‘It’s like putting money into a charity box’

PAT O’DONAGHUE is blunt when it comes to the economics of farming in the west and is frank about the efforts of the present Government to address the financial and structural problems which farmers face in the region.

“It’s not a question of making profits — it’s a question of lessening your losses. Every day I go to work I make a loss. It’s like putting money in a charity box every morning I open the gate. I know you’ll say I am a complaining farmer but I can’t see the gardai and teachers doing that every day they go into work,” he says.

Pat (46) is milking 50 Jersey cows on his 100 acre home farm with 50 further acres rented in Ennistymon in Co Clare supplying milk for Kerry for 28c/l. To tackle his day to day farm losses this year he has reduced his herd from 60 and has temporarily reverted to once-a-day milking.

“Farming is costing the farmer money no matter what system is being used. When the creamery cheque arrives you get your head above water to take a gulp of air but you know the next day there will be a queue of people knocking at your door with bills,” he explains. For the moment he intends to keep to once-a-day milking system and will review the situation in the new year when he expects milk price to improve.

At the moment, all he sees are additional costs and while grateful for the lift in the weather in the Clare region over the past 10 days, he predicts there could be a shortage of fodder in the region over the winter unless the weather gods dispense an immediate good hand to his farming colleagues in the region.

“All I am hearing at the