‘I’ve a regular income and I know

A REGULAR income was the main lure that attracted Neill Boland to convert from running a suckling enterprise to contract rearing.

After taking over the family farm in the ’90s, he moved to convert the dairy enterprise into suckling, as the land at Enniscrone, Co Sligo, was fragmented in small parcels and they couldn’t carry the number of cows to make it viable.

“I went into suckling and I loved it but it wasn’t paying,” says Neill, who is married to Catherine, a school teacher, and has a busy household with Éabha (2) and Liam (1). “It was too inconsistent.”

It was around seven years ago that he decided to take the plunge and go into contract rearing.

“There was no one else in the area at it. I had to travel quite a bit to speak to someone about it. I took a gamble with a friend of mine — I got out of suckling and beef and full-time into contract rearing.

“The suckling payments were once a year and beef was unpredictable. With the contract rearing, I have a regular income and I know what is coming down the road.”

He points out that it works well with a fragmented farm. “The first time, my friend gave me them as one-year-olds, and he took them back eight or nine months later. Now, seven years later, we are still at it,” the 39-year-old says.

He is now contract rearing animals for three different dairy farmers — one local and two from Meath.

Neill feels that the key factor is developing a good working relationship with the farmers. “There had to be a chair between each of us: an arbitrator so that if there is an issue or a hiccup, we can turn to them as we were both learning. As you go along the road, there will be hiccups.” Each contract and payment is individually worked out with the farmer, depending on their requirements and whether they want to supply meal or vaccines.

“We sit down in January during a quiet time in the year and discuss it. So I know what is coming,” he says, with a target of 0.7kg/day for calves.

Flexible

Now he is taking in calves as young as four weeks old for one farmer and sending them home as in-calf heifers at 22 months. “I offer what the farmer wants and I try to be as flexible as I can. I give them as many options as they want. Once I’m at it full-time, I give everything to it,” he says.

“When the farmer sees them going out the gate in a lorry, he needs reassurance they are going to come back in calf. I email him every month