Covid-19 fallout, Brexit and the EU push for budget cuts are looming large for all farmers

IUSUALLY try to adhere to the principle of never leave until tomorrow that which you can do today.

However, rather using the few fine days we got in early February to empty my slurry tanks, I decided that as the ground was still a bit soft I would instead use the fine weather to catch up with repair and maintenance work on the farm.

I made this decision confident that there was still plenty of time for the land to dry out.

But while my fencing may be looking well at the moment, some of my fields certainly are not.

Having been obliged to drop the level of slurry in the slatted house by a foot or so during the recent wet spell, I am now left with a badly rutted field.

I am feeling really annoyed with myself as the job of levelling these deep ruts must now be added to a long list of tasks when the weather dries up.

Fortunately, all is not lost as my contractor has put me in touch with another contractor who has an umbilical slurry system.

Hopefully, I will be able to get the rest of the slurry out in readiness for my first cut of silage without causing any more damage.

On a brighter note, my cattle continue to do well and I am hopeful of getting them out on grass soon. Some of them are beginning to look a bit stiff after over three months on hard concrete. I’m sure at this stage they would welcome some nice soft ground to walk and lie down on.

I’m also pleased that the pour-on worm and lice treatments which I’ve been using over the last few years continue to yield good results.

I’ve also noticed that problems which I experienced with Pink-Eye some years back appear to have disappeared since I began using this type of combined pour-on.

And isn’t it great to see the brighter mornings and longer evenings? Also when we’re lucky enough to get a few sunny breaks between the showers it can really raise one’s spirit and remind us that summer is just around the corner.

However, there is always the possibility of something unexpected appearing on the horizon and the Covid-19 outbreak looms large in all our lives.

Compared with the success which the Department of Agriculture enjoyed in preventing the spread of Foot and Mouth disease back in 2001, the health authorities appear to be struggling with the enormity of the issues involved.

You have to question the decision to allow people from highly infectious areas unfettered access into the country before we had any reported cases on the island of Ireland.

More recently a large influx of people from Italy were allowed to descend on Dublin on the weekend of the cancelled rugby international.

In the meantime, as the outbreak spreads, we are being advised that proportionate measures are being taken, we should wash our hands and don’t panic.

If there was ever a classic example of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, this must surely be it.

We must not forget Brexit either, especially the increasing likelihood of a hard Brexit, which could turn 2020 into another very challenging year for beef farmers.

‘Frugal five’

The news from Brussels isn’t great. We hear a lot about the ‘Frugal Five’ group of countries — Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Apparently, these countries are insisting on a reduction of billions in the CAP budget post-2020. They want to use this money instead on an EU Just Transition Fund (JTF) which will be used to lessen the socio-economic impact of proposed greening methods, predominantly in industry.

These countries would do well to remember the ‘Objectives’ set out in the original 1957 Treaty of Rome. Article 39. Objective 1.(b) of the Common Agricultural Policy, states its aim is “to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture”.

So the question must be asked: is this group of five countries really frugal or just downright greedy? And do they want some EU farmers to actually work for nothing in order to ensure a supply of cheap food for more affluent Europeans?

The unfortunate outcome is that we will more than likely find our farming representatives once again out in Brussels begging the EU for more ‘life support’ funding for farming sectors already on the edge of collapse.

We must not forget the increasing likelihood of a hard Brexit which could turn 2020 into another very challenging year or beef farmers