cats at the top couldn't care less about the people on the ground. A bit of a shake up of the establishment is needed.
Surely blocking the central distribution centers for a week would do the job
 
I've been chatting to a few folks and we've sort of arrived at a conclusion. We need the hauliers on our side. Farmers feed the world and trucks distribute that food around the world. Curtail the deliveries to the retailers for a few days and create a bit of alarm amongst Joe public and show that without farmers this will be a reality. Persuading the hauliers to align with us is another issue though. If a few of the big players could somehow be persuaded to join up it would add massive weight to the protests. The mere threat of the trucks stopping moving for a few days might just get the powers that be up off their arses and taking a place at the table to hammer out a sustainable plan for all parties going forward. The food chain is rotten atm and the fat cats at the top couldn't care less about the people on the ground. A bit of a shake up of the establishment is needed.
Without sounding too negative the odds of getting a significant group of hauliers to stand alongside farmers is practically nil. That is the most cut throat business going, if a big player stood with the farmers there would be 10 scavengers in the ears of the factories to take over their work. They wouldn’t stand together let alone support another industry.
 
We cant even stand together ourselves.. whats point of stopping hauliers. We dont even know how the factories are going to give more when they cant get anymore themselves ..we have to get together ourselves and figure out how the beef industry can become profitable for those invovled..the dairysector should be dragged in to any discussions as its their by-product has flooded the market with lower value cuts and they can contribute hugely i believe
 
Lads forget about blocking anywhere for the time being ,a share of beef farmers did not even support the factory blockade last week .Miserable fukers made up every excuse for the blockade to fail .The problem with the price is that surplus Irish beef has pulled down markets right across Europe .This surplus will probably continue until sucklers cow numbers drop .Every report is to reduce sucklers cow numbers as margin is low and it kills 2 birds in regards reducing carbon .The excess no. of poor quality dairy x calves is the next problem ,these are no asset to any beef farmers and exporters definitely do not want them .It is even hard to tell these dairy x calves from genuine aa and british fr. when calves are under 5/6 weeks .Now what i suggest is that dairy farmers should prove the beef value of calves for sale by a simple dna proof instead of the €3.50 bvd sample if we had something to prove beef merit might be a runner!!!
 
Lads forget about blocking anywhere for the time being ,a share of beef farmers did not even support the factory blockade last week .Miserable fukers made up every excuse for the blockade to fail
I know a lad who was standing at a picket in the morning, went home and delivered in a load and was back on a different picket after dinner, when there’s lads like that how would you expect hauliers to join the campaign.
 
Back
Top