Are we losing the future generation of beef breeders?

IT IS not the first time that auctioneer Jim Bushe of New Ross mart has warned about the state of suckler production in his part of the country.

It was last October that Jim raised genuine concerns as he believed the lack of good quality stock was starting to hurt marts in the south.

He cited the example of the buyer who changed his pattern of buying from Charolais to Aberdeen Angus because as he told Jim: “The Charolais stock are just not in it.”

You could argue that you have to cut your cloth to suit your measure but for those men at the fattening end of the game, the lack of good conformation stock with potential is getting serious as the numbers of those involved at the suckling end decline.

Jim revisited this issue at the weekend as at his recent premium dairy sale he noted several traditional beef/ suckler men were among the customers for in-calf heifers.

“We are losing the next generation of beef breeders in this area to milk and that’s not a good thing. I said it last October and I’m saying it again now.

“Our ability to deliver numbers of quality beef either exported live or to the factories over the longer term is in trouble,” commented Jim.

The problems being expressed by the likes of Jim Bushe are centred on a burgeoning dairy industry that continues to hoover up some of the next generation of potential quality beef breeders.

Families that could trace their history back to the time of the fairs and the production and sale of quality cattle for the market are now milking cows. Generations of expertise are being swept away on that white tide. And so it should be.

Farmers are nothing if not practical and if you’re running a business you go where the money is. And right now the money appears to be in dairying and if the land suits and there is access to the start-up cash, then for some it is an answer.

The fact that its expansion is unbalancing farming production appears to be going unnoticed at a political level.

Travelling north to towns such as Mohill in county Leitrim we find very similar concerns about the fall-off in the numbers of the next generation willing to go down the suckler road being expressed by local mart manager Stephen Hannon.

The issue in Leitrim is further complicated by concerns in local communities that the forestry section is expanding over land that once hosted cows.

No one can expect young people to go into an area of farming that offers little in the way of a guaranteed income which in essence has been the image portrayed by those seeking direct government aid for the sector at present.

Yet I know suckler farms that are profitable. Some are, granted on a larger scale of 60-70 cows but the families running them are making a good living.

And judging by recent prices for suckler stock at sales up in places in the north and west such as Mohill a good share of the handier sized suckler men with off farm employment are also managing to keep going.

It is interesting to hear some of the commentary regarding the proposed €200/ hd payment as there wasn’t a national outcry when the dairymen tapped the basic payment crisis reserve fund when milk prices fell a few years ago.

Why are suckler farmers periodically put through the ringer when they ask for development money?

OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER QUALITY BEEF IS IN TROUBLE OVER THE LONG TERM